Ely Sussman

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 readers. These notes apply to the first game of Miami's road series against the Chicago Cubs. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) RF Jesús Sánchez (L) DH Agustín Ramírez LF Kyle Stowers (L) 1B Matt Mervis (L) 2B Ronny Simon (S) CF Derek Hill C Liam Hicks (L) 3B Graham Pauley P Cal Quantrill Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below) View full article

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 readers. These notes apply to the third and final game of Miami's road series against the Chicago White Sox. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) RF Jesús Sánchez (L) DH Agustín Ramírez LF Eric Wagaman CF Kyle Stowers (L) 3B Connor Norby 1B Matt Mervis (L) C Nick Fortes 2B Javier Sanoja P Sandy Alcantara Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below) View full article

This Miami Marlins season is about development, as president of baseball operations Peter Bendix referenced multiple times in his new interview with MLB.com's Christina De Nicola. Hamstrung by the lowest player payroll in Major League Baseball entering 2025, Bendix was quiet last winter coming off an 100-loss campaign. The Marlins' belief in their internal options was genuine, but they did not feign interest in chasing victories. Their Opening Day roster was the youngest in the league, rife with players who hadn't experienced a full-length MLB season before. Throughout much of the first half, the Marlins' results were unsurprisingly awful. They made it deep into June without having swept a single series. They briefly owned the National League's second-worst record, leading only the historically inept Colorado Rockies. Even the most optimistic Marlins fans were counting down the days until the MLB trade deadline when veterans could be flipped to better position themselves to be competitive in 2026. Then came an exhilarating road trip and a win streak with no precedent in the franchise's history. Miami's overall body of work is still mediocre, but the same could have been said of last year's Detroit Tigers just past the midpoint of the regular season schedule. Through the first 82 games of their respective seasons: 2024 Tigers: 37-45 record, minus-22 run differential, 8.0 games back of final AL wild-card spot 2025 Marlins: 37-45 record, minus-74 run differential, 8.5 games back of final NL wild-card spot FanGraphs had almost given up on the Tigers. Multiple times in early August, their estimated playoff odds bottomed out at 0.2%. The demise of the Marlins looked even more definitive. They spent most of June with 0.0% playoff odds. Detroit leadership determined that they didn't have sufficient offensive firepower to pursue an October berth. The Tigers entered the trade deadline with the 23rd-ranked wRC+ in MLB. They made four deals that week, shipping off Jack Flaherty, Andrew Chafin, Mark Canha and Carson Kelly. None of the seven players they received in return had big league experience. Over the next month, Bendix and Co. will likely come to the same sobering conclusion about their ballclub and behave accordingly, except they'll point to pitching as the issue. Entering Monday, the Fish have a 4.37 FIP which ranks—you guessed it—23rd in MLB. The staff's strike-throwing has gradually improved, but it is still hard to imagine a fiery finish to the season given their lack of swing-and-miss. Moving prospects for immediate reinforcements on that front would be irresponsible. On the contrary, it's been widely reported that the Marlins are open to discussing trades involving longtime ace Sandy Alcantara and former top prospect Edward Cabrera. Handicapped by their own front office, how did the 2024 Tigers rally to 86-76, make it into the postseason, upset the Houston Astros in the first round and come within a game of reaching the ALCS? Well, it helped to have one of the best pitchers on the planet, Tarik Skubal. The eventual AL Cy Young award winner was elite and durable from the team's 83rd game onward (2.46 ERA and 2.28 FIP in 95.0 IP). Once the Tigers punched their ticket to October, Skubal led them to shutout victories in each of his first two career playoff starts. Tyler Holton was also indispensable during that same stretch (0.68 ERA and 2.44 FIP in 52.2 IP), contributing as both an opener and high-leverage reliever. The Tigers offense ticked up, but only marginally. Parker Meadows established himself as their everyday center fielder, combining plus defense with a .299/.344/.513 slash line over his final 50 games of the season. Colt Keith had Detroit's second-highest second-half fWAR on the position player side, shaking off an atrocious beginning to his MLB career. Based on current FanGraphs projections, 86 wins could be Miami's magic number, too. Shocking the world starts with holding onto Alcantara through season's end. Even if the quality of his pitching continues to pale in comparison to his pre-surgery norms, it's critical that he eats enough innings to keep the bullpen fresh. The boost in quality would have to come largely from Ryan Weathers—eligible to return from a lat strain in mid-August—and Eury Pérez, who was recently reincorporated into the rotation. A deep lineup deserves most of the credit for the Marlins' seven-game win streak and their significant improvement from last season, but let's not lazily assume that their hitters will continue to overachieve to this degree. The club's .307 batting average on balls in play is second-highest in the big leagues. The Fish have clustered their hits effectively, performing way better with runners in scoring position than they do with the bases empty. Regression could be coming. Frankly, I do not see a winning record being attainable, much less a Tigers-like surge to 10 games over .500. However, the similarities between the teams at this particular juncture of their seasons are interesting, nonetheless. View full article

