Elijah Daniel Villalobos... pitched two seasons at California State University in Long Beach, Calif., posted a 3.65 ERA in 69.0 innings with 75 strikeouts...Began collegiate career at Golden West College, where he appeared in nine games as a catcher, batting .444/.474/.500 with eight hits in 18 at-bats...Attended Sonora High School in La Habra, Calif. Played catcher and first base in high school...Majored in business management at Long Beach State...His brother, Dylan, was a relief pitcher at Cal Polytechnic Institute
2022
Eli Villalobos had a 3.38 ERA with 75 strikeouts in 61.1 innings (11.0 K/9) for Double-A Pensacola in 40 appearances...Earned promotion to Triple-A on Aug. 1, yielding one unearned run over his first 10 appearances with only seven hits in 14.0 innings...Finished with a 1.04 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 17.1 frames (13.5 K/9) with the Jumbo Shrimp...Learned his splitter at the beginning of the season, stemming in his addition to the 40-man roster in the offseason.
2021
Began season in Low-A Jupiter before promotion to High-A Beloit on July 24...Led Marlins system in K/9 (14.5) among pitchers with at least 40.0 innings, striking out at least one batter per appearance on the year...Struck out a batter in 25 consecutive relief appearances from June 18-End of season...Struck out multiple batters in 13 straight appearances between July 20 and Sept. 3, holding a 2.70 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 20.0 innings pitched over that span.
2020
Did not play.
2019
Spent entire season with Batavia, posting a 6.08 ERA (47.1 IP/32 ER) with 16 walks and 48 strikeouts. Made seven starts in 14 appearances.
2018
In his first professional season, combined to go 1-1 with a 6.10 ERA across three levels: Rookie-level GCL Marlins, Short Season-A Batavia and Single-A Jupiter. Struck out 19 batters in 20.2 innings.