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 SuperSubs. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Offishial News for 6/17/24 On Sunday, Jesús Luzardo's velocity plummeted while pitching through back stiffness. He is not expected to go on the injured list. The Marlins lost, 3-1. They're 0-7 against the Nationals this season after losing only six head-to-head games in 2022 and 2023 combined. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 5-0. RHP Kyle Tyler (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 94 pitches/63 strikes) extended his scoreless streak to 23 innings! After eight hitless games in a row, C Will Banfield went 3-for-4 with 1 RBI. Double-A Pensacola swept their doubleheader, winning 2-1 and 1-0. LHP Cade Gibson and RHP Kyle Crigger each made their Double-A debuts. High-A Beloit RHP Noble Meyer did not start on Saturday as scheduled due to a minor injury, per Fish on the Farm's Alex Carver. There's optimism that he will make his next start. Low-A Jupiter swept their doubleheader, winning 4-0 and 5-0. RHP Jake Brooks (7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 87 pitches/58 strikes) pitched a complete game in the first contest. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 Through 23 Marlins series, Daniel Rodriguez has regained sole possession of first place atop the Prediction Time leaderboard. Make series predictions with us all season long when you become a Fish On First SuperSub. 🔷 Nick Fortes has become a contact-hitting machine. That is not a good thing, as I detailed here. 🔷 Hector Rodriguez's latest MLB Draft prospect profile focuses on Seaver King of Wake Forest. 🔷 In the spirit of Father's Day, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com spoke with Marlins players Otto Lopez, Dane Myers and Tanner Scott and executives Hector Crespo and Oz Ocampo, all of whom became first-time dads over the past year. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Dodgers lost Mookie Betts (left wrist fracture) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (right rotator cuff strain) to significant injuries—that will only intensify the pressure on them to make additions at the trade deadline. The Mets and Twins are in the midst of MLB-best five-game winning streaks. Phase 1 of MLB All-Star voting remains open through June 27. Vote up to five times per day. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter LHP Braxton Garrett) return to Miami to host the Cardinals (RHP Sonny Gray). The Marlins have a 45.1% chance to win, per FanGraphs. For the first time this season, $1 kids tickets are available at loanDepot park. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE tonight from 5:30-6:30 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. Special guests: @Bassmaster4 and Shelby Petik. 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: FCL Marlins vs. FCL Nationals, 12:00 p.m. ET DSL Marlins vs. DSL Rangers Blue, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami at DSL NYY Yankees, 11:00 a.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Fortes is quietly one of baseball's best contact hitters. How come it isn't translating to more offensive production? The Miami Marlins manufactured only one run on Friday against the Washington Nationals, courtesy of Nick Fortes. During their first encounter with two outs in the top of the second inning, MacKenzie Gore started off Fortes with a belt-high curveball, then got him to chase a 97 mph fastball slightly above the zone. Just like that, an 0-2 count. Gore was in full control. Fortes kept battling, though. He spoiled the next pitch, another 97 mph heater up at the letters. He then laid off consecutive curveballs in the dirt. Gore's sixth pitch was his most hittable one, an ordinary changeup that stayed in the zone. Fortes grounded it to third base. His Sprint Speed this season is 26.7 ft/sec, slightly below the MLB average (35th percentile). On this particular run, however, he dialed it up to 28.0 ft/sec, and that made all the difference in securing an infield single. Here's the full sequence: nick fortes 6-14-24.mp4 This qualifies as an offensive "highlight" for Fortes in 2024. If we raised the bar any higher, there'd be barely anything to show. I was contemplating a Nick Fortes article much earlier in the season. Then, exactly one month ago, he seemingly broke out of his slump (3-3, HR, 3 RBI, BB vs. PHI on May 17), so I tabled