2023 Marlins Season Review: Bryan Hoeing

Relive all of the ups and downs of the 2023 Miami Marlins with our Fish On First Season Review, containing detailed articles about a wide variety of players. The FOF staff analyzes the individual impact that each of them had and what it means for their future with the organization.

This installment focuses on reliever/spot starter Bryan Hoeing.

2023 Timeline

• January 25—received non-roster invite to Marlins spring training
• April 25—contract selected by Marlins
• July 29—optioned to to AAA-Jacksonville
• August 14—recalled from AAA-Jacksonville

Season Stats: 2-3, 33 G/7 GS, 70.2 IP, 53 SO, 1.36 WHIP, 5.29 FIP, 0.1 bWAR

Building upon a disastrous major league debut in 2022, Bryan Hoeing worked his way into a more impactful role on the 2023 team. He still had a fair share of ups and downs with consistency being his main issue.

The first step for Hoeing was reclaiming his 40-man roster spot. He finished spring training with a respectable 3.68 ERA and 10 SO in 7.1 IP. Hoeing began the regular season with AAA-Jacksonville. After back-to-back scoreless starts on April 14 and April 20, the Marlins called him up when they needed a fresh arm.

Last season, Hoeing struggled to keep himself on the roster, but in 2023, he earned the trust of new Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. That led to an increase in starting opportunities, including three against the Atlanta Braves.

It was hard to tell which version of Hoeing you were getting from month to month. His ERAs in April, July, and September/October were all above 6.00 while dipping below 3.80 in May, June, and August.

Hoeing's average sinker velocity increased from 93.1 mph in 2022 to 94.1 mph in 2023, but his usage of the pitch went way down, from 68.5% to 51.6%. Even with significant improvement to his strikeout rate, he still only ranked in the 13th percentile among MLB pitchers. After posting a very high groundball rate with the Jumbo Shrimp (56.8%), he was barely above league average when pitching for the Marlins (45.1%).

Hoeing slumped at an inconvenient time. He allowed 12 runs (all earned) in his final two appearances, including an especially bad performance against the Milwaukee Brewers on September 22 that led to the most lopsided loss of the Marlins' season. Despite being very thin on pitching entering the playoffs, the Marlins left Hoeing off of their NL Wild Card Series roster.

Highlights

Future with the Marlins

Do not expect Hoeing to pitch as many innings for the Marlins in 2024 as he did this season. Lacking reliable secondary pitches, he is better suited to be a reliever than a starter and his splits reflect that. His versatility to pitch in either role is useful, but ultimately, putting him in a position to get outs is the most important thing.

The Marlins should be in the market to add more right-handed bullpen help this offseason, so Hoeing could be buried on the depth chart by the time spring training arrives.

Photo by Danis Sosa/Fish On First