Louis Addeo-Weiss

As we revisit the draft class of 2016, Braxton Garrett’s career thus far stacks up well against his contemporaries.When the Miami Marlins selected Braxton Garrett, a then-18-year-old out of Florence High School (Florence, AL), 7th overall in the 2016 first-year player draft, the pick appeared a safe one amid a class riddled with uncertainty. The finesse-throwing left-handed pitcher had a 0.56 ERA over 65 1⁄3 innings during his senior season, striking out 131 against just 13 walks en route to collecting Alabama’s Gatorade Player of the Year honors. He received a perfect 10 prospect score from Perfect Game. Here’s more on Garrett the draft prospect from Baseball America: Garrett has the stuff to match his results. His curveball is his best pitch, earning easy plus grades for its tight spin and late 11-to-5 break. He is able to command his breaking ball, allowing him to throw it for strikes or make it a chase pitch to both righthanders and lefthanders. Garrett’s fastball sits in the low 90s and his changeup shows excellent promise, giving him the potential for three above-average or better offerings. He has a balanced, easy delivery that he repeats extremely well, allowing him to fill the zone with quality strikes. Upon forgoing his commitment to Vanderbilt and signing with Miami for a $4,069,200 bonus, Garrett would debut in 2017 for High-A Greensboro, pitching to a 2.93 ERA over 4 starts before his season was cut short in June following Tommy John surgery. After returning and pitching well in 21 starts between Advanced-A Jupiter and AA Jacksonville (3.54 ERA), it appeared Garrett had reaffirmed his prospect status, one that would soon so him graduate to the Majors. Garrett’s early big league excursions were anything but encouraging. Among the 482 pitchers to throw at least 40 innings between 2020 and 2021, only Brandon Workman’s 2.12 WHIP was higher than Garrett’s 1.80. Though there were glimmers of light that peered through, including a 7-inning, 10-strikeout performance against the San Diego Padres on July 24, 2021. Come 2022, Garrett got his first extended chance to start at the MLB level. With a new slider emerging as his preeminent breaking ball, he impressed to the tune of a 3.58 ERA (113 ERA+) over 88 innings. He halved his walk rate while allowing just 9 home runs (0.9 HR/9) over his 17 starts, a combination of command and long ball prevention that’s relatively rare. After missing out on the 2023 Opening Day rotation, Garrett quickly got the call to replace the injured Johnny Cueto. Through 15 appearances (14 starts), he has been everything the Marlins were hoping to get from Cueto and then some. Instead of regressing from 2022, Garrett has improved his ERA+ from 113 to 120 while matching his previous year's strikeout total in 11 1⁄3 fewer innings. Blending volume and effectiveness, the southpaw is arguably the most valuable arm on Miami's staff so far. The genesis of this thought excursion comes from a perusing of Garrett’s aforementioned 2016 draft class. Now that he and his first-round contemporaries have had ample time to develop as professionals, we begin to see that the Marlins actually made out better than most. In an anti-Drake fashion, we’ll commence from the top of the draft board with the number 1 pick in 2016, Mickey Moniak. An outfielder out of La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, California, Moniak parlayed a terrific senior season—he hit .476 with a .961 slugging percentage in 29 games, en route to earning Gatorade California Baseball Player of the Year honors—into being the 1-1 selection by the Philadelphia Phillies. Moniak never OPS’d above .749 in parts of four minor league seasons before Philadelphia looked to see what their pick had at the next level. Debuting during the COVID-shortened 2020, he hit .214 over 18 plate appearances. Moniak then went to the Angels in a trade that included Noah Syndergaard and has produced to the tune of a .207/.254/.392 slash line, accruing 0.1 rWAR in the process. He's currently thriving on the west coast in a part-time role, but with peripherals that continue to suggest he's closer to a AAAA player than someone whom Philadelphia once thought could be a foundational piece of their next winning core. Our number 2 pick and topic of conversation, Nick Senzel, does lay claim to playing the most games (324) of any first-rounder that year, but beyond that, what he’s shown isn’t exactly worth celebrating. In those 324 games over parts of 5 seasons that have seen him go from a fringy second/third baseman to a well-below-average center