the idea. Unfortunately, that proved to be an anomaly, not a turning point. The only run he has driven in during June is shown above. Fortes is one of MLB's worst hitters, yet he's arriving at these abysmal results in a different way than his struggling peers. Fortes has become an elite contact hitter. Entering Monday, he's whiffing on only 10.7% of his total swings this season. The 27-year-old backstop is striking out in 11.5% of his trips to plate this season, barely half as often as the average major leaguer and right between Jeff McNeil and José Ramírez. He ranks in the 96th percentile among MLB players with at least 100 plate appearances. Fortes has made 45 starts and never had a multi-strikeout game! This has been the continuation of a trend. Fortes has improved his strikeout rate every year since his 2021 Marlins debut. Overall, though, putting an emphasis on making contact at the expense of quality contact is backfiring. It has coincided with troubling trends in practically every other hitting category: Average exit velocity has gone from 91.3 mph (2021) ➡️ 89.3 mph (2022) ➡️ 88.2 mph (2023) ➡️ 85.1 mph (2024) Groundball rate has gone from 30.4% ➡️ 40.1% ➡️ 45.8% ➡️ 49.6% Walk rate has gone from 8.8% ➡️ 7.5% ➡️ 5.3% ➡️ 2.9% Batting average has gone from .290 ➡️ .230 ➡️ .204 ➡️ .159 Isolated power has gone from .387 ➡️ .161 ➡️ .095 ➡️ .068 wRC+ has gone from 168 ➡️ 97 ➡️ 53 ➡️ 19 Fortes is unique. There isn't anybody else in the majors who is producing this poorly offensively despite having truly great bat-to-ball skill. Seeing pitches clearly does not take you very far on its own. Bad luck has been a factor. Minimum 100 plate appearances, only 10 players have a weighted on-base average that's farther below their expected weighted on-base average than Fortes, per Baseball Savant. But fully meeting those expectations (.244 xwOBA) would still result in a career low in that department. His batted ball profile has changed for the worse. Even compared to last season (which was disappointing already), there's been a massive drop-off in Fortes' numbers against left-handed pitching. When holding the platoon advantage in 2023, he accrued half of his extra-base hits and had a 129 wRC+; this season, he has just two doubles vs. lefties with a -15 wRC+. The first clip is from 2023 and the second is from 2024. His setup at the plate has completely changed. Whatever gains he anticipated from closing his batting stance and exaggerating his leg kick have not been achieved. OVpHWmdfZFhBc1VBPT1fVkZCV0FGUUVCVllBV2xSV0F3QUFCZ0JSQUZnRlUxUUFCMUlBVWdaUkJ3VlZBRkFI.mp4 ZFpiR3pfZFhBc1VBPT1fQVFJQVZsTUZYMUFBV2dCVEFBQUFCRlJYQUZrSEJsa0FDd1lGQkFFTkIxQlNCZ3NE.mp4 Aside from contemplating mechanical adjustments, Fortes could benefit from being more selective. He owns one of MLB's highest (worst) infield flyball rates. His propensity for chasing after high pitches is leading to a lot of pop-ups—which are just as useless as strikeouts—and disadvantageous counts. A player who's hitting as poorly as Fortes would ordinarily have been demoted to the minors by now. However, the leash is longer for catchers, especially those who are plus defenders at that critical position. Fortes has established himself as an excellent blocker behind the dish while making noticeable improvements as a thrower. Also, the Marlins don't have obvious internal upgrades given the struggles of Christian Bethancourt and Will Banfield. With that being said, there is so much more potential here. Fortes showed it a couple years ago. At this stage of his career, he ought to be peaking, not declining. Turning things around begins with shifting his priorities: find a way to make more impact, even if it means sacrificing contact. 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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Welcome to FOF's 70th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. The Marlins' struggles against left-handed starters have been well documented. They're 3-21 in games vs. lefties this season. Entering Saturday with four straight multi-hit games, Tim Anderson gets his first opportunity to lead off Miami's lineup. He has spent most of the year in the sixth and seventh spots. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: LHP Kent Emanuel recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville; RHP Shaun Anderson optioned to Jacksonville. Kevin Barral will be writing the game recap.

