Xavier Edwards is much better than I expected

[Ely Sussman]

Big Fish Small Pod for Thursday, August 1

Shortstop Xavier Edwards was nothing short of phenomenal for the Miami Marlins in July, his first full month as an everyday big leaguer. Ely Sussman analyzes where Edwards has improved and how his recent performance impacts his future with the organization.

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Although he's miscast as a shortstop and limited in the power department, Edwards is thriving in all other aspects of the game. He's slashing .395/.461/.500 since being recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville with nine stolen bases and nearly as many walks as strikeouts. The switch-hitter has been equally productive from both sides of the plate. His July batting average was 38 points higher than any other National League qualifier!

Compared to his first taste of the majors in 2023, Edwards is working deeper counts, and cutting down on grounders and lazy fly balls in favor of line drives.

Of course Jazz Chisholm Jr. will be missed, but Edwards has the skills to be a valuable leadoff hitter for the Fish for the foreseeable future.

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[Slacker Mills]

As you will recall, I touted Edwards as the second coming of Luis Arraez (only with more speed and defensive ability) before his call up. He ought to be moved to 2B right now and replaced at SS by Javier Sanoja.

[Slacker Mills]

Posted June 24

The best MILB hitting prospects are Edwards and Sanoja, certainly not Head or Mesa Jr. With all the love there was for Arraez, I'm amazed that Edwards goes unrecognized. He IS Arraez - just with more speed and defensive ability.

[Ely Sussman]

3 hours ago, Slacker Mills said:

As you will recall, I touted Edwards as the second coming of Luis Arraez (only with more speed and defensive ability).

There were several folks who had extreme confidence in him, yourself included. Nobody makes contact as reliably as Arraez does, but I am coming around to Luis Castillo as a somewhat attainable career outcome (just without the Gold Gloves).

[Chad Turner]

Yep.  I think it's just the ease and rhythm of his swing - very similar to Arraez.  He has a naive, calm confidence.  Plus these really good contact hitters don't have as much variance when they make the jump that the power guys have.  

We were all worried about his lingering shoulder injury affecting his throwing motion.  He went to a sidearm throw to compensate.  He still reverts to it some and is off alignment.  He definitely will never have the strongest arm in the league, but his instincts make up for it I think. He gets my vote to stick at SS.  Obviously I want to see the season end dWAR, but right now it's 0.3.  Not bad!

[Russell]

4 hours ago, Ely Sussman said:

There were several folks who had extreme confidence in him, yourself included. Nobody makes contact as reliably as Arraez does, but I am coming around to Luis Castillo as a somewhat attainable career outcome (just without the Gold Gloves).

Would love to see it as Luis was my favorite Marlin, loved how he'd turn infield singles into doubles with stealing 2nd speed.  Not sure if it's a kept stat but I would be very surprised if he was not the leader in "INF Singles" during his run with the Marlins.

[Ely Sussman]

16 hours ago, Russell said:

Not sure if it's a kept stat but I would be very surprised if he was not the leader in "INF Singles" during his run with the Marlins.

They do keep this stat! It's estimated that Castillo had 275 infield hits as a Marlin: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/castilu01-bat.shtml#1996-2005-sum:batting_situational

[Russell]

On 8/2/2024 at 8:39 AM, Ely Sussman said:

They do keep this stat! It's estimated that Castillo had 275 infield hits as a Marlin: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/castilu01-bat.shtml#1996-2005-sum:batting_situational

Hah, I had to look it up. At least for the era of kept records, Castillo #2 career after HOFer Rod Carew.