Nick Fortes prepared to bounce back in 2024

On Thursday, the Marlins held their annual media day at loanDepot park. A rotation of players were made available to the media with catcher Nick Fortes speaking in the most detail.

“Just been working every day with everything,” said Fortes. “It’s just like a normal offseason. We just try to fine tune all aspects of the game. It’s been good. I think really productive."

In 2023, Fortes slashed .204/.263/.299/.562 with six home runs, 26 RBIs and a 53 wRC+. Despite the struggles on offense, Fortes had a strong defensive season, primarily in the blocking department, where he ranked in the 97th percentile in blocks above average, according to Baseball Savant.

“The guys that I caught—which I take a lot of pride in—they all had career years," said Fortes. "That’s my main focus: making sure that they’re taken care of and doing well.”

With that being said, inconsistency with the bat held Fortes back from establishing himself as the team's lead catcher. There were multiple stretches throughout the season where Fortes did look like an offensive threat, but he couldn't sustain it.

Fortes continued to split time with Jacob Stallings despite being the more talented player at this stage of his career. The 27-year-old catcher is now entering what should be his prime years and the Marlins are counting on him to take advantage of the opportunity.

Fortes says he's been focused on "finding something that works for me and not changing it so much during the season." After admittedly "tinkering" with his stance and approach throughout 2023, "I think I am in a really good spot right now.”

The Marlins have a new hitting coach, promoting John Mabry from within (he had previously been assistant hitting coach to Brant Brown). Fortes and Mabry have been in contact throughout the offseason with Fortes sending Mabry videos of him hitting two to three times a week.

One of the few major transactions that the Marlins have made since last season ended was trading for catcher Christian Bethancourt. When the Marlins visited the Tampa Bay Rays in 2023, Bethancourt put on a defensive clinic, throwing out multiple runners and limiting runners on base, something the Fortes/Stallings tandem struggled to do.

“He comes from an organization to where they are very analytical,” said Fortes about Bethancourt. “I am very curious to hear his take on what they did over there, maybe stuff that we can bring over here to help, but he’s been around for a long time, he’s a great defender, he’s got a cannon of an arm. Anything that I can learn from him will always be knowledge worth knowing.”

It’s currently a mystery as to how playing time will be divided between Fortes and Bethancourt, but Fortes just wants to play to the best of his abilities this upcoming season.

“I would love to maximize my capabilities,” said Fortes. “I want to be the best catcher that I can possibly be. I think that it’s in there for me. If I can maximize everything to the best of my abilities, I think that I can be a really good catcher in this league.”