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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Welcome to FOF's 69th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. Recently acquired Shaun Anderson gets the first crack at filling Ryan Weathers' vacant starting rotation spot. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: RHP Shaun Anderson recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville; RHP Burch Smith designated for assignment. Alex Krutchik will be writing the game recap.

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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

I'm glad Eder has straightened himself out. He was completely out of sync following the trade. I still think it worked out fine for the Marlins.

Teams WANT to be stuck with him after this year! The fact he's a pending free agent limits his trade value the most, in my opinion.

Yes. He could've helped a bit, but it also would have meant playing Bell at 1B every day and Burger at 3B every day. Defense has been a major weakness as it is and having J.D. at DH would make that even more problematic. Cancels out some of what he brings as a hitter.

Offishial News for 6/14/24 On Thursday, I was on site to witness a terrific Roddery Muñoz start (6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 81 pitches/49 strikes). It looked like solo home runs by Jake Burger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. would be just enough to make Miami victorious, but Tanner Scott blew his save opportunity against the top of the Mets lineup. J.D. Martinez delivered a walk-off two-run homer, the first runs allowed by Scott since April 30. The Marlins lost, 3-2. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 4-1. Double-A Pensacola won, 7-1. C/LF Paul McIntosh hit the go-ahead home run off of former Marlins farmhand Jake Eder. P-Mac has been extraordinary lately, slashing .385/.431/.673 with seven extra-base hits over his last 14 games. 3B/RF Jacob Berry set a season high with 3 RBI. High-A Beloit won, 8-5, despite matching a season high by issuing 11 walks. INF Josh Zamora hit his team-leading 11th homer. FCL Marlins won, 3-0. OF Davis Bradshaw played his first MiLB game since suffering a torn ACL 10 months ago. DSL Marlins lost, 7-2. Two-way player Janero Miller made his first pro appearance as an outfielder. DSL Miami won, 7-4. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 Chisholm and Nick Gordon went to the MLB Store in New York City, buying up 30-plus jerseys of top MLB players. Chisholm copped one of his own, the black alternate version which awkwardly did not have the updated 2024 style. 🔷 On this day in 1994, Charlie Hough picked up his final career win with a five-hit shutout. 🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com did a Q&A with Vidal Bruján about his upbringing in the Dominican Republic. 🔷 Homesick has created a scented candle inspired by Tropicana Field. Marlins Historian asks what a loanDepot park candle would smell like. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Bruce Bochy moved into ninth place on the all-time managerial wins list. Old friend David Robertson helped him get there by striking out Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in order...for the second straight night. Six more scoreless innings for Reynaldo López, whose 1.69 ERA leads qualified MLB starters. Phase 1 of MLB All-Star voting remains open through June 27. Vote up to five times per day. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (speculative starter RHP Shaun Anderson) visit the Nationals (LHP MacKenzie Gore). When these teams previous met in Miami, the Nats pulled off a rare four-game sweep. The Marlins have a 44.8% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:45 p.m. ET. 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE tonight from 5:30-6:30 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. Special guest: Shelby Petik. 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. Indianapolis, 7:05 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Birmingham, 8:00 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at Quad Cities, 7:30 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter vs. St. Lucie, 4:00 p.m. ET FCL Marlins at FCL Astros, 12:00 p.m. ET DSL Marlins at DSL Tigers 1, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami vs. DSL Rangers Blue, 11:00 a.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Muñoz tossed six nearly flawless frames to solidify his standing in the Marlins starting rotation. NEW YORK—With a veteran-laden roster and still within striking distance of an NL Wild Card spot, the New York Mets needed Thursday's game a lot more than the Miami Marlins did. For six innings, rookie right-hander Roddery Muñoz suffocated their lineup anyway. Muñoz recorded 16 outs before allowing a hit and faced only one batter over the minimum while clinging to a slim lead. Alas, with two outs to spare in the bottom of the ninth inning, J.D. Martinez stunned Tanner Scott and the Fish with a walk-off home run against one of baseball's best closers to make it a 3-2 final score. The decisive pitch wasn't even in a bad location, but Scott still took responsibility for the leadoff walk to Francisco Lindor that brought the potential winning run to the plate, as well as the way he fell behind in the count 3-1 to Martinez. "I trust my stuff more than anything," Scott said postgame. "He got me." 