Ely Sussman

Offishial News for 8/26/24 On Sunday, Connor Norby hit a leadoff home run and later made Marlins history after doubling in the third inning. Adam Oller pitched legitimately well (5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 95 pitches/57 strikes), solidifying his spot in the starting rotation for at least another turn. Another mental lapse by Jesús Sánchez turned an intentional walk into an out, though the mistake ultimately did not prove to be consequential. The Marlins won, 7-2, snapping their five-game losing streak. Down on the farm, the Marlins announced the call-up of OF Griffin Conine. Nearly four years to the day that he was acquired via trade, he'll make his major league debut with the franchise that his dad, Jeff, played more than 1,000 games for. Griffin is slashing .268/.350/.475 this season with 19 home runs and a 113 wRC+. Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 10-0. Missing Conine from the lineup and with scheduled starter LHP Jonathan Bermúdez being added to Miami's bullpen on short notice, the Jumbo Shrimp got routed. Double-A Pensacola lost, 9-5. LHP Chandler Jozwiak allowed a walk-off grand slam. The Blue Wahoos have lost six games in a row. High-A Beloit lost, 3-2. RHP Ike Buxton (5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 85 pitches/46 strikes) enjoyed arguably his best start of the season. Low-A Jupiter won, 6-0. INF Carter Johnson and OF Fenwick Trimble each went 3-for-4 at the plate. RHP Walin Castillo shoved (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 76 pitches/46 strikes). The DSL Marlins postseason run came to an end on Saturday. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 In a corresponding move to get Conine on the active roster, Xavier Edwards (lower back discomfort) will be placed on the 10-day injured list, according to Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Simply put, that sucks. In 47 MLB games this season, Edwards is slashing .349/.428/.436 (144 wRC+) with 22 stolen bases while serving as Miami's shortstop. Assuming the IL stint is retroactive to Saturday, he will be eligible for reinstatement at the start of the next homestand. Vidal Bruján figures to get most of the SS reps in Edwards' place. 🔷 Through 42 Marlins series, here's an updated look at the Prediction Time leaderboard. Make series predictions with us all season long when you become a Fish On First SuperSub. 🔷 MLB.com's Ben Weinrib wrote about INF Deyvison De Los Santos and his transition to a new organization. Director of player development Rachel Balkovec spoke about De Los Santos occasionally playing third base despite the skepticism that he can succeed there: “So why not add something to someone's repertoire and let them prove us wrong? It's kind of the approach that I think we'll be taking more often.” 🔷 The Marlins are accepting applications for 24 different positions as of Monday morning across their analytics, creative services, medical & clubhouse, sales, scouting and security departments. 🔷 MLB is giving away a pair of Xavier Edwards game-used batting gloves. Follow the instructions here to be entered to win. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Lake Mary Little League became the first Florida team to ever win the Little League World Series. Aaron Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season. With more than a month still to play, the White Sox lost their 100th game. Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras suffered a right middle finger fracture that threatens the rest of his season. In his ninth major league season, Contreras has posted a career-best 141 wRC+. 🔷 Today's MLB game: it's the start of a four-game set between the National League's two weakest teams, the Marlins (probable starter RHP Edward Cabrera) and the Rockies. First pitch at 8:40 p.m. ET. 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE today from 7:30-8:30 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks. If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Ely Sussman reacts to the breaking news that Miami Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine has been called up to make his major league debut for the same franchise that his dad, Jeff Conine, won two World Series titles with. It was later reported that Xavier Edwards will be placed on the injured list in a corresponding roster move. View full video

