Ely Sussman

After being held scoreless through the first eight innings, the Miami Marlins rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies in stunning fashion on Tuesday. View full video

Yes, even though it's entirely believable that this will be another series loss, I have somehow convinced myself that this is when they turn some kind of corner.

Welcome to FOF's 31st Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. The Marlins have not won a series all season. The Rockies haven't, either. Something's gotta give! For the first time, Sixto Sánchez is making a start in Miami with fans in attendance (although it may be only a couple thousand of them). Highly regarded Rockies outfield prospect Jordan Beck is making his major league debut. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: none. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Isaac Azout.

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Welcome to FOF's 30th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. The Marlins are trying to snap MLB's longest active losing streak. Although they've dropped all five of Trevor Rogers' starts thus far, that is through no fault of his own (2.88 FIP). Jesús Sánchez moves up to the second spot in the lineup for the first time this season (he had never previously started higher than fifth). SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: none. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout.

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Marlins news roundup for 4/29/24 Sunday certainly felt like rock bottom for the Marlins. President of baseball operations Peter Bendix addressed the media prior to the game and pleaded for patience. Ignited by a Jazz Chisholm Jr. grand slam, his team jumped out to a 7-0 lead, only to give it all away by the fifth inning, just as Will predicted. Terrible outing for Anthony Bender, who could be on his way down to the minors once Braxton Garrett and/or JT Chargois complete their rehab assignments. Opponents are hitting .377 against Bender. RHP Emmanuel Ramirez made his major league debut in relief. The Marlins lost, 12-9. At 6-23, they have the worst record in Major League Baseball. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 5-3. OF Victor Mesa Jr. went 3-for-4 with a walk. INF Jonah Bride homered and boosted his slash line to .351/.489/.757. Double-A Pensacola won, 3-2. Jacob Berry played his second consecutive day in...right field? Berry had no previous outfield experience as a pro entering the weekend. It's a moot point if he continues putting up such poor numbers at the plate (65 wRC+ this season). Another quality start for RHP Paul Campbell (6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). He's rocking a 2.38 ERA and 2.70 FIP and ought to be moved up to Jacksonville shortly. Low-A Jupiter won, 3-1. RHP Jake Brooks (6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K) is another obvious promotion candidate. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 The Marlins have a groundball rate of 52.7% this season. It's on pace to be the highest of any MLB team since at least 2002. I cannot explain why so many different players on this roster are setting career-highs in this category, but it is very clearly crippling their offensive production. 🔷 C Joe Mack admits to MLB.com's Christina De Nicola that he was surprised by how quickly the Marlins bumped him up to Double-A. He details how taking live at-bats throughout the offseason proved valuable. 🔷 I have been including updated Marlins playoff odds in every Monday news roundup so far this season. However, this past week has made it obvious that there's no hope for them to get back into that conversation. 🔷 On this day 20 years ago, Mike Lowell's ninth-inning home run lifted the Marlins past the Giants. 🔷 Barely a year after debuting, the Marlins Museum is already being neglected by the LoanDepot Park staff. Pathetic. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Nike is going to revise their much-maligned MLB uniform template by the start of next season. The Twins have won seven straight games, doubling their season win total to get back above the .500 mark. The Astros swept the Rockies in the Mexico City Series. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter LHP Trevor Rogers) host the Nationals (RHP Jake Irvin). The Marlins have a 58.7% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. ET. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Most of the balls that Marlins hitters have put in play this season have been on the ground. It's no coincidence that they are among MLB's least-productive offenses. This is nothing new for the Miami Marlins. It was prevalent throughout their thrilling 2023 season, proving it is not perfectly correlated with losing. However, the 2024 Marlins have taken things to a new extreme during what's been a month of the most unappetizing baseball in franchise history. The Marlins offense had ample success during Sunday's loss. They plated nine runs against Patrick Corbin and the Washington Nationals, including six in the bottom of the first inning. But their output could have looked much different if not for a CJ Abrams miscue. With runners on first and second and no outs, Josh Bell pounces on Corbin's first-pitch fastball and hammers it directly into the ground. It reaches Abrams on two hops. Particularly with Bell batting from the right side (longer run to get down the line), this ought to be a routine double play. Instead, in his rush to flip the ball to second, Abrams loses control of it. Everybody is safe. R1pWZWpfWGw0TUFRPT1fRDFKV1ZWMVJBRmNBQ1ZwV1ZBQUFBUUJWQUZsV1ZsVUFCUUVBQ1ZCUkJRRUFVVlJX.mp4 The next man up, Jazz Chisholm Jr., launched a grand slam. The Marlins eventually batted around in the inning. We have rarely seen Miami's lineup erupt like that because usually, that grounder is converted into a double play. If Chisholm steps to the plate with two outs and multiple bases open, Corbin can pitch to him much differently. It's plausible that the Marlins would have been held scoreless in that inning. No need for hypotheticals, though: we have seen the same movie over and over and over again. Even including Sunday's game, the Marlins rank third-worst in the majors with an average of 3.5 runs scored per game. In large part, it's because they are putting balls on the ground more than any other team has in decades. Sports Info Solutions has tracked MLB batted ball trajectory since 2002. The Marlins entered Sunday with a collective 52.5% groundball rate, which is higher than any single-season groundball rate on record. The only other team to exceed a 50.0 GB% was the 2015 Fish. The aforementioned Bell is posting a career-high 56.5 GB%, coinciding with awful individual production, but this "dirt disease" has been contagious among Miami players. Tim Anderson (65.1 GB%), Avisaíl García (64.9 GB%) and Jesús Sánchez (64.6 GB%) rank first, second and third, respectively, in the National League in this category (min. 50 PA). Additionally, Luis Arraez, Jake Burger, Nick Fortes and Emmanuel Rivera are each hitting grounders at career-high frequencies. The Marlins are on track to be the only team in the live ball era with more double plays grounded into (33) than doubles (32). Their team launch angle is 9.1 degrees, per Baseball Savant—the next-lowest teams are at 10.7 degrees and the MLB average is 13.0 degrees. Amid Sunday's success, for example, the Marlins accounted of eight of the game's 10 lowest launch angles. With the exception of Bell's lucky break, all of the others resulted in outs. Even in a world that no longer allows dramatic shifting, major league infielders are highly effective at gobbling up grounders. For whatever reason, that pattern has not deterred the Marlins. When the same troubling tendency is afflicting many members of the same roster, it is natural to point to the coaching staff. Brant Brown left his position as Marlins hitting coach last offseason to join the Seattle Mariners. John Mabry has filled his shoes along, flanked by assistants Jason Hart and Bill Mueller. On the other hand, several of the leading culprits—Anderson, García and Bell—also happen to be the most experienced guys on Miami's roster. Long before they began getting coached by Mabry, you can see they often had trouble elevating balls (albeit not to this extreme). This is partly a player acquisition problem, overloading the lineup with hitters whose groundball-heavy profiles are now compounding in a disastrous way. It is imperative that the Marlins adjust, whether that be mechanically or philosophically, to reduce their grounders. View full article

