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Offishial News for 8/20/24 On Monday, Connor Norby assumed his new role as Marlins regular third baseman. He batted sixth in the lineup and went 1-for-4 with an RBI, each plate appearance resulting in a ground ball to the left side of the infield. Nick Fortes snapped a three-month homerless drought and Kyle Stowers (3-4, 2 R) had his best offensive performance since coming to Miami. However, it wasn't enough to keep up with Adrian Del Castillo and the Diamondbacks. The Marlins lost, 9-6. Down on the farm, DSL Marlins lost, 7-3. RHP Eiver Espinoza completed his 2024 season with another scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 0.34 in 26 ⅓ innings pitched. An important disclaimer: this was his third year in the Dominican Summer League, giving him a huge experience advantage over his competition. Impressive nonetheless. DSL Miami won, 6-1. Every hitter in their lineup reached base safely at least once. You can find the full game broadcast here. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 To make room on the active roster for Norby, the Marlins designated Emmanuel Rivera for assignment. Rivera provided nice defense at third base, but simply did not create or produce runs at an acceptable level, finishing with a 61 wRC+ in 97 games. He was particularly disappointing against left-handed pitching. Rivera's Marlins tenure might not be completely over yet—he is in a similar position as Nick Gordon, who was outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville earlier this month after he cleared waivers. 🔷 For 2025 and beyond, the Marlins are making season ticket packages more flexible, as announced on Monday. The pricing levels range from $750 to $25,000. Rather than being assigned the same number of seats and location for every game, you can get creative based on the particular situation within the confines of your account balance. The team also confirmed that the PNC Club behind home plate is expanding by 120 seats next season. 🔷 Embedded below, the new Swimming Upstream episode contains full audio from Norby prior to his Marlins debut and an exclusive interview with Triple-A Jacksonville RHP Adam Mazur. Subscribe to Fish On First wherever you get your podcasts! 🔷 Agustín Ramírez is showing himself to be a well-rounded hitter in terms of power, contact and swing decisions, as Eli Ben-Porat of Baseball America details. 🔷 Son Los Marlins ranked their top 10 Marlins prospects, placing Javier Sanoja and Troy Johnston higher than you'll see anywhere else. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Austin Riley fractured his right hand on a hit by pitch, which is expected to end his 2024 regular season. Francisco Alvarez hit a walk-off home run to propel the Mets past the Orioles. The Dodgers and Athletics threw two-hit shutouts against the Mariners and Rays, respectively. The Astros have won 11 of their last 12 games. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Edward Cabrera) take on the Diamondbacks (LHP Eduardo Rodríguez). Rodríguez has not faced the Fish since he was a rookie in 2015! The Marlins have a 47.7% 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 DSL Marlins vs. DSL Colorado, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami at DSL Tigers 2, 11:00 a.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 first game of Miami's home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. View full article

Offishial News for 8/19/24 On Sunday, I was in attendance at Citi Field for a very entertaining game. Valente Bellozo allowed a bevy of deep fly balls, but kept getting away with it during his first two trips through the Mets lineup. Miami's defense turned one of the season's best double plays (of the unprecedented 8-9-4-2 variety, for those scoring at home). Bellozo's scoreless streak was finally snapped after 17 ⅓ innings. Offensively, the Marlins stalled in part because they had baserunners picked off three times—only five Marlins had been picked off all season prior to this game! In the top of the eighth inning, they reclaimed the lead for good on Derek Hill's RBI single. Calvin Faucher recorded his third save of 2024. The Marlins won, 3-2. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 10-9. It was a once-in-a-generation comeback considering the Jumbo Shrimp were down 9-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Their rally included home runs by Troy Johnston, Deyvison De Los Santos and Tristan Gray. Double-A Pensacola won, 4-1. LHP Cade Gibson has a 1.47 ERA through his first 18 ⅓ innings pitched with the Blue Wahoos. High-A Beloit lost, 9-3. INF Gage Miller went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI. I have to imagine RHP Ike Buxton will be bumped from the Sky Carp rotation after his latest blow-up (3.2 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 65 pitches/37 strikes). Low-A Jupiter lost, 3-2. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 As initially reported by Fish On First's Isaac Azout, Connor Norby is being called up from Triple-A to make his Marlins debut. The 24-year-old infielder is FOF's top-ranked position player prospect and No. 2 overall in the Miami farm system. Acquired from the Orioles in last month's Trevor Rogers trade, Norby has posted a .711 OPS through 14 Jacksonville games while splitting time between second base and third base (he sees himself as a second baseman). A right-handed hitter, he offers above-average speed and average power. Overall, Norby's AAA strikeout rate has spiked from 21.6% in 2023 to 28.0% in 2024, in part because he's making less contact when chasing pitches outside the strike zone. Norby accrued 14 days of MLB service time with the O's prior to the trade, which means he's on track to graduate from prospect eligibility if he spends the rest of this season on the Marlins active roster. It's unclear what the corresponding roster move for Norby will be. 🔷 There will need to be roster turnover on the pitching side as well with right-hander Adam Oller taking the mound tonight for the Fish, his agency confirms. Oller flunked his 28 games (15 starts) of major league action with the Athletics in 2022-2023, issuing nearly as many walks as strikeouts. However, his control has been on point since signing a minor league deal with the Marlins last month. Leaning heavily on his four-seam fastball and slurve, Oller stretched out to 87 pitches on Wednesday. He is in his age-29 season. He'll become the 36th different pitcher used by Miami, one shy of the franchise single-season record set in 2020. 🔷 Listen back to Sunday's State of the Fish call-in show (recorded slightly before the Norby news broke). 🔷 Through 41 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. 🔷 Matthew Ritchie of MLB.com wrote about Xavier Edwards' bid to be Miami's shortstop of the future, including the work he's putting in defensively at the position. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the teams with the top six winning percentages in Major League Baseball (Phillies, Dodgers, Orioles, Yankees, Brewers and Guardians) are separated by only one game. Blake Snell recorded double-digit strikeouts for the fourth time in his last five starts. The Reds' postseason hopes are on life support after being swept at home by the Royals and losing ace Hunter Greene to injury (right elbow soreness). They were outscored 28-3 during the three-game series! 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE today from 5:30-6:30 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. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: DSL Marlins vs. DSL Mets Blue, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami at DSL Phillies White, 11:00 a.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 third and final game of Miami's road series against the New York Mets. View full article

