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You cannot refer to Tyler Phillips as another brilliant waiver-wire pickup. He was technically a trade acquisition. After being designated for assignment by the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of spring training, there were multiple teams interested, so the Miami Marlins had to send back cash considerations to complete the deal. But yeah, Phillips has shattered preseason expectations to stick with the Marlins throughout 2025. Initially thought to be among the weakest links on the active roster, it's now hard to envision next year's club without him. Phillips recorded his second save of the season on Sunday, retiring the side in order without allowing a ball to leave the infield. In 43 appearances, the right-hander has posted a 3.27 ERA, 4.46 FIP and .244 BAA in 63 ⅓ innings pitched. Most notably, his ground ball rate ranks in the 91st percentile among MLB qualifiers, per Baseball Savant, and that has continued to climb as the year progresses. Coincidence or not, his performance has peaked when the stakes are highest, as reflected in his pitching staff-leading win probability added. Working against Phillips, he rarely records strikeouts and doesn't have any minor league options left. However, outside of Ronny Henriquez and Anthony Bender, who else is clearly above him on the Marlins bullpen depth chart? Things are pretty unsettled with the prolonged absence of Andrew Nardi and concerns that both Declan Cronin and Jesús Tinoco could miss a portion of the 2026 season. Get used to Phillips' hijinks because he is poised to stick around for a while. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 8-3. Playing in his third and probably final rehab game, Connor Norby went 2-for-4 with a home run. Zach McCambley pitched an immaculate inning in the bottom of the third. Double-A Pensacola lost, 8-1. Emaarion Boyd was hitless (0-for-15) during his first week with the Blue Wahoos. High-A Beloit won, 5-4. The Sky Carp rallied from a 4-0 deficit, capped off by Wilfredo Lara's walk-off homer. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 I wrote about Javier Sanoja's unique and productive rookie season. Exclusively for Fish On First SuperSubs, I did the math on a hypothetical Jakob Marsee contract extension. 🔷 Luis Castillo became the fourth and final member of the inaugural Marlins Legends Hall of Fame class to be inducted. Here is his plaque. 🔷 Later today, we are expecting an update on Janson Junk's right forearm injury. Junk has not spent any time on the major league or minor league IL since 2019. 🔷 With five weeks to go in the MLB regular season, Xavier Edwards (.291) has dipped to sixth place in the National League batting title race. 🔷 The Marlins were 28th in Awful Announcing's crowdsourced rankings of local MLB television broadcasts. As somebody who has sampled every team's local broadcast at various points this season, I would've expected Kyle Sielaff, Tommy Hutton and Co. to place slightly higher. 🔷 Marlins pitching coach Daniel Moskos spoke with David Laurila of FanGraphs about the process of outfitting Ryan Gusto with a kick change. 🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first 42 series. Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long! 🔷 Cal Raleigh blasted his 48th and 49th home runs of the year, establishing a new all-time single-season record for MLB catchers. The Colorado Rockies are the first team to be mathematically eliminated from postseason contention. For the sixth time in his last 10 tries, Paul Skenes had a scoreless start. Vinnie Pasquantino has homered in six of his last seven games. Zack Wheeler will be undergoing thoracic outlet decompression surgery. Not only will it end his 2025 season, but it jeopardizes his readiness for next year. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins and Atlanta Braves begin their final head-to-head series of 2025 (probable starters RHP Edward Cabrera and RHP Spencer Strider). Strider has struggled in back-to-back-to-back outings, allowing 20 earned runs on seven homers in his last 11 ⅔ innings pitched. The Marlins have a 44.3% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. ET. 🔷 Prior to the series opener, Fish On First LIVE will preview it all beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. FOF LIVE is presented by About The Fans. Check out our new merchandise collection (coupon code fof10 for 10% off). Marlins podcast episodes

