Ely Sussman

Welcome to the Miami Marlins podcast directory, highlighting talented creators of Marlins-related audio programming. This information has been updated entering the 2026 regular season. The embedded Spotify players below will have the most recent episode of each pod queued up for you to listen to for free. The majority of them are also available via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, YouTube, etc. There is probably too much content being produced collectively by these podcasts during the Marlins regular season to digest to every second of every episode. What a wonderful "problem" to have. Fish On First: A Miami Marlins Podcast Hosts: AJ Ramos, Kevin Barral, Isaac Azout, Ely Sussman and Jeremiah Geiger Shows: Fish Unfiltered and Fish On First LIVE Miami Marlins Podcast Hosts: Jack McMullen and Stephen Strom Shows: Marlins Rewind, Side Sessions and Hot Stove Show Turn 2 with Scott & Troy Hosts: Scott Kornberg and Troy Johnston Battered Marlins Fans Hosts: Daniel Solana and Branton Griffin Bleav in Marlins Host: Johnny Campbell Play Ball Marlins (Spanish) Hosts: Alfre Álvarez and Yordano Carmona Here are some additional podcast channels that frequently cover the Marlins, though not exclusively: Bullpen Mafia Un Podcast de las Mayores (Spanish)

Starting in 2026, the way that fans access the Miami Marlins on television is completely changing. The Marlins are taking control of their TV and streaming by launching Marlins.TV, a joint effort with Major League baseball to offer a direct-to-consumer viewing option. First, don't panic. You're not alone. It's understandable to be uncomfortable with this after years of having the same solution for how to watch the Fish, especially if this new arrangement could wind up costing you a few more bucks. When everything changes, things can also get confusing, so here are the answers we have so far about how to watch the Miami Marlins on TV or a mobile device. The details around this are coming through in drips, but we'll keep this updated as we learn more. Are you in the Marlins home television territory? There are different subscription plans for in-market and out-of-market viewers, so make sure you understand which bucket you belong in. If you're unsure based on the coverage map above, scroll to the bottom of the Marlins.TV sign-up page and you will see a field for checking blackout restrictions. Enter your zip code and press the "Submit" button. If you reside in the Marlins home television territory, you'll receive the following message: For many of you in the Marlins' local market, a Marlins.TV subscription will be the best path forward. Marlins.TV package What you get: 157 Marlins regular season games plus pregame and postgame coverage, MiLB.TV (game broadcasts of the Marlins' Triple-A, Double-A, High-A and Low-A affiliates) and MLB Big Inning. What it costs: $19.99 per month or $99.99 per season. Marlins Premium Members and full-season ticket members receive a 50% discount. From March 23-31, the Marlins are offering two complimentary tickets to any home game in April to fans who purchase the season-long subscription. How to use it: Once logged in, you will be able to watch Marlins.TV from most computers, tablets, phones and smart TVs (via the MLB app). MLB.TV & Marlins.TV package What you get: 157 Marlins regular season games plus pregame and postgame coverage, every other MLB team's out-of-market games, MiLB.TV, MLB Network, MLB Big Inning and live audio for all MLB teams. What it costs: $39.99 per month or $199.99 per season. From March 23-31, the Marlins are offering two complimentary tickets to any home game in April to fans who purchase the season-long subscription. How to use it: Once