Ely Sussman

Today's news roundup also includes the launch of our annual series of draft prospect profiles.

The Atlanta Braves have sent right-hander Anderson Pilar back to the Miami Marlins after previously selecting Pilar in December's Rule 5 Draft.

Pilar was coming off a great 2024 season across three levels of the Marlins organization, posting a 2.64 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 58 innings pitched (37 G/2 GS). He walked only 5.6% of batters faced. That performance didn't translate to the Grapefruit League (14.29 ERA and 2.82 WHIP in 5.2 IP).

Pilar returns without any roster restrictions—no need to add him to the 40-man or call him up yet. The 27-year-old has been assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville.

Marlins Opening Day is seven days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 I made the following bold predictions for the 2025 season on Fish Unfiltered (embedded below): Xavier Edwards puts up at least 4.0 fWAR; Marlins pitchers allow the most walks in the National League; Sandy Alcantara does not get traded; and Dillon Head becomes the top-ranked Marlins hitting prospect.

🔷 Signed as a two-year player in 2023, Janero Miller will be developed exclusively as a pitcher moving forward, reports MLB Pipeline's Jonathan Mayo. In 303 plate appearances in the Dominican Summer League, Miller had slashed .227/.341/.333 (90 wRC+) with an alarmingly high 40.6% strikeout rate. He didn't pitch at all last season.

🔷 Marlins director of minor league operations Hector Crespo raves about how Karson Milbrandt developed his secondary pitches over the offseason. Entering his age-21 season, the right-hander has incorporated both a kick change and a sweeper "that grade out really excitingly."

🔷 A prep hitter from the state of Washington, Xavier Neyens is the first prospect featured in Hector Rodriguez's annual series of draft prospect profiles.

🔷 In another annual tradition, Vicent Baldayo previewed the upcoming Marlins season for Pitcheos Salvages (en español).  

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Texas Rangers signed Patrick Corbin (1-YR/$1.1M). Craig Kimbrel took a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves. It's Kimbrel sixth different MLB organization in the last five seasons and the one that originally groomed him into a dominant closer in the early 2010s.

🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Janson Junk) host the Houston Astros (RHP Logan VanWey). It's the final time this spring that the Marlins will be televised locally on FanDuel Sports Network Florida. First pitch at 1:10 p.m.

Marlins podcast episodes

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

CF Derek Hill

LF Kyle Stowers (L)

RF Dane Myers

DH Griffin Conine (L)

3B Jonah Bride

1B Eric Wagaman

C Nick Fortes

2B Otto Lopez

P Connor Gillispie

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Today's news roundup also includes the start of the 2025 MLB regular season.

Major League Baseball has stepped in to thwart the Miami Marlins' plans to assemble a Jupiter-based practice squad, according to The Athletic's Andy McCullough and Sam Blum. "MLB officials contacted the Marlins about the practice squad, which could have run afoul of baseball’s roster rules and labor practices, according to people briefed on the situation."

There's a limit to how many total players each MLB organization can have stateside at any particular time. The practice squad guys would have been contributing to player development efforts without being officially rostered by any minor league affiliate.

Even though the public job posting has been taken down, the brief questionnaire that candidates were asked to fill out is still available.

Marlins Opening Day is nine days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Edward Cabrera (right middle finger blister) has resumed throwing. Part of his fingernail was removed to expedite the healing process. Good chance we see Cabrera make one more appearance this week before the Grapefruit League concludes, but I still anticipate a season-opening stint on the injured list to allow him to stretch out as a starter.

🔷 We put Kevin Barral in charge of Fish On First's final roster projection update. Changes from the previous iteration include squeezing Connor Gillispie into the starting rotation.

🔷 Son Los Marlins assesses the Marlins' bizarre payroll situation.

🔷 Congratulations to Zach Letson on joining the Marlins communications staff! Letson already knows the team intimately and appeared on several Fish On First LIVE streams last season.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, as I type this, the 2025 Major League Baseball season is underway! The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs are battling in the opening game of the Tokyo Series, fittingly with Japanese pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga on the mound. After 10 MLB seasons as an outfielder, Joey Gallo is attempting to convert to pitching.

🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: it is the penultimate meeting between the Marlins (probable starter RHP Connor Gillispie) and St. Louis Cardinals (RHP Miles Mikolas). Gillispie has retired 23 of the 25 batters he's faced in the Grapefruit League. It'll be televised locally on FanDuel Sports Florida at 1:05 p.m.