A Marlins roster that's been inflicted by constant injuries and trades this season is on track to make franchise history in an obscure way. QUEENS, NY—The Miami Marlins have not had many wins to spread around this season. The 46 that they do have are being dispersed in a highly unconventional way. Such is life when you're missing your ace and lacking any semblance of roster continuity, for that matter. Facing the New York Mets on Sunday, Valente Bellozo was attempting a feat that none of his teammates had done this season: earning a win in three consecutive starts. Bellozo was coming off back-to-back scoreless games against the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies. With one out to go in the bottom of the fifth inning, he was giving the Mets the same treatment, clinging to a 1-0 lead. But then Francisco Lindor stepped into the batter's box for the third time. Bellozo got the desired result when Lindor chased a 1-0 changeup slightly below the strike zone. However, the Mets shortstop got underneath the ball enough to float it into left field for a game-tying RBI single. "It was a really nasty pitch," Bellozo said postgame. "He's an All-Star. He's a really good hitter. He got it." To lead off the sixth inning, Brandon Nimmo also did his damage against a changeup, crushing a middle-middle pitch into the upper deck to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Bellozo took full responsibility for that mistake. "We're in the big leagues: if you miss, you're gonna pay." dzcwZWxfV0ZRVkV3dEdEUT09X1Z3RlFVRklGVUZZQVcxWUtCd0FBQVFaUkFBQUVWVlVBQlZSV1VWWURDUUZjVmdFSA==.mp4 On a day when he admittedly did not have his best stuff and got bailed out by his defense on several deep fly balls, Bellozo's final line (5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 83 pitches/50 strikes) still would've been enough to register a W under most circumstances. Unfortunately, this iteration of the Marlins lineup does not give pitchers much margin for error. The rookie right-hander was on the hook for the loss when he exited. Despite their deficits in talent and experience, give the second-half Marlins credit for their resiliency. They haven't been swept in a series since before the All-Star break and manufactured just enough offense to salvage their series finale in New York. Former Fish reliever Huascar Brazoban plated Miami's second run in the seventh inning with a wild pitch. Batting with two on and two out in the eighth, Derek Hill singled home Jonah Bride to retake the lead. oblw4c.mp4 Four Marlins relievers combined for eight strikeouts across 3 ⅔ scoreless innings to seal the victory. Andrew Nardi's well-timed appearance—completing the seventh inning and starting off the eighth—dropped the decision into his lap. Nardi became just the fifth pitcher in Marlins history and the first since Clay Hensley in 2010 to record a win on his birthday. The other 29 MLB teams have each had pitchers record at least seven wins in their uniforms this season (yes, even the Chicago White Sox). Bellozo was, in my estimation, the only Marlins pitcher with a realistic path to get there. His no-decision on Sunday further decreases those already-slim odds. Tanner Scott paces the Marlins with the six wins he accrued prior to being traded on July 30. Merely tying him will be challenging for any of his ex-teammates. Next up on the Marlins wins leaderboard are two other relievers, Anthony Bender and A.J. Puk with four apiece. Bender will be sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a right shoulder impingement. Like Scott, Puk was dealt to a contender prior to the deadline, so any additional victories he earns won't count toward his Miami total. Tied at three wins, we have Nardi, Declan Cronin, Jesús Luzardo, Ryan Weathers and Max Meyer. Nardi needs to be right in the middle of a few more Sunday-like scenarios. Cronin appears in high-leverage situations semi-regularly, but his effectiveness has dipped recently (hasn't completed a full inning of work in his last six outings). Luzardo's back injury will keep him out for the rest of the season. Barring setbacks, Weathers' finger injury will still delay his return until mid/late September. Although Meyer is a fixture in the starting rotation, he's been both mediocre and inefficient since coming up from Triple-A last month, averaging 18.6 pitches per inning. There have been and likely will continue to be starts where he does not pitch deep enough to be eligible for the W. Between trades, injuries and guys simply being unable to get the job done, the Marlins have constantly cycled through arms in 2024. Their total of 35 different pitchers used is only two shy of the single-season franchise record set in 2020. Adam Oller will reportedly be No. 36 when he starts Monday's contest. In the midst of a minor league rehab assignment, Josh Simpson could become No. 37 in September (if somebody else doesn't beat him to it). With the exception of the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, every Marlins team has had somebody reach eight pitcher wins. We are witnessing an unprecedented season from that standpoint. The Marlins begin their third-to-last homestand of the year on Monday night. The Arizona Diamondbacks—whose roster features old friends Josh Bell, A.J. Puk and Dylan Floro—are coming to Miami for a three-game set. The aforementioned Oller has a 2.88 ERA and 3.46 FIP in 25 innings at Triple-A since signing with the Marlins organization. His first pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. 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 road series against the New York Mets. 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 road series against the New York Mets. View full article