logged in, you will be able to watch MLB.TV and Marlins.TV from most computers, tablets, phones and smart TVs (via the MLB app). In-market alternatives Instead of subscribing separately, some of you may find it more convenient to get local Marlins games as an add-on to your existing cable or satellite service. As of March 23, it's unclear how the costs of those alternatives compare to Marlins.TV. From Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald: Marlins games will be available on a standalone channel on Comcast, for an additional fee. The channel number and fee have not been disclosed. DirecTV very likely will make Marlins games available for satellite and streaming subscribers, for an undetermined additional fee, just as they have done for all of the other teams who, like the Marlins, have opted for the MLB Media package. Fans can watch games, for an additional fee, on Fubo. The charge hasn’t been announced. The Marlins don’t yet know if the games will be available on YouTube TV, Breezeline, Hotwire, Dish Network and Breezeline—five of South Florida’s other major cable and satellite providers. Over-the-air broadcasts The Marlins will simulcast a portion of their games on CBS News Miami and CW Miami. All of those dates will be added to this page when available. MLB.TV package (out-of-market fans) What you get: 157 Marlins regular season games plus pregame and postgame coverage, every other MLB team's out-of-market games, MiLB.TV, MLB Network, MLB Big Inning and live audio for all MLB teams. What it costs: $29.99 per month or $149.99 per season (same price as 2025). Existing subscribers will be renewed automatically through their MLB.TV account on or around March 1. For new customers, you'll have to subscribe through ESPN. Because ESPN now owns MLB.TV, they'll bundle your subscription with a one-month free trial of ESPN Unlimited. If you don't want ESPN Unlimited, they'll let you cancel it without impacting MLB.TV access. How to use it: Once logged in, you will be able to watch MLB.TV from most computers, tablets, phones and smart TVs (via the MLB app). For out-of-market ESPN Unlimited subscribers, you'll have access to the following Marlins games through the ESPN App even without an MLB.TV subscription: April 24 at San Francisco Giants April 27 at Los Angeles Dodgers May 15 at Tampa Bay Rays May 19 vs. Atlanta Braves May 27 at Toronto Blue Jays May 29 at New York Mets Nationally televised games Marlins home games on July 25 (vs. San Diego Padres), August 8 (vs. Los Angeles Dodgers) and August 22 (vs. Washington Nationals) will air on FS1. The following Marlins games will be national TV exclusives, requiring separate subscriptions to watch: May 10 vs. Washington Nationals (Peacock) May 17 at Tampa Bay Rays (Peacock) June 14 at Pittsburgh Pirates (Peacock) August 30 at Washington Nationals (Peacock)

JUPITER — Something needed to change. Even with a strong finish from platoon partners Troy Johnston and Eric Wagaman, the Miami Marlins did not get enough production from their first basemen in 2025. Relative to the rest of Major League Baseball, that position provided below-average plate discipline, below-average defense, solid contact but minimal power, culminating in sub-replacement-level production overall. By the end of the calendar year, Johnston was a Colorado Rockie and Wagaman was a Minnesota Twin. Matt Mervis, who opened the season as Miami's primary first baseman, is now a member of the Washington Nationals. Addition by subtraction, right? Maybe not. The Marlins placed dead last among all MLB teams at first base in the 2026 FanGraphs positional power rankings. Based on a blend of ZiPS and Steamer projections and playing time estimates for individual