Don't take for granted that Marlins have developed Javier Sanoja

[Ely Sussman]

Javier Sanoja looks ridiculously young in the photo above, doesn't he? With those soft facial features and a height of 5'7", you would not believe that he's a Major League Baseball player if you ever saw him without a Miami Marlins uniform.

Sanoja hasn't captured national attention at any point in 2025 like fellow Marlins rookies Jakob Marsee and Agustín Ramírez, but this feels like the appropriate time to provide some important context about his first full season in the majors.

The versatile Venezuelan was the most valuable Marlins player during Saturday's extra-inning loss in terms of win probability added. Playing third base on this particular afternoon, Sanoja recorded a trio of run-scoring hits, including game-tying ones in both the ninth and 11th innings.

The hot corner is the position that Sanoja has played most often this season (32 games), followed by second base (28), left field (26), center field (14) and shortstop (10). He is the only player in Marlins history to make at least 10 appearances at each of those spots in a single year. He's the 13th MLB player to ever be used in such a way, per Stathead, and easily the youngest in that exclusive club. Baseball Savant's fielding run value rates Sanoja as a league-average defender overall, while defensive runs saved views him a lot more favorably (6 DRS), particularly as an infielder.

Sanoja has been pretty much as advertised at the plate. His 13.3 Whiff% would rank in the 95th percentile among MLB hitters if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. His power output was always going to depend on how often he could pull his hardest-hit balls. He has checked that box, pulling 19.8% of his batted balls in the air (MLB average is 16.7%). It's gone way under the radar that Sanoja (.393 SLG) is nearly slugging at a league-average level (.404 SLG). He has really picked it up since the All-Star break, slashing .284/.324/.552 in 71 plate appearances (138 wRC+).

This is Sanoja's age-22 campaign (he turns 23 on Sept. 3). He's on track to be youngest position player to spend a full season on the Marlins active roster since Giancarlo Stanton despite signing for only $90,000 as a teenager. This career progression makes him the exception to the norm because Miami's player development has a laughably bad recent history of guiding amateur talent to The Show. The only other true "homegrown" hitters to appear for the 2025 Marlins have been Nick Fortes, Troy Johnston and Victor Mesa Jr.—Sanoja has accumulated more playing time than the rest of them combined.

Sanoja lacks the physical projection that is typical of a 22-year-old, making it hard to forecast how much he will improve from here. Gaining all of this experience ought to benefit him, but will it be enough to graduate to an everyday player in the coming seasons, or just equip him to be a high-end utility man?

Sanoja's highest priority should be learning to run the bases. Although he looks like somebody who'd be a pesky weapon in that department, he's been inefficient at every professional level, including 4-for-9 on stolen base attempts this season. It has been encouraging to see him attempting to take extra bases at a rate 8% above average, but there's the potential for him to be even more aggressive.

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[1993 fan from start]

is Sanoja the guy that steaps out of the batter box too much? that gets on my nerves when does that odd thing out of box.   when he struggle at times . I wish he just stay in batter box. lol just saying 

[Ely Sussman]

33 minutes ago, 1993 fan from start said:

is Sanoja the guy that steaps out of the batter box too much? that gets on my nerves when does that odd thing out of box.   when he struggle at times . I wish he just stay in batter box. lol just saying 

Yes, between almost every pitch, he steps out quickly and takes a practice swing.