Ely Sussman

🔷 Maximo Acosta has received permission from the Miami Marlins to play approximately 30 games for Venezuela's Tiburones de La Guaira during their upcoming season. It will be his first time participating in winter ball. 🔷 Thomas White (No. 18), Aiva Arquette (No. 38), Joe Mack (No. 39) and Robby Snelling (No. 50) are included on Eric Longenhagen's end-of-season Top 100 prospects list. The longtime FanGraphs evaluator wrote that Mack is "doing some absurd things throwing the baseball, stuff I’ve never seen before." After previously being skeptical of Snelling's upside, Longenhagen acknowledged the significance of the left-hander's 2025 velocity spike ("a nearly three-tick velocity spike across his entire repertoire") and pointed how an adjustment that's been made to his positioning on the pitcher's mound. 🔷 The latest prospect featured in my series of 2025 minor league highlights is Kemp Alderman. Next up will be Jacob Berry, followed by Joe Mack. 🔷 DYM published his ranking of the top 40 Marlins prospects, focusing specifically on those between the Low-A and Triple-A levels. 🔷 Tyler Boronski sat down with Clayton McCullough for an interview about the challenges he faced as a rookie manager, the areas he hopes to improve, how he interacts with the media and more. 🔷 All-MLB Team voting remains open until Friday at 12:00 p.m. ET. Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards are on the ballot. 🔷 Congratulations to Marlins assistant pitching coach Alon Leichman and Anais Cazorla on their engagement. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays have outscored the New York Yankees 23-8 through two American League Division Series games. Rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage set a Blue Jays postseason record for most strikeouts in a single game (11), and it's the most runs allowed by the Yankees during any two-game span in the franchise's postseason history. The Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers are tied at one win apiece. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers hold 1-0 leads over the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs in their respective NLDS matchups.

On Friday night, the Texas Rangers announced Skip Schumaker as their next manager. Schumaker, who managed the Miami Marlins for two years (2023-24), has agreed to a four-year contract with the Rangers, replacing Bruce Bochy. Schumaker spent this past season as a senior advisor for the team. Sources tell Fish On First that Schumaker is expected to retain some members of Bochy's coaching staff who were already signed through 2026, including Luis "Pipe" Urueta. Urueta was Schumaker's bench coach in Miami and held the same position with the Rangers in 2025. The Marlins conducted a thorough managerial search following the 2022 season, and their decision-makers could not reach a consensus on which finalist to pick. Buoyed by the support of then-general manager Kim Ng, Schumaker got the job. A major league player from 2005-2015, Schumaker had never managed at the professional level before. He had served as bench coach of the St. Louis Cardinals in '22. In Schumaker's first year on the job, he became one of only four skippers in Marlins history to lead the team to a postseason berth (joining Jim Leyland, Jack McKeon and Don Mattingly) and one of only four to be voted National League Manager of the Year (joining McKeon, Mattingly and Joe Girardi). The 2023 Marlins went 84-78 despite a minus-57 run differential to earn the NL's second Wild Card spot. That team was fantastic in one-run games (33-14 record), which was influenced by some good luck, but Schumaker undoubtedly deserved credit for deftly utilizing his personnel in high-leverage situations. It was the first time since 2003 that the Marlins had reached the playoffs in a full-length season. Less than two weeks after the Marlins were swept in the NL Wild Card Series, Ng left. Schumaker and new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix were not as well-aligned on the franchise's future. The 2024 season began with a nine-game losing streak, and it was clear that a lack of starting pitching depth and plate discipline would hold the Fish back from being competitive. By that point, there were already rumors swirling about Schumaker's inevitable departure. Bendix traded away most of the veteran players he inherited and Miami finished at 62-100. Schumaker's father passed away during the final road trip of the season and he returned to California to console his family while the Marlins played out the string. “We have mutually agreed to part ways," Marlins chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman announced immediately after the regular season ended. During the Skip era, the Marlins posted a 146-178 record overall (.451 W-L%). Clayton McCullough was hired as Schumaker's successor. Saddled with a very inexperienced roster and coaching staff, McCullough went 79-83 in 2025. Bendix has confirmed that he'll continue as manager in 2026. The Marlins and Rangers will meet at loanDepot park next season for a three-games series from June 22-24.