Marlins podcast episodes

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the New York Mets.

Starting Lineup

LF Dane Myers

RF Kyle Stowers (L)

DH Connor Norby

1B Matt Mervis (L)

CF Derek Hill

3B Eric Wagaman

C Nick Fortes

SS Javier Sanoja

2B Ronny Simon (S)

P Ryan Weathers

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

3B Connor Norby

RF Griffin Conine (L)

1B Jonah Bride

DH Matt Mervis (L)

C Liam Hicks (L)

2B Otto Lopez

LF Heriberto Hernández

CF Albert Almora Jr.

P Cal Quantrill

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the Houston Astros.

Starting Lineup

CF Kyle Stowers

DH Dane Myers

LF Derek Hill

1B Eric Wagaman

3B Graham Pauley

C Nick Fortes

2B Otto Lopez

RF Albert Almora Jr.

SS Javier Sanoja

P Sandy Alcantara

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

C Liam Hicks (L)

DH Connor Norby

CF Dane Myers

RF Griffin Conine (L)

3B Jonah Bride

1B Matt Mervis (L)

LF Heriberto Hernández

2B Ronny Simon (S)

P Max Meyer

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Today's news roundup also includes the finalized Marlins Spring Breakout roster, which differs significantly from what was originally announced.

Miami Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera had some control issues during Thursday's start, as illustrated below. Only two of his 12 pitches found the strike zone as he exited the game without recording a single out.

Turns out that Cabrera had a blister on his middle finger. That should sound familiar—several regular season starts during his career have been abbreviated for the same reason. However, the timing of this one is particularly damaging. The 26-year-old hasn't been stretched out beyond two innings in any spring training outing and now he'll have to refrain from throwing until the blister fully heals.

With Opening Day only 13 days away and the fifth spot in the Marlins rotation due up in 17 days, there isn't sufficient time for Cabrera to get ready. It is going to be the fourth time in the last five years that he has been injured entering a new baseball season (his 2024 malady was a right shoulder impingement, for example).

I'd expect Connor Gillispie and Valente Bellozo to be the primary candidates to fill Cabrera's starting rotation spot on a short-term basis.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Speaking of frustrating setbacks, former first-round draft pick PJ Morlando underwent an ulnar nerve transposition on his left elbow on Thursday. The surgery is expected to sideline him for 8-10 weeks. Morlando's first professional season was cut short by a back injury. By the time Fish On First's 19th-ranked prospect returns to the field, he'll be 20 years old with only one pro plate appearance under his belt.

🔷 Fellow Top 30 prospects Adam Mazur (#11), Dax Fulton (#14), Victor Mesa Jr. (#17) and Aiden May (#27) have also been removed from Miami's Spring Breakout roster. Only Mesa (hamstring) has a known injury, but we'll get clarification on the others shortly. The replacements for them are Abrahan Ramírez, Nathan Martorella, Jacob Miller, Jesse Bergin and Will Schomberg.

🔷 The Marlins are assembling a practice squad of former collegiate and pro players to be based in Jupiter and compete against their Low-A affiliate during the 2025 season. The compensation is $150 per day for five-hour sessions that would take place leading up to the start of Hammerheads home games. Another selling point: the Marlins describe it as a stepping stone to future playing/coaching opportunities.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that they "cannot move forward" with plans to build a new ballpark that would replace Tropicana Field. Jeff McNeil is expected to miss 3-4 weeks with an oblique strain. McNeil joins catcher Francisco Alvarez, left-hander Sean Manaea and right-hander Frankie Montas as notable veterans who won't be available for the New York Mets when they face the Marlins for the first time from March 31-April 2.

🔷 First pitch of the Spring Breakout exhibition between the Marlins (probable starter LHP Thomas White) and St. Louis Cardinals (LHP Quinn Mathews) will be at 12:10 p.m. It's scheduled to go nine innings, a refreshing change after last year's was only seven. The Cardinals-produced television broadcast is being carried locally on FanDuel Sports Network Florida.

🔷 The Grapefruit League game between the Marlins (RHP Max Meyer) and Boston Red Sox (RHP Richard Fitts) will follow at 4:10 p.m.