The 18-year-old Marlins infielder took a massive leap offensively in his second Dominican Summer League season, though some of that production was seemingly outside of his control. The Miami Marlins spread their money around among international amateur free agents entering the 2023 signing period. No player's signing bonus exceeded $1M, but more than a dozen received six figures. Two of those investments have aged especially well: Venezuelan outfielder Andrés Valor ($520k), who is a consensus Top 30 prospect in this organization, and Dominican left-hander Keyner Benitez ($225k), who soon will be. Both Valor and Benitez have already come over to the U.S. and excelled against older competition. Then there's the curious case of $400k man Joseph Tailor. Tailor made his professional debut with DSL Miami in 2023 and stumbled out of the starting gate. Splitting time between second base and third base, he committed six errors in his first five games. It took nearly two months for his batting average to rise above the Mendoza Line. The native of San Pedro de Macoris in the DR made significant improvements late in the summer, particularly in terms of trimming of his strikeout rate, but his overall numbers still underwhelmed: .237/.312/.309 slash line (72 wRC+) in 42 games. Unsurprisingly, the Marlins determined that he needed to spend another year at their Dominican academy. Repeating the DSL as an 18-year-old, Tailor's consistency was astounding. His 153 wRC+ this season led all qualified hitters in the Marlins organization, regardless of level. He was selected to represent the Fish at the Dominican Summer League All-Star Game and performed even better during the post-All-Star portion of the season. Tailor's 23 extra-base hits ranked seventh in the DSL—keep in mind, this is a league with 51 different teams! Tailor's contributions helped DSL Marlins clinch the DSL East division title. He served as the leadoff hitter during their brief playoff run which ended on Saturday. A source within Marlins player development tells Fish On First that Tailor's swing "got better in each and every month last year and has been well-rounded consistent this year. He’s an aggressive hitter by nature as that will lead to some chase and some swing-and-miss on fastballs, which is our biggest concern, but even then he’s one of the hitters that has some strong potential." The samples are microscopic, but the left-handed-hitting Tailor fared poorly against lefties in 2023 (.120/.185/.120 slash line in 27 PA), then crushed them in 2024 (.289/.434/.546 in 29 PA). Also, Tailor's defense "improved immensely" from year to year, the source added. His most likely long-term home is second base. Here are a couple angles of Tailor at the plate (the first clip is a home run and the second clip is a triple). Find more highlights of Tailor from FOF farm director Alex Carver, who advocated for him throughout this past season. joseph tailor hr cf dsl.mp4 7HlSOpJ9eTc4do-z.mp4 What made Tailor's season so strange? His extreme frequency of hit-by-pitches. Opponents plunked Tailor 23 times in only 49 regular season games. He never had a streak longer than five games without taking one for the team. As you might expect, HBP rates in the DSL are higher than other MiLB levels considering how many inexperienced pitchers lack control. Even so, Tailor distinguished himself from his peers in this category. He had nearly twice as many HBPs as any other DSL Miami/Marlins player (INF Breyias Dean had 12). No other hitter in the entire league topped 18 (I'll remind you again, it's a 51-team league). This statistical quirk has no precedent in Marlins minor league history. Across 31 years of Marlins affiliated ball, Tailor's HBP total in 2024 ranks tied for third. The only guys ahead of him, 1998 Alex Melconian (28 HBP) and 2019 Thomas Jones (24 HBP), played well over 100 games at full-season levels. Tailor is tied with 2017 Jarett Rindfleisch, who played 89 games. Tailor's HBP habit came out of nowhere. He was hit by only three pitches in 2023. Let's pretend that was the case again this season and the extra 20 HBP plate appearances never happened—that would have lowered his on-base percentage from .419 to .360. For context, the league-wide OBP in the DSL was .365. It would have been a noteworthy season regardless (wRC+ in the high 120s or low 130s), but the question of whether or not Tailor will be such a ball magnet moving forward has a legitimate impact on his future outlook. Expect some regression from Tailor on balls in play as well. His .362 BABIP will be hard to maintain as he faces higher quality fielders in the U.S. As detailed above, 2024 was Tailor's second trip through the DSL. That in itself suggests his stats shouldn't be weighed too heavily. Position players who spend more than one season in a foreign rookie league seldom taste the majors. The only Marlins player this year who falls into that category is Jhonny Pereda, their afterthought third-string catcher. I'm eager to see how Tailor does in the 2025 Florida Complex League. 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 SuperSubs. These notes apply to the third and final game of Miami's home series against the Chicago Cubs. 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 SuperSubs. These notes apply to the second game of Miami's home series against the Chicago Cubs. 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 SuperSubs. These notes apply to the first game of Miami's home series against the Chicago Cubs. View full article