players at the position, no club has a worse outlook than the Fish. That tracks with what transpired during spring training. The only hitter to sign a major league free agent contract with the Marlins this past offseason, Christopher Morel is familiar with many different positions. He has played 97 MLB regular season games at third base, 88 in left field, 74 at second base, 69 in center field, 15 at shortstop, 10 in right field...and none at first base. After struggling to various extents at each of those spots, he's moving even further down the defensive spectrum. Morel's Grapefruit League performance was uninspiring, to put it gently. In 13 games at first base, he was charged with three errors, and that does not fully convey how much of a liability his glove is. He isn't showing much of a knack for adjusting to off-target throws, and at 6'0", his overall "catch radius" is smaller than the average first baseman. During Friday's game at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, there was a lapse in communication that resulted in a preventable run scoring. With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Washington Nationals catcher Drew Millas ripped a single to right field. Brady House attempted to score from second on the play. Owen Caissie made a strong, accurate throw home that, barring a missed tag or extraordinary slide, would've nabbed House for the final out of the inning. Unfortunately, Morel cut the ball off. "It's actually a good thing that it happened because you can just use it," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said postgame. "For the next time, be thinking through these things to aid in your decision-making." The following animation of the play was generated by MLB using player tracking data: kmt4he_1.mp4 These sort of miscues are tolerable if Morel reverts to being the impactful hitter he used to be. In 2023, through the end of July, the former Chicago Cub owned a Kyle Stowers-esque .281/.344/.541 slash line. However, in 301 games since then, he is slashing .197/.284/.371—that's even worse than his Marlins first base predecessors. He recorded only one extra-base hit in 46 spring training plate appearances. His strong exit velocities suggest that those will come more often moving forward, but he continues to be impaired by a career-long whiffing problem. Sometimes when the Marlins oppose right-handed starting pitchers, we will see Liam Hicks at first. If only and Morel could be melded into a single body, they'd be a remarkably well-rounded player, but for the time being, MLB won't improve of such an innovation. Hicks' main deficiency is a lack of power, having ranked in the fifth percentile in hard-hit rate in 2025, per Baseball Savant. Despite concentrating on addressing that over the offseason, he went XBH-less this spring. Very much like Morel, Connor Norby is a newbie at the position and an awkward fit elsewhere on the diamond. His spring training was a mixed bag—he drew only one walk while striking out 34.9% of the time, but he did damage against lefties, which was a notable hole in his profile last year. Griffin Conine is an intriguing wild card. He had the hardest-hit ball of the 2025 Marlins season and topped that same leaderboard in spring games. In an admittedly microscopic sample, he looks like a superior first base defender than the aforementioned options. However, in the aftermath of Stowers' injury, his services will be needed in the outfield initially. At least in part, the Marlins' first-base-by-committee approach is about maintaining the flexibility to hand the car keys to Deyvison De Los Santos later this season. Still just 22 years old, the Dominican prospect has 205 games of Triple-A experience. Despite coming with tantalizing power upside of his own, there shouldn't be any expectations placed upon his 2026 MLB production given his sky-high chase rate in the minors. The Marlins had ample opportunities to bring in a short-term floor-raiser at first base, whether via free agency or trade, and they opted not to. There needs to be accountability if that decision results in them finishing a few games outside of the National League postseason field.