Marlins podcast episodes

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the Houston Astros.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

CF Jesús Sánchez (L)

1B Jonah Bride

LF Kyle Stowers (L)

3B Connor Norby

RF Derek Hill

DH Eric Wagaman

C Nick Fortes

2B Otto Lopez

P Edward Cabrera

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

C Nick Fortes

RF Jesús Sánchez (L)

CF Dane Myers

3B Jonah Bride

LF Griffin Conine (L)

2B Otto Lopez

1B Matt Mervis (L)

DH Joe Mack

P Ryan Weathers

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Today's news roundup also includes a new loanDepot park concession item for the 2025 season.

The Miami Marlins parted ways with chief commercial officer David Oxfeld, according to Fish On First's Isaac Azout. Oxfeld had been promoted to the position in November 2022 after previously serving as head of partnership development and strategy. He joined the organization originally at the start of the Bruce Sherman/Derek Jeter era in November 2017.

Marlins Opening Day is 14 days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 It's already slightly outdated following the Oxfeld news, but you can browse the 2025 Marlins media guide as well as those from the previous 15 seasons here.

🔷 In the aftermath of Troy Johnston being reassigned to minor league camp, I wrote about the trend of recent Marlins Player of the Year award winners accomplishing next to nothing in the majors.

🔷 Watch the replay of Wednesday's Fish On First LIVE episode, bantering about Marlins roster battles/roles, previewing Friday's Spring Breakout game and more.

🔷 loanDepot park is adding pull-apart sliders to the gameday menu this season, per cllct's Darren Rovell. There is an annual taste test of new concessions at the ballpark prior to Opening Day, so we'll have an FOF staffer deliver a first-hand report, but based on Rovell's description, I'd probably love these.

🔷 Happy belated birthday to Max Meyer, who turned 26 on Wednesday. With an uptick in fastball velocity and a new sweeper in his pitch mix, the former first-round draft pick is poised to have a significantly better season than he did in 2024.

🔷 As SuperSub Loud Miami Fan remains hospitalized due to cystic fibrosis complications, it was heartening to see the Marlins deliver a care package to him, including a "get well soon" card signed by most members of the team.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the 2025 MLB trade deadline has been set for 6:00 p.m. ET on July 31. Most teams are off that day, including the Marlins, so there won't be a repeat of last year's fiasco when Miami traded away seven big leaguers on deadline day and didn't even have time to make corresponding moves for all of them prior to that evening's game (they played with a 25-man active roster). The Los Angeles Dodgers signed manager Dave Roberts to a four-year contract extension that establishes a new record at the position for average annual salary.

🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Edward Cabrera) host the Houston Astros (RHP Ronel Blanco). Cabrera could really use a decent outing after surrendering a ton of loud contact in his previous spring training starts. It is only being broadcasted on the Marlins Radio Network. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.

Marlins podcast episodes

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The Marlins offense has been surprisingly solid this season despite constant lineup adjustments.

It's generally a bad sign when your team has something in common with the Chicago White Sox. Well, the Miami Marlins do.

Entering Sunday, these are the only two MLB teams that have yet to repeat a batting order during the 2025 season. In the 26 games that the Marlins have played, they have deployed 26 different lineup configurations, making daily changes to the position players they're using, how they're sequenced one through nine in the order, or both.

Here are all 26, courtesy of Baseball-Reference:

This isn't specifically a Clayton McCullough thing, a Peter Bendix thing or an example of analytics going too far. The 2023 Marlins, who were managed by Skip Schumaker and overseen by Kim Ng, used 151 different batting orders. The single-season franchise record was set in 2022—Don Mattingly used 154 combinations during the final year of his managerial tenure. Prior to the implementation of the universal designated hitter, Marlins batting orders almost always included a starting pitcher in the No. 9 spot. That new rule has unlocked more plausible batting order permutations.

Kyle Stowers and Dane Myers have been the ultimate batting order nomads, making starts in six different spots through the first month of the season.

So far in 2025, the availability of key players has been the main driver of the incessant lineup shake-ups. The Marlins entered the season with Connor Norby and Jesús Sánchez sidelined by oblique strains, both of whom they had planned to start the vast majority of the time. Platoons were prevalent at third base and in the outfield during their absences. A few days before Norby and Sánchez were reinstated from the injured list, primary catcher Nick Fortes went down, coincidentally with the same diagnosis.