This Miami Marlins team is not quite good enough to be playing meaningful games throughout September, but a lot of the individual pieces look like long-term contributors, and that makes this 2025 season an important step in the right direction. It was a quiet trade deadline for the Fish and it could be a quiet winter as well because of how much young talent is already in place. The key question is which players are worth truly building around and inking to contract extensions that go beyond the standard six years of club control. The franchise's top priority should be extending Eury Pérez. In a full year's worth of starts at the major league level, he has posted an earned run average that's 39% better than the league average while being the youngest of all MLB starters during that span. Gifted with a unique physical build and arguably the nastiest pitch in baseball (his four-seam fastball), Pérez has the upside to be generational. But he is on track to reach free agency at age 26, which means the Marlins could miss out on several of the most valuable seasons of his career if they don't act quickly. The complication is, Pérez would be so highly coveted on the open market, there may not be a number that Miami's front office can responsibly offer him to justify delaying his FA eligibility. Meanwhile, All-Star Kyle Stowers has unquestionably made the biggest impact on the Marlins in 2025. A minor oblique injury will dilute his final overall numbers, but he has emerged as a trustworthy, middle-of-the-order bat. Stowers is under control through age 31 and no longer plays a premium defensive position on a regular basis. His MLB track record is also uneven, including sub-replacement-level performance last season. As much as fans want the Fish to express their gratitude to him in the form of a multi-year deal, the urgency to do so isn't really there. In a microscopic sample of 89 plate appearances, Jakob Marsee is looking like the ideal extension candidate. Marsee's well-rounded skill set has propelled him to a historically good first month in the majors. Also, he's represented by an agency, Dynamic Sports Group, with a relatively low profile in the baseball world and presumably eager to change that. More so than any other Marlins player, a contract covering his pre-arb, arbitration and early free agent years could be mutually beneficial. An important caveat: I don't think Marsee will stay on this otherworldly pace through season's end. If he does—if he continues to perform like literally the best player in Major League Baseball—I have a difficult time imagining him seeking an extension. Somebody who has yet to experience one iota of adversity through two full months at the highest level of competition ought to continue betting on themselves. My homemade rest-of-season projection for Marsee clones most of his current rate stats and counting stats while assuming a drop-off in his luck on balls in play. Let's go with three fewer singles remaining than he's recorded so far, two fewer doubles and one fewer triple. Even that is very generous to Marsee. This would result in the following rookie stat line: .308/.382/.641, 8 HR, 14 SB, 11.2 BB% and 23.6 K% in 46 games. That should generate approximately 3.0 fWAR. One other thing. As I got several hours deep into this exercise, I concluded there is enough analytical and entertainment value in here to justify charging money for it. If you are already a Fish On First SuperSub, you may continue scrolling without interruption! The rest of you will soon be implored to sign up. SuperSub support is absolutely vital to our survival. Relevant Contract #1: Brandon Lowe Prior to the 2019 season, Brandon Lowe and the Tampa Bay Rays agreed on a six-year, $24 million extension with club options for 2025 and 2026. If extended now, Marsee should insist on significantly more guaranteed money than Lowe got. You may be surprised by how much they have in common.

Accompanied by his family and many of his former Marlins teammates, Luis Castillo returned to loanDepot park on Sunday to take his rightful place in the Marlins Legends Hall of Fame. Castillo's plaque reads: "Luis Antonio Castillo played for the Marlins from 1996 to 2005 and was an integral part of the 2003 World Series-winning team. Castillo is one of two players, along with Jeff Conine, to have played with the Marlins in both of their World Series-winning campaigns, although he did not appear in the 1997 postseason. A three-time National League All-Star and three-time Gold Glove recipient (2003-05), the switch-hitting infielder also led the NL in stolen bases twice (2000 and 2002). The San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, native played 10 seasons with the Marlins, and upon his induction, he ranked as the franchise leader in hits (1,273), at-bats (4,347), plate appearances (4,966), games played (1,128), singles (1,081), triples (42), walks (533), and stolen bases (281)." Castillo is part of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 2025. Jeff Conine, Jim Leyland and Jack McKeon were inducted earlier this season.