Welcome to FOF's 29th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. On Saturday, I correctly predicted that Christian Bethancourt would get a hit. Today's prediction: Tanner Scott will get a save in a Marlins victory. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: OF Dane Myers recalled and RHP Emmanuel Ramirez selected from Triple-A Jacksonville; OF Avisaíl García (left hamstring strain) placed on 10-day injured list; LHP Kent Emanuel designated for assignment. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Kevin Barral and Louis Addeo-Weiss.

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Welcome to FOF's 28th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. It's the Marlins' first look at Nationals rookie left-hander Mitchell Parker. I'll go out on a limb and predict that Christian Bethancourt records his first Marlins hit today. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: LHP Kent Emanuel selected from Triple-A Jacksonville; RHP Kyle Tyler designated for assignment. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Hector Rodriguez and Alex Krutchik.

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Dead last in walks, first by a mile in hitting grounders (which will I investigate further in an article soon). Crippling combination for any offense.

Congrats to Anthony Maldonado on making his major league debut! He was the first overall pick in our preseason Call-Up Contest. @Isaac Azout is on the scoreboard. Which of these minor leaguers will get called up next?

Just to clarify what happened with Brazoban: he reported to Jupiter. The team "activated" him to participate in extended spring training. Not back on the 40-man roster yet.

4-game series instead of 3! I'll put you down for Marlins 3/4, but still time to get back to me if you feel otherwise.

4-game series instead of 3! I'll put you down for Marlins 3/4, but still time to get back to me if you feel otherwise.

Welcome to FOF's 27th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. Congrats to Anthony Maldonado on making it to the big leagues! He'll serve as the opener for this series opener (two innings max from him). For the 11th time in 14 opportunities, the LoanDepot Park roof is open for a Marlins home game. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: RHP Anthony Maldonado recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville; LHP Jesús Luzardo (left elbow tightness) placed on 15-day injured list. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Kevin Barral and Alex Krutchik.