3a6e8d25-93db859b-25794833-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 The game's dramatic ending was comparable to Miami's April 14 loss to the Atlanta Braves when Marcell Ozuna occupied the Martinez role and turned a 7-6 deficit into a 9-7 lead by taking Scott deep. However, considering the complete set of circumstances, this was a far rarer outcome. Courtesy of Alex Carver's research, this is only the third time in Marlins history that they've scored multiple runs, limited their opponent to three hits or fewer and still lost. Marvelous Muñoz It was not a particularly dominant no-hit bid by Muñoz. The 24-year-old Dominican threw a pedestrian 60.4% of his pitches for strikes while recording 10 whiffs (right in line with his season average). The results were impressive, nonetheless. It marks the first scoreless start of Muñoz's MLB career and the three baserunners allowed—one hit, one walk and one hit batsman—matched the personal best from his April 20 debut. "I would put this one on top," Muñoz said via interpreter, citing the length of the start (he went only five innings in his debut). Muñoz has a five-pitch mix, but leaned heavily on his cutter and four-seam fastball, accounting for 71.6% of his total pitches with those two offerings. 1d7ccf49-4ba2f9f2-e83b826a-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Meanwhile, Luis Severino dealt with far more traffic. The Marlins had an excellent opportunity to break up the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth. A Jesús Sánchez leadoff double and walks drawn by Jake Burger and Nick Gordon loaded the bases with one out. Tim Anderson got ahead in the count 3-1, but Severino escaped without any damage. Anderson fouled off a 97 mph fastball at the knees. Severino challenged him with another one and induced a 4-6-3 double play. Burger took matters into his own hands in the sixth. He clobbered Severino's 91st pitch deep to right field for his sixth home run of the season. The veteran right-hander probably wanted to place this 1-2 fastball a bit higher in the zone, but not a "mistake" pitch by any means. S3d2ejRfVjBZQUhRPT1fQjFVRkJ3SUdYZ3NBWEFaUVZnQUFCQUVBQUZrREIxQUFWRk1FQlFCVUFGY0RVZ0VI.mp4 Muñoz's effectiveness immediately began to wane when he retook the mound in the bottom of the sixth. He fell behind 3-0 to Jeff McNeil on three non-competitive pitches before fighting back to record a groundout. His 0-1 changeup to Harrison Bader floated up in the zone and Bader crushed it 368 feet, but swung too soon, pulling it foul into the Citi Field upper deck. Later in the at-bat, Bader lined a single to right-center field to break up the no-hit bid. It would prove to be harmless, however. Christian Bethancourt made an outstanding throw to catch Bader attempting to steal second base. Francisco Lindor lined out to left for the final out. The second batter to step to the plate against the volatile Mets bullpen, Jazz Chisholm Jr. provided an insurance run in the seventh by taking righty Drew Smith 426 feet deep to center field. S3d2ejRfVjBZQUhRPT1fQmdRQ1ZRQU5Vd01BWGx0UUFnQUFCQThDQUFOUkFWZ0FBRkpXVVFzRUJ3c0FBRk5S.mp4 That was just enough to cover for Anthony Bender's struggles in the bottom of the seventh. He loaded the bases with nobody out, then rallied back from a 3-0 count to get Starling Marte to ground into a double play (plating the first Mets run in the process). Calvin Faucher entered next and retired Mark Vientos to temporarily preserve the lead. Scott's scoreless streak was snapped after 15 ⅓ consecutive innings. "Today was a tough day, but those are gonna happen," Schumaker said. Although the Marlins out-hit the Mets, 8-3, they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, failing to augment their pair of solo homers. This was Miami's fifth straight series loss. What else stood out The Marlins have a 7-4 record in Chisholm's career when he records a home run and a stolen base in the same game. Muñoz threw only two changeups. He had thrown at least seven in each of his previous Marlins outings. Coinciding with his return from the bereavement list, Tim Anderson capped off his best series as a hitter this season. TA had a 22 wRC+ prior to this series. After back-to-back-to-back multi-hit games, that has climbed to 33 (which is still horrendous, to be clear). Reinstated from a brief injured list stint prior to the game, Edwin Díaz handled the ninth inning for New York. He retired the side in order and was awarded the win. For the next leg of this NL East road trip, the Marlins will take on the Washington Nationals. Left-hander MacKenzie Gore is Washington's probable starter for the opener of the three-game set on Friday. Schumaker hinted that the Marlins are going with somebody who isn't currently on the active roster. My best guess is Triple-A Jacksonville righty Shaun Anderson, who would be working on five days' rest. That'd be Anderson's Marlins debut as he was just acquired from the Texas Rangers on May 30. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET. 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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

If miraculously, 25 of 30 teams are still in the hunt a month from now, then perhaps. I don't think that's realistic. There will be more clearly defined tiers come deadline time and a larger supply of RPs. Otherwise, a trade might have gotten done by now. Top contenders want to wait for a more complete picture of what's available.