It's still surprising that the streak of unique batting orders has lasted this long considering the stability at the top with Xavier Edwards occupying the leadoff spot every single game. In addition to Stowers, Norby, Sánchez and Edwards, Otto Lopez is a platoon-proof regular. Recently recalled Agustín Ramírez seems to be on his way to joining them. There are only so many ways to shuffle the deck when most of the names are constants.

While the White Sox own MLB's lowest OPS and rank near the bottom of most other offensive categories, the Marlins have defied projections to be respectable at the plate. Their offense is just a smidge below league average in terms of wRC+, on pace to be the franchise's best since 2017.

A Marlins batting order I hope will be reused in the near future was the one that debuted on April 22:

What has been your favorite batting order of the season?

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With Twitter malfunctioning for the last few hours, a reminded that FOF also has a BlueSky account you could follow! https://bsky.app/profile/fishonfirst.com

On 3/9/2025 at 12:08 AM, Chad Turner said:

With Curry starting tomorrow, It lines him up to be our 5th starter.  Bellozo also could line up there.  I guess we will know more Monday with the SS game.  I'm assuming Quantrill must have an issue, or he would be starting tomorrow.  Can we get a report on this?  

Quantrill starting tonight (right after Sandy). Unless a real injury concern arises, the rotation is lined up as:

1. Sandy
2. Quantrill
3. Weathers
4. Cabrera
5. Meyer

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins games.

Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs.

It's a split-squad day. These notes apply to both Miami's home and road exhibition games against the Washington Nationals.

Game 1 Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

C Nick Fortes

CF Jesús Sánchez (L)

3B Jonah Bride

LF Dane Myers

RF Griffin Conine (L)

1B Matt Mervis (L)

DH Agustín Ramírez

2B Javier Sanoja

P Sandy Alcantara

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Marlins fans can now support Fish On First by repping our apparel and accessories.

In collaboration with Miami's own About The Fans, Fish On First has entered the merchandise game! We are now creating apparel and accessories for the FOF brand as well as products inspired by Marlins players and history. For a limited time, everybody can save 10% off their orders by entering discount code FOF10 at checkout.

We will be exploring ways to embed products directly on fishonfirst.com so that you can browse and shop on this site. In the meantime, please visit the collection here.

Currently, shipping is only available to customers in the United States.

We will be expanding the collection when inspiration strikes throughout the 2025 Marlins season. Don't be shy about submitting your own merch ideas in the comments—we'll do our best to bring those to life.

About The Fans also sells products inspired by the Miami Hurricanes, Miami Heat and Florida Panthers, for those of you who root for them as well.

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Today's news roundup also includes a special Fish On First announcement and clarity on the Marlins' projected starting rotation.

Sunday's game marked the midpoint of the Miami Marlins preseason schedule—they have played 15 exhibition games and have 15 more to go (14 in the Grapefruit League plus one against the New York Yankees at loanDepot park). The brightest of bright spots has been Sandy Alcantara looking dominant coming off Tommy John surgery. Catcher Joe Mack stands out as the most impressive non-roster invitee, especially when adjusting for his age (22) and lack of Triple-A experience.

For entertainment purposes only, the results have been ugly. The Marlins own the Grapefruit League's worst record (4-8-3) with their opponents racking up nearly twice as home runs and stolen bases as they have for themselves.

Marlins Opening Day is 17 days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Fish On First merchandise has arrived. We've partnered with About The Fans to make it easier for you to rep the FOF brand in public and find unique, Marlins-inspired products. Orders placed today should arrive in time for Opening Day.

🔷 Most of the players without MLB experience were trimmed from Marlins big league camp over the weekend, even those who had been looking good in Grapefruit League action like Max Acosta, Dax Fulton and Jared Serna. Regarding members of the 40-man roster, Fulton and Serna were optioned to Double-A Pensacola, while Acosta, Luarbert Arias, Deyvison De Los Santos and Adam Mazur went down to Triple-A Jacksonville. The plan is for those players to report to the aforementioned affiliates when the season begins, though the team is allowed to change course if something unexpected happens between now and the end of camp.