fielder, Senzel has been worth -1.3 wins, hitting a mere .241/.305/.362. Injuries have no doubt contributed to Senzel’s struggles—he has been slowed by right finger, left knee, right knee, and labrum issues. It’s safe to say that the Reds haven’t made out well with their second pick. Much time won’t be spent on the third pick from the 2016 class, Atlanta’s Ian Anderson, as he’s put together a respectable 3.6 WAR highlighted by a 3.25 ERA (136 ERA+) over 160 2⁄3 innings between 2020-2021. He had the unusual distinction of receiving down-ballot NL Rookie of the Year votes in both of those seasons. Anderson also penned 35 2⁄3 innings of a 1.26 playoff ERA on the Braves quest to their first championship since 1995. However, following a rough 2022 and 2023 spring training that saw Anderson optioned to AAA, news of his undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier this year put his status as a viable contributor on hold for now. Now, the number 4 pick, Riley Pint, comes with the caveat of being selected by the Colorado Rockies, a team notoriously inept at developing pitching. A hard-throwing right-hander whose fastball at times touched triple digits, Pint’s minor league career went about as well as one would expect a pitcher drafted by Colorado to go. In 243 innings, Pint posted a disastrous 1.74 WHIP, 5.52 ERA, and (for entertainment purposes only) a win-loss record of just 7-25. Pint donned a Rockies uniform on May 17 for one predictably ugly appearance (0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO) before being optioned back down. He’s still kicking around at AAA Albuquerque as a reliever. The Milwaukee Brewers got a measly 3 MLB plate appearances from outfielder Corey Ray, drafted in the 5th spot. Ray has begun the next phase of his baseball career as the bench coach for the Low-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Before he was Braxton Garrett’s teammate, A.J. Puk was a major question mark in the Oakland Athletics organization. He struck out 184 hitters over 125 innings between Advanced-A and AA in 2017, but then missed all of 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Puk pitched inconsistently at both the minor and big league levels between 2019-2021. Fortunately, Puk quelled many of those concerns last season. The former number 6 overall pick posted a 3.12 ERA over 66 1⁄3 innings out of Oakland’s bullpen. Puk isn’t complacent, entering 2023 with an optimized breaking ball. Early returns from Puk with the Marlins have been nothing short of tremendous (2.08 ERA in 21.2 IP), though he's already made one trip to the IL with Miami. JJ Bleday, the fellow first-rounder who went west in the trade, won’t be missed if Puk sustains this performance. Circling back to Garrett, his Major League output thus far has been exactly what we could’ve imagined: safe. And his recent production is legitimately wow-worthy. In 206 1⁄3 innings over parts of 4 seasons, Garrett has pitched to the tune of a 3.93 ERA (107 ERA+), a 3.70 FIP, all while averaging better than a strikeout an inning (9.6 SO/9). Sure, his lack of overpowering stuff has resulted in a high volume of hits allowed (9.2 H/9 and a corresponding 1.32 WHIP), but again, relative to his draft class, particularly those who came off the board in front of him, he’s been a lot better than most of us would assume. Some of those taken after Garrett have gone on to become quality contributors, including Cal Quantrill (8th overall), Josh Lowe (13th), Gavin Lux (20th), Will Smith (32nd), Dylan Carlson (33rd), Dakota Hudson (34th) and Nick Lodolo (41st). However, the Marlins shouldn’t take their pick for granted. On a 2023 Miami roster that’s heavily dependent on outside acquisitions, Garrett is a homegrown, stabilizing force. Photo courtesy of Miami Marlins

Strong effort from Luzardo, bullpen, and Amaya help Fish move to 10 games over .500.The Miami Marlins win. It's something that hasn't been said all too often in recent seasons, but here, in 2023, it's practically a daily utterance. Their 4-2 Father's Day victory secured their second series sweep of the season against the Washington Nationals. In what has been a Jekyll-and-Hyde pattern of performance of late, Jesús Luzardo was the former on Sunday. Completing 6 innings for the 7th time this season, Luzardo, with his father in attendance, held Washington to 2 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 and walking 1. Despite a 6.15 ERA in his 5 previous starts since May 21st, Luzardo has fallen victim to an extreme case of bad luck, as noted by a 3.34 FIP and .475 opponent OPS in that