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 readers. These notes apply to the second game of Miami's road series against the Chicago White Sox. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) RF Jesús Sánchez (L) 1B Eric Wagaman C Agustín Ramírez LF Kyle Stowers (L) 3B Connor Norby DH Ronny Simon CF Dane Myers 2B Javier Sanoja P Edward Cabrera Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below) View full article

Ramírez has wasted no time establishing himself as a fearsome run producer in the heart of the Marlins lineup, while preseason award favorite Roki Sasaki continues to struggle with his control. It's been 12 years since a Miami Marlins player last won National League Rookie of the Year, the longest drought in franchise history. With nearly a quarter of the 2025 season in the books, the "Gus Bus" is in the driver's seat. Marlins catcher/designated hitter Agustín Ramírez has as good a chance as any candidate of taking home the hardware. Ramírez immediately captured the baseball world's attention—he posted eye-popping numbers during his debut week. After a brief lull, he's raking once again. Through 15 MLB games entering Saturday, the 23-year-old is slashing .276/.312/.621 with a 151 wRC+, which leads the entire NL rookie class. He has the most extra-base hits on the Marlins (12) despite appearing in barely 40% of their total games played. It isn't outrageous to project Ramírez to continue being a great offensive player. He is doubtful to slug like peak Giancarlo Stanton all season, but he's capable of reaching base more frequently. Consistently spraying sharp line drives to left and center field, his expected batting average is .307, according to Baseball Savant, 31 points higher than his actual BA has been so far. More balls will find grass if he maintains this quality of contact. His walk rate should rise as well as opponents recognize the damage he's capable of doing and throw him fewer pitches in the strike zone. Opportunity is a huge piece of the NL ROY equation and Ramírez has that in Miami. Although the Marlins currently have three mouths to feed at the catcher position, he's still getting in the lineup on a near-daily basis. Ramírez has started 14 of 16 games since debuting, averaging 3.81 plate appearances per team game during that span. Staying on that pace through season's end would give him just enough playing time to become a "qualified" hitter (min. 502 PA). That would make his stats even more accessible to voters who may not be keeping on a close eye on the last-place Fish. Ultimately, award cases are all relative to the other candidates. Ramírez has the fortune of sticking out in an extremely underwhelming field. Signed as an international free agent last offseason, Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki was viewed as a potentially dominant MLB starter from the get-go. However, his fastball quality has been much less remarkable than advertised and his control is simply bad (nearly as many walks as strikeouts). Through eight starts, Sasaki owns a 4.72 ERA, 6.17 FIP and -0.3 fWAR. After getting his feet wet in the majors last August/September, Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews entered 2025 as a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport, but like Sasaki, he's been a sub-replacement-level player. Crews is contributing very little outside of baserunning with a .183/.236/.305 slash line (52 wRC+). The former second overall draft pick has been unlucky on batted balls, plus he will have a playing time advantage over Ramírez barring significant injury or a minor league demotion. Still, Crews has dug a significant hole for himself through 36 games. There is still time for new challengers to emerge. Over the past decade (excluding the COVID-shortened season), four players have gone on to win AL/NL ROY while debuting on May 10 or later: Carlos Correa (2015, AL); Yordan Alvarez (2019, AL); Michael Harris II (2022, NL) and Paul Skenes (2024, NL). Conveniently, this article is going up on the day of Cade Horton's debut. He could be a fixture in the Chicago Cubs rotation moving forward. No Marlin has ever won NL ROY unanimously. Don't expect Ramírez to change that. He will be dinged for his choppy defense behind the plate and DH assignments. All things considered, though, I like his odds more than anybody else's. View full article

