Louis Addeo-Weiss

Compared to his two previous seasons and those of every batting champ who came before him, the 2024 version of Arráez had a limited direct impact on his team's success. Batting average: the most ubiquitous individual statistic in baseball. For years, a hitter’s worth was largely predicated on their ability to hit for average. Some of the game’s most beloved stars—Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki—left an indelible mark on the sport given their knack for compiling hits. And now, it is Luis Arráez's turn. His .343 batting average in parts of two seasons with the Marlins from 2023-2024 ranks first among the 78 players in franchise history to take a minimum of 750 plate appearances. That skill quickly made him a fan favorite in Miami. As has become the case, 2024 proved a relatively standard affair for Arráez. He collected 200 hits for the second consecutive season, hit over .300 for the fifth time in his six seasons, struck out less often than anyone in the sport, and picked up his third consecutive All-Star appearance, winning his third consecutive batting title in the process. On the surface, a great season, right? To that, I say, “Not so fast, boomer.” With time, the game has evolved, and by proxy, so has the lens through which we assess players. The same way Star Wars fans have George Lucas to thank for having an excuse to dress up in Vader and Leia garb to lug themselves off to some yearly convention, baseball obsessives owe their debts to the likes of Bill James, Tom Tango and Jay Jaffe for presenting new metrics that richly detail how players impact wins and losses, plus how they compare to their predecessors. While Arraez led the National League in the frequency of hits relative to at-bats, his 2024 season was otherwise unremarkable. Taking all aspects of the game into account, his Baseball-Reference WAR was just 1.1. Why is this significant enough to merit discussion? That is less than one-quarter of the value he provided in his lone full-length Marlins campaign (4.9 rWAR). Of the 308 MLB hitters to win a batting title since 1871—the first year in which official statistics were tracked—Arráez’s 1.1 rWAR and minus-1.0 WAA (Wins Above Average) are the lowest marks; only 1980 Bill Buckner (1.5 rWAR and -0.6 WAA) was even in the same ballpark. There have been 13,170 seasons where MLB hitters put up more than Arráez’s 1.1 rWAR despite failing to hit .300. Producing runs involves much more than simply stringing singles together. There’s power and plate discipline, knowing what pitches to swing at and to not swing at. Juan Soto only hit .288, but no one is going to argue with a .989 OPS courtesy of his 18.1% walk rate and 76 extra-base hits. The combination of Soto's all-around production and age is certain to make him one of MLB's highest-paid players next year. What about Arráez’s season merited such little value? It starts with a .122-point drop-off in OPS, from .861 in 2023 to .739 in 2024. Although his BA still began with a three, he didn't accrue hits in bunches to nearly the same extent. He also became aggressive to a fault, often going multiple weeks between drawing walks. Despite setting a career high in stolen bases, he offset that by making more outs as a runner. Then there's the defensive component. Arráez, a fringy second baseman with a spotty defensive track record, proved below-average at the position this past season, posting minus-3 defensive runs saved over 42 games there. First base, a position Arráez had seen time at in 2022 and 2023, was something he did a lot more of upon his May 4 trade to the San Diego Padres, starting 61 games there for the rest of the season where he also graded out at minus-3 defensive runs saved. Statcast had a similar perspective on his glovework, estimating him at minus-12 outs above average (OAA). Even putting the quality of his defense aside, it hurt Arráez to drop to the bottom of the defensive spectrum, as quantified in this 2015 FanGraphs piece. When not at first base, he served as designated hitter more frequently (46 starts) than at any other point of his career. Players relegated to 1B/DH generally lack mobility, but compensate for it with their size and strength. They are relied upon to hit the ball over the fence, something Arráez doesn’t do all too often. Of the 29 hitters with at least 600 plate appearances as a first baseman since 2022, Arráez’s 9 home runs rank fewest among the group. As articulated above and also here by Ben Clemens of FanGraphs, Arraez took a significant step back. While the Padres thrived with him serving as their everyday leadoff hitter, there's no statistical indicator that they thrived because of him—for that, you'd have to turn to anecdotal evidence (via The Athletic's Dennis Lin). But perhaps it is unfair to fixate too much on his most recent season? To reiterate, Arráez was a genuine star-caliber player in 2023. However, he sustained a left thumb injury this past year on June 25 and played through it without an IL stint. Although his bat-to-ball prowess was not impacted, it wouldn't be surprising if the discomfort hampered his quality of contact. He underwent surgery to repair the torn ligament on October 16. The Padres expect him to be a full participant come spring training, and in the meantime, they are "expected to consider a potential extension," per Dennis Lin. Arráez’s limited defensive profile, lack of baserunning acumen, and largely powerless approach cast a polarizing picture of his future. The Padres have been no stranger to handing out eight- and nine-figure contracts in recent years, but is it prudent in this case? Batting champion? Sure. Valuable? That's debatable. View full article