🔷 Sandy Alcantara himself, manager Clayton McCullough and pitching coach Daniel Moskos have all disputed a report from ESPN's Jeff Passan that describes Alcantara being on an innings limit, "particularly early in the season." Also in his latest interview with the Marlins Radio Network (embedded below), McCullough was refreshingly straightforward about Max Meyer being in "a great spot" to fill out the club's starting rotation (joining Alcantara, Cal Quantrill, Ryan Weathers and Edward Cabrera). Barring an injury to another starter, Valente Bellozo seems to be on the outside looking in.

🔷 Matt Mervis spoke to the Miami Herald's Jordan McPherson about trying to shake the "bad habits" that contributed to his 2024 struggles. Marlins hitting coaches have worked with him on "getting his back hip in a proper position."

🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com describes how the Marlins are using Trajekt to prepare their hitters to face specific pitchers. According to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, 19 other MLB teams already had Trajekt as of midway through last season, so this is simply catching up to the competition. Gonzalez reports that Trajekt costs approximately $15,000 a month. In addition to the machine that just arrived in Jupiter, a second one is being installed at loanDepot park.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, a doctor has advised New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole to undergo Tommy John surgery, though he is seeking a second opinion before making a decision. Either way, Cole will be out for an extended period (he missed nearly half of the 2024 season with an elbow injury). Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Michael Grove needs season-ending labrum surgery. New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez is undergoing surgery for a fractured left hamate bone, which will sideline him for 6-8 weeks.

🔷 Today's Grapefruit League games: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Sandy Alcantara) host the Washington Nationals (LHP Mitchell Parker) at 1:10 p.m. and another group of Fish (RHP Cal Quantrill) will visit another group of Nats (LHP Shinnosuke Ogasawara) at 6:05 p.m. Nick Fortes, who hasn't appeared since Wednesday due to a groin contusion, is expected to start one of the games.

Marlins podcast episodes

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the Houston Astros.

Starting Lineup

RF Kyle Stowers (L)

3B Connor Norby

CF Derek Hill

1B Eric Wagaman

C Liam Hicks (L)

LF Heriberto Hernández

SS Javier Sanoja

DH Albert Almora Jr.

2B Ronny Simon (S)

P Xzavion Curry

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the New York Mets.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

2B Otto Lopez

1B Jonah Bride

RF Jesús Sánchez (L)

CF Dane Myers

LF Griffin Conine (L)

C Agustín Ramírez

DH Matt Mervis (L)

3B Graham Pauley (L)

P Max Meyer

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.

Starting Lineup

CF Kyle Stowers (L)

RF Derek Hill

3B Connor Norby

DH Graham Pauley (L)

1B Eric Wagaman

LF Albert Almora Jr.

2B Javier Sanoja

SS Max Acosta

C Rob Brantly

P Edward Cabrera

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Today's news roundup also includes a lopsided Marlins spring training loss.

Friday's Grapefruit League game was record-setting in the worst way for the Miami Marlins. Comprehensive spring training stats are available dating back to 2006 and this is the only instance where they've allowed 20 runs in a single exhibition game. Starter Edward Cabrera faced 13 batters and retired only five of them. The Boston Red Sox scored in each of the eight innings that they batted, homering six total times. 

Marlins Opening Day is 19 days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Alex Carver's overview of the Marlins' Spring Breakout roster highlights Thomas White, Starlyn Caba, Andrew Salas, Noble Meyer, Robby Snelling, Dillon Head and Dax Fulton. The only prospects repeating as participants from the inaugural 2024 showcase are White, Meyer, Joe Mack, Andrés Valor, Javier Sanoja, Karson Milbrandt and Kemp Alderman.

🔷 For the second straight year, Fish On First's Kevin Barral participated in Effectively Wild's season preview series. His interview with Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley about the state of the Marlins is embedded below (begins at the 1:35:27 mark).

🔷 The Marlins are 16th in MLB Pipeline's preseason farm system rankings. They had been 29th at this time a year ago.

🔷 Following the news of Jessica Blaylock's departure last month, Jeremy Taché announced that he'll be an in-game reporter on FanDuel Sports Network Florida Marlins broadcasts this season. Taché has done the same assignment for occasional Miami Heat home games on the network. His history covering the Marlins dates back to Swings and Mishes, the podcast he co-hosted with Craig Mish in the late 2010s and early 2020s. He will split the reporter reps with Kelly Saco.

