Can Xavier Edwards play shortstop? Let's watch his Triple-A tape

The Miami Marlins made it farther than expected in 2023 despite lousy shortstop production. They got a .226/.265/.313 slash line from the position (MLB-worst 55 wRC+) with only seven home runs to go along with average-ish defense. Understandably, the club let primary SS Joey Wendle leave via free agency without putting up much of a fight.

Since Wendle's departure, the Marlins have traded for Vidal Bruján and signed Tristan Gray to a minor league deal. They retained utility man Jon Berti and prospect Jacob Amaya, who started frequently at SS for Triple-A Jacksonville last season. Double-A Pensacola standout Nasim Nuñez would've been a non-roster invitee at big league camp, but he was selected by the Washington Nationals in Wednesday's Rule 5 Draft.

There's another internal shortstop candidate who should not be overlooked, per Fish On First's Isaac Azout: Xavier Edwards.

Edwards' combination of contact skills and speed could make him the best offensive player of those mentioned above. The question is his defense, and more specifically, his arm.

During his first season in the Marlins organization, X initially split time between second base and center field (a brand new position for him). When the CF experiment ended in late July, he began getting occasional starts at third base, though only four appearances at shortstop. The lack of reps show how skeptical the Marlins were about his viability as a SS. However, maybe the new-look front office has a different evaluation of the 24-year-old or a plan to help him improve.

Now's not the time for a deep dive on Edwards' defense. There has been hardly any shortstop movement this offseason, so the Marlins still have ample time and opportunities to address the position via trade or free agency (Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic just linked them to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, for example). Let's just take a glimpse of what Edwards looks like over there.

I've compiled 11 throws made by Edwards as a Triple-A shortstop. Most are from him as a Jumbo Shrimp player in 2023, but I also included three from when he played against Jacksonville as a Durham Bull in 2022. They are loosely ordered from most routine to most difficult.

Edwards' arm strength is severely limited. All of these throws made it to the first baseman's glove on the fly, but took a long time to get there.

The maximum velocity of Edwards' 2023 shortstop throws was 75.4 mph and his max in the majors when playing 2B/CF was 78.0 mph. For context, 86.3 mph was the average for shortstops, according to Statcast's "arm strength" metric, which uses the top 5% of throws made for qualified shortstops. David Fletcher (Angels) ranked dead last among qualifiers at 77.0 mph. Old friend Joey Wendle was near the bottom of the leaderboard at 80.1 mph.

I'll place the other plays involving Edwards as a shortstop here:

Looks good when applying tags, though he would get more opportunities to do that as a second baseman. Shortstops typically cover the bag on stolen base attempts when there's a left-handed hitter up (40.2% of all MLB steal attempts in 2023).

This quick review suggests to me that Edwards could at least be an emergency shortstop. That helps his case for making the Marlins active roster considering Luis Arraez will frequently be blocking him from playing second base.

I'll revisit this topic in greater detail as spring training approaches.

Photo by Danis Sosa/Fish On First