Paul Skenes' magical first year in the Majors bears a resemblance to another young phenom who took baseball by storm in 2013. Paul Skenes took the baseball world by storm in 2024. At 22 years old and less than a year after being the first overall draft pick, Skenes was already blowing big league hitters away with some of the best pure stuff the game has ever seen. The LSU standout was so dazzling that he was selected to start the MLB All-Star Game for the National League. When the dust settled, Skenes authored a rookie season for the ages, finishing with a sterling 1.96 ERA in his 133 innings spread across 23 starts in a year that placed him firmly in contention for the title of the game’s best pitcher. Pittsburgh's flame-throwing phenom has the it factor. So did José Fernández, who burst onto the scene 11 years ago. When watching Skenes, I could not help but find myself reminiscing about when José captivated Miami in a very similar way. En route to earning 2013 NL Rookie of the Year honors, Fernández joined the short list of 19 pitchers to deliver a quality start in at least 70 percent of his outings in his first MLB season with a minimum of 25 starts. He became one of just 12 to do so in his age-20 or younger season. Some important factors to consider when pitting Skenes against Fernández: 2013 and 2024 were both years with interleague play. Fernández had the benefit of facing a hitting pitcher multiple times in most of his outings. League-wide offensive performed similarly across both seasons. So, who was better? One must remember that Fernández’s path to making the Opening Day roster that season came on the heels of injuries to Nathan Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez, whereas Skenes started the year with 27 ⅓ innings of sub-1.00 ERA ball in AAA before debuting on May 11 as the Pirates seemingly hid him in plain sight to secure an additional year of club control. Fernández’s debut season was nothing short of brilliant. In 28 starts over 172 ⅔ innings pitched, the Marlins right-hander pitched to the tune of a 2.19 ERA. His 5.8 H/9 paced the 81 pitchers to qualify for the ERA title in a year where the league hit .253/.318/.386/.714. Skenes, meanwhile, limited opponents to a H/9 of 6.4 while league-wide offense hit .243/.312/.399/.711. The near 40-inning gap between the pair is something we will revisit throughout this Venn diagram of a piece. In the 11 years since Fernández, only only six pitchers—two of whom pitched previously in foreign professional leagues (Shota Imanaga and Kodai Senga)—qualified for the ERA title in their first MLB season. Skenes did not. Even if you lumped the 27-plus innings he threw in the minors this year, still fails to hit that 162-inning mark. Now, a lot of this is rooted in the kid gloves front offices use in handling modern starting pitchers, as well as the arbitrary thresholds for qualifiers. It isn't a knock against the pitchers themselves. Skenes’ brilliance exemplifies how we come to view players in the modern game: rate-basis performance. Fernández was otherworldly on a rate basis as well. He limited opponents to a collective .522 OPS in 2013. If you exclude the COVID-shortened 2020 season, not only is this a top-20 suppression-of-damage season in the live-ball era (since 1920), but it also ranks as the best first season any pitcher has had, well, ever. That is not to disparage the .552 OPS Skenes limited opponents to in 2024, but a season of this kind is more in line with 1973 Steve Rogers (.553 OPS in 134 IP) from that standpoint. For the season as a whole, Fernández allowed just 10 home runs, a number matched by Skenes in his aforementioned 39 ⅔ fewer innings. One factor we referenced at the outset was the advantage Fernández had in facing the opposing team’s starting pitchers, something he did in 25 of his 28 starts in 2013 (the only exception being when he visited American League ballparks). Pitchers facing Fernández hit .051/.140/.051/.191 with a 37-percent strikeout rate. Here's what happens when filtering those matchups out of the equation: Fernández, 2013: 635 BF, .191/.265/.280/.544, 26.8 K% (MLB position player K%: 19.3) Skenes, 2024: 581 BF, .198/.257/.295/.552, 33.1 K% (MLB position player K%: 22.6) Striking out nearly 11 percent more hitters than the league average, Skenes also complimented this with a 6.2 percent walk rate, well below the 8.2% league-wide rate. On the other hand, Fernández, only struck out 7.5% more "real" hitters than the league average while walking 8.5% of them, which was slightly above average. This could explain an extrapolated, 30-start total of 7.7 bWAR for Skenes against 6.6 