Offishial News: What makes the 2025 Marlins way more fun than anticipated

I am not ready to overreact and make the case that the Miami Marlins are seriously going to compete for anything as currently constructed, but it's clear I underestimated their entertainment value. This edition of the club is far more than a dreary tank job.

Their inexperience is part of the charm—classic rookie manager mistakes, reliance on a catcher who never previously played above Double-A, trying to protect late leads without any relievers who have had meaningful closer reps, etc.

My primary concern was that the Marlins would rarely be able to overcome those quirks because of an anemic offense. The inability to score is the ultimate bore. While they've already been shut out twice in the early going, the depth of their lineup has made things interesting far more often than not. For the first time on Sunday, they genuinely drubbed an opponent, racking up 11 runs on 14 hits.

Practically everybody has stepped up in some high-leverage situation, with Matt Mervis and Kyle Stowers doing so repeatedly. Great individual numbers are fun and Mervis is complying with a .735 slugging percentage—if he had sufficient playing time to be a qualified hitter, that would rank second in Major League Baseball behind only Aaron Judge. Other teams are trying to neutralize Stowers with left-handed pitching and he's burning them for doing so, going 8-for-15(!) with two walks off of lefties.

A season of constant losing revolving around Sandy Alcantara trade rumors would have sucked. Thankfully, the 2025 Marlins are already proving to be more nuanced than that.

Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 4-3, their eighth consecutive victory. The game featured rehab appearances from Jesús Sánchez, Connor Norby and Declan Cronin, each of whom were playing on back-to-back days. Maximo Acosta had the walk-off RBI single. Double-A Pensacola won, 4-3. Kemp Alderman (1.182) and Joe Mack (1.179) rank second and third, respectively, among Southern League qualifiers in OPS. High-A Beloit lost, 10-7. That's despite stealing 11 bases without being caught. Low-A Jupiter lost, 10-2. Carter Johnson had his third multi-hit game in a row. Marlins affiliates have combined for 139 stolen bases this season; no other MLB farm system has even reached 100!

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Which player's success has surprised you the most during Miami's 8-7 start to the season? Cast your vote in our Twitter poll. 

🔷 Some combination of Sánchez, Norby and Cronin will be reinstated from the injured list prior to the start of the next series. It's highly likely that Graham Pauley and George Soriano will be optioned to the minors in corresponding roster moves. Which other position player is getting squeezed off the active roster? I wanted to raise the possibility that the Marlins may kick that can down the road by placing Dane Myers (sore left foot) on the injured list and backdating his IL stint as many days as possible.

🔷 As I did for much of the 2024 season, there will be new prospect spotlight episodes of Big Fish Small Pod on Mondays. This one features Liomar Martínez (Jupiter), Yiddi Cappe (Beloit), Kemp Alderman (Pensacola) and Jakob Marsee (Jacksonville). Find the latest episode embedded below.

🔷 Alex Carver reports on Martínez's fascinating origin story. The converted shortstop has taken huge strides on the mound here in his fourth season with the Marlins organization.

🔷 Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards will be using torpedo bats on a regular basis moving forward, and Derek Hill was quietly the first Marlin to try one out earlier this season, MLB.com's Christina De Nicola details.

🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first five series. @THOMAS JOSEPH and @Lucas are currently tied for the top spot. Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long!

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele will undergo season-ending elbow surgery. Garrett Crochet carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning against his former team, the Chicago White Sox. Coincidentally, one of the players he was traded for, Chase Meidroth, was responsible for breaking up the no-no. Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered to snap out of a career-long 24 at-bat hitless streak.

Marlins podcast episodes

State of the Fish - April 13, 2025