span. With two outs in the 6th and a pitch count of just 76 pitches, Luzardo proceeded to allow back-to-back hard-hit singles to Joey Meneses (103.4 mph exit velocity) and Keibert Ruiz (102.7). Next batter and potential go-ahead run, Stone Garrett, made for a trifecta of 100+ mph batted balls, though his would result in a fly ball to center fielder Jonathan Davis for the third out. The Marlins would open the scoring in the top of 2nd when Jacob Amaya—making his MLB debut—delivered an RBI via a force out in his first career at bat. In 58 games before being recalled from AAA, Amaya had hit .278 with an .818 OPS. Speaking postgame, Amaya referred back to his family, who were in attendance to watch their son's debut. "I went to see them right before the game, and that definitely calmed some nerves," said Amaya to Bally's Jessica Blaylock. Miami would tack on their second run an inning later thanks to Nick Fortes sacrifice fly. Pitching with a 2-0 lead in the last half of the 3rd, Luzardo would make his only true mistake of the day. Following a base hit that fell just right in front of left fielder Bryan De La Cruz, Washington right fielder Lane Thomas capitalized on a hanging slider for his second home run of the series. https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-06/18/b60f97a6-bb8be656-f9a57f54-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_16000K.mp4But, as the Miller's tale has been told all season, the Marlins would answer. Amaya would pickup teammate Garrett Hampson's lead, singling in his second at bat in the top of the 4th for his first career hit. "It took me 12 at-bats to get a hit," laughed Skip Schumaker when referring to Amaya's 4th inning single. "(Amaya has) shown confident, and he'll finish a game one of these days." The aforementioned De La Cruz would drive Hampson in via a sacrifice fly in what would turn out to be the eventual go-ahead run. Jorge Soler would add some insurance one batter later, singling in Amaya to make it a 4-2 Miami lead. Soler now has driven in a run in 11 of his 16 games when playing the outfield this season. Though they would fail to score past the 4th inning, Miami touched up long-struggling Washington starter Patrick Corbin for 11 singles in his 6 innings of work. In relief of Luzardo, Miami would get scoreless 7th and 8th innings from Steven Okert and Dylan Floro. The club then turned to Andrew Nardi after having gone to A.J. Puk the previous two 9th innings. Working around a leadoff double from Ruiz, Nardi bounced back to record back-to-back strikeouts before getting Dominic Smith to pop out to end the contest. The Marlins improved to 41-31, making for the first time they have been 10 games over .500 since rebranding ahead of the 2012 season. The last instance of this team being 10 over came on May 28, 2011, when they were 30-20 as the still-Florida Marlins. Miami ends the road trip 6-3. Of Note Amaya becomes just the second player in franchise history to drive in a run and steal a base in his MLB debut. Jerar Encarnación accomplished the feat nearly a year to the day on 6/19/2022. He is the 95th player since 1901 to have at least one hit, stolen base, and RBI in his debut.Baker's Dozen: Jon Berti's 3 hits Sunday made for the 13th time in his career in which he's had at least 3 hits in a single game. Andrew Nardi hasn't allowed an earned run since April 30, during which time his ERA has plummeted from 5.84 to 2.27. Nardi became just the 6th pitcher in franchise history to work 20 consecutive outings without allowing an earned run.Looking Ahead Upon returning home, Miami's upcoming schedule will see them squaring up against some tougher competition. Monday will see the commencement of a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto will send the recently resurgent José Berríos (7-4, 3.28 ERA) to the hill in Game 1. Miami was set to start Edward Cabrera, though he's been placed on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder impingement. Skip Schumaker confirmed that Bryan Hoeing will start in Cabrera's place. First pitch from loanDepot Park is slated for 6:40 EST. Featured image courtesy of Miami Marlins