In the not-too-distant past, we tried to find statistical significance within the results of Miami Marlins spring training games. It simply isn't there. Regardless of whether somebody's wRC+ or FIP dips below zero, expectations for their regular season performance should be unaffected. It is premature to say that universal access to spring training Statcast data changes anything. However, in a world where players practically work year-round to maximize how hard they hit and throw the ball, maybe we could learn something from monitoring that. Every Marlins player will be added to the tables below once they appear in a Grapefruit League game (more than 100 players in all). The cells are shaded red for any player whose max exit/pitch velocity has exceeded their 2025 season-high in that category. I used "N/A" for players who had little or no playing time in Statcast-tracked environments last year. A baby emoji indicates that the player has been assigned to minor league camp throughout spring training. These leaderboards will be updated daily. Max Exit Velocity (mph) Player 2026 Spring Training 2025 Regular Season Griffin Conine 113.1 117.4 Christopher Morel 112.1 115.4 Agustín Ramírez 111.0 116.9 Daniel Johnson 110.6 114.7 Kemp Alderman 110.2 114.4 Matthew Etzel 109.7 110.0 Heriberto Hernández 109.6 112.8 Eric Rataczak 👶 109.5 N/A Joe Mack 109.3 109.6 Drew Faurot 👶 109.1 105.9 Juan Matheus 👶 108.7 109.8 Otto Lopez 108.2 111.2 Jakob Marsee 107.6 111.1 Deyvison De Los Santos 107.3 118.5 Maximo Acosta 106.6 108.0 Liam Hicks 106.4 108.5 Javier Sanoja 106.3 107.3 Ryan Ignoffo 106.2 N/A Ethan O'Donnell 👶 106.2 N/A Bennett Hostetler 106.1 106.1 Connor Norby 105.9 109.0 Dillon Lewis 105.7 113.9 Dub Gleed 👶 105.2 108.2 Cam Cannarella 👶 104.5 N/A Kyle Stowers 104.5 113.7 Andrew Pintar 104.3 110.0 Abrahan Ramírez 👶 104.1 110.0 Johnny Olmstead 103.5 108.0 Brian Navarreto 103.4 109.4 Graham Pauley 103.4 111.1 Dylan Jasso 103.3 N/A Colby Shade 👶 103.2 N/A Jacob Jenkins-Cowart 👶 102.6 105.8 Jared Serna 102.5 N/A Esteury Ruiz 102.4 109.1 Jacob Berry 101.3 109.5 Fenwick Trimble 101.2 N/A Xavier Edwards 101.1 109.0 Chase Jaworsky 👶 101.1 N/A Chris Arroyo 👶 101.0 109.1 Brendan Jones 100.7 N/A Jay Beshears 👶 100.0 N/A Carter Johnson 👶 99.6 108.7 Ian Lewis 👶 98.9 112.4 Owen Caissie 98.8 113.3 Michael Snyder 👶 98.7 N/A Jesús Bastidas 98.6 109.2 Tony Bullard 👶 97.5 N/A Yiddi Cappe 👶 97.1 N/A Nathan Martorella 96.7 108.6 Spencer Bramwell 👶 96.4 N/A Emaarion Boyd 👶 94.2 N/A Micah McDowell 👶 92.7 107.5 Esmil Valencia 👶 90.8 112.0 Starlyn Caba 👶 90.1 104.8 John Cruz 👶 88.6 N/A Echedry Vargas 👶 87.2 N/A Andrew Salas 👶 85.7 109.1 Jake McCutcheon 👶 85.3 N/A Cristian Hernández 👶 85.1 N/A Gage Miller 👶 77.2 N/A Wilfredo Lara 👶 74.9 N/A Emilio Barreras 👶 N/A 102.0 Connor Caskenette 👶 N/A N/A Cam Clayton 👶 N/A 106.0 Mark Coley II 👶 N/A N/A Payton Green 👶 N/A N/A Jesús Hernández 👶 N/A 104.7 Cody Morissette 👶 N/A N/A PJ Morlando 👶 N/A 109.0 Victor Ortega 👶 N/A 101.3 Max Pitch Velocity (mph) Player 2026 Spring Training 2025 Regular Season Eury Pérez 100.6 101.5 Samuel Vásquez 99.7 N/A Sandy Alcantara 98.9 100.3 Josh Ekness 98.9 98.7 Michael Petersen 98.8 100.4 Colby Martin 👶 98.4 100.1 Anthony Bender 98.1 98.6 Stephen Jones 97.9 97.8 Karson