for Fernández. Assessing a pitcher’s worth mostly comes down to two factors: run prevention and swing-and-miss. Fernández's season ERA of 2.19 was worthy of an adjusted ERA+ of 176 (100 is league average), a mark only reached three times by a qualified pitcher in his first MLB season since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893. Fernández also joined 1985 Dwight Gooden as the only qualified pitcher with a 175 or better ERA+ in their age-20 or younger season in MLB history. If only comparing Fernández to Skenes on a start-by-start basis, the pendulum swings in favor of Skenes. By adjusted ERA+, he finished at 214, denoting him as being 114 percent better than the league average at preventing runs. Throughout baseball history, only five pitchers have posted an ERA+ of 200 or better over 130 innings in their first season. Fernández’s first 23 GP: .190/.265/.269/.534, .252 BABIP, 2.45 ERA/2.78 FIP Skenes’ first 23 GP: .198/.257/.295/.552, .284 BABIP, 1.96 ERA/2.45 FIP Of course, we must circle back to the innings of it all, as Fernández has an edge for the five ensuing starts and 33 innings he threw before the Marlins decided to cap his workload in the middle of September. In those five outings, the right-hander dazzled to the tune of a 1.09 ERA en route to NL Rookie of the Year honors and a third-place finish for NL Cy Young. Regardless of which season you come away favoring more, any broader comparisons between the hurlers are difficult to make. For Skenes, the rest of his career is an unknown despite the obvious talent he currently possesses. For Fernández, we unfortunately barely got to see him build upon his extraordinary 2013 campaign. Tommy John surgery limited his workload in 2014 and 2015, then tragedy struck. On the morning of September 25, 2016, Fernández, under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, crashed a boat into a North Miami Beach jetty, killing himself and the two other men on board, Eduardo Rivero and Emilio Jesús Macias. The incident shrouds his legacy in controversy. Baseball fans can still vividly remember the dazzling, high-90s fastball, the sweeping breaking ball, the air-bending changeup, the 2.58 ERA across 76 largely brilliant starts, the infectious joy with which Fernández played and enjoyed the game. Now, there's Skenes, gifted with even more velocity and a signature "splinker" for amassing whiffs. It's a new vessel for the same excitement we all first bore witness to more than a decade ago. View full article

Weathers and Marlins break out the brooms in Toronto to officially conclude the Skip Schumaker era. "It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart." The opening lines to the late MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti's "The Green Fields of the Mind" are as symbolic to baseball as home runs, cracker jack, and the seventh-inning stretch. On this, the final day of the 2024 regular season, they seem to resonate just a tad bit more. The 2024 Miami Marlins—a club that used a record 70 different players—are no exception to this sentiment. In a season that commenced with an 0-9 start, the Marlins could have found themselves joining the likes of the 1962 Mets (though the 2024 White Sox may be the new barometer for historically bad teams). Instead, they preserved through injuries, trades, and the departure of their manager to retain a sense of respectability amid their fourth 100-loss season in franchise history. Miami will enter the 2025 season with expectations of improvement with the help of injured rotation stalwarts Sandy Alcantara and Jesús Luzardo, plus a partial season of contributions from young phenom Eury Pérez. On Sunday, 11 years to the day of Henderson Alvarez's no-hitter against the Tigers that put the lid on a previous 100-loss Marlins season, it was another pitcher to be excited about, Ryan Weathers (3.63 ERA), shutting down another American League club, the Blue Jays. Starting his second consecutive season finale for the Marlins, Weathers proved his penchant for finishing strong, limiting the Toronto bats to just one run over 6 ⅓ innings of work in Miami's 3-1 victory to conclude the 2024 season. Weathers closed out the 2023 regular season with 6 shutout frames against the Pirates following Miami clinching an NL Wild Card spot. His latest effort saw him retire 16 of the final 17 hitters he faced, scattering just three hits, and a pair of walks while striking six. Despite the strong performance by Weathers, Miami had a 5.24 ERA from their starting rotation this year, the third-worst mark in franchise history. Their 27 rotation wins also represent the fewest in a 162-game season in club history. Another name to be excited about heading into 2025, Jonah Bride, put the finishing touches on his breakout 2024 season with a pair of hits, including the game's first two runs with a first-inning single. "We played really good baseball at the end, and that's the energy we need to take into spring training," noted Bride, who finished with an .818 OPS in his 272 plate appearances, trailing only Xavier Edwards (.820 OPS) among Marlins players. Winners of five of their last six, Bride found himself at the heart of the action, authoring multi-hit games in four of the six contests that included three home runs. In September, Bride hit .312 with a .918 OPS, solidifying himself as a player to watch as the Marlins look toward next season. View full article

