Ely Sussman

Marlins news roundup for 5/22/24 On Tuesday, Trevor Rogers had slightly higher fastball velocity than usual, but worse control (3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 90 pitches/53 strikes). Tim Anderson went 2-for-4 in his return from the injured list. There were contributions from everybody in Miami's lineup—eight of nine starters had hits with the exception of Josh Bell, who provided a sacrifice fly. Four outs away from a Fish win, Christian Yelich ripped a two-run triple off of A.J. Puk. The Marlins lost, 7-5. Down on the farm, JT Chargois and Bryan Hoeing each made the first appearances of their Triple-A Jacksonville rehab assignments. The Jumbo Shrimp lost, 4-3. INF Jonah Bride hit his 10th home run of the season. Double-A Pensacola lost, 3-0. It's the seventh time in 2024 that they've been shut out. High-A Beloit won, 8-4. The old guys in the Sky Carp lineup, DH Jake Thompson and INF Josh Zamora, combined to drive in five runs. Low-A Jupiter won, 3-0. INF Jordan McCants celebrated his birthday with three hits and his organization-leading 20th stolen base. OF Dillon Head (adductor strain) is still sidelined. FCL Marlins lost, 5-2. INF Yoffry Solano recorded the club's only two hits. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 Yelich's .985 OPS against the Marlins is his highest against any National League team. Perhaps more than just a coincidence? 🔷 Through 50 regular season games, the Marlins have grounded into 50 double plays. They are on pace to break the franchise's single-season record of 159, set in 2023. 🔷 He's likely to get sent down next week as the corresponding roster move for Chargois or Hoeing, but in the meantime, I'd like to shout out RHP Emmanuel Ramírez. The rookie reliever has retired 14 of the first 15 batters he has faced in the majors. Ramírez's splitter shows some promise. 🔷 Otto Lopez is making the most of his opportunity, writes Isaac Azout. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Kyle Tucker is the new MLB home run leader with 17. His Astros have won eight of their last 10 games. Mason Miller struck out the side (again). The Oakland A's closer has allowed only one hit over his last 13 appearances (15.1 IP). 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter LHP Jesús Luzardo) conclude their homestand with a rubber match against the Brewers (RHP Freddy Peralta). The Marlins have a 45.8% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville at Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola vs. Tennessee, 7:05 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at Great Lakes, 6:05 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter vs. Tampa, 6:30 p.m. ET FCL Marlins at FCL Nationals, 12:00 p.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Marlins news roundup for 5/21/24 On Monday, the Marlins got lucky. It's okay to acknowledge that! Brewers starter Joe Ross exited after only one inning due to a low back strain. The relievers behind him did a terrific job, nonetheless. With the Brewers leading 2-1 in the top of the ninth inning, Jake Bauers' line drive to right field got wedged into the fence for a ground-rule double; otherwise, it would have surely driven in the runner from first base to extend the lead. Without that insurance run, Otto Lopez's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth was enough to force extras. Josh Bell sealed the victory in the 10th with a bases-loaded single. The Marlins won, 3-2. Miami now has five walk-off wins, tied for the most in the majors. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 Big props to Ryan Weathers. The Marlins wouldn't have kept the game within reach without him. He had never completed seven innings in any of his first 39 career MLB starts. Now, he's done it in back-to-back outings (7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 94 pitches/56 strikes vs. MIL). Weathers' ERA has dropped three full runs, from 6.55 in 2023 to 3.49 in 2024, and that's over near-identical sample sizes (57.2 IP in 2023 vs. 56.2 IP in 2024). 🔷 I'd also like to draw attention to what Andrew Nardi has done lately. The left-hander has stranded the last seven baserunners that he has inherited, including two on Monday. Also, he hasn't allowed a home run since Opening Day. 🔷 Tim Anderson (lower back tightness) has returned to Miami after a two-game minor league rehab assignment and is expected to be reinstated from the injured list today. Skip Schumaker mentioned that Anderson will receive more frequent days off moving forward. Reading between the lines, it's an acknowledgement that Vidal Bruján and Otto Lopez have dramatically outplayed the former All-Star this season and deserve semi-regular playing time. 🔷 Ryan Schlesinger identifies positive stats and attributes for each Marlins position player. 🔷 Happy birthday to Marlins INF Jordan McCants. The 2021 draft pick turns 22 today. McCants leads all Marlins minor leaguers with 19 stolen bases this season. Unfortunately, he's barely hitting his weight (.187/.266/.230 slash line) while repeating the Low-A level. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Chris Sale has thrown 20 straight scoreless innings for the Braves, striking out 37 batters so far in May compared to only one walk. Gunnar Henderson hit his MLB-leading 16th home run. Rafael Devers set a new Red Sox record by homering in six consecutive games. 🔷 Today's MLB game: The Marlins (probable starter LHP Trevor Rogers) host the Brewers (LHP Robert Gasser). Gasser will be making just his third career start in the majors and Milwaukee's bullpen was used heavily in the series opener. The Marlins have a 48.4% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville at Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m. ET (JT Chargois and Bryan Hoeing rehab appearances) Double-A Pensacola vs. Tennessee, 7:05 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at Great Lakes, 11:05 a.m. ET Low-A Jupiter vs. Tampa, 6:30 p.m. ET FCL Marlins at FCL Mets, 12:00 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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