Offishial News for 8/16/24 On Thursday, the Marlins announced their 2025 spring training schedule. They'll face the Cardinals in their Grapefruit League opener on February 22. The second annual Spring Breakout exhibition featuring top prospects will be held at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on March 14. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 6-0. INF Deyvison De Los Santos has alarmingly struck out 18 times in his last eight games. Double-A Pensacola won, 3-1. INF Jared Serna's 13-game post-trade hitting streak was snapped. In 14 games since returning to first base full time (instead of taking occasional reps in left field), Nathan Martorella is hitting .388 with more walks than strikeouts. LHP Justin King recorded the save and very quietly has been dominant since joining Pensacola as a free agent (8.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 16 K). High-A Beloit lost, 4-1. LHP Thomas White (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 85 pitches/56 strikes) continues to be Mr. Consistency. The Sky Carp lineup was being perfect-gamed until the seventh inning. Low-A Jupiter lost, 2-1. LHP Keyner Benitez (5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 80 pitches/51 strikes) is the prospect I most regret leaving out of our latest FOF Top 30 list. DSL Marlins won, 12-3. It was a career day at the plate for OF Janero Miller, who went 4-for-5 with 5 RBI. DSL Miami lost, 2-0. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 Alex Krutchik analyzes how Roddery Muñoz was tipping his pitches earlier this season and the ways he has improved since implementing a subtle change. 🔷 Xavier Edwards spent some of Thursday's off-day making a guest appearance on MLB Network's MLB Central studio show. My favorite part was his explanation of what "tells" he looks for from opposing pitchers in order to steal bases off of them. Since July 22, Edwards leads Major League Baseball with 16 steals and has not been caught once during that span. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Christian Yelich announced that he will undergo season-ending back surgery. Yelich had been one of the National League's best outfielders this year, but he'll wind up playing only 73 games. Making just the 13th start of his major league career, Weston Wilson hit for the cycle in a Phillies blowout victory. The Tigers completed a sweep of the Mariners thanks to Javier Báez's eighth-inning, game-winning home run. Bailey Ober threw his 10th consecutive quality start for the Twins. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Roddery Muñoz) begin a three-game set against the Mets (LHP Sean Manaea). The Marlins have a 29.0% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:10 p.m. ET. 🔷 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: Aram Leighton and Isaac Shapiro. 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 vs. Memphis, 5:05 p.m. ET (doubleheader) Double-A Pensacola vs. Montgomery, 7:05 p.m. ET High-A Beloit vs. Quad Cities, 7:35 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter at Palm Beach, 6:30 p.m. ET DSL Marlins at DSL Rangers Red, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami vs. DSL Arizona Black, 11:00 a.m. ET View full article

During his August 15 in-studio appearance on MLB Central, Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards explains what his keys are to stealing bases efficiently. View full video