Offishial News for 6/13/24 On Wednesday, Braxton Garrett (4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 89 pitches/54 strikes) was mediocre against the Mets, and the defense behind him did not help. The Marlins rank tied for last in the majors in outs above average and tied for 26th in defensive runs saved. In relief of Garrett, JT Chargois made his season debut and recorded four outs. Another two-hit game for Tim Anderson (first time as a Marlin that he's had consecutive multi-hit games). Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte and Harrison Bader each hit home runs. The Marlins lost, 10-4. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 3-1. In contrast with the big league squad, the Jumbo Shrimp defense was slick behind RHP Yonny Chirinos (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 67 pitches/40 strikes). INF Xavier Edwards returned to his regular shortstop duties. Double-A Pensacola lost, 4-3. RHP Zach McCambley again struggled with his control in relief. He has walked 15 batters in 14 innings pitched with a 6.43 ERA, twice as high as last season's mark. High-A Beloit lost, 2-1. C Cameron Barstad accounted for two of their three hits. 1B Torin Montgomery plated the only run with a solo homer. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 Although Tanner Scott is expected to draw interest from a wide variety of teams leading up to the trade deadline, I don't expect him to bring back much in return. Scott's trade value peaked this past offseason, but the Marlins were reluctant to sell productive veterans at that time coming off their 2023 playoff berth. 🔷 For what it's worth, MLB.com's Mark Feinsand includes Scott and Josh Bell on his list of 10 potential trade chips whose stock is rising. 🔷 Kevin Barral writes about how Griffin Conine emerged as a legitimate Marlins call-up candidate, with quotes from Conine's new interview on The Call Up podcast (episode embedded below). 🔷 Greggory Masterson of Twins Daily gives a quick overview of the non-Jesús Luzardo players on the Marlins roster who could make sense for the Twins. 🔷 There are three more chances to enter the Marlins 2024 Honorary First Pitch Sweepstakes. Winners selected for the July 4, August 9 and August 24 home games will receive four clubhouse box tickets in additional to the first pitch honor. 🔷 Juan Pierre and his kids joined South Florida PBS at loanDepot park to discuss some baseball fundamentals. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Braves have lost five games in a row, their longest skid since 2017. The Mariners are threatening to run away from the American League West having won 13 of their last 17. After blasting No. 17 against the Royals, Giancarlo Stanton is on pace for the highest home run total of his Yankees tenure. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Roddery Muñoz) conclude their series against the Mets (RHP Luis Severino). I'll be providing on-site coverage from Citi Field. The Marlins have a 35.2% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Indianapolis, 7:05 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Birmingham, 8:00 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at Quad Cities, 7:30 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter vs. St. Lucie, doubleheader beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET FCL Marlins vs. FCL Mets, 12:00 p.m. ET DSL Marlins at DSL Angels, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami vs. DSL Arizona Black, 11:00 a.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article