Milbrandt 97.8 98.0 Tyler Phillips 97.8 97.5 Juan Reynoso 👶 97.6 98.4 Pete Fairbanks 97.5 100.2 Liomar Martínez 👶 97.5 96.0 Robby Snelling 97.4 98.0 Justin King 97.3 96.9 Bradley Blalock 97.1 98.5 Max Meyer 97.1 97.6 Josh White 97.0 97.0 Will Kempner 96.9 99.2 Jake Walkinshaw 👶 96.8 99.1 Thomas White 96.8 98.5 Ryan Gusto 96.5 97.4 Janson Junk 96.5 96.6 Calvin Faucher 96.3 99.4 Jack Ralston 96.3 95.9 Dax Fulton 96.2 96.0 Tyler Zuber 96.1 96.8 Lake Bachar 96.0 97.1 Adam Mazur 95.9 96.9 Garrett Acton 95.8 95.9 Chris Paddack 95.8 97.7 Gabe Bierman 👶 95.4 N/A Nigel Belgrave 95.1 95.3 Zach Brzykcy 95.0 96.6 Andrew Nardi 94.6 N/A Dale Stanavich 94.2 97.9 John King 94.0 96.4 Braxton Garrett 93.7 N/A Jake Smith 👶 93.7 N/A Cade Gibson 93.6 95.0 Peyton Fosher 👶 93.4 N/A RJ Shunck 👶 92.6 91.5 Evan McKendry 92.1 93.6 Brayan Mendoza 👶 92.1 N/A Chase Centala 👶 92.0 95.5 Patrick Monteverde 90.9 92.3

The Miami Marlins are reacquiring one of their Rule 5 draft departures. Right-hander Zach McCambley did not make the Philadelphia Phillies' Opening Day roster, so they will return him to the Fish (h/t Todd Zolecki, MLB.com). Meanwhile, fellow right-hander and Rule 5 draftee Matt Pushard is sticking with the St. Louis Cardinals. McCambley and Pushard were both trending toward these fates earlier this month, as I detailed here. Individual ability aside, McCambley had a tougher path to a big league job considering that the Phillies have a deeper and more experienced bullpen than the Cardinals and much more urgency to win games in 2026. In eight Grapefruit League games (7.1 IP), McCambley allowed one earned run, six walks and four strikeouts. He threw only 55.3% of his pitches for strikes. In Pushard's eight games (8.2 IP), he allowed three earned runs, two walks and nine strikeouts. He faced his former organization twice during that span. McCambley has a long history with the Marlins, who selected him in the third round of the 2020 MLB Draft. He spent most of 2025 with Triple-A Jacksonville. In 62 total innings working exclusively in relief (AA and AAA combined), he posted a 2.90 ERA and 2.60 FIP with a 24.3 K-BB% (best of his professional career). His arsenal consists of a four-seam fastball, cutter and sweeper. Expect the Marlins to assign McCambley to Jacksonville again. Health permitting, he's likely to make his MLB debut by season's end. Turning 27 years old in May, McCambley can elect minor league free agency next offseason if he isn't on the Marlins 40-man roster by then.

Welcome to Spring Breakout week! In the first of many items of Miami Marlins prospect content coming your way, Ely Sussman welcomes Maxfield Lane and Owen Riley of Oyster Analytics onto Fish Unfiltered. They cover each of the five Marlins who rank among the Oyster model's top 100 MLB hitting prospects, intriguing players who missed the cut and what to make of the organization's incredible stolen base volume during the 2025 minor league season. You can find Fish Unfiltered and Fish On First LIVE on the Fish On First YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your pods. The highest-ranked Marlin on the Oyster's top 100 is Owen Caissie (#46), followed by Andrew Salas (#58), Joe Mack (#73), Dub Gleed (#78) and Maximo Acosta (#99), with Deyvison De Los Santos (#143) being the top unranked hitter in the organization. Here is an expanded overview of Marlins prospects with the best career projections, which you can find under the "prospects" tab of the Oyster Analytics website: In this year's Spring Breakout showcase, Marlins prospects will match up against those from the Houston Astros farm system. The game is being held at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches on Thursday at 12:05 p.m.