Eury shines in the Pacific Northwest as Fish take series finale from the M's. After a two-game stretch where the Marlins that had "wow'd" and "awed" were largely absent, Wednesday served as a reminder that that club was still very much here. Working around a suspect strike zone from home plate umpire Sean Barber, Eury Pérez achieved a career-first. Facing the Seattle Mariners in T-Mobile Park, Pérez, making just his 7th Major League appearance, both pitched in and completed the 6th inning for the first time in his big league career. Throwing a career-high 93 pitches, Pérez stymied the Seattle offense to the tone of just 2 hits, 1 walk and 6 punchouts in Miami's 4-1 win to take the series finale. Through 7 career starts, the Marlins No. 1 prospect owns a minuscule 1.80 ERA. All of the support Pérez would need would come at the hands of Seattle ace and former Miami prospect Luis Castillo, who uncharacteristically issued 6 walks in his 5 2/3 innings of work. After being held scoreless in both the 1st and 2nd innings, the Fish would break through on Castillo's third wild pitch of the season, one that scored center fielder Jonathan Davis. In 408 innings from 2020-22, Castillo uncorked all of just 2 wild pitches, tied for the fewest of any starter in the Majors (min. 300 IP). https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/2c1a8826-a7fe-41d4-8473-dbf9fbd686c2.mp4Completing the 5th inning with just 79 pitches thrown, the decision could have gone either way as to whether to extend a congratulatory handshake to Pérez or let him go out for the 6th with the team clinging to a 1-0 lead. However, Jorge Soler would provide his starter (and his manager Skip Schumaker) some ease of comfort when he blasted his 20th home run of the season over the center field wall to extend the Miami lead to 2. Needing just 14 pitches, Pérez retired the side in order to complete the 6th for the first time. "I turned around after the 5th and saw I was at 79 pitches, and I kept looking at Skip in the dugout to make sure he wasn't going to take me out," said Pérez. Of note was the effectiveness of Pérez's changeup and slider, which generated 4 and 5 whiffs, respectively. Following Pérez's lead, Dylan Floro and Tanner Scott each authored scoreless frames of their own in the 7th and 8th. Miami would tack on runs No. 3 and No. 4 in the top of the 8th—first on a Nick Fortes RBI double (2) and then on a sacrifice fly from the aforementioned Davis. Things would get dicey in the bottom of the 9th, though. Seattle successfully challenged to turn a force out into a bases-loaded, one-out situation when it appeared that shortstop Joey Wendle had failed to keep his foot on the second base bag. https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/a8b27673-c917-4955-a5f3-18ab1cc7fabf.mp4That brought Eugenio Suárez to the plate, the owner of 231 career home runs who had been victimized earlier in the contest by a great defensive play by the above-mentioned Davis. Closer A.J. Puk threw the veteran third baseman a 2-1 slider a good 2 inches off the outer part of the plate that he hit seemingly destined for a game-tying grand slam. Enter Seattle antagonist Jesús Sánchez. Lining up perfectly with the right field wall, Sánchez proceed to jump and nab the would-be home run ball for the second out. Given the context of Miami's last two losses, the fear of a potential sweep at the hands of a struggling Mariners team would have felt somewhat demoralizing following a run of pouncing on sub-.500 teams. Puk would retire the following batter, Cal Raleigh, who fittingly flew out to Sánchez as well to end the game. Of Note With his 6th inning blast Wednesday, Soler became just the second player in franchise history to reach the 20 home run plateau in their first 65 games of the season, joining Giancarlo Stanton, who hit 24 in 2015. Small, elite company.Pérez's 1.80 ERA is the lowest for any Marlins starter in their first 7 starts with the franchise. Following his latest 0-for-3 performance, Luis Arraez is now hitless in each of his last 3 contests. Since debuting in 2019, this marks just the 9th such three-game streak in which Arraez has gone without a hit. Looking Ahead With no game on the schedule for Thursday, Miami will travel to the Nation's Capital as they prepare for a weekend series against their division rival Washington Nationals. Upon resuming play Friday, the Marlins will send Sandy Alcantara (2-5, 4.75) to the mound fresh off 7 innings of 1-run ball against the White Sox on 6/10. Washington will counter with Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.11 ERA). First pitch from Nationals Park is slated for 7:05 EST. Miami Marlins (4) @ Seattle Mariners (1), Win Probability Graph, Baseball-Savant

