Marlins reportedly "considering" free agent Andrew Knizner

Buried near the bottom of the latest Craig Mish/Barry Jackson Miami Herald piece, they report that the Miami Marlins are "considering" free agent catcher Andrew Knizner.

Knizner was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016 and that's the only major league organization he's ever known. Last year, Knizner slashed .241/.288/.424 (career-high 92 wRC+) and produced -0.1 fWAR in 70 games. He has never had a season above replacement level, per FanGraphs. He turns 29 in February.

The Cardinals non-tendered Knizner on November 17 rather than pay him a projected $2M salary via arbitration. They're seemingly all set at the position with Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera.

Kevin Barral highlighted Knizner in a Fish On First article last week.

That was prior to the Christian Bethancourt acquisition. Health permitting, Bethancourt is highly likely to make Miami's Opening Day roster. He was a comparable player to Knizner in 2023, significantly better than him in 2022 and cannot be optioned to the minors.

"Even with Bethancourt added, the Marlins remain open to finding a catcher who would start or share time with Nick Fortes," according to Mish and Jackson. Fortes still has two minor league options left and didn't hit a lick against right-handed pitching last season (26 wRC+),

Worth mentioning, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, hitting coach John Mabry and new assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller all have familiarity with Knizner from their time in the Cardinals organization.

The Marlins are one of nine teams who haven't finalized a major league free agent deal during the 2023-24 offseason, according to Jon Becker's MLB Matrices. Knizner is not a lock to receive a guaranteed deal, to be clear, but this free agent class lacks reliable catchers and the slugging potential he's shown ought to draw some interest from other suitors. The dream scenario for the Fish would be to bring him to Jupiter as a non-roster invitee.

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