There have been a few changes since the preliminary Mesa Solar Sox roster was announced last month. The Miami Marlins will actually send eight players to the desert instead of seven, with right-handed reliever Holt Jones and left-hander Jack Sellinger recently being added to the group. Another reliever, righty Xavier Meachem, will not participate as originally hoped after undergoing elbow surgery. Selected by the Marlins in the 14th round of the 2021 MLB Draft, Jones spent his entire age-26 season with High-A Beloit. He posted a 4.75 ERA and 26.3% strikeout rate in 47 ⅓ innings pitched (34 G/0 GS). Jones' lack of control continues to be a major concern—he walked 17.8% of opponents and also hit 10 batters while locating only 57% of his pitches for strikes. Sellinger was Jones' Sky Carp teammate for most of 2025 before earning a late-season promotion to Double-A Pensacola. The 25-year-old quietly had an excellent campaign out of the 'pen. The UNLV product finished with a 2.30 ERA and 32.0% strikeout rate in 66 ⅔ innings pitched (40 G/0 GS). He has a sinker/slider/sweeper/changeup pitch mix, with the slider being his best weapon. Whereas everybody else that the Marlins are sending to the AFL had an injury absence of some kind this season, Sellinger did not. Ij9VN52qGZUY3wgT.mp4 The rest of the originally announced Marlins delegation is still playing: Starlyn Caba (Fish On First's #9 prospect), PJ Morlando (FOF #16), Fenwick Trimble (FOF #20), Aiden May and Darwin Rodríguez. The Solar Sox's season opener is on Tuesday at Sloan Park (9:30 p.m ET first pitch). You can livestream it for free here.

Published on Wednesday following Peter Bendix's end-of-season press conference, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the Miami Marlins will not be as complacent during the offseason as they were during Bendix's first two years on the job. "At the very least, Miami will try to add an established bat and bullpen help; they’re willing to make competitive offers for players they decide to target," according to Jackson. The only major league free agent deals that Bendix has done as Marlins president of baseball operations were one-year contracts for potential bounce-back candidates Tim Anderson ($5 million guaranteed) and Cal Quantrill ($3.5 million). He also picked up Eric Wagaman ($770k) on a split contract and Wagaman ended up sticking in the majors for the entire season. None of those acquisitions meaningfully made the team better. The Marlins bullpen had an effective 2025 season overall, ranking fifth in win probability added. However, that unit was only 24th in MLB in strikeout rate. Going after relievers with premium swing-and-miss stuff and a track record of effectiveness against left-handed batters would make a lot of sense. Wagaman's primary position, first base, is the most obvious spot for the Marlins to shop for offensive help, as Kevin Barral explained for Fish On First. Perhaps Agustín Ramírez eventually moves to that position, but Bendix insisted during the presser that Ramírez will continue to focus on improving behind the plate for the time being. The Marlins had MLB's lowest payroll in 2025. Only Sandy Alcantara ($17.3M) and former Fish Giancarlo Stanton ($10M) and Avisaíl García ($5M) are currently on their books for 2026. Arbitration-eligible players include Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Anthony Bender, Max Meyer, Ryan Weathers, Calvin Faucher and Andrew Nardi. Of that group, Cabrera is projected to receive the most substantial raise (salary in the $5M-6M range).

Drafted by the Marlins in 2022 (Round 5, $404k signing bonus) October 2025 update: White had the best 2025 campaign of any Marlins MiLB reliever. He throws from an extraordinarily high arm angle and hitters of either handedness struggle to distinguish between his fastball and breaking stuff, leading to plenty of poor swing decisions. Eligible to be taken in the upcoming Rule 5 draft as things currently stand, it is assumed that the Marlins will protect White by selecting him to their 40-man roster in November. Four-seam fastball white fb_MnIxUTVfV0ZRVkV3dEdEUT09X1UxVlRBRkVIQkFNQURsSUJCUUFIQVFkU0FBQldCUVVBVkZBQkJsSlhDVmNBQUZRSA==.mp4 Slider white sl_MnIxUTVfV0ZRVkV3dEdEUT09X0R3RlRYRjBOVmxBQUNnRUhWQUFIVkFZREFBTldCbFFBVkZ4VUNBc0hBMVlHQkFwZQ==.mp4 FOF Top 30 history October 2025: #21 January 2026: #25 April 2026: #21