The Miami Marlins have enjoyed more than their fair share of late-inning heroics and one-run game success in 2023. On Sunday, their indulgence continued. As he's done in the vast majority of his starts for the Marlins this season, Braxton Garrett shut down the opposition for the better part of 5 innings. His latest victim, the Chicago White Sox, were held to just 3 hits and a walk as Miami's left-hander struck out 9 in his 5 1/3 innings of work. Faced with the option of letting him pitch deep into the Chicago lineup a third time through or playing it safe and letting him leave on a high note, manager Skip Schumaker sided with the latter, and it'd come back to bite him. The duality of this decision can be attributed to Garrett's apparent struggles in said situations (1.044 OPS in 42 PA facing the order a 3rd time entering play) while also wanting to see the 25-year-old pitch deeper into games. Yet, after just 82 pitches and Miami clinging to a 1-0 lead, out was Garrett and in came JT Chargois. Immediate returns from Chargois were promising, as the former Tampa Bay Ray struck out his first hitter, Luis Robert Jr, but two-out doubles to Andrew Vaughn, Jake Burger and Miami-native Romy Gonzalez would make for a three-run bottom of the 6th for the South Siders. Chicago would break the game wide open the following inning thanks to a two-run homer by the aforementioned Robert. https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-06/11/73b0a943-77396a62-2b2232ab-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_16000K.mp4The Marlins entered the 8th trailing by 4 with all of 6 outs to play with. They'd get the most out of each and every one of them. After being limited to just 1 run over 7 strong innings from Lucas Giolito (3.54 ERA), the Marlins would implement their next two ingredients to their winning formula. Leading off the top of the 8th and already with a home run today, Jorge Soler authored his 3rd multi-home run game of the season to cut the deficit to three. Two batters later, Garrett Cooper would make it three home runs for Miami, as he deposited his 7th of the season over the Guaranteed Rate Field center field wall. Chicago 5, Miami 3. Bryan Hoeing would neutralize the Sox bats in the 8th, retiring the 5-7 spots in order to bridge the gap to the top of the 9th. With first-year manager Pedro Grifol turning to his closer, Kendall Graveman, the owner of a 2.28 ERA before Sunday, something most Marlins felt was either inevitable or seemingly never to happen happened. Sitting on a 1-2 slider that caught too much of upper-outside end of the plate, Jean Segura hit his first home run of the season off the left field foul pole. Chicago 5, Miami 4. "Felt like we walked it off at that point with the way they were screaming, but we're still down...but we don't win those last two games without him," said Schumaker. Jonathan Davis would reach on a catcher's interference that should have been the second out before Luis Arraez—who saw his average dip to .397 after a 1-for-5 day—flew out to the antagonist Robert. And as is the nature of baseball, up came Jorge Soler. Miami trailing by 1, 9th inning, two outs. Working the count 3-1, Soler drew what he thought was a clear-cut ball 4, but home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson thought otherwise, signaling strike two to run the count full. Fortunately, for Soler, whose exchanges with Tomlinson following the pitch could have warranted a tossing, the Marlins DH would walk on the next pitch to set up first and second for Bryan De La Cruz. https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/9bf3cc4b-550c-4c39-a7b8-6308f361c416.mp4One pitch later, the Marlins magical 2023 run would go to live on another day as De La Cruz sliced a single past third baseman Yoán Moncada to score the tying and go-ahead runs. Miami 6, Chicago 5. Only needing 10 pitches to get through the 9th, A.J. Puk authored his 3rd consecutive outing since returning from the injured list to cement the 6-5 victory for the Marlins. Of Note Sunday marked the 72nd time in franchise history where the Marlins had hit at least 4 home runs in a single contest. Miami is now 61-11 in those games. Miami's most recent win made for their 20th such of the come-from-behind variety this season—only the Orioles (21) and Angels (21) have more.The Marlins will enter play Monday 8 games over .500 for the first time since August 1, 2016, when they fell to 57-49 following a 5-0 loss to the senior Chicago team, the Cubs.Looking Ahead Miami will look to keep their positive momentum going as they venture out to the Pacific Northwest to begin a three-game series versus the Seattle Mariners. Manager Skip Schumaker will hand the ball to Jesús Luzardo (5-4, 3.79 ERA) in the series opener on Monday. Rookie Bryce Miller will pitch opposite of him for Seattle. First pitch is slated for 9:40 EST from T-Mobile Park.