The Twins erupted late amid shaky Miami defense to keep their playoff hopes alive as they hand the Marlins their fourth 100-loss season. What kind of pitcher is Edward Cabrera? "A guy with some of the best pure stuff in baseball." Sure. "A guy who routinely struggles to find the strike zone." Also, yes. With Blake Snell forfeiting the moniker of "most polarizing pitcher in baseball" with sustained effectiveness, one can argue that Cabrera—whom we have discussed ad nauseam here—has supplanted the two-time Cy Young award winner in that regard. While Wednesday's outing (5 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 K) was largely encouraging, it did not stop the Marlins from running into the buzzsaw that was the Twins pitching staff. Minnesota hurlers struck out 16 hitters in their 8-3 win as they look to keep their playoff hopes alive. Despite the win, the Twins (82-76) still find themselves two games out of the third AL Wild Card spot with Detroit and Kansas City both winning their respective Wednesday matchups. Miami, on the other hand, dropped to 58-100, the fourth time in franchise history and third since 2018 where they have lost at least 100 games in a season. Walking just one in his 20th and final outing of the season, Cabrera wrapped under his 2024 season with a 3.57 ERA over his final 10 starts, allowing three runs or fewer in eight of them. Through 63 games (61 starts) and 294 innings pitched over parts of four seasons, Cabrera owns a 4.32 ERA, 10.04 K/9 and 5.14 BB/9. In his 20 outings this season, the hard-throwing right-hander pitched to a 4.95 ERA and 4.68 FIP. Despite the strong finish to his season, Cabrera's status as a member of the 2025 rotation remains up in the air given his penchant for perpetual inconsistency. Upsetting in the loss was Miami forking up a three-run lead they initially took when Jake Burger , now one homer shy of back-to-back 30-homer seasons, hit a three-run blast off Simeon Woods Richardson (1.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R). In relief of Richardson, the Minnesota bullpen authored eight scoreless innings, recording 14 of the last 24 outs via the strikeout. The Marlins are now 12-40 in games where they strike out 10-plus times. After retiring the first six Twins hitters to start the evening, Cabrera surrendered a pair of runs in a bottom of the third that accompanied a throwing error of his doing, the first of four defensive miscues by Miami on the night. The Marlins' 114 errors rank last in the majors. jnarze.mp4 Cabrera's only earned run came in the bottom of the fourth when Byron Buxton's 18th home run would tie the score at 3 apiece. Minnesota put up a five-spot in the bottom of the seventh, with four of those runs being unearned, adding to the team's MLB-worst 83 unearned runs allowed. Looking Ahead The Twins will host the Marlins one final time in 2024 when they conclude their series Thursday evening. David Festa (2-6, 4.80 ERA) and Valente Bellozo (3-4, 3.82 ERA) will face off. A pleasant surprise for Miami this season, Bellozo has been the sport's luckiest pitcher (min. 60 IP) in terms of the 1.92-run variance between his ERA and FIP. Can he get by on smoke and mirrors one last time? First pitch from Target Field is slated for 7:40 EST. View full article

In their final home effort of the season, the Marlins found themselves on the wrong side of franchise history. It took them until their 81st and final home game of the season (and 156th game overall) to do so, but the Miami Marlins would not be deprived of a 4-homer game in 2024. Entering play Sunday, MLB teams were 142-11 in games in which they hit 4 of more home runs. The Marlins joined the minority as the Braves prevailed, 5-4. With the loss, the Marlins (57-99) are on the precipice of the fourth 100-loss season in franchise history. Additionally, their 51 losses at home in 2024 are tied with 2019 for the most in a single Marlins season. The loss also marked just the second time in franchise history that the Marlins hit four home runs while only scoring four runs, with one prior game coming in a 4-3 victory over the Reds on August 29 of that 2019 season. Across the Diamond Other than a first-inning Ozzie Albies blast, Darren McCaughan held strong over his four innings of work, striking out five. Miami would tie the score at 1-1 when Jonah Bride (1-3, HR, BB) blasted his eighth homer of the season. Jake Burger launched his 28th home run of the year in the bottom of the fourth to close in on potential back-to-back 30-home run seasons. Like McCaughan, Grant Holmes failed to make it through five, exiting without having recorded an out in the bottom of the fifth with Miami having a second and third, no-outs scenario they failed to capitalize on. The team would later fail to take advantage of a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, emblematic for a team whose collective .685 OPS with no outs ranks 25th in the