The other factor to consider is time elapsed. Fortes hit those homers in 2022 and has been a far inferior hitter since. I wouldn't blame Skip for completely ignoring that head-to-head history given the way things have changed in the interim.

Yes: Fortes started each of the previous 4 games. The team prioritized his chemistry/game-calling history with Luzardo and Garrett (thus starting him with them Friday and Saturday) over having his bat available on Sunday.

Big Fish Small Pod for Monday, May 20 Ely Sussman shares recent stats and observations about prospects from each full-season level of the Miami Marlins farm system: Triple-A Jacksonville INF Xavier Edwards, Double-A Pensacola C Joe Mack, High-A Beloit INF Josh Zamora and Low-A Jupiter OF John Cruz. Find Big Fish Small Pod on the Fish On First YouTube channel, our new-look Apple Podcasts channel and wherever else you get your pods. FOF's audio programming also includes The Offishial Show, Fish Unfiltered, Swimming Upstream and more. The Fish On First podcast is now being presented by MPT College Consulting! They pride themselves on helping clients navigate the college application process. This includes preparation for standardized testing, guidance through high school, assistance with essays and applications, and choosing the right college. Visit them today at mptcollegeconsulting.com to learn more about their services and schedule a free consultation. Having finally overcome a foot infection, Xavier Edwards (Fish On First's #8 prospect) began a rehab assignment with Jacksonville on Saturday. Last season at the Triple-A level, he hit .351 with a career-high seven home runs and went 32-for-36 on stolen base attempts. Edwards has played second base in each of his first two rehab games. He's eligible to be reinstated from the 60-day IL on Friday. Joe Mack (FOF #25) is slashing .237/.301/.387 (110 wRC+) in 24 games since his promotion to Double-A. The 21-year-old is splitting time evenly between catcher and designated hitter. Keep in mind, there have been very pitcher-friendly conditions in the Southern League so far this season. Undrafted out of the University of Nevada and unranked on the FOF Top 30, Josh Zamora has hit exceptionally well for the Sky Carp this season (.276/.379/.524, 150 wRC+). He has struck out in less than 15% of his career plate appearances since turning pro and already matched his home run total from the entire 2023 season. A bump up to Pensacola could be coming shortly. John Cruz (FOF #16) is struggling mightily since being acquired by the Fish in the Jon Berti trade. His 81.6 mph average exit velocity would rank in the first percentile among major leaguers. His batting average has not topped .200 at any point this season. Fortunately, Cruz has time on his side and ample room to add strength to his 6'2" frame. Follow Ely (@RealEly) and Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) on Twitter. Join the Marlins Discord server! Complete Miami Marlins coverage here at FishOnFirst.com. View full article