Acquired by the Marlins from the Rays via trade in July 2025 October 2025 update: Etzel has constantly been on the move—he transferred from a Texas junior college to the University of Southern Mississippi in 2022, got drafted by the Orioles in 2023, then traded to the Rays in 2024, only to be traded again the following summer. He does not hit the ball especially hard, but makes sound swing decisions. Since acquiring him, the Marlins have mainly deployed Etzel in center field. FOF Top 30 history October 2025: #30

Drafted by the Marlins in 2025 (Round 4, $531k signing bonus)

My MLB postseason prediction that nobody asked for is that the Seattle Mariners will win the 2025 World Series, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in six games. Miami Marlins news and content below: 🔷 This week, we will be recognizing outstanding performances from this past Marlins season with the FOF Awards, as voted on by FOF staffers and SuperSubs. Vote here between now and Friday night. The categories are Hitter of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Move of the Year, Game of the Year and Prospect of the Year. 🔷 Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards are nominees for the All-MLB Team. You can vote once per day leading up to the October 10 deadline. 🔷 Bob Nightengale reports that right-hander Declan Cronin underwent Tommy John surgery on Monday. A key piece of the 2024 Marlins bullpen, Cronin was slowed at the start of this season by a hip injury and the quality of his stuff never fully came back. He posted a 4.87 ERA and 22.2% strikeout rate in 20 ⅓ innings pitched with Triple-A Jacksonville (21 G/2 GS). The Marlins released him on September 6. 🔷 On the strength of 11 dominant starts, Robby Snelling earned International League All-Star honors. The 21-year-old lefty allowed only nine earned runs with the Jumbo Shrimp (1.27 ERA). 🔷 Following the end of the regular season, all of the Marlins players on the 10-day/15-day injured list were automatically activated and everybody who had been optioned to the minor leagues was recalled. The 40-man roster is unaffected by these transactions, but here's a look at it anyway. We are unlikely to see consequential moves until after the World Series when players on the 60-IL must be activated. 🔷 Graham Pauley discussed his strong finish to the 2025 campaign with Kevin Barral and the offensive adjustments he made along the way. 🔷 I looked for former Marlins on each of this year's postseason teams. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the San Francisco Giants fired manager Bob Melvin, the Minnesota Twins fired Rocco Baldelli and the Texas Rangers mutually parted ways with Bruce Bochy. Per multiple reports, Skip Schumaker is a strong candidate to be Bochy's successor—Schumaker worked for the Rangers this year as a senior advisor. Former Marlins first baseman Lewin Díaz became the first player since 2015 to have a 50-homer season in the Korea Baseball Organization. Marlins podcast episodes

For the past several years, I have been doing some version of this exercise identifying all of the former Fish who are participating in the MLB postseason. It feels like the Miami Marlins are less represented than usual in the 2025 field, with three of the qualifiers having no direct links to the franchise. The names below previously played major league games for the Marlins. I have excluded players who were traded away when they were still minor leaguers—Luis Castillo (now with the Seattle Mariners), Josh Naylor (Cleveland Guardians), etc.— as well as those currently assigned to MiLB affiliates such as Bryan De La Cruz (New York Yankees) and Bryan Hoeing (San Diego Padres). Boston Red Sox: none Chicago Cubs: Colin Rea and Craig Counsell (manager) Cincinnati Reds: none Cleveland Guardians: none Detroit Tigers: Sean Guenther (injured) Los Angeles Dodgers: Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas, Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia Milwaukee Brewers: Christian Yelich New York Yankees: Jazz Chisholm Jr., Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Boone (manager) Philadelphia Phillies: Jesús Luzardo, J.T. Realmuto and David Robertson San Diego Padres: Luis Arraez Seattle Mariners: Donovan Solano Toronto Blue Jays: Tyler Heineman and Yimi García (injured)