Majors. After Atlanta plated their fourth run of the day via a Gio Urshela home run, the Marlins had their moment when, for the seventh time this year, they clubbed back-to-back long balls in the bottom of the sixth, with this latest effort being co-authored by Connor Norby (1-5, HR, 3 K's) and Jesús Sánchez. Notable regarding Sánchez's home run was the fact that it came off a lefty and one-time Marlins prospect Dylan Lee. Among hitters to take at least 90 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers in a season, Sánchez's .152 batting average is the third-lowest mark in franchise history. In keeping with the bad luck that has seemed to plague him all season, Declan Cronin—who recently had a streak of 281 consecutive batters faced without allowing a home run snapped—allowed the eventual go-ahead run on a 75 mph Jorge Soler single that caromed off the pitcher's mound. Cronin has posted a bewildering 4.41 ERA/2.52 FIP split in his 69 ⅓ innings pitched. 1.mp4 Looking Ahead With just six games to go, the Marlins will commence their penultimate series of the season on Tuesday and continue playing spoiler when they open up a three-game set against the Minnesota Twins. Ryan Weathers (3-6, 3.94 ERA) will make his second start since returning from a finger injury that cost him three-plus months. Bailey Ober (12-7, 3.84 ERA) counters him for Minnesota in what will be his first start against Miami. First pitch from Target Field is slated for 7:40 EST. View full article

With his contract expiring after the season, Fish On First asks Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker to reflect on his two-year tenure with the club. View full video

The Marlins have used 10 different second basemen in 2024, most of whom remain under club control. The San Diego Padres have constructed a team full of shortstops. On the other end of the spectrum, there's the Miami Marlins, who lack a proven solution at the most premium infield defensive position. Instead, via trades, waiver claims and internal development, they have accrued considerable depth at the other middle infield spot, second base. Although this is not the backbone of a contending team, it's a positive development nonetheless to have a handful of affordable and controllable players with redeeming qualities. Ahead of the 2025 season, the Marlins can pencil in Connor Norby, Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez as key infield contributors. Lopez has been their primary starter at 2B in 2024, while Norby and Edwards played the position frequently during their minor league careers. Utilityman Vidal Bruján has had the third-most 2B starts this year behind only Lopez and Luis Arraez, however, he's been a replacement-level hitter who has exhausted his minor league options. The Marlins may lean toward non-tendering him this offseason, in large part because of the emergence of Javier Sanoja, the versatile 22-year-old who earned the organization's Minor League Player of the Year award. Even Jonah Bride made a pair of starts at 2B, though he profiles as a corner infielder moving forward. Let's begin with Norby. He is a bat-first guy by way of a career .860 minor league OPS and a comparable .848 mark in the first 30 games of his Marlins tenure. He'll be a staple of their everyday lineup for the foreseeable future. Where to deploy Norby defensively? Two-thirds of his starts in the minor leagues (270 of 402) came as a second baseman, and his below-average arm strength suggests that second base would best suit him. So far with the Marlins, he has been at third base almost exclusively and graded out poorly there, amassing minus-4 defensive runs saved (a -24 DRS pro-rated over a full season). This past Sunday was an exception to the norm, but generally speaking, he's been plagued by inconsistency. 1.mp4 Also worth noting, Norby started 59 MiLB games between both corner outfield spots. Perhaps he could emulate the career of Ian Happ and find a permanent home there if it's in the best interest of the team's defensive alignment. Edwards has filled the Luis Arraez-sized void atop Miami's batting order. All but nine innings from him on the defensive side of the ball have come as the team's shortstop. While he has seized the opportunity at the plate, Baseball-Reference (-12 total zone and -8 DRS), FanGraphs (-5.3 UZR/150) and Statcast (-10 OAA and 6th-percentile FRV) all paint the picture of him being miscast at SS. His average 79.6 mph throws from the 6-spot pit him 53rd among 58 different fielders to attempt an assist at the position. 1.mp4 On the contrary, Lopez has graded out exceptionally well defensively, currently tied for fourth in total runs saved among second basemen, per Fielding Bible. The question is whether the volatility of his bat merits regular playing time, especially when there are suitable alternatives. He endured an 80-game homerless stretch from May 14-September 6 this season—his 60 wRC+ in that span ranked last among 153 hitters to take at least 300 plate appearances. Even with a solid finish to his campaign, Lopez has a mediocre 86 wRC+ overall. The Marlins must find creative ways to get their best possible position player talent on the field together without sabotaging their run prevention. The team was outscored by 223 runs through their first 156 games, in large part due to pitching injuries, but defensive miscues no doubt exacerbated the issue. While welcoming back Sandy Alcantara and others to the mound would raise the team's floor, aspirations of being genuinely competitive should be reserved until we see some evidence of Norby, Edwards and Lopez effectively co-existing on the diamond (and a larger sample of Sanoja's body of work). So, did we answer the question of "who" or "what" is on second for the Marlins in 2025? In keeping with the classic Abbott and Costello bit, that is for you to discover for yourself. View full article