The question of "who am I?" is one we are all guilty of asking ourselves at one point or another over the course of our lives. For Sandy Alcantara, that moment most likely came in the 3rd inning of Sunday's series finale against the Oakland Athletics. In the ultimate "get right" game, and with the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner going up against an A's team flirting with the 'worst team of all-time' moniker, Alcantara had a top of the 3rd that one a pitcher could only fathom in their nightmares. After retiring the first 6 Oakland hitters to begin the ballgame, the next 8 outcomes against the Marlins ace were as follows: single, stolen base, single, single (RBI), strikeout, double (2 RBI), stolen base, throwing error (E1). What was once a 1-0 Miami lead quickly turned 5-1 in Oakland's favor. Following a throwing error by Alcantara that brought home Ramón Laureano, the some-12,000 spectators erupted in a chorus of boo's, with the team's franchise pitcher front-and-center for all of it. And yet, as they seem to have done all season, the Marlins somehow found a way to win, this one, a 7-5 affair to seal a series sweep of the now 12-49 A's. Miami now improves to a season-best 4 games over .500 at 32-28 and holds a game two-game lead over the Mets for 2nd place in the NL East. "They fight, they don't quit," said manager Skip Schumaker. "There's a lot of baseball left to play, but credit to them, they don't take any one (game) for granted." After the 3rd inning from hell, Sandy Alcantara would go 1-2-3 in the 4th, 5th, allow a single before converting it into a double play to finish the 6th in order, and 1-2-3 in the 7th in what was his grittiest outing of the year. Minus the 3rd, Alcantara faced the minimum number of batters in every inning he threw Sunday. "It was nice, but I don't feel happy about it," said Alcantara postgame. Though much better than what his pitching line may suggest, Alcantara's season ERA rose from 4.93 to 5.07. "I thought his stuff was really good. Other than that one inning, it was six innings of really clean baseball...He fought through a lot and kept us into the game," noted Schumaker. Huge too for Miami was the return of Garrett Cooper, who missed the last four games with lingering vision issues. After doubling in his first plate appearance, Cooper capitalized on a hanging slider from Oakland starter Paul Blackburn by hitting off the left field foul pole for a game-tying three-run home run. First baseman Yuli Gurriel also continued his propensity for contribution, adding 3 hits including his 3rd triple of the season in the 4th. Miami would cap off the comeback in the bottom of the 8th when back-to-back hits from Joey Wendle and Jacob Stallings into the go-ahead and insurance runs. Second baseman Luis Arraez—now hitting .392 after another multi-hit performance—drove in the go-ahead run with a single that caromed off the glove of second baseman Aledmys Díaz. Nick Fortes, who pinch ran and caught the 9th in place of Stallings, scored on a Bryan De La Cruz swinging third strike dropped by catcher Shea Langeliers. In his first action since a 5-run blow up against the Padres on May 30, Dylan Floro retired Oakland's No. 5-7 hitters in order with a pair of strikeouts to complete the victory for Miami. Of Note In a 1994 season where he flirted with being the first hitter in 53 years to hit .400 over the course of a full season, Tony Gwynn hit .388 through his first 55 games played. Arraez exits play Sunday hitting .392. Yuli Gurriel became the first player since Chase Utley in 2017 to hit at least 3 triples in his age-38-older season when he hit a leadoff three-bagger in the bottom of the 4th. Following his pinch hitting appearance, OF/DH Jorge Soler went for X-Rays in what was deemed some thumb discomfort, though they'd return a negative result. Befitting of any high-leverage reliever, Dylan Floro has a short memory. In games immediately following ones in which he surrendered runs, Floro has combined to throw 5 scoreless innings across 5 outings.Looking Ahead The Marlins will continue the soft portion of their schedule Monday when they welcome the Kansas City Royals to loanDepot Park for their first meeting since Sept. 6-8, 2019. Braxton Garrett (1-2, 4.22 ERA) starts Game 1 for Miami. Garrett has a 1.66 ERA in 4 outings since 5/14 (21.2 IP), allowing just 4 runs and a .160 opponent's batting average. First pitch is slated for 6:40 EST.