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 readers. These notes apply to the first game of Miami's road series against the Chicago White Sox. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) RF Jesús Sánchez (L) 1B Eric Wagaman C Agustín Ramírez LF Kyle Stowers (L) 3B Connor Norby DH Liam Hicks (L) CF Dane Myers 2B Javier Sanoja P Max Meyer Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below) View full article

The team's "every decent player will be traded" stigma will take a while to shake off, and deservedly so. I'll just point out that last year was Bendix's first year in charge. He was hired to reset the organization from the ground up and he implemented changes quickly. I doubt we see that kind of trade frenzy from him again.

Today's news roundup also includes the first MLB managerial change of 2025, and it involves a former Marlin. Miami Marlins left-hander Ryan Weathers looks fully rehabilitated from the left flexor muscle strain that sidelined him for the first six weeks of the regular season. Weathers worked five hyper-efficient scoreless innings in a rehab start for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Thursday. The only three baserunners who reached against him did so on innocuous ground balls (infield single, grounder up the middle and a fielding error). As was the case in spring training, Weathers' fastball velocity is higher than it's been in previous years. He topped out at 99.2 mph on Thursday; for context, his MLB career-high velo is 98.4 mph. With a six-game Marlins road trip commencing, rotation stopgap Valente Bellozo is lined up to pitch the fifth game (Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs). The likeliest scenario, in my opinion, is that Bellozo starts on Tuesday and Weathers gets reinstated to pitch Wednesday's game, with Bellozo being optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 3-1. In addition to Weathers, Derek Hill took another significant step toward returning to the Marlins by ripping a two-run single, drawing two walks and playing seven innings in center field. Seth Martinez picked up the save and extended his season-long scoreless streak to 10 ⅓ innings. Double-A Pensacola got swept in a doubleheader, 10-0 and 5-2. Forgettable performance by Robby Snelling (2.0 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 72 pitches/40 strikes). High-A Beloit won, 14-5. Ryan Ignoffo hit two grand slams! Ignoffo has 31 RBI in 25 games this season, easily leading the Marlins organization in that category. Low-A Jupiter lost, 4-2. FCL Marlins won, 4-2. Woo-Suk Go (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) began a rehab assignment after fracturing his index finger in spring training. Dameivi Tineo, who missed the last two seasons following Tommy John surgery, pitched three innings in relief. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 While there is no statistical significance over such a small sample, I was amused to find that Marlins pitchers have thrived when paired with Nick Fortes and struggled mightily with any other Marlins catcher. 🔷 Fish On First LIVE aired on Thursday's off day. You can rewatch the full episode and submit your series predictions here. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton and elevated bench coach Don Kelly to be their interim skipper. Kelly joins Aaron Boone, Craig Counsell and Mark Kotsay as former Marlins players who currently hold MLB managerial gigs. The Kansas City Royals are surging with wins in 15 of their last 17 games. The Colorado Rockies remain on pace for a historically non-competitive season, dropping to 6-31 after being outscored by the Detroit Tigers 21-3 in a doubleheader sweep. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Max Meyer) begin their series against the Chicago White Sox (RHP Bryse Wilson). Meyer is eager to rebound from his last start where he surrendered five earned runs and recorded zero strikeouts. The Marlins have a 54.1% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:40 p.m. ET. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Syracuse, 7:05 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Biloxi, 7:35 p.m. ET High-A Beloit vs. Cedar Rapids, 7:05 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter at Palm Beach, 6:30 p.m. ET FCL Marlins vs. FCL Cardinals, 12:00 p.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Admit it: the 2023 Miami Marlins season felt fluky, even in the moment. Fast-forward two years later, most of the players from that team have experienced regression or injuries (or both). Ely Sussman checks in on how things have changed. View full video