A pair of James Wood homers and strong Mackenzie Gore hand Marlins another series loss despite a close call in ninth. Undeniably talented as a former No. 3 overall draft pick, Washington Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore has yet to show his full potential, pitching to a career 4.40 ERA entering Sunday's start. When facing the 2024 Miami Marlins, though, the hard-throwing southpaw has looked more like Steve Carlton than JP Sears. After limiting the Fish to one unearned run over 6 innings in Washington's 4-3 win over Miami, Gore now owns a 2.22 ERA across 4 career starts against them. This season alone, Gore allowed just two earned runs over his 19 innings pitched. That 0.95 ERA is tied for the fifth-lowest by any pitcher with a minimum of three starts against a single opponent. With the win, the Nationals conclude the season 11-2 against Miami, finishing with an all-time best .846 winning percentage against them. That dominance was largely fueled by their pitching staff, which collectively posted a 2.07 ERA (another single-season record for this NL East rivalry). Across the Diamond Looking to right the ship following a two-start stretch where he allowed 10 earned runs, Adam Oller kept it close, surrendering three runs over his five innings of work. With several questions surrounding the state of the Marlins rotation headed into 2025, Oller could be doing just enough to stick with the organization entering next spring training. Allowing just one hit his first time through the order, the Nationals tacked on runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a lead they would not relinquish. Another name to keep tabs on as we turn the page to next season, Jonah Bride, continued his own personal carpe diem, racking up a pair of hits including his seventh home run of the season in the top of the seventh. Since the start of play on July 4, Bride has hit .270/.359/.431/.790 over 206 plate appearances. Bride's second run of the day would contribute to a ninth-inning rally by Miami before Nick Fortes flew out to James Wood to end the game. Two days shy of his 22nd birthday, Wood penned his first career multi-HR game. Both were no-doubters with projected distances of 435 feet and 426 feet. Notable in Wood's second blast was the fact that it marked the first allowed this season by Declan Cronin, a span of 282 plate appearances. Cronin was three batters short of matching Kelvin Herrera's 2014 mark of 285 hitters faced without allowing a home run, which remains the most in baseball over the past decade. Looking Ahead Upon departing D.C. and concluding a 1-6 road trip, the Marlins (55-95) travel back to Miami to commence their final homestand of the season. Resuming play against the Dodgers on Tuesday, the Fish will send Darren McCaughan (0-0, 7.06 ERA) to the mound in the series opener. McCaughan is coming off a previous outing that saw him go a season-best 5 innings, allowing 3 runs and taking a no-decision against the Nationals on September 12. First pitch from loanDepot park is slated for 6:40 EST. View full article

The 91st Marlins loss of the season came at the expense of another inconsistent Adam Oller start and featured a milestone home run by Andrew McCutchen. "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," as the saying goes. In the case of Adam Oller on Tuesday night, the story was more nuanced than that. While his outing was underwhelming on the surface—allowing six runs over five innings—that does not tell the whole story. After allowing a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, the Marlins right-hander settled in, holding Pittsburgh scoreless over the next three innings. The end, however, would come when Andrew McCutchen, now in his 16th season in the Majors, blasted his 20th home run, a three-run blast in what accounted for his 319th career long ball. McCutchen becomes the 87th player in the expansion era (1961-present) to have 20 or more home runs in at least 10 different seasons. And when manager Skip Schumaker is running out a lineup void of Connor Norby—a late scratch after fouling a ball off his foot in Monday's 3-2 loss—Miami was well behind the starting gun in their eventual 6-4 loss. Norby has hit .312/.354/.636 with six home runs in 19 games since joining Miami. The Marlins would make it interesting at points, plating a pair of runs in the sixth, including an RBI double off the bat of Kyle Stowers. He also doubled in his previous