None of the 2025 Marlins have a convincing All-Star case

[Ely Sussman]

We have been here before with the Miami Marlins, most recently in 2019. That team had former All-Stars on its roster and youngsters who would eventually establish themselves as All-Star-caliber, but nobody who deserved a selection based on their first-half performance in that particular season. Rookie Sandy Alcantara had been injury-free and pitching like a typical No. 3 starter, and that was enough to earn him the All-Star nod. 

Entering Opening Day, Alcantara was the favorite to be the Marlins' 2025 rep. However, with a few weeks to go before the selection show, the revered workhorse is firmly out of the mix, having posted an ERA that is nearly doubled his career average and ranks dead last among MLB pitchers with a minimum of 50 innings.

If not Sandy, then who? There is no satisfying alternative. (All stats below were updated entering Thursday unless otherwise specified.)

Kyle Stowers initially emerged as the feel-good story of this Marlins season. His slash line peaked at .319/.392/.566 on May 23. Barring injury, it was hard to imagine the 27-year-old outfielder being denied an All-Star nod. Well, seemingly in part due to a brief battle with hand soreness, his offensive production has cratered. Stowers' strikeouts are up and his power has dissipated (it's been more than a month since his last home run). There is a deep crop of more deserving NL outfielders.

Dane Myers has overtaken Stowers as the best Marlins player...when he is actually on the field. Myers leads the club with 1.4 fWAR despite only starting about half of their games (37 of 72). It's just hard to see how he fits on the All-Star roster given his position. Pete Crow-Armstrong, James Wood, Corbin Carroll, Fernando Tatis Jr., Kyle Tucker, Andy Pages and Juan Soto have all been comparable or better than Myers as offensive players while also being durable and platoon-proof.

On the latest Fish Unfiltered episode, Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout floated the possibility of Edward Cabrera going to Atlanta. It's plausible if he were to rattle off back-to-back-to-back quality starts, dropping his ERA under 4.00. That would be somewhat reminiscent of Alcantara in 2019. The main difference to this point is volume—Cabrera is averaging less than five innings per start.

Xavier Edwards is flirting with a .300 batting average, leading the Marlins in walks and stolen bases, and playing surprisingly great defense since moving to second base (albeit in a small sample). An All-Star selection for him would be an amusing plot twist after being viewed as a disappointment through the first two months of the season.

The NL is thin on dominant relievers in 2025, but the Marlins are not poised to capitalize on that, either. Very quietly, Calvin Faucher has held opponents scoreless in 22 of his last 24 appearances. If not for a six-run blow-up on May 20, Faucher would have a sub-2.00 ERA, though you can play that game with so many other guys. I could see him sneaking in by raising his save total into double digits with a couple more weeks of perfect high-leverage work. Cade Gibson could've had a case with more time on the active roster.

I get why MLB insists on keeping all 30 teams and their fanbases involved in the All-Star tradition, but this is gonna be awkward. Whoever winds up representing the Marlins this year, hopefully they can genuinely enjoy their achievement rather than worry about who got snubbed to make it possible.

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[Leo Armbrister]

The article is correct. No Marlin is worthy of All Star selection. I usually vote for any marginally qualified Marlin but none are truly worthy in my view. That is not to say that there are no good players on this team but we have a team made up of mainly complementary players. With the team management swapping mediocre players for mediocre prospects. Here we are. I would not buy a jersey with the name of a Marlin player on the back. That tells you the state of this franchise. 

[One Regend]

8 hours ago, Leo Armbrister said:

The article is correct. No Marlin is worthy of All Star selection. I usually vote for any marginally qualified Marlin but none are truly worthy in my view. That is not to say that there are no good players on this team but we have a team made up of mainly complementary players. With the team management swapping mediocre players for mediocre prospects. Here we are. I would not buy a jersey with the name of a Marlin player on the back. That tells you the state of this franchise. 

I couldn't agree more. On this team, maybe Eury Perez and Agustin Ramirez could be star talents, but right now, they're nowhere close to being one. Their farm system isn't much better on that front, either. I could maybe see Thomas White being an All-Star in the very distant future, but honestly, nobody else in their farm system screams superstar to me.

There's not a single player, both on this roster, and in their farm system, that I would handily give a 7+ year contract extension to. Maybe you could make an argument for Eury Perez, but all they'd accomplish would be wasting his efforts on the mound, because they have no awaiting superstars in their farm system. That's how dire the situation is right now.