Marlins' Jacob Kisting completes undefeated season

[Ely Sussman]

To align their starting rotation for the upcoming Southern League playoffs, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos rested right-hander Jacob Kisting this week. The book is closed on his brilliant 2026 regular season.

Kisting spent most of the season pitching for High-A Bowling Green in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. Upon being dealt at the MLB trade deadline in exchange for Liam Hicks, the Miami Marlins promoted him to Double-A Pensacola. The 23-year-old was very effective at both levels—1.67 ERA and 2.99 FIP in 18 pre-trade games, 1.88 ERA and 2.90 FIP in five post-trade games.

But what stood out most of all was Kisting's consistency. In every one of his outings, he gave his team a reasonable chance to win, and they frequently did. Conversely, with the help of strong run support, he was never left on the hook for a loss.

Overall, Kisting posted a 10-0 record in his 23 appearances (21 starts). A flawless winning percentage in such a big sample size is practically unprecedented in recent Minor League Baseball history.

Setting the minimum at 100 innings pitched, nobody has ever had an undefeated MiLB season while pitching exclusively for the Marlins organization. Notable one-loss campaigns belong to Josh Beckett (14-1 in 2001) and José Fernández (14-1 in 2012).

Complete MiLB stats across all levels are available dating back to 2006. The only comparable season to Kisting's that I could find was authored by Logan Allen in 2021. Similarly splitting his season between High-A and Double-A, Allen went 9-0 in 21 games/19 starts. The Cleveland Guardians left-hander has since gone on to pitch parts of four years in the majors (4.55 ERA and 4.71 FIP in 396.0 IP). 

In 2025, Mike Paredes went 11-0 in the upper levels of the Minnesota Twins system, logging 105 ⅔ innings in the process. However, all but two of those outings came as a reliever.

It stands to reason that Kisting's pursuit of perfection would have garnered more attention had it not been disrupted by a trade, or if he was held in higher regard by talent evaluators. He isn't currently ranked on the Fish On First Top 30 prospects list, though that may change following our end-of-season update.

Kisting completely embarrassed left-handed batters thanks to his above-average splitter. They collectively slashed .146/.213/.217 in 216 plate appearances with two home runs. His lapses in control were always corrected quickly—he did not allow more than three free passes (BB and HBP combined) in any game. Also, Kisting was often going through the heart of opposing lineups for a third time, unlike a lot of MiLB pitchers who get kept on short leashes.

With that being said, there are reasons to be skeptical. Kisting was older than 71% of the batters he faced. His velocity is well below MLB norms with a sinker that sits 92-94 mph. He was the beneficiary of a very low .251 batting average on balls in play. Opponents went 25-for-26 on stolen base attempts, and not to pile on, but I think the one unsuccessful attempt would have been overturned by video review.

Kisting reminds me quite a bit of current Marlins starter Janson Junk. Junk's main issue is the inability to induce whiffs on pitches in the strike zone. I think that applies to Kisting as well. At least he has time on his side to add more strength and further tweak his pitch shapes.

Briefly checking in on the rest of the players involved in the Kisting trade, infielder Adrian Santana is teammates with him in Pensacola. Through 30 Double-A games, Santana has a .246/.326/.310 slash line with seven steals and a 79 wRC+. Home runs have been plentiful in the Southern League, but he hasn't gone deep even once. On the bright side, his glove looks legit.

Like the other prospects, Brayden Taylor is getting his feet wet at a new level since joining the Marlins org. With the help of a superhuman 23.4% walk rate, he's slashing .190/.387/.429 for Triple-A Jacksonville with four homers, eight steals and a 125 wRC+. He is mainly being used at second base and third base. Barring severe injury or a prolonged MLB lockout, Taylor will get his shot to contribute to the big league team in 2027.

Meanwhile, the Rays ought to be incredibly satisfied with their side of the trade. Through 31 games with his new club, Hicks is slashing .298/.385/.479 with four long balls and a 139 wRC+. He ranks eighth among all MLB catchers during that span with 1.0 fWAR produced.

Hicks' contributions helped the Rays clinch a postseason berth on Friday. Entering Sunday, FanGraphs estimates that they have a 89.2% chance of winning the American League East division and earning the AL's No. 1 seed.

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[FishFan93]

So we traded for 3 guys...in which maybe 1 might be serviceable...while the guy we traded for is doing absolutely amazing???

Yup, typical Marlins FO trades.