After exiting April 16-13, the Marlins nosedived in the first week of May, losing each of their first 5 games, being outscored 34-12 in the process. But the Fish would rebound to win 13 of their last 22 May contests, exiting the month 29-27 and tied with the Mets for 2nd place in the NL East. How did we get here? As the title suggests, here's what went well for Miami this past month. Beauty Behind the Madness A quick glance at Braxton Garrett's pitching line for May—5.46 ERA (19 ER in 31.1 IP), 4.91 FIP, and a .813 opponent OPS—would suggest he was just plain bad. However, a vast majority of that damage can be attributed to his start against Atlanta on May 3. In what would be generous to simply refer to as a "disastrous" outing, Garrett set career worsts in hits (14), runs (11), and home runs allowed (4), seeing his season ERA balloon from 2.45 to 5.81. That minus-8 game score of his currently sits 2nd-worst among all MLB starts this season behind only Luis Cessa's 11-run blow-up against Philadelphia on 4/16. In a game where success is largely predicated on dealing with adversity, Garrett rebounded in a big way, pitching to a 2.67 ERA (3.25 FIP) over his final five outings of the month, bringing his season ERA back down to a more respectable 4.22. The former first-round pick added a cutter to his repertoire in his first post-Atlanta-debacle outing in Arizona. He paired that with a much-improved changeup in his May 30 start against San Diego, where he allowed just 2 hits over 5 1/3 innings. The next objective for Garrett: solving his 6th-inning/third-time-through-the-order woes to cement his status as a legitimate mid-rotation MLB starter. Soler Power While the antecedents of a Jorge Soler bounce-back came in the form of an encouraging April (5 HR, .772 OPS), his production increased exponentially the following month, hitting .271/.355/626/.982, clubbing 12 home runs and amassing 67 total bases in the process. At one point, Soler homered in 6 consecutive starts in the outfield. Soler's 12 big flies made him the first Marlin since Giancarlo Stanton in August 2017 to hit at least 10 home runs in a single calendar month. It wasn't just the sheer prolificacy of Soler's home runs, but when most of them happened. He enters June hitting .378/.452/.838 in late & close situations, per Baseball-Reference. His 1.245 OPS in high-leverage situations was more than .400 points higher than what it was in low-leverage events (.833). This may best be illuminated by the walk-off blast he hit off against Washington on May 16. The Life of Bryan For the Monty Python fans that picked up on the reference, consider yourselves people of culture. For those here surmising that this was made in jest to Bryan De La Cruz, you too deserve a tip of the cap. De La Cruz, like Soler, is a streaky player. Case in point, after OPS'ing .862 through his first 19 games of the April, the Marlins left fielder endured a 15-game stretch from April 23-May 10 where he hit .167/.182/.167, seeing his OPS dip to .636. Miami would go 6-9 over that span. Just when the 26-year-old appeared to be a candidate for a possible demotion to AAA, the better side of his streakiness reared its head. De La Cruz slashed .368/.449/.662/1.111, hitting 5 home runs and totaling 25 hits in 18 games from May 12-31. Among hitters with at least 75 plate appearances in that span, his 202 wRC+ was tied with Texas' Josh Jung for fourth in all of baseball, per FanGraphs. Maybe most encouraging aspect of De La Cruz's hot stretch came in the form of increased plate discipline—he drew 10 walks in 78 plate appearances (12.8 BB%), more than double the 6.1% mark he posted in the 207 career games prior. If this is a sign of things to come, De La Cruz could find himself flirting with a potential All-Star bid come the break. As DLC went, so did Miami. The team had a 10-8 record in that stretch to close out the month after starting May at 0-5. A Noble Scott-sman Tanner Scott pitched to 14 innings of a 1.93 ERA and even better 1.43 FIP during the season's second month. Facing 56 hitters, the hard-throwing left-hander struck out 25 of them (44.6 K%). Among the 153 relievers to throw at least 10 innings in May, only Scott's teammate, fellow lefty Steven Okert (44.7) and Baltimore's Félix Bautista (53.7) struck out a higher percentage of hitters. By fWAR, Scott (0.6) was in a four-way tie for second-most valuable reliever in the Majors, trailing yet another Baltimore reliever, Yennier Cano (0.8). Now, after 26 innings of a 3.46 ERA, 3.17 FIP, and 12.8 K/9, Scott is looking more like the reliever that Miami envisioned when Kim Ng acquired him ahead of the 2022 season. Even "Better" Steven(s) When he joined the Marlins on a minor league deal before 2021, Steven Okert had shown himself to be merely an average-or-so MLB reliever, posting an adjusted 98 ERA+ in 48 1/3 career innings with San Francisco. The way that Okert has taken his career to new heights in parts of three seasons with Miami has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Among the relievers to throw at least 100 innings since 2021, only four—David Robertson, Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams and Okert—have posted an ERA+ above 150 while simultaneously posting a <6 H/9 and >11 K/9. Like his aforementioned counterpart Scott, hitters stood next to no chance against Okert, hitting just .095 and striking out 44.7% of the time in 13 innings. The left-hander struck out at least 1 hitter in 8 consecutive appearances to conclude the month, a streak active at the time of this writing. During the absence of A.J. Puk, Okert has again been a legitimate difference-maker in Miami's bullpen.

