Offishial News: Marlins bullpen reinforcements just a phone call away

There are a handful of player photos that I could've used to complement this article title. The Triple-A Jacksonville pitching staff, despite being thin on highly ranked Miami Marlins prospects, has been outstanding in 2025. I decided on right-hander Freddy Tarnok just because he started on Thursday, going five scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 3.26 with a fastball that topped out at 98 mph. Tarnok ranks second on the team with 22 strikeouts this season. But more than half of the active Jumbo Shrimp pitching staff has a call-up case right now.

As discussed on Fish On First LIVE, there are two obvious weak links in the Marlins bullpen: George Soriano and Tyler Phillips. Even low-leverage arms like theirs find themselves pitching in important situations due to the lack of length that the starters are providing, so Miami cannot afford to be complacent. Whether it's Tarnok, lefty breaking ball specialist Josh Simpson, Cade Gibson (who's already on the 40-man) or somebody else, the Marlins should be proactive about auditioning different arms in place of Soriano and Phillips.

Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 9-1. Jakob Marsee stole his 17th and 18th bases. Jacksonville's home winning streak is up to 11 games. Double-A Pensacola won, 3-0. All three of Evan Fitterer's starts this season have been scoreless. His latest one was his longest one yet (6.0 IP,3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 86 pitches/50 strikes) and lowered his ERA to 0.87. High-A Beloit won, 3-0. Low-A Jupiter lost, 5-4. Andrew Salas, the youngest player to appear in a minor league game this season, raised his on-base percentage to .511.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Patrick Monteverde cleared waivers and was outrighted to Jacksonville.

🔷 Alex Carver reports on the new pitch-calling process that's been implemented throughout the Marlins farm system. Pitchers are being told to rely heavily on breaking balls and largely disregard the location of them.

🔷 Major League Baseball announced that the Marlins' have the seventh-largest bonus pool for this year's MLB Draft. Their $15,187,400 pool is the largest in franchise history and a 45.5% increase from their 2024 draft pool. Already looking ahead to the 2026 international signing period (opening on January 15), they'll have $7,357,100 in pool money—that's similar to what they had this year ($7,555,500).

🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first eight series. I'm doing so poorly, I don't even show up on the top-20 screenshot despite dutifully making predictions for every matchup. Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long!

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Colorado Rockies dropped to an MLB-worst 4-20 record after being swept in a doubleheader.

🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Cal Quantrill) begin their west coast trip against the Seattle Mariners (RHP Logan Gilbert). The Marlins have a 31.8% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 9:40 p.m. ET.

🔷 Today's MiLB schedule:

• Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m. ET
• Double-A Pensacola vs. Knoxville, 7:05 p.m. ET
• High-A Beloit at South Bend, 7:05 p.m. ET
• Low-A Jupiter vs. Palm Beach, 6:30 p.m. ET

Marlins podcast episodes