Javier Sanoja looks ridiculously young in the photo above, doesn't he? With those soft facial features and a height of 5'7", you would not believe that he's a Major League Baseball player if you ever saw him without a Miami Marlins uniform. Sanoja hasn't captured national attention at any point in 2025 like fellow Marlins rookies Jakob Marsee and Agustín Ramírez, but this feels like the appropriate time to provide some important context about his first full season in the majors. The versatile Venezuelan was the most valuable Marlins player during Saturday's extra-inning loss in terms of win probability added. Playing third base on this particular afternoon, Sanoja recorded a trio of run-scoring hits, including game-tying ones in both the ninth and 11th innings. af7c41fe-1c62a331-cc5ac5d8-csvm-diamondgcp-asset-4000K.mp4 f3484dc4-b9e9-403d-bfd7-1400e810263e.mp4 The hot corner is the position that Sanoja has played most often this season (32 games), followed by second base (28), left field (26), center field (14) and shortstop (10). He is the only player in Marlins history to make at least 10 appearances at each of those spots in a single year. He's the 13th MLB player to ever be used in such a way, per Stathead, and easily the youngest in that exclusive club. Baseball Savant's fielding run value rates Sanoja as a league-average defender overall, while defensive runs saved views him a lot more favorably (6 DRS), particularly as an infielder. Sanoja has been pretty much as advertised at the plate. His 13.3 Whiff% would rank in the 95th percentile among MLB hitters if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. His power output was always going to depend on how often he could pull his hardest-hit balls. He has checked that box, pulling 19.8% of his batted balls in the air (MLB average is 16.7%). It's gone way under the radar that Sanoja (.393 SLG) is nearly slugging at a league-average level (.404 SLG). He has really picked it up since the All-Star break, slashing .284/.324/.552 in 71 plate appearances (138 wRC+). This is Sanoja's age-22 campaign (he turns 23 on Sept. 3). He's on track to be youngest position player to spend a full season on the Marlins active roster since Giancarlo Stanton despite signing for only $90,000 as a teenager. This career progression makes him the exception to the norm because Miami's player development has a laughably bad recent history of guiding amateur talent to The Show. The only other true "homegrown" hitters to appear for the 2025 Marlins have been Nick Fortes, Troy Johnston and Victor Mesa Jr.—Sanoja has accumulated more playing time than the rest of them combined. Sanoja lacks the physical projection that is typical of a 22-year-old, making it hard to forecast how much he will improve from here. Gaining all of this experience ought to benefit him, but will it be enough to graduate to an everyday player in the coming seasons, or just equip him to be a high-end utility man? Sanoja's highest priority should be learning to run the bases. Although he looks like somebody who'd be a pesky weapon in that department, he's been inefficient at every professional level, including 4-for-9 on stolen base attempts this season. It has been encouraging to see him attempting to take extra bases at a rate 8% above average, but there's the potential for him to be even more aggressive.

Connor Norby aced his previous minor league rehab assignment in April coming back an oblique strain. Different injury this time around (left hamate surgery), but the early results look familiar. Norby singled, homered and walked while playing five innings at third base for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Thursday afternoon. Assuming a similar rehab schedule as before, expect Norby to play twice over the next three days, then rejoin the big league club in Miami. It has been a replacement-level season from Norby thus far, slashing .241/.289/.364 with six home runs and seven stolen bases in 72 MLB games. His defense at the hot corner rates as significantly below average. With Graham Pauley sidelined by an injury of his own, Norby should be starting the majority of Marlins games down the stretch to assert himself as an important piece of the franchise's future. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 4-0 and 11-4. Robby Snelling (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K, 99 pitches/61 strikes) lowered his Jumbo Shrimp ERA to 1.13. He looks unequivocally major league-ready. Cody Morissette went 3-for-3 with a walk in his first career Triple-A start. Victor Mesa Jr. drove in six runs during the latter game. Double-A Pensacola lost, 6-1. Fenwick Trimble homered to provide the only Blue Wahoos offense. High-A Beloit lost, 6-2. Watching this game closely, it was a very mixed bag for Jacob Jenkins-Cowart. He went 2-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch, but also made two outs on the bases and had a crucial misplay in right field to allow a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning. Low-A Jupiter lost, 4-1. Liomar Martínez (5.0 IP, 2 H 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 70 pitches/44 strikes) had his fifth scoreless start of the season. Esmil Valencia's 24-game on-base streak was snapped. DSL Miami defeated DSL Marlins, 3-1. It was the opening playoff game for both teams. The new Forever, Marlins blog includes daily Marlins in the Minors recaps that go into much greater detail. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 The Atlanta Braves claimed Cal Quantrill off waivers and they're plugging him into their starting rotation. The Marlins are calling up Ryan Gusto to take over his rotation spot. Quantrill is scheduled to make his Braves debut on Saturday, which means he is not lined up to pitch during next week's series at loanDepot park. 🔷 Congrats to Nate Karzmer on his Marlins Jeopardy victory over fellow Fish On First staffers Isaac Azout, Alex Krutchik and Sean McCormack. The full trivia competition is embedded below. 🔷 Janson Junk spoke with David Laurila of FanGraphs about pitch design and sharpening his command. Also on FanGraphs, Michael Baumann noticed how Jakob Marsee is pulverizing weak competition and mistake pitches. 🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first 41 series. Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long! 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers became the first MLB team to reach 80 wins. They remain comfortably on pace to post the highest winning percentage in franchise history. Aroldis Chapman completed a hidden no-hitter, having record 27 consecutive outs since he last surrendered a hit. Jesús Sánchez snapped out of an 0-for-27 slump with a 5-for-5 performance. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins begin a three-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays (probable starters RHP Ryan Gusto and RHP Shane Bieber). This will be Bieber's first start for his new club, marking his return to the majors after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2024. The Jays have drastic home/road splits—a 42-21 record in Toronto, but a 32-33 record in away games. The Marlins have a 39.4% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:10 p.m. ET. 🔷 Prior to the series opener, Fish On First LIVE will preview it all beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. FOF LIVE is presented by About The Fans. Check out our new merchandise collection (coupon code fof10 for 10% off). Marlins podcast episodes

Somewhat of a surprising twist: not only was pending free agent right-hander Cal Quantrill claimed off waivers from the Miami Marlins, but he was claimed by the Atlanta Braves, who are even further away from the National League playoff picture than the Fish are. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, who broke the news Tuesday that Quantrill had been placed on waivers, was also first to report his departure on Thursday. Quantrill made 24 starts for the Marlins this season, posting a a 5.50 ERA, 4.59 FIP and 1.39 WHIP in 109 ⅔ innings pitched. Miami attempted to trade the 30-year-old for young talent prior to last month's MLB trade deadline, but to no avail. They wind up settling for a smidge of financial relief. The Braves are taking responsibility for the approximately $734k that remains of Quantrill's $3.5 million salary. The waiver claim order is based on the reverse standings, so every team with a lower winning percentage than the 58-69 Braves passed on Quantrill. Right-hander Ryan Gusto will slide right into Quantrill's rotation spot beginning on Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, reports Fish On First's Kevin Barral. Craig Mish of FanDuel Sports Network Florida adds that Gusto is getting the opportunity to stick around for an extended period. The Marlins previously recalled Gusto to start during a doubleheader in Atlanta on August 9. He went right back down to Triple-A Jacksonville after that and struggled in his lone outing since then (3.1 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K). Overall, the rookie righty has 92 innings pitched in the majors, most of which came with the Houston Astros (4.92 ERA, 4.14 FIP and 1.43 WHIP in 86.0 IP prior to being traded). 6a84c2fb-03054b8f-74e3b16b-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Janson Junk and Eury Pérez are projected to start against the Blue Jays on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. After the Blue Jays, Quantrill and the Braves come to loanDepot park for a three-game series beginning on Monday. The Marlins now have an open spot on their 40-man spot and could easily create another when needed by transferring Anthony Bender to the 60-day injured list.