Effectively wild Pérez, bullpen, and Fortes do just enough to secure series sweep in Anaheim. As the Miami Marlins entered Sunday's conclusion of their 10-game west coast road trip, they came into the day seeking their first ever series sweep of the junior Los Angeles franchise, the Angels. Working around 4 walks, Eury Pérez, making just his 4th big league start, would set the tone for Miami, authoring 5 scoreless innings that included strikeouts of both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Miami's bullpen would follow suit, authoring 4 scoreless of their own to secure a 2-0 win, concluding the road trip at 5-5. "I grew up watching these amazing talents, Trout and Ohtani...but I just had to go out, compete, and enjoy the moment," said Pérez. "He had one big inning. I would've loved to see him go 6, but he did enough today," said manager Skip Schumaker. Miami pitching neutralized Trout and Ohtani to the tune of 5-for-24 with 7 strikeouts in the 3-game sweep. Beyond catching what was the team's third shutout of the season, Nick Fortes opened the scoring in the top of 3rd when he hit his third home run of the season off human homer repellant, Patrick Sandoval. In 55 1/3 innings this season, Sandoval has allowed all of 4 long balls (0.65 HR/9). The Los Angeles left-hander held his own Sunday, limiting Miami to 2 runs, scattering 8 hits and 2 walks. "3-2, he (Sandoval) just hung a changeup, and I took advantage of it," noted Fortes to Bally's Jessica Blaylock. Encouraging signs for the ever-wandering Jean Segura came in the form of an RBI single to plate Miami's second run in the 6th. "He's fighting...the care factor shows because he really cares," said Schumaker. The Halos would threaten in the 9th, though. With JT Chargois looking for his first career save, a Chad Wallach single to begin the inning would be erased on a double play off the bat of Taylor Ward. However, rookie shortstop Zach Neto would work a 3-2 walk to bring up Trout doppelgänger, Hunter Renfroe. Renfroe would proceed to double to the left-center gap, setting up second and third for the aforementioned Trout. Working the count 2-2, Chargois would deliver a perfectly placed 96 mph sinker, running in on the hands of a swinging Trout, who hit it all of 58.5 mph to Luis Arraez for the game's final out. Of Note At just 20 years and 43 days, Eury Peréz becomes the youngest pitcher in Marlins franchise history to throw at least 5 scoreless innings in a single outing. José Fernández had previously been the record-holder when authoring 6 scoreless frames against the Phillies on 4/13/13 at 20 years, 256 days. Though going homerless to snap a stretch of 5 consecutive games with a long ball, Jorge Soler exited play Sunday 67 total bases in the month of May. The franchise record for said month is 83, set by Giancarlo Stanton back in 2017.Fortes became just the 8th catcher in franchise history to collect at least 6 total bases while catching a shutout in the same game. Looking Ahead The Marlins will partake in the Memorial Day festivities as they'll have their first off day since May 15. At 28-26 and holding a 1-game lead for 2nd place in the NL East, the team will resume play Tuesday when they return home to begin a three-game series against the San Diego Padres. Sandy Alcantara (2-5, 4.86 ERA) will make his 11th start of the season while the Friars will fare with Ryan Weathers (1-3, 3.94 ERA). First pitch is slated for 6:40 EST from loanDepot Park. Miami Marlins (2) @ Los Angeles Angels (0), Win Probability Graph, 28 May 2023 | Baseball-Savant