Marlins news roundup for 5/20/24 On Sunday, Sixto Sánchez again put his team at an immediate deficit and Skip Schumaker vented about that disturbing pattern. The Marlins have received home runs from 12 different players this season now that Dane Myers and Christian Bethancourt each went yard for the first time. A.J. Puk still hasn't allowed a hit since rejoining Miami's bullpen. The Marlins lost, 7-3. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 7-3. Five different Jumbo Shrimp enjoyed multi-hit games, including INF/OF Javier Sanoja. He's slashing .296/.373/.409 at AAA with three times as many walks (12) as strikeouts (four). Tim Anderson went 0-for-4 with a walk and played the entire game at shortstop. He could be reinstated from the injured list as soon as Tuesday. Double-A Pensacola won, 2-0. RHP Paul Campbell lowered his ERA to 2.04 and RHP Austin Roberts recorded his organization-leading eighth save. High-A Beloit lost, 5-3. Would you believe INF Josh Zamora is now tied for third among Marlins minor leaguers with seven home runs? Zamora has already matched his total from the 104 games he played last season. Low-A Jupiter lost, 6-5. OF Colby Shade improved to 13-for-14 on stolen base attempts. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 The Marlins signed Japanese RHP Raisei Nakamura to a minor league deal. Nakamura had made eight brief regular season appearances (totaling six innings) for the Hiroshima Carp in the Japan Western League from 2022-2023. This spring, he pitched for the Asian Breeze, throwing six scoreless innings, the team said in this press release. Nakamura's arsenal consists of four pitches, per Marlins assistant general manager Oz Ocampo. The 21-year-old is listed at 6'3" and 170 pounds. He'll make his MiLB debut in the Dominican Summer League next month. 🔷 It was an encouraging week of Marlins baseball any way you slice it, featuring consecutive series wins and a season-high four-game winning streak. The lone losses were both games where the Fish trailed by only one run entering the ninth inning. Leading trade candidates like Jesús Luzardo and Josh Bell look as sharp as they've been all season. 🔷 The Marlins as a team have allowed 30 first-inning runs in 2024. Sánchez has allowed 11 of those by himself! His ERA in the first inning has been 19.80. How much longer until Max Meyer gets a shot to reclaim that starting rotation spot from him? 🔷 Listen back to Sunday's State of the Fish call-in show. 🔷 Through 15 Marlins series, @Daniel Rodriguez holds a one-point lead atop the Prediction Time leaderboard. Make series predictions with us all season long when you become a Fish On First SuperSub. 🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com details how a handful of players from the just-completed Marlins-Mets series had South Florida roots. 🔷 Jolly Olive has begun an elaborate video series reviewing the trade history of the Marlins. 🔷 On this day in 1999, Derrek Lee's 14th-inning walk-off single propelled the Marlins past the Pirates. 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE tonight 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. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Athletics (eight straight losses), the Yankees (seven straight wins) and the Twins (six straight losses) are each in the midst of lengthy streaks. Rafael Devers has homered in five consecutive games to match a Red Sox franchise record. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter LHP Ryan Weathers) host the Brewers (RHP Joe Ross). The Marlins have a 47.0% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Welcome to FOF's 48th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. The loanDepot park roof is closed and the first 8,000 fans in attendance receive a Jake Burger bobblehead. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: RHP Emmanuel Ramírez recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville; RHP Anthony Maldonado optioned to Jacksonville. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Louis Addeo-Weiss and Alex Krutchik.

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

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 47th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. Coming off his best individual game of the year, Nick Fortes (3-for-3, HR, BB) is making his fourth consecutive start behind the plate. Another win would give the Marlins their longest winning streak of 2024. The loanDepot park roof is closed and the annual Cuban Heritage Celebration is being held. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: none. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Kevin Barral and photographer Danis Sosa.