Needless to say, there is a ton of Miami Marlins news and content on the heels of their 162nd and final game of the 2025 season: 🔷 My main focus entering Sunday was the health of Edward Cabrera, making his second start since being diagnosed with an elbow sprain. Though far from flawless, Cabrera threw up zeroes against a desperate New York Mets team (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 7 K, 83 pitches/44 strikes). He used even fewer fastballs than usual, but his fastball velocity was actually higher than his season average. I was most encouraged by the consistency and shape of his breaking balls. I still vividly remember watching Sandy Alcantara attempt to pitch through an elbow sprain in 2023. During his lone minor league rehab start, his slider was breaking in an unfamiliar and ineffective way—that was a bright red flag. It was announced the following day that Alcantara was halting his rehab. He underwent Tommy John surgery two weeks later. In Cabrera's case, it's looking like he and the Marlins dodged a bullet. 🔷 The Marlins improved from a 62-100 record in 2024 to 79-83 in 2025, setting a franchise record for biggest year-to-year increase in wins (only accounting for full-length seasons). The final victory also clinched their first season series win over the Mets since 2017. 🔷 Total announced attendance for the Mets series was 104,465, exceeding the Aug. 1-3 New York Yankees series for largest single-series crowd in loanDepot park history. As usual, the Marlins still finished last in the National League with a full-season home attendance of 1,156,777 (average of 14,281 per game). That is down ever so slightly from 2023 (1,162,819 total/14,356 average). 🔷 The Mets and Marlins have the same number of postseason appearances (two) since the almighty Steve Cohen began his ownership tenure. That's wild to me. 🔷 The Marlins relayed all pitch calls from their coaches in the dugout during the final nine games of the season. The early returns were encouraging on the surface, though we will have more analysis on that shortly. 🔷 Here is the final postgame press conference of Clayton McCullough's rookie season. 🔷 Kevin Barral did quick hits on each of the Marlins minor league award winners, with insight from director of minor league operations Hector Crespo. 🔷 Alex Krutchik spoke with Liam Hicks and catching coach Joe Singley about the keys to Hicks' productive rookie season relative to the typical Rule 5 draft pick. 🔷 Hicks is one of only five Marlins who spent all 162 games on the club's active roster. 🔷 Happy 21st birthday to Thomas White. Fish on First's No. 1 prospect, White posted a 2.31 ERA and 38.6% strikeout rate this season while ascending from High-A to Triple-A. With some subtle mechanical adjustments and further refinement of his cutter, the southpaw can be a future ace. 🔷 The Marlins will be making a change to their Arizona Fall League plans prior to next week's AFL season opener. Fish On First has learned that right-hander Xavier Meachem underwent elbow surgery, so he'll be replaced on the Mesa Solar Sox roster. 🔷 Old friend Garrett Cooper announced his retirement. Cooper spent the vast majority of his MLB career with the Marlins, slashing .269/.338/.436 slash line with 52 home runs and a 110 wRC+ over parts of six seasons (2018-2023). He was a key cog in the 2020 club that snapped a 17-year postseason drought and he earned an NL All-Star selection in 2022. Injuries unfortunately played a big role in shaping Coop's career—he never received enough playing time during any individual season to qualify for the batting title. 🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been finalized for the 2025 season. Congratulations to SuperSub Alec Chao on edging out FOF staffer Hector Rodriguez! Reigning Prediction Time champ Daniel Rodriguez finished in 10th place (and I finished in 11th). 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Cincinnati Reds clinched Major League Baseball's final postseason berth, joining the Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers. The Colorado Rockies finished with a minus-424 run differential, setting a new MLB record in that department (though they had two fewer losses than last season's Chicago White Sox). Outfielder Michael A. Taylor also announced his retirement, concluding a 12-year MLB career. Sunday's start was the end of the road for 18-year veteran Charlie Morton, and it may have been the end of Clayton Kershaw's remarkable run as well—the Dodgers have decided to navigate this week's best-of-three NL Wild Card Series without him on their roster. Marlins podcast episodes