Marlins sign Albert Almora Jr. to minor league deal

On Monday, the Miami Marlins announced their 24 non-roster invitees for spring training. Amongst them was Hialeah native Albert Almora Jr., who is joining his hometown team on a minor league deal.

Almora has spent most of his professional career with the Chicago Cubs. He was their first-round draft pick in 2012 and reached the majors in 2016, contributing to their World Series title that year in a part-time role. He remained with the Cubs through 2020, mainly playing center field. He then had one-year stints with the New York Mets (2021) and Cincinnati Reds (2022). In 600 career MLB games, he has posted a .259/.300/.383/.683 slash line and 80 wRC+.

Almora didn't spend the 2023 season with an MLB organization, but played winter ball with Puerto Rico's Cangrejeros de Santurce. In 2024, he was a spring training NRI with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He failed to make their roster and spent the entire season in Triple-A Reno. 

In Reno, Almora slashed .292/.349/.439/.787 with nine home runs and 69 RBI. He struck out only 14.1% of the time while also lowering his whiff rates, especially inside the strike zone. However, this should all be taken with a grain of salt given he was in the extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He set a new single-season high with 20 stolen bases, but hasn't demonstrated that ability against major league competition with seven career steals in 13 attempts.

Almora, 30, is a defense-first player. At his peak in 2018, defensive runs saved (12 DRS) and outs above average (14 OAA) agreed that he was elite in center field. During his most recent MLB action in 2022, he continued to rate very well (8 DRS and 6 OAA).

Derek Hill is already on the 40-man roster and posted a 78 wRC+ while striking out 34.1% of the time in his 32-game stint with the 2024 Marlins. Almora will be in competition with him for the role of a defensive sub and platoon bat who faces left-handed pitching. Coming off a back injury, prospect Victor Mesa Jr. will hope to make the roster over both of them by showing that he's ready to debut.

Almora will enter camp as the Marlins position player with the most experience (5 years and 110 days of MLB service time), surpassing Jesús Sánchez (3.118). He will have the second-most service time amongst all Marlins players, with only Sandy Alcantara above him (6.100).