Marlins manager Don Mattingly announced that Despaigne will start the team's third game of the season Saturday against the Cubs, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.
Forced to compete for a starting role in spring training, Despaigne's Grapefruit League numbers weren't eye-popping (3.75 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 20:9 K:BB in 24 frames), but it was good enough for him to secure his place in a rotation lacking in quality depth and down Dan Straily (forearm) and Wei-Yin Chen (elbow) to begin the season. Neither injured pitcher has a clear timetable for a return at this point, so Despaigne should be in store for at least a few turns through the rotation. While Despaigne excels at limiting damage via the home-run ball, his lowly career 5.2 K/9 and non-elite groundball rates will make it difficult for him to ever repeat the 3.36 ERA he submitted with the Padres as a rookie in 2014.