Temporary issue publishing new articles on our site! So here is Kevin's recap from loanDepot park: MIAMI, FL—On Friday, the Miami Marlins kicked off game one of a six-game homestand. The weekend series featured the division rival New York Mets. Jesús Luzardo, coming off an eight-strikeout performance against the Philadelphia Phillies, looked to repeat that again. Luzardo led the Marlins to their third straight win in shutout fashion by the final score of 8-0. It's the third time in franchise history that the Marlins have shut out their opponents for three straight games. It was previously done in 2004 and 2005. “I think it's super, super cool,” said Marlins catcher Nick Fortes who has been behind the plate the last couple of games. “I think that's kind of a very unique accomplishment accomplishment I would say so. It's something I take a lot of a lot of pride in. It's not just me. It's a testament to these pitchers who have been putting so much work in. It's really really cool to see.” If the Marlins shut out the Mets on Saturday afternoon, the 2024 Marlins would become the first team in franchise history to shut out an opponent four straight times. Luzardo was coming off his best start of the season, but had been on a pitch limit after spending time on the injured list. On Friday, he got a longer leash (89 pitches) and completed six innings for the second time this season. Everything clicked for the Marlins starting pitcher. As impressive as Luzardo's seven strikeouts were, Friday's game also marked the first time this season that he didn't allow a walk. “I think the fastball in up to righties really opened up the change,” said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. “The changeup was his pitch tonight. It was super effective. His slider is usually his pitch, but when he doesn't, not that he didn't have it, but the changeup was just the pitch to go to tonight.” Going with his usual fastball/slider combo worked. He generated 14 whiffs and six of his seven strikeouts were swinging. Luzardo mixed the four-seamer and slider well, using the four-seam 34% of the time while using the slider 35% of the time. Although he used those pitches the most, the changeup accounted for nine of the 14 whiffs. “I lean on it a little bit,” said Luzardo when talking about his changeup. "Not as much as I did tonight. I felt like it was basically my go-to pitch and it got me out of a lot of bad counts and jams.” Christian Scott, a Top 30 prospect in the New York Mets system according to MLB Pipeline, had been dominant through two starts. In his debut against the Rays, he went 6 ⅔ innings of one-run ball, striking out six. Against the Atlanta Braves, he struck out eight through six innings of work. On Friday, the Marlins got to Scott early in the second inning. Otto Lopez kicked off the scoring with a sac fly, driving in Jesús Sánchez to give Miami an early 1-0 lead. Production from Marlins catchers this season has been nothing short of disappointing. Any sort of offensive impact from the catching position is a plus. With runners on first and second with two outs, Nick Fortes took Scott deep for a three-run shot to extend the Miami lead, 4-0. Entering Friday’s game, Fortes had been slashing .127/.159/.190/.348 with one home run and five RBIs. Fortes has noted the struggles and knows that there’s room for improvement. “It’s tough because I know that there's so much more in there for me,” said Fortes. “I know I can do a lot better. It's been frustrating, but I've definitely been putting the work in and I think I'm starting to finally get to a point where I feel a little bit more comfortable. Hopefully, I can continue to ride that a little bit, but I'm just trying to keep my focus on our pitchers which is what Skip has told me is the most important thing.” The Marlins went on to score three more runs. Vidal Bruján scored on a wild pitch, Bryan De La Cruz drove in a run on a sac fly, Josh Bell grounded into a fielder's choice, but the runner on third scored and Jake Burger drove in his first run since returning from the IL. The Marlins took a commanding 8-0 lead that they never looked back from. With the win, the Marlins move to 14-32 on the season while the Mets fall to 20-24. On Saturday, Braxton Garrett will take the mound for the Marlins making his second start of the season while Luis Severino will take the mound for New York. First pitch will be at 4:10 pm.

Top highlights of pitchers Sixto Sánchez, Ryan Weathers and Trevor Rogers from the Marlins' series against the Detroit Tigers (May 13-15, 2024). View full video

Welcome to FOF's 46th Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season. The loanDepot park roof is closed. SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here. Pregame roster moves: none. Enjoy live on-site coverage from Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout.

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