plate appearance, snapping an 0-for-24. Miami would plate a fourth run in the ninth before Pittsburgh closer Aroldis Chapman locked down his second save in as many days. Javier Sanoja batted leadoff for Miami and made his first career start at shortstop in place of a resting Xavier Edwards. Sanoja drew a walk against Chapman on Monday and this time lined a 101.6 mph heater to the opposite field for a single. Additionally worth noting, George Soriano struck out four Pirates in three scoreless innings of relief to author what was arguably the finest of his 20 Marlins appearances this season. Now 37 games under .500, Miami (54-91) is closing in on their fourth 100-loss season. Looking Ahead The Marlins will bid farewell to Pittsburgh in 2024 when they conclude their series against the Pirates on Thursday. Jonathan Bermúdez (5.79 ERA) will make his first career Major League start in place of the injured Max Meyer. Bailey Falter (7-7. 4.45 ERA) will face Miami for the first time since the beginning of the season when he allowed 6 runs over 4 innings on March 31. First pitch from PNC Park is slated for 12:35 EST. View full article

After being drummed by 14 on Friday, the Fish scored early and often to put themselves back in the win column. MIAMI—"Injuries! Get your injuries!" Following a 16-2 blowout loss to the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, the Miami Marlins had been broken and battered in a more literal sense as well. Hoping to avoid their 90th loss of the season on Saturday, they announced 11 pregame roster moves, which included placing three more players on the injured list. Inarguably the most intriguing of those corresponding moves was recalling INF/OF Javier Sanoja from Triple-A. Hitting .291 with 14 stolen bases all while manning both middle infield and center field spots on the diamond for Jacksonville, it took just one pitch for the 5'7", 150-pound prospect to make an impact. Pinch-hitting for David Hensley and facing Taijuan Walker, the first pitch of Sanoja's big league career would turn into an RBI fielder's choice that plated a pair of Marlins runs. "It is a moment everyone dreams of," noted Sanoja following Miami's 9-5 victory. "It was quick. I got ready, wanted to be aggressive, and was lucky to get the RBI." Sanoja became the 68th player to appear for the Marlins in 2024. He's by far the youngest of those 68, having just turned 22 years old earlier this week. Impressive in the win was Miami's ability to get to Aaron Nola. Out-pitched by Darren McCaughan, no less (4.2 IP, 2 ER), the Fish tagged Nola for five runs in his 4 ⅔ innings of work. With the loss, the veteran right-hander is now 5-12 with a 3.72 ERA against the Marlins, including an 0-4 skid dating back to 2022. Miami also improved to 5-7 against the Phillies in 2024. For only the fifth time this season, Miami's offense produced three long balls. Connor Norby (2-for-5, 3 RBI) and Jonah Bride each mashed their sixth home runs of the season, with Norby's being a first-inning, two-run blast off the former All-Star Nola. Miami's third and final dinger was Otto Lopez's first since May 13, snapping a stretch of 319 consecutive homerless plate appearances. Lopez would finish the day a triple shy of the cycle. With Marlins closer Calvin Faucher being among those placed on the IL earlier in the day, Jesús Tinoco finished the contest by tossing a clean ninth inning. The announced crowd of 23,189—boosted by Nicaraguan heritage-themed festivities—was the largest drawn to loanDepot park since Opening Day. Looking Ahead The Marlins and the Phillies will face off for the final time in 2024 when they close out their four-game series on Sunday. Philadelphia will send Seth Johnson (2.70 ERA in his MiLB career) to the mound to make his Major League debut. Scratched from his planned Friday start with migraine-like symptoms, Edward Cabrera has been deemed good to go for Miami it what will be his first outing since August 31. First pitch from loanDepot park is slated for 1:40 EST. View full article

Marlins fend off Giants in ping-pong affair by the Bay to clinch rare series win. To call the beginning of Kyle Stowers' tenure with the Marlins a "rough start" would be the understatement of the 2024 season. In his first 16 games with the club from July 31 to August 18, Stowers hit .096/.175/.096 with a 40.4% strikeout rate. Among the 198 hitters to take at least 50 plate appearances in that span, only his opposition in Sunday's 7-5 Marlins win, Patrick Bailey, had a lower wRC+ (-59) than Stowers (-19). Maybe the pressure of trying to impress your new club was detrimental for the former Stanford product. "Some mechanical adjustments that needed to be made, losing my backside a little bit," noted Stowers when discussing those early struggles. And maybe, it is best to simply allow time to paint a fuller picture. Stowers collected three hits on August 19, jumpstarting a stretch that saw him enter Sunday with a .993 OPS to close out the month of August. It appears September could be more of the same. With Miami trailing 2-1 at the hands of Logan Webb—owner of a career 2.67 ERA against the Fish entering play—Stowers attacked a