Second-generation Marlins Conine and Weathers switch to their dads' old numbers

[Ely Sussman]

"Old Fish meet New Fish." Griffin Conine will wear uniform No. 18 in 2025 while Ryan Weathers will wear No. 35.

Eight players returning from the 2024 Miami Marlins have selected new uniform numbers entering 2025, the team announced on Wednesday. In the cases of Griffin Conine and Ryan Weathers, there is a nostalgic twist: they'll be donning numbers that previously belonged to their fathers.

It's important to be specific about this because Jeff Conine and David Weathers each had two separate stints with the Marlins and wore different numbers during those stints.

The elder Conine aka "Mr. Marlin" was No. 19 as a member of the inaugural Florida Marlins in 1993 and kept it through the 1997 World Series. When Conine was traded back to Florida in August 2003, the number belonged to Mike Lowell, so he switched to No. 18. Although Jeff was a more productive player during his No. 19 era, Griffin is only old enough to remember his No. 18 era—I'm going to assume that influenced this decision.

The Marlins gave David Weathers his first extended opportunity to establish himself in the big leagues from 1993-1996, logging 342 ⅓ innings. He wore No. 35 throughout that period. He eventually made his way back to the Fish in 2004 as No. 25, but only for the final few weeks of that season (16.2 IP). Ryan is understandably honoring the longer stint even though it took place before he was born.

Last season, Weathers had No. 60 and Conine had No. 56. 

Health permitting, Weathers is a lock to be in the Marlins starting rotation. He posted a 3.63 ERA, 4.11 FIP and .234 BAA in 86 ⅔ innings pitched during a campaign that was interrupted by a fluky finger injury. At age 27, Conine finally got his first taste of the majors late in the season and made a strong impression (.268/.325/.451, 114 wRC+ and 0.4 fWAR in 30 G). There's a lot of uncertainty about how the Marlins will align their 2025 outfield, but I project him to make the cut on Opening Day as part of a right field platoon.

More uniform number notes:

• The Xavier Edwards switch to No. 9 was a long time coming. "That's my favorite number, my mom's favorite number and the number I've worn my whole baseball career," he told Fish Unfiltered in August. Edwards just had to wait for the previous number wearer, Josh Bell, to be traded.
• Jesús Sánchez used to be No. 7 in 2022 and 2023. He only became No. 12 during spring training last year to appease free agent signing Tim Anderson.
• Javier Sanoja's old No. 86 went to first-year manager Clayton McCullough (more coaching staff numbers here).

A complete list of 2025 player uniform numbers, including offseason acquisitions and spring training non-roster invitees, will be available in two weeks.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

The lower numbers speak to belonging in the league. To my mind, that designation goes up to 49, although I realize there are some notable exceptions (Unit #51, Judge #99, Fisk #72 come to mind).

[1993 fan from start]

great fror them and great read

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[rurrusuno]

That’s a cool and unique way of representing their fathers.

On another topic, why do so many baseball players change their numbers during the off-season? It doesn’t happen much in other sports.