"Braxton Garrett did WHAT?!" Imagine that it is Sunday, August 23, 2026. All 30 Major League Baseball teams are in action, and with all due respect, outside of Miami, there aren't many eyeballs focused on the series finale between the Marlins (66-64) and Washington Nationals (49-82). The main attraction at loanDepot park today is supposed to be Agustín Ramírez. The sophomore slugger is leading the Fish in OPS this season (.847) and serving as the starting catcher for this game. A crowd of nearly 20,000 fans is expected for his much-anticipated "Gus Bus" bobblehead day. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Garrett is going to be the main character for the day. By 4:14 p.m. ET, he'll be a national trending topic for breaking the all-time MLB single-game strikeout record. The rebuilding Nationals are especially vulnerable at this juncture of the season. They already had one of the league's worst offenses, and that was before trading shortstop CJ Abrams at the deadline. The next week, they placed All-Star outfielder James Wood on the injured list with a hamstring strain. Today, they are wrapping up a three-city, 10-day road trip, mired in a six-game losing streak. Here is Washington's getaway day starting lineup: SS Nasim Nuñez LF Daylen Lile 1B Andrés Chaparro DH Luis García 3B Brady House CF Dylan Crews C Harry Ford 2B José Tena RF Joey Wiemer The Marlins jump out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, in part thanks to Ramírez's RBI double. After three innings, the lead has swelled to 6-0 and Josiah Gray has been sent to the showers. The outcome of the game is pretty much decided, but nobody is in a hurry to leave their seats because Miami's veteran lefty is cooking early. Braxton Garrett certainly isn't known as a strikeout artist. His lifetime 23.1 K% since debuting in 2020 is right on par with the MLB average during that span. His career-high for a single game is 13, which he set more than three years ago (6/22/23). So far in 2026, he ranks third on his own team in strikeouts (trailing Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez). The conditions are ripe for an outlier performance from the 29-year-old. Garrett strikes out the side in the first and Lile has already burned one of the Nationals' ABS challenges after taking a called third strike on a nasty sinker. Garrett strikes out the side again in the second. Ford leads off the third by drawing a walk, but Garrett picks him off, then punches out Tena and Wiemer. First time through the order, the Nats are 0-for-8 with 8 Ks. Garrett is going up against a fatigued, inexperienced, Triple-A-caliber group. Some of the Nats saw him earlier in the year, but he's throwing a tick harder this time around (averaging 93 mph on his four-seam fastball). He also tweaked his changeup grip in his last pitch design session and it's working exactly as hoped. They were not prepared for this version of Brax. The no-hitter gets broken up by an infield single in the fourth. After a hit-by-pitch and a passed ball—remember, Ramírez is behind the plate—Washington is threatening with runners on second and third and nobody out. But Garrett leaves them both stranded with three consecutive strikeouts. After four innings, the Marlins lead 8-0. Garrett has 11 strikeouts. After five innings, the Marlins lead 9-0. Garrett has 13 strikeouts. After six innings, the Marlins lead 9-0. Garrett has 15 strikeouts. Ricky Nolasco finally has some company. Garrett's 16th strikeout to begin the top of the seventh ties Nolasco's Marlins franchise record. Chaparro reaches base, though, because the slider he chased in the dirt gets past Ramírez. García follows with a single, then House puts the visitors on the scoreboard with a three-run homer. Recently recalled Bradley Blalock is now getting loose in the Marlins bullpen. Pitching coach Daniel Moskos goes out for his first mound visit of the afternoon. Garrett is nearing the finish line...or maybe not! He responds with back-to-back Ks and a groundout to stop the bleeding. After seven innings, the Marlins lead 9-3. Garrett has 18 strikeouts and 106 pitches thrown. It's uncharted territory for the veteran southpaw—who is coming off elbow surgery, mind you—but Blalock has sat down. There's no action in the 'pen. Manager Clayton McCullough sends Garrett back out there for the eighth. The MLB record is 20 strikeouts in a game, shared by Roger Clemens (x2), Randy Johnson, Max Scherzer and Kerry Wood. Garrett joins that exclusive club with two more K's in the eighth. Entering the ninth, it's clear that Garrett will not be finishing this game. He's at 116 pitches and Blalock is warming up again. McCullough is giving him one shot to reach 21. Garrett falls behind 3-0 to Chaparro. His next pitch misses inside for ball four. McCullough is on the verge of stepping out of the Marlins dugout when Ramírez calls for an ABS challenge and gets it overturned! Still alive. The 3-1 pitch is a whiff at a slider. The 3-2 pitch is the same pitch and same result. The celebration ensues. Garrett's final line for this historic outing: 8.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 21 K (122 pitches/89 strikes). It is by no means an apples-to-apples comparison. Bam Adebayo is undisputedly a better player at his sport than Braxton Garrett is at his. But the way that Adebayo, in the midst of his ninth professional season, veered from his usual offensive approach and erupted for the second-highest-scoring game in NBA history reminded me of a finesse pitcher becoming uncharacteristically overpowering. Even on his very best day, Garrett would need a lot of help from factors beyond his control. That wouldn't make the achievement any less legitimate.

