Burger continues homer binge; Thomas White's new breaking ball a sweeping success

[Ely Sussman]

Offishial News for 8/12/24

On Sunday, the Marlins led wire to wire in an upset of Dylan Cease and the Padres. Max Meyer pitched a career-high 6 ⅓ innings, though his effectiveness waned after his first trip through San Diego's lineup. Jake Burger homered for the third consecutive game, the fifth time during the homestand and the 12th time since the All-Star break. Luis Arraez went 3-for-5 and continues to lead the National League with 145 hits this season. Andrew Nardi very nearly blew the lead in the ninth, allowing a fly ball to Ha-Seong Kim that ricocheted off Kyle Stowers' glove and over the wall. But it was determined to be a ground-rule double rather than a game-tying long ball, and George Soriano came in to record his first save of 2024. The Marlins won, 7-6.

Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 7-6. Each of this farm system's top three prospects—INF Connor Norby, 1B Deyvison De Los Santos and C Agustín Ramírez—hit home runs. Double-A Pensacola lost, 10-1. Jacob Berry had three of the six Blue Wahoos hits, but also committed an embarrassing error. High-A Beloit lost, 4-1. Low-A Jupiter lost, 5-4. RHP Walin Castillo (4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 48 pitches/31 strikes) had his most dominant outing as a Hammerhead, but the bullpen behind him issued eight walks.

Here's more Marlins news and content:

🔷 Listen back to Sunday's State of the Fish call-in show.

🔷 The Phillies claimed Kyle Tyler off waivers from the Marlins. In eight games (seven starts) at the major league level this season, Tyler posted a 5.40 ERA, 5.04 FIP and 1.74 WHIP in 31.2 IP. It's unclear what the team will do to fill his vacant rotation spot—for the time being, it's just Meyer, Edward Cabrera, Valente Bellozo and Roddery Muñoz. Shaun Anderson cleared waivers and was outrighted to Jacksonville.

🔷 Through 38 Marlins series, here's an updated look at the Prediction Time leaderboard. In addition to yours truly, @Nicholas Milton, @Alec Chao, @Gabriel Revilla and @Ryan Schlesinger each made perfect picks this past weekend. Make series predictions with us all season long when you become a Fish On First SuperSub.

🔷 As explained to FanGraphs' David Laurila, Marlins top prospect Thomas White transformed his signature slurve into a sweeper this season by changing the orientation of his hand. The new weapon plays off his fastball better and carries more velocity (averaging 82 mph).

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Aaron Judge mashed his 42nd home run and Giancarlo Stanton reached 20 homers in a season for the 13th time in his career. Yordan Alvarez may be MLB's hottest hitter in August (just ahead of Burger), slashing .438/.561/.969 since the month began with more intentional walks (four) than strikeouts (two). The Braves took a 8-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning against the Rockies and blew it! They've lost seven of their last eight games, allowing 8.5 runs per contest during that span. The slump has caused their playoff odds to dip by 27%.

🔷 Speaking of contests, join us for the return of Marlins Jeopardy tonight from 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks. If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050.

🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: 

• DSL Marlins vs. DSL Giants Orange, 10:00 a.m. ET (doubleheader)
• DSL Miami at DSL Rangers Red, 10:00 a.m. ET

 

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[Slacker Mills]

Based on his results in the last two outings, Robby Snelling should be getting some major league experience right now! Can;t think of any downside to this.

[Stanley J Makowski]

Agreed!

Have a "strange" feeling about Meyer and the way that he was handled this year. The Marlins are covering something up. Did he have a drug addiction, or "enhancement drugs" affliction?

Haven't posted for a while but liked each and every trade.

Love this kid Edwards. Much more valuable player than Arraez by the look of things. Think I read somewhere that if plays in nearly all of remaining games, would be eligible for batting title. This old man hopes so.

[One Regend]

The Jacob Berry experiment has me thinking. The Marlins have such a glut of 1B/DH types in the higher levels. Agustin and Deyvision are both 1B/DH types, and their play at C and 3B respectively hasn't really done anything to give me confidence that they aren't otherwise. And, they still have Troy Johnston in their system, who is starting to become too old to be a prospect.

It really makes me wonder who's going to be the odd man out. Obviously, Agustin and Deyvision are much higher on the depth chart, but do we get the Major League Service clock running on Troy Johnston before he leaves in MiFA? Do we trade some of these prospects that might be blocked by Agustin and Deyvision being higher up on the depth chart? Do said prospects even have trade value left?

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Amazing turnaround from Burger. He looked overmatched for five weeks, then...thunder!