🔷 Happy birthday to Dane Myers. Health permitting, the pitcher-turned-outfielder is set to make the Opening Day roster for the first time in his career at the age of 29.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Lawrence Butler and the Athletics agreed to a seven-year, $65.5 million contract extension that includes a club option for the eighth year. Butler broke out as one of MLB's best offensive players during the second half of last season. After missing half of the 2024 campaign due to a right elbow injury, New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is set to undergo an MRI on the same elbow. Brazil clinched the final spot in the 2026 World Baseball Classic field, the country's first WBC berth since 2013.

🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Max Meyer) host the New York Mets (LHP David Peterson). It is only being broadcasted on the Marlins Radio Network. It'll be the latest scheduled start time of spring training with a 6:40 p.m. first pitch. Meyer's sitdown with Jack McMullen and Stephen Strom discussing his offseason gains is embedded below.

Marlins podcast episodes

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the Atlanta Braves.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

CF Jesús Sánchez (L)

3B Jonah Bride

1B Matt Mervis (L)

LF Griffin Conine (L)

RF Dane Myers

C Liam Hicks (L)

2B Otto Lopez

DH Heriberto Hernández

P Ryan Weathers

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The video game's ratings are supposed to reflect "real life." Whoops!

It is admittedly going to be difficult to anticipate what sort of production most Miami Marlins players will provide this season given their brief MLB track records. The obvious exception, of course, is Sandy Alcantara. The last time he was healthy for a full season, Alcantara was the league's most productive pitcher. This spring, he has reverted to Cy Young-caliber form and he's still in the prime of his baseball career at age 29. He is unequivocally the club's best player.

Alcantara's character in MLB The Show 25 will not reflect that, though. As revealed on Wednesday in anticipation of the game's release later this month, he'll begin the 2025 season with only a 78 player rating (the maximum is 99).

Fans took to social media to express their disapproval. So did fellow MLB players like Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards.

The top-rated Marlin in MLBTS is Alcantara's protégé, Eury Pérez, at 81. Injured left-hander Braxton Garrett is tied with Alcantara as a 78. Otto Lopez (77) and Griffin Conine (76) lead the position player group.

At the start of the ratings reveal special, senior live game designer Ruairí McCann was asked about the methodology behind the ratings and said this:

"We're looking at a lot of stats. We're looking at a lot of analytics, a lot of data, and put it all together, it gets all the attributes you have on a player. Any attribute you look at, you can go to a stat, some metric, and it really does give you a one-to-one. That's our goal: always putting the one-to-one, our game to real life."

However, McCann later shared that there is also some subjectivity involved. While discussing somebody else who's coming back from an injury (Matt McLain of the Cincinnati Reds), he said that ratings drop whenever a player misses the whole previous season. Looking back at MLBTS 24, Pérez was an 89 overall and Alcantara was an 83. Both of them were sidelined throughout 2024 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. If the game had simply left those ratings unchanged, I bet there'd be much less public backlash.

From both a run prevention and peripheral standpoint, Garrett was slightly better than Alcantara when they were last rotation mates on the 2023 Marlins. Still, it's hard to rationalize how they currently share the same overall rating when Garrett's upside is so much lower and he's coming off an injury-marred season of his own.

During the past year, Conine has ascended from organizational afterthought to likely member of the Opening Day roster. In a late-season, 30-game sample in the majors, the powerful outfielder was an above-average hitter and an above-average defender. Easy to root for considering his father is a two-time World Series winner with this franchise and part of the inaugural Marlins Legend Hall of Fame class.

With all due respect to Conine, the juxtaposition of his overall rating being only two points lower than Alcantara's is embarrassing. He accumulated 0.7 bWAR during his initial cup of coffee, which would merit this rating if you could confidently extrapolate that over the course of a full year. Realistically, the chances of him overcoming his well-documented contact issues to maintain that pace are remote.

If I was in charge of MLBTS ratings, this is how I'd rank the top five Marlins:

1. Sandy Alcantara
2. Eury Pérez
3. Xavier Edwards
4. Ryan Weathers
5. Jesús Sánchez

Let me know if you like that better than what the game designers came up with.

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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.

These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the Washington Nationals.

Starting Lineup

SS Xavier Edwards (S)

RF Griffin Conine (L)

CF Derek Hill

3B Connor Norby

LF Kyle Stowers (L)

C Nick Fortes

2B Otto Lopez

1B Graham Pauley (L)

DH Eric Wagaman

P Sandy Alcantara

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