Offishial News for 8/15/24 On Wednesday, Edward Cabrera (4.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 82 pitches/44 strikes) constantly fell behind in the count against Phillies batters and failed to hold a three-run lead. Kyle Schwarber's fourth-inning grand slam flipped the entire game around. Jonah Bride drove in four runs and extended his on-base streak to 15 games. His wRC+ is up to 136. Although Declan Cronin continues to prevent home runs, he's been yielding a lot of well-struck balls in play, including three earned runs on four hits in his latest outing. The Marlins lost, 9-5. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 7-2. INF/OF Javier Sanoja and INF Tristan Gray had three-hit games while Nick Gordon played left field for the Jumbo Shrimp. Double-A Pensacola lost, 12-8. C Joe Mack hit his 20th and 21st homers of the season and the Blue Wahoos jumped out to an 8-0 lead. However, RHP Nigel Belgrave collapsed in the ninth inning, unable to retire any of the six batters he faced (they all came around to score). High-A Beloit lost, 4-3. RHP Noble Meyer is still having trouble putting batters away, averaging 4.5 pitches per plate appearance in this start. Low-A Jupiter lost, 3-1. Nice bounce-back performance from RHP Eliazar Dishmey (5.0, IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 77 pitches/48 strikes). DSL Miami lost, 10-1. RHP Raisei Nakamura allowed four hit by pitches in his two-inning relief appearance. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 As a matter of principle, Peter Bendix is willing to consider parting with any Marlins player for the right price. He's making a temporary exception for Sandy Alcantara, according to Craig Mish of SportsGrid. The club has ensured Alcantara that he will not be traded during the 2024-25 offseason as he finalizes his comeback from Tommy John surgery. The rehabbing ace is due $17.3M in 2025—the only player in Marlins history to earn a higher salary is Wei-Yin Chen. However, that is a reasonable price even for a low-revenue franchise considering the only other guaranteed money on the books for next season is Avisaíl García's contract. 🔷 To continue on this subject, the internal decision to stand pat with Sandy is not at all surprising. Signed through 2026 with a club option for 2027, there is no urgency to move the former NL Cy Young award winner. Beyond creating a PR nightmare for the Marlins, it would be an asinine baseball decision to be so hasty rather than allowing him to re-establish himself as a top-of-the-rotation arm. They'll surely reassess the situation as the 2025 season wears on, though, largely depending on how competitive the team is around him. 🔷 Through 39 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. 🔷 The Marlins are 15th in MLB Pipeline's updated farm system rankings, a few spots higher than they ranked on Baseball America and ESPN earlier this month. 🔷 On this day in 2004, the Marlins scored two runs in the ninth inning and two more in the 10th to rally past the Brewers. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Aaron Judge became the fastest player ever to reach 300 career homers (in terms of total games played). The NL West race is closer than it's been since late April, with both the Padres and Diamondbacks just 2.5 games back of the Dodgers. The Pirates lost their 10th consecutive game. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Memphis, 7:05 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola vs. Montgomery, 7:05 p.m. ET High-A Beloit vs. Quad Cities, 7:35 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter at Palm Beach, 6:30 p.m. ET DSL Marlins vs. DSL Cardinals, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami at DSL Phillies White, 11:00 a.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 and final game of Miami's road series against the Philadelphia Phillies. View full article

Thomas WhiteAgustín RamírezDeyvison De Los SantosConnor NorbyNoble MeyerCarter JohnsonRobby SnellingVictor Mesa Jr.Dillon HeadJared SernaAdam MazurAndrés ValorJavier SanojaPJ MorlandoJoe MackDax FultonLuis CovaJakob MarseeJuan De La CruzAndrew PintarAiden MayJacob MillerEliazar DishmeyKarson MilbrandtGraham PauleyKemp AldermanJun-Seok ShimNigel BelgraveGage MillerValente Bellozo The gap between Thomas White and every other prospect in the Marlins system is substantial. The prospects who just missed cracking my Top 30 are Josh Ekness, Keyner Benitez and Will Banfield.

Sooooo much has changed about this Miami Marlins farm system since we previously opened up community voting during spring training. Thanks to everybody who submitted their own rankings below! (here is the official Fish On First Top 30 for comparison's sake) Combined Top 30 List Thomas White Noble Meyer Agustín Ramírez Connor Norby Deyvison De Los Santos Robby Snelling Carter Johnson Jared Serna Dillon Head PJ Morlando Adam Mazur Victor Mesa Jr. Andrés Valor Javier Sanoja Joe Mack Luis Cova Dax Fulton Juan De La Cruz Karson Milbrandt Aiden May Graham Pauley Jakob Marsee Eliazar Dishmey Andrew Pintar Jacob Miller Jun-Seok Shim Kemp Alderman Grant Shepardson Keyner Benitez Jacob Berry We will do another round of voting after the 2024 season concludes.

Most of my staff seems to be aligned on Serna because of his upside. He generates far more power from his tiny frame than Sanoja does. Sacrificing some extra strikeouts for more doubles and home runs should ultimately be more valuable in the majors. Sanoja has an extremely high floor, but I still have trouble envisioning him as a true everyday starter.