Offishial News for 8/23/24 On Thursday down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 2-1. Only two hits for the Jumbo Shrimp, so a terrific Darren McCaughan start (5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 94 pitches/68 strikes) went to waste. Double-A Pensacola lost, 7-3. RHP Evan Fitterer couldn't find the strike zone and recorded only one out. OF Jacob Berry went 2-for-3 with a walk, but also committed his 19th error of the season. High-A Beloit won, 3-1. C Ryan Ignoffo raised his batting average to .375 through 13 High-A games. For the sixth consecutive outing, LHP Thomas White (5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 68 pitches/46 strikes) went the maximum five innings that the Marlins permit him to pitch while surrendering exactly one run (see game logs below). The No. 1 prospect's first full professional season has gone as well as anybody could have realistically imagined. Low-A Jupiter lost, 2-1. That's despite LHP Keyner Benitez (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 68 pitches/47 strikes) matching his career high with seven strikeouts. DSL Marlins won the opening game of their first-round playoff series, 7-5. Incredible start from LHP Luifer Romero (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K), who did not allow a single ball to leave the infield! C Jesús Abreu went 3-for-3 with a walk. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald updates the development of top Marlins outfield prospects. Regarding Jacob Berry's recent offensive surge, director of minor league operations Hector Crespo subtly mentioned that changes to Berry's pregame work have translated to improved production. 🔷 On this day in 2019, the Marlins defeated the Phillies, 19-11, in what is still the highest-scoring game in this ballpark's history. 🔷 Best of luck to Colleen Mitchell. After six years with the Marlins organization, most recently serving as manager of player care and service, Mitchell announced that she's leaving for another opportunity. 🔷 With Bruce Sherman on track to become the first owner in Marlins history to preside over two 100-loss seasons, Son Los Marlins calls for him to sell the franchise. 🔷 MLB is giving away a pair of Xavier Edwards game-used batting gloves. Follow the instructions here to be entered to win. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Mariners fired manager Scott Servais after a 1-8 road trip plunged the team to a .500 record. Dan Wilson (the one who spent 12 years of his playing career in Seattle) will serve as interim manager. The Angels extended general manager Perry Minasian through 2026. Joey Votto announced his retirement. Votto had been attempting to return to the majors with the Blue Jays this season, but his progress stalled at Triple-A. He hangs up his cleats having slashed .294/.409/.511 in the majors with 356 home runs in 2,056 games, all of them as a member of the Reds. Trevor Rogers was optioned to Triple-A after four mediocre starts with the Orioles. Aaron Judge hit his 48th homer of the season. 🔷 Today's MLB game: it's the series opener between the Marlins (probable starter RHP Max Meyer) and Cubs (RHP Kyle Hendricks). Hendricks has a brilliant 1.86 ERA in eight career starts against Miami, but he's in the midst of his worst season ever. The Marlins have a 53.5% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:10 p.m. 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE today from 6:00-7:00 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. Special guests: Bullpen Mafia co-hosts Javier Salas and Eric Todoroff. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks. If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050. Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville at Nashville, 7:35 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Tennessee, 7:00 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at South Bend, 7:05 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter vs. Daytona, 6:30 p.m. ET DSL Marlins vs. DSL Giants Black, 11:00 a.m. ET (DSL Marlins lead series, 1-0) View full article

The Fish On First LIVE Marlins vs. Cubs series preview show streams Friday from 6:00-7:00 p.m. ET. Join us live or enjoy the replay. SuperSubs, comment below with your Prediction Time picks: How many games will the Marlins win in this series? Who will be the Series MVP? (determined by win probability added) Enjoy new episodes of our Miami Marlins streams leading up to the first pitch of every 2024 series opener. Special guests join Fish On First staffers to provide honest analysis of the Marlins and their upcoming opponent. If you are a SuperSub, leave a comment with your Prediction Time picks. We'll feature them on the livestream and track your points on a leaderboard throughout the season! If you are not a SuperSub, please consider signing up here to support the FOF staff. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks. If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050. You're encouraged to participate in the live chat via YouTube, Twitter or Facebook to ask questions and share your own takes. View full article