It is unclear what his specific role will be or how long his initial stint in The Show will last, but Maximo Acosta is being called up to help the Miami Marlins. That's what good teams need from their 40-man roster depth: the versatility to contribute when a need suddenly arises. Acosta began the 2025 season on a hot streak before falling off dramatically for much of April and May. But in 60 games played since Memorial Day, he's been very good (113 wRC+ with 10 HR and 14 SB). Important to note, the 22-year-old has been one of the youngest players in their entire Triple-A International League. As a reminder, the Marlins picked up Acosta from the Texas Rangers in the Jake Burger trade last offseason. It was, from what I recall, a very unpopular move in the eyes of most Miami fans considering Burger's strong finish to the 2024 campaign, his awesome reputation in the clubhouse and his status as a pre-arbitration-eligible player with four years of club control remaining. In 84 games with the Rangers, Burger is slashing .242/.275/.416 with a 90 wRC+ and 12 home runs. He has had two injured list stints (for his left oblique and left quad), drawn walks at one of the league's lowest rates and been defensively limited to first base. That down year would still constitute an upgrade over his nominal replacement, Eric Wagaman, but only a marginal one. Burger's main issue is chasing pitches outside the strike zone, an area in which the Marlins have collectively improved a lot under their new coaching staff, so maybe he would be more successful had he stayed put. It's impossible to say for sure. In addition to Burger, the Marlins received left-hander Brayan Mendoza and infielder Echedry Vargas, both of whom have spent the entire season with High-A Beloit. Mendoza has started in only four of his 19 appearances, posting a 5.45 ERA in 69 ⅓ innings pitched with a walk rate that has nearly doubled from year to year. Vargas owns a 52 wRC+, which would rank dead last in the Midwest League if he had enough plate appearances to be a qualified hitter. Needless to say, both players' stocks have dropped since joining the organization. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 6-5. Victor Mesa Jr. (3-4, 2 RBI, BB, SB) was the walk-off hero in his return from the injured list. Double-A Pensacola lost, 6-3. Ryan Ignoffo homered and he's now up to 58 RBI in 73 games played this season. High-A Beloit won, 1-0. Scoreless start for Brandon White (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 73 pitches/48 strikes). Big offensive performance by Ian Lewis (3-3, 2 SB) despite not directly contributing to any runs being scored. Lewis is slashing .400/.479/.475 with eight steals in 11 games at the High-A level. Low-A Jupiter won, 2-1. Another scoreless start for Dameivi Tineo (5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, 72 pitches/40 strikes). More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Jakob Marsee is the MLB leader in wins above replacement since debuting on August 1 with 1.6 fWAR. For some context, Jesús Sánchez has never reached 1.6 fWAR in any single season of his career! "Marsee Mania" cannot be dismissed as a stretch of good luck. No other MLB hitter comes close to his .493 expected weighted on-base average this year, which clears Aaron Judge by 41 points. 🔷 The final reporter to interview Joey Wiemer prior to his call-up? Fish On First's own Nate Karzmer, who happened to be in Jacksonville over the weekend. 🔷 MLB.com's Christina De Nicola spoke with Otto Lopez's father about his unique baseball journey. 🔷 Liam Hicks discussed what it's like to catch several of his current and former teammates with David Laurila of FanGraphs. 🔷 With six weeks to go in the MLB regular season, Xavier Edwards (.3025) has pulled ahead of Will Smith (.3022) in the National League batting title race. 🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first 40 series. Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long! 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers' 14-game winning streak was snapped. The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the San Diego Padres to regain control of the NL West. Cal Raleigh hit his 47th homer of the season, one shy of tying the all-time MLB single-season record for a catcher. Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler will be sidelined indefinitely due to a blood clot in his right shoulder. It's the most significant health issue of his six-year tenure in Philly and likely removes from National League Cy Young contention. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins begin a three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals (probable starters RHP Eury Pérez and LHP Matthew Liberatore). The Cardinals have been horrible since the All-Star break, posting a 10-18 record which ranks second-worst in the big leagues. Among their many issues during that span, the team is slugging only .366—it's as if their entire lineup was full of Eric Wagamans. The Marlins have a 52.2% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. ET. 🔷 Prior to the series opener, Fish On First LIVE will preview it all beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. FOF LIVE is presented by About The Fans. Check out our new merchandise collection (coupon code fof10 for 10% off). Marlins podcast episodes