2025 Pensacola Blue Wahoos top prospects and team preview

[Kevin Barral]

Led by their pitching staff, the Blue Wahoos are seeking their third postseason appearance since becoming a Miami Marlins affiliate.

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are back in action on Friday and they will be looking a lot different this season. Their roster to begin the 2025 season features several of the most talented pitchers in the Miami Marlins organization. Six total members of Fish On First's Top 30 prospects list will be at the Double-A level.

The following article includes player quotes from the team's annual Media Day, which was held earlier in the week.

 

Pitching

Robby Snelling (FOF #6 prospect) will be the Wahoos Opening Day starter, but he didn't particularly see himself beginning the season at AA, especially after reaching Triple-A last September and earning himself an invite to big league spring training.

"I thought that this year I'd potentially be starting up there with how I threw last year in that one start," said Snelling. "I also understand that there's steps that you have to take to get up there. Nothing changes for me—I'm going to come here and do my thing. There's a plan for everything, so excited to see how this year goes."

In his stint with the Wahoos, Snelling made seven starts, posting a 4.00 ERA, 2.76 FIP, 10.25 K/9 and 2.75 BB/9. Overall, it was a rough season for Snelling who was with the Padres, but dealt to the Marlins as one of four prospects in the Tanner Scott/Bryan Hoeing trade.

Someone who he looked up to during his Pensacola stint was pitching coach and former Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff. "He's young, like he can really sympathize with the guys," Snelling said. "He's not far removed from baseball. People forget he literally played three years ago. It's like he understands the new wave the game is going towards. He understands how guys are feeling. He played on both sides of having the union and not having the union. He knows how hard it was and the difficulties in the game now."

Joining Snelling on this pitching staff will be fellow left-hander Dax Fulton (FOF #14), who is returning from his second Tommy John surgery and will be repeating the AA level to kick things off. The last time Fulton threw in a regular season game was in May 2023.

Fulton was also with the Marlins on the big league side this spring and in two appearances, he was perfect, striking out two. This time, it was a much better camp than what Fulton had back in 2023, just months prior to his injury.

"Just went up there to continue to gain more experience from those guys," said Fulton. "Most importantly, just prove that I'm healthy, prove that I'm ready to throw the ball again and that I'm going to go out there and do my best. They were great to me. I felt like I had a really good camp, a lot better than I did the first time. I learned a lot from that first experience and the biggest thing for me is just distancing myself from the injury, getting back to the normalcy of pitching every five/six days and getting back to normal."

Jacob Miller (FOF #26) enters 2025 with changes to his arsenal. He went from throwing a changeup to now throwing a splitter and going from slider to sweeper. Last season between High-A and AA, Miller posted a 3.85 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 7.30 K/9 and 2.67 BB/9 through 114 ⅔ innings pitched. This spring, it was about getting the feel of his new pitches.

"Every time I pick up the ball—especially since the splitter is so new, only had it a month—I feel like I get a little bit more feel for it," said Miller. "Hopefully that'll help get a little bit more punch and if not still produce weak contact, to what it's been so far. It gets some uncomfortable takes because it's just a different look with such low spin and has a little knuckle on it. Sometimes it'll cut, sometimes it'll fade on side. Just having that, even if a pitcher is sitting on that offspeed, it's different every time. You're not going to be able to consistently square it up. Just having all that in the back of my head, just knowing I have the confidence in my stuff will be really good."

 

Position Players

The most notable position player who will suit up for the Wahoos this season is catcher Joe Mack. He's coming off a season between High-A and AA where he hit .252/.338/.468/.807 with 24 home runs, 78 RBI and posted a 137 wRC+. He was the winner of the 2024 Minor League Gold Glove as well. Although Mack could've easily started the season at AAA, the organization is having him repeat the level to get consistent playing time.

"I've been seeing him with a good attitude," said first-year manager Nelson Prada. "I don't want to put anything on his mind that he already got rid of. During spring training when he came to our group, he was fine. I think he understand how the game is, having somebody like Agustín (Ramírez) in front of him, I'm sure he knows Agustín is going to make it to the big leagues at some point this year, and he's going to in AAA."

Mack made a strong impression this spring on the big league side, going 6-for-19 with two RBI and two walks. He was reassigned to minor league camp on March 11.

Someone else to keep in mind is infielder Jared Serna (FOF #10). After reaching the AAA level last season, Serna will be in AA to primarily receive reps at shortstop while also maintaining his defensive versatility. With the Wahoos in 2024, he slashed .266/.343/.390/.732 with two home runs 23 RBI and a 119 wRC+.

Serna was one of three players acquired in the trade that sent Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the New York Yankees.

Kemp Alderman climbed through two levels last season to reach AA. After a hot start with the Jupiter Hammerheads, posting a 120 wRC+, Alderman was challenged and promoted to High-A where he struggled a bit, but with how aggressive the Marlins were when it came to promotions, Alderman received one last promotion to AA where he also struggled through a six-game sample size (4-23 with 1 HR and 9 K).

"As you go up in the levels, you learn that you're not just up there swinging—you have to have a plan," said Alderman. "Just having my plan, my approach, sticking to it, and if it works, it works and if it doesn't, we'll go from there."

Alderman was one of the Marlins' representatives in the Arizona Fall League. He broke out, slashing .306/.375/.833/1.208 with six home runs and eight RBI. He called it "probably the most fun I've ever had playing the game of baseball."

"Decrease out zone chase," said Alderman when asked about some of his goals for this year. "Just trying to hit pitches I want to hit instead of hitting pitcher's pitches. Knowing my what my plan is and just selling out to that and if it doesn't work, fine."

Per an interview with Baseball America, Alderman lost 20 pounds over the offseason, going from 255 lbs to 235. He believes that he's capable of a 20/20 season.

"I worked a lot this spring training in the outfield," Alderman continued, "trying to better that and then on the basepaths just trying to be more aggressive, steal some more bags. Last year, coming back from a hand injury, didn't steal as many bags as I want. This year, I want to try to add that to my game, being a big guy who can run."

The Wahoos will begin their season on Friday at 7:05 pm. Robby Snelling is taking the mound against the Biloxi Shuckers. Evan Fitterer will pitch in game two and Dax Fulton will go on Sunday.

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[Ely Sussman]

First Pensacola lineup of 2025