Offishial News for 8/22/24 On Wednesday, Jake Burger hit his 25th home run of the season and Cristian Pache hit his first. Roddery Muñoz lasted only 3 ⅓ innings and every Marlins reliever allowed runs with the exception of Kent Emanuel. David Hensley (yes, really) went 3-for-5 at the plate, though he made the final out of the game with the tying runs in scoring position. The Marlins had 14 hits, tied for their third-highest total in a non-extra-inning game this season. They still lost, 10-8. It's now mathematically impossible for Miami to finish above .500. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 5-0. RHP Adam Mazur (6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 74 pitches/48 strikes) retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced. It's the first scoreless outing of any kind he's had since early May when he was with the Padres Double-A affiliate. INF Deyvison De Los Santos blasted his 35th homer of 2024. LHP Josh Simpson made another rehab appearance, but his fastball velocity (averaging 92.0 mph) continues to be significantly lower than it was prior to his elbow injury. Double-A Pensacola lost, 10-6. LHP Luis Palacios struggled and has now allowed 122 hits in 103 ⅔ innings pitched this season. High-A Beloit won, 6-2. RHP Noble Meyer (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 79 pitches/48 strikes) enjoyed his best start in months. Meyer's slider was nasty. Perfect night at the plate for INF Tony Bullard (3-3, 3 RBI, BB). Low-A Jupiter lost, 7-1. We had a Breidy Encarnación sighting! The righty reliever had been out this entire season prior to beginning this rehab assignment. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 To my surprise, the Orioles claimed Emmanuel Rivera off waivers from the Marlins. Waiver priority goes by ascending winning percentage, so most teams passed on Rivera in order for him to get to Baltimore. It figures to be temporary, part-time role for the third baseman while All-Star Jordan Westburg completes his recovery from a right hand fracture. 🔷 Feast your eyes on the 2026 World Baseball Classic schedule. Pool D play at loanDepot park—featuring Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Israel and a not-yet-determined qualifier—begins on March 6. The championship will be held on March 17. These dates are shifted slightly from the 2023 tournament when Pool D opened up on March 11 and Shohei Ohtani pitched Japan to victory on March 21. Given the current state of transition, it's premature to say with any confidence which Marlins players will still be with the franchise once the WBC arrives. Potential participants include Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez (Dominican Republic), Jake Burger and Xavier Edwards (United States), and Valente Bellozo (Mexico). 🔷 Through 42 Marlins series, here's an updated look at the Prediction Time leaderboard. Make series predictions with us all season long when you become a Fish On First SuperSub. 🔷 Explore the video section of our site for new interviews with Josh Bell, A.J. Puk and Zac Gallen. 🔷 Kevin Barral spoke to Burger and Bell about their enduring friendship. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Justin Verlander (5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 76 pitches/52 strikes) pitched for the first time since early June, but took the loss. Johnny Cueto (6.1 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 84 pitches/55 strikes) made his return to the majors as a member of the Angels. Aaron Judge homered two more times, raising his season total to 47. His .722 slugging percentage is more than 100 points higher than the next best qualified MLB hitter. Nolan Arenado hit a walk-off grand slam. The White Sox won for only the fourth time since the All-Star break. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville at Nashville, 7:35 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Tennessee, 7:00 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at South Bend, 7:05 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter vs. Daytona, 6:30 p.m. ET DSL Marlins at DSL Giants Black, 11:00 a.m. ET (playoff game) Marlins podcast episodes 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 SuperSubs. These notes apply to the third and final game of Miami's home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. View full article

The two Miami Marlins affiliates in the Dominican Summer League, DSL Marlins and DSL Miami, have completed their 56-game regular season schedules. The former went 33-23 and advanced to the playoffs, while the latter posted a 26-30 record. The tables below—courtesy of FanGraphs—include every player who took the field in 2024. The position player tables are sorted by plate appearances and the pitcher tables are sorted by innings pitched. You will notice that a few prospects played for both teams. That's not a typo! Midseason intra-organization "trades" are allowed, though I don't understand what the motivations behind them are. Which player performances jump out to you? DSL Marlins DSL Miami

Offishial News for 8/21/24 On Tuesday, the Marlins drew their smallest home crowd since April (announced attendance of 6,794). It was a bizarre start for Edward Cabrera—of his 90 pitches thrown, only two resulted in swinging strikes, the second-lowest total for any start of his major league career. Cabrera was successful during his first two trips through the Diamondbacks lineup, but got burned the third time by Corbin Carroll and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. home runs. The D-backs had just four total hits compared to Miami's seven. Connor Norby went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Both bullpens were terrific. The Marlins lost, 3-1. Down on the farm, all six Marlins affiliates lost their games. INF Yiddi Cappe made his return to High-A Beloit after half a season on the injured list, going 1-for-4 and starting at third base. The Dominican Summer League regular season concluded. The final records for DSL Marlins and DSL Miami were 33-23 and 26-30, respectively. DSL Marlins will play their first playoff game on Thursday. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 Kevin Barral spoke to Jesús Tinoco about his stunning hot streak upon joining the Marlins bullpen. Not to look too far ahead, but through 10 scoreless innings pitched, he's already made a strong case to stick on the 40-man roster during the offseason and genuinely compete for an Opening Day gig in 2025. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Manny Machado reached 20 home runs for the ninth season of his career during a dramatic Padres comeback victory over the Twins. The Cardinals have lost seven of their last eight games, all but ending their bid for a postseason berth. 🔷 Today's MLB game: it's the final matchup of the season between the Marlins (probable starter RHP Roddery Muñoz) and Diamondbacks (LHP Jordan Montgomery). The Marlins have a 39.3% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. ET. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville at Nashville, 7:35 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Tennessee, 7:00 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at South Bend, 7:05 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter vs. Daytona, 6:30 p.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes 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 SuperSubs. These notes apply to the second game of Miami's home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. View full article