The Miami Marlins have announced that right-hander Adam Mazur underwent elbow surgery on Wednesday, sidelining him for the entire 2026 season. The procedure, performed by Dr. Keith Meister, was a UCL reconstruction with an internal brace. The timeline for him to return to game action is approximately 13-14 months. The slender Mazur reported to spring training heavier than ever this year, specifically with the goal of maintaining his physical health throughout a full-length season. Instead, he's looking at a lengthy absence after only three innings of exhibition action. In 2025, which was his age-24 season, Mazur mainly pitched with Triple-A Jacksonville (4.36 ERA and 5.10 FIP in 107.1 IP). He also posted a 4.80 ERA and 4.90 FIP in six starts at the major league level. Mazur possesses a six-pitch arsenal and plus control, but he's still searching for a way to consistently miss bats against MLB competition (career 13.8 K%). Prior to this injury, Mazur was believed to be seventh on the Marlins' starting rotation depth chart behind Alcantara, Pérez, Max Meyer, Braxton Garrett, Chris Paddack and Janson Junk. Left-hander Robby Snelling was acquired along with Mazur in a 2024 trade with the San Diego Padres—he is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of his teammate's absence. Should any two of the aforementioned names suffer concurrent injuries of their own early in the season, the 22-year-old prospect figures to be called up to make his big league debut. Creating room for Snelling on Miami's 40-man roster is no longer an issue—Mazur can be placed on the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move when needed. Mazur currently has 67 days of MLB service time. He will accrue a full year of service in 2026 while rehabbing from surgery. He's on track to reach free agency following the 2031 season. The Marlins have put the utmost trust in Dr. Meister through the years. He guided Sandy Alcantara (2023) and Eury Perez (2024) through their own UCL reconstructions.

Strictly for entertainment purposes, I would like to alert you to Tuesday's unique performance by the Miami Marlins pitching staff. In a 7-5 loss to the Washington Nationals, eight Marlins arms combined for 19 strikeouts, the highest total ever logged for the franchise in a single spring training game (since at least 2006). The previous record was 18, which came against the Houston Astros on March 24, 2023. Every position player in the Nats starting lineup—including All-Stars James Wood and CJ Abrams—punched out at least once. Overall, the Marlins K'd 45.2% of the batters they faced. As is typically the case in the Grapefruit League, this took a group effort—starting pitchers get stretched out gradually, particularly in Marlins camp. Right-hander Eury Pérez (7 K in 3.0 IP) was relieved by Anthony Bender (2 K in 1.0 IP), Andrew Nardi (3 K in 1.0 IP), Pete Fairbanks (1 K in 1.0 IP), John King (3 K in 1.0 IP), Michael Petersen (1 K in 0.2 IP), Gabe Bierman (0 K in 0.1 IP) and Stephen Jones (2 K in 1.0 IP). Fun fact: Nardi also appeared in the 18-strikeout game from 2023. This game was not televised and Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium's center field camera was unavailable for media access. But an announced crowd of 2,059 had the pleasure of witnessing this historic "achievement"...even if they were oblivious to it in real time. In lieu of video, here are the approximate locations of every strikeout pitch courtesy of Baseball Savant (key word approximate, because I spot at least one technological hiccup): Pérez, Fairbanks and King are considered locks for the Marlins Opening Day roster, as is Bender if deemed fully healthy coming off a shin injury. Nardi (left finger blister) is likely to make it, though he can be optioned to the minor leagues if the club wants to slow-play things with him following a lost 2025 campaign. Petersen is squarely on the roster bubble. Next up for the Fish, they'll host the Houston Astros at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Wednesday. Max Meyer's first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.