Justin Sterner #60

Justin James Sterner was originally signed by Marlins scout Scott Stanley at the age of 23...Was not drafted out of Dana Hills (Calif.) High School and had no college offers...Spent two years on a mission to Samoa before walking on at Brigham Young University...Went 8-4 with a 2.86 ERA in 27 games, 17 starts, in three seasons with the Cougars.

2024

Made his Major League debut with Tampa Bay and had a 2.25 ERA (4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) in two relief appearances...Spent the balance of the season at Triple-A Durham where he was 2-4 with two saves, a 3.28 ERA and .652 opponents OPS in 34 games, including one start...The ERA was the lowest of his career as was his .357 opponents slugging percentage...Matched his career high in losses...Struck out 60 batters in 46.2 innings for a career-best 11.57 strikeouts per nine innings...Walked 17 for a career-low 3.28 walks per nine innings...Allowed a .208 opponents batting average, which broke down to .194 (18-for-93) with a .558 OPS by left-handed hitters and .227 (17-for-75) with a .767 OPS by right-handers...Surrendered five of his seven home runs to righties...Issued 11 of his 17 walks to lefties...Held the opposition to a .160 batting average with runners on base...Six of his seven home runs allowed were solo shots...Stranded all five of his inherited runners...Converted 2-of-6 (33.3%) save opportunities...First batters faced were 10-for-29 (.345) with three walks and a hit-by-pitch (.424 on-base percentage)...Yielded a .120 batting average with two strikes...Held the two-hitter in the batting order to a .105 batting average and the clean-up hitter batted .120...Tossed at least one inning in 32 of his 34 appearances, including two or more 10 times.

2023

Went 6-1 with a 5.27 ERA (54.2IP, 32ER) in 34 relief appearances between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham…made 10 relief appearances for Gigantes del Cibao in the Dominican Winter League, going 1-0 with a 3.48 ERA (10.1IP, 4ER).