What to expect from new Marlins call-up Josh Ekness

[Kevin Barral]

MIAMI, FL — Following the Miami Marlins' 6-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the team optioned left-handed pitcher Cade Gibson to Triple-A Jacksonville. The corresponding move was selecting the contract of Fish On First's No. 20 prospect, Josh Ekness.

A hard-throwing right-hander selected by the Marlins in the 12th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, Ekness told reporters that he received a call Friday night at around 11:45 pm. "They were telling me I needed to come sign some paperwork for my passport, because I had an appointment I needed to get for that. Had just been putting it off for years, and they had me sign a bunch of papers, and all of a sudden he's got one more and he slaps a sheet down, saying, 'Congrats, you're gonna be a big leaguer.' Caught me a bit off guard, but definitely excited to be here."

This season with Jacksonville, Ekness has a 5.68 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 14.92 K/9 and 4.26 BB/9 in 12 ⅔ innings pitched. The timing of this call-up is unusual as he has allowed seven runs in his last 3 ⅔ innings pitched. Before that rough stretch, though, he had allowed only one earned run and struck out 15 in nine innings of work. Across 142 career innings in the Marlins MiLB system, Ekness owns a 3.30 ERA and 3.28 FIP.

The 24-year-old reliever boasts a 70-grade fastball, which in his most recent outing on Thursday topped out at 97.4 mph and averaged 96.8 mph. Along with the fastball, he throws a sinker, slider and sweeper.

While there is no questioning the quality of his stuff, Ekness has room to improve in the control department.

"I think mainly putting an emphasis on the execution part and being more external has helped me kind of limit some of the bigger misses and uncompetitive misses helped me just get focused on getting ahead and staying ahead in counts," Ekness said. "Usually, I'm pretty good at putting guys away when I get to the counts, but I just needed to be efficient and get to those counts to have that opportunity."

Ekness' role on the team will be interesting. He has been used in all sorts of situations during his rise through the minors. He is particularly effective against right-handed batters—none of them have recorded an extra-base hit against him since 2024.

"He has been stretched out some and gone multiple innings," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "I think right now that's how we'll look to use him. What maybe is best for that particular day and where the overall group is, but it is important that guys can come up here and do a variety of things."

Health permitting, fellow 2023 draftees left-hander Thomas White and outfielder Kemp Alderman will contribute to the Marlins this season. However, Ekness is the first member of that draft class to reach the big leagues.

The Marlins 40-man roster is now full. Game two between the Marlins and Phillies is at 4:10 pm on Saturday.

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