Today's news roundup also includes the backstory of how a pitcher battled cancer during his brief tenure in the Marlins organization. I wrote about this last August, but it's worth reiterating and updating. Variety is fun in terms of styles and statistics, and nobody embodies that quite like Miami Marlins right-hander Valente Bellozo. Going by run prevention and volume of work, Bellozo has been practically a carbon copy of Ryan Weathers over the last two seasons. He has unquestionably helped the Marlins win games, or at least keep games competitive. And yet, the Marlins continue to keep him on a short leash and limit his major league opportunities altogether. I understand both sides. No MLB starting pitcher since 2024 (min. 80 IP) has been luckier than Bellozo in terms of their ERA-to-FIP differential. He does not have anything in his toolbox for inducing ground balls. This one floored me: Bellozo ranks dead last among starters in first-pitch strike rate (54.2%). On the other hand, Bellozo made tangible improvements entering this season that were on full display during Wednesday's scoreless outing. His average four-seam fastball velocity (92.1 mph) was a full tick higher than any previous MLB start of his career. His new kick-change is getting a 62.5 whiff% in 2025. The contact against him has been much softer than last year (96th percentile hard-hit rate allowed). All things considered, it is hard to believe Bellozo is being deprived of a steady role on a Marlins pitching staff that has allowed the most runs in the majors. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 6-5. Derek Hill began his rehab assignment with an 0-for-4 day as the Jumbo Shrimp designated hitter. Maximo Acosta has just one extra-base hit over his last 15 games. High-A Beloit lost, 6-5. Very discouraging outing for Noble Meyer (2.1 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 4 HBP, 69 pitches/32 strikes), whose fastball velocity uncharacteristically dipped below 90 mph in his final inning of work. Low-A Jupiter lost, 9-8. Starlyn Caba (left thumb sprain) was transferred to the 60-day IL. He won't be eligible for reinstatement until June 21 at the earliest. FCL Marlins won, 6-5. Grant Shepardson retired nine of the 10 batters he faced in his pro debut (3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K). More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Fish On First spoke with Kyle Stowers about being named NL Player of the Week. 🔷 On this day in 2000, the Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves when John Rocker balked in the winning run. 🔷 Shortly after being selected by the Marlins in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, Nic Enright was diagnosed with cancer. Great read from Zack Meisel of The Athletic about how Enright persevered with his baseball career while undergoing treatment. The right-handed reliever is once again on the cusp of reaching the big leagues, occupying a spot on the Cleveland Guardians 40-man roster and having posted an 0.82 ERA at Triple-A since 2024. 🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first 12 series. The Dodgers series was picked perfectly by @Sean Millerick and @rurrusuno (among others). Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long! 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Dylan Cease and Hunter Greene exited their starts early due to forearm and groin injuries, respectively. Max Fried allowed one earned run in his seven-inning start, which actually raised his American League-leading ERA to 1.05. 🔷 We are doing an off-day edition of Fish On First LIVE to talk all things Marlins and preview the Chicago White Sox series 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). 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Syracuse, 7:05 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Biloxi, 6:35 p.m. ET (doubleheader) High-A Beloit vs. Cedar Rapids, 7:05 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter at Palm Beach, 6:30 p.m. ET FCL Marlins vs. FCL Cardinals, 12:00 p.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article

My expectation for him moving forward is to be a Brian Anderson type, but with a little more plate discipline. Still a lot of swing-and-miss in his game that makes it hard to see him maintaining this high batting average.

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 readers. These notes apply to the third and final game of Miami's home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) LF Kyle Stowers (L) 1B Eric Wagaman RF Jesús Sánchez (L) C Agustín Ramírez DH Matt Mervis (L) CF Dane Myers 3B Graham Pauley (L) 2B Javier Sanoja P Valente Bellozo Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below) View full article

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 readers. These notes apply to the second game of Miami's home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) LF Kyle Stowers (L) DH Agustín Ramírez RF Jesús Sánchez (L) 3B Connor Norby 1B Matt Mervis (L) CF Dane Myers 2B Javier Sanoja C Liam Hicks (L) P Cal Quantrill Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below) View full article

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 readers. These notes apply to the first game of Miami's home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) LF Kyle Stowers (L) 1B Eric Wagaman RF Jesús Sánchez (L) DH Connor Norby CF Dane Myers 3B Graham Pauley (L) C Nick Fortes 2B Javier Sanoja P Sandy Alcantara Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below) View full article