Offishial News: What's the Marlins' plan for new call-up Agustín Ramírez?

The Miami Marlins were four outs away from suffering a winless week when Javier Sanoja lifted a hanging breaking ball to left field for his first career home run. With a single swing, he drove in as many runs as he had during his first 28 MLB games combined! The Marlins finished off the Philadelphia Phillies in extra innings, 7-5. With a 9-12 record, they enter this week in sole possession of third place in the National League East division.

As if that wasn't exhilarating enough, news broke an hour after the game that Agustín Ramírez is being called up to the big leagues. He'll replace Rob Brantly, who suffered a right shoulder injury on Sunday.

Since being acquired in July's Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade, Ramírez's prospect stock has continued to climb. He slashed .261/.346/.464 (118 wRC+) for Triple-A Jacksonville with eight home runs and nine stolen bases in 58 games. The Marlins have been stubborn about developing him as a catcher—100% of his defensive appearances as a member of the Marlins organization have come there even though he had some prior experience at first base. Ramírez is doing slightly better at the position than he did in 2024, but still struggles immensely with receiving and blocking pitches. For what it's worth, Jacksonville has been great at preventing runs while he's behind the plate.

I'm fascinated to see how the Marlins handle this. How does Ramírez split his playing time between catcher and designated hitter? Will he go back down to the minors once Brantly or Nick Fortes get healthy? Remember, Rule 5 Draft pick Liam Hicks cannot be optioned. With Hicks having caught each of the last six days, we will get our first look at Ramírez tonight.

🔷 Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 8-7. Jacob Berry and Troy Johnston drove in three runs apiece. The Jumbo Shrimp are up to 53 stolen bases, the second-highest total among all Minor League Baseball teams. Double-A Pensacola won, 5-3. Josh Ekness picked up the save and has retired 20 of 24 batters faced this season. High-A Beloit's game was suspended in the bottom of the fourth inning. Low-A Jupiter won, 11-7. Fittingly on Easter Sunday, infielder Jesús Hernández delivered a three-run homer. Abrahan Ramírez matched his minor league career high with 4 RBI. He is quietly slashing .265/.447/.412 with as many walks as strikeouts.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Left-handers Patrick Monteverde (Saturday) and Cade Gibson (Sunday) made their MLB debuts over the weekend, becoming the first members of the 2021 and 2022 Marlins draft classes, respectively, to reach that milestone. Monteverde is currently in DFA limbo, likely to clear waivers and be outrighted to the minors in the coming days. Gibson, on the other hand, was shockingly effective and reasonably efficient in his outing (2 ⅓ scoreless innings on 34 pitches). He should get at least one more opportunity to pitch before potentially get swapped out for another fresh arm later this week. In addition to Ramírez, utility man Ronny Simon is on the verge of debuting after being called up on Sunday.

🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first seven series. Yikes, I'm off to a lousy start. Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long!

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Luis Arraez was stretchered off the field after a frightening collision at first base. He was brought to a local hospital, but is in stable condition. Arraez's San Diego Padres improved their MLB-best record to 16-6 largely because of Fernando Tatis Jr., who scored all three of their runs. He leads the National League with 1.9 fWAR. Max Fried and Fernando Cruz combined for a two-hit shutout. Fried lowered his ERA to 1.42 and the New York Yankees have won all five of his starts.

🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Max Meyer) host the Cincinnati Reds (LHP Nick Lodolo). Favorable matchup for Elly De La Cruz given Miami's struggles to control the running game—I'm setting the over/under at 5.5 stolen bases for De La Cruz in this three-game series. The Marlins have a 48.8% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m.

🔷 Prior to the game, Fish On First LIVE will preview the series beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. FOF LIVE is presented by About The Fans. Check out our new merchandise collection (coupon code fof10 for 10% off).

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