well-placed Webb changeup for his third home run on the road trip. That capped off a four-run fifth inning in which all of the Marlins runs came with two outs. Across the Diamond Having to swim their way upstream in the victory, Darren McCaughan's afternoon started with him surrendering Mike Yastrzemski's 100th career home run. He also issued hit-by-pitches to three batters, becoming the 13th different Marlins pitcher to do so. Settling in as best he could, McCaughan would allow four runs (three earned) over his four-plus innings of work. d4f73982-ebeac5d2-cb1809c8-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 A highlight on the mound came by way of the bullpen. Starting with Xzavion Curry, the relief corps delivered 4 ⅔ perfect innings, striking out nine in the process. Bookending that group, Calvin Faucher upped his total to 230 batters faced without allowing a home run in 2024. In taking two out of three from the Giants, the Marlins won a series for the first time since their pre-trade deadline visit to Milwaukee (July 26-28). Looking Ahead Tuesday will see the Marlins back home as they begin their penultimate series against the Washington Nationals. Max Meyer (3-4, 5.44 ERA) will check the final team off his NL East checklist as he makes his first career start against Washington in the opener. Patrick Corbin (4-12, 5.50 ERA) will try and keep the good times a-rolling, having allowed just one run over his previous two starts. First pitch from loanDepot park is slated for 6:40 EST. View full article

Bats mount a ninth-inning rally to win in Griffin Conine's memorable first MLB start. Throughout his 16-year career, Jeff Conine—like many a hitter past and present—enjoyed hitting in Colorado. In 156 career plate appearances between Mile High Stadium and Coors Field, Mr. Marlin hit an unfathomable .418 with a 1.260 OPS. On Tuesday night, Conine was back in the building to watch his son, Griffin Conine, make his first career Major League start. This game would go on to generate storylines aplenty: Kyle Stowers' first Marlins home run, Roddery Muñoz again being plagued by the long ball, Mike Baumann becoming just the second pitcher in MLB history to appear with five teams in a single season, and an exhilarating, ninth-inning comeback. However, let's turn our focus first to the junior Conine. Like his father—a 58th-round pick who came to the Marlins in the 1992 expansion draft—Griffin's road to the big leagues was anything but smooth. Originally drafted by Miami in the 31st round back in 2015, Conine opted instead to attend Duke, hitting 31 home runs between his sophomore and junior seasons before receiving a $1.35M signing bonus after being selected in the second round by the Blue Jays. What should've been his first full professional season in 2019 was abbreviated by a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a banned substance. Then in 2020, minor league ball was canceled due to the COVID pandemic. Conine would find himself coming home when the Marlins acquired him at that season's trade deadline. Now, four years and 448 minor league games later, Conine's dream was fully realized at age 27 when he struck out in his big league debut in Miami's 3-2 loss to Colorado Monday. But when the time came for his first Major League start the following night—a 9-8 win for Miami (48-84)—you would think he was a seasoned veteran. Batting in the top of the sixth, Conine saw a hanging curveball from Cal Quantrill (5.2 IP, 4 R) and sent it into the right-center gap, ultimately ending up with a triple for his first career hit. Per Statcast, Conine's 415-foot hit would have cleared the fences in any other MLB venue. Conine would put a bow on a night he and his family would never forget with a leadoff double in the top of the ninth, ending the evening 2-for-3. Conine also had a walk and an outfield assist earlier in the game. "It was good to have a full day, full routine," he noted. Notes from Across the Diamond Lasting just 1 ⅔ innings, Roddery Muñoz continued to fall victim to the home run, surrendering three more while facing only 13 total batters. His 26 home runs are the most allowed by any Marlins pitcher in their first 18 career games, with no one else allowing more than 16. Fortunately, the Marlins offense had access to the Coors effect, highlighted by five unanswered runs in the top of the ninth that played out as such: Griffin Conine doubles David Hensley singles; Conine to third Connor Norby walks Jake Burger doubles; Conine and Hensley score Pitching change Jesús Sánchez homers; Norby, Burger, Sánchez score Of note, too, was Kyle Stowers, who broke a 79-plate appearance homerless streak to begin his Marlins tenure when he led off the fourth inning with a blast for Miami's second run. Stowers, who later added a triple, is hitting .348 (8-for-23) since August 19, including back-to-back multi-hit games. Including left-hander Jonathan Bermúdez and right-hander Mike Baumann, who both pitched in relief of Muñoz, the Marlins have now used 64 different players in 2024, continuing to build upon their single-season franchise record. Looking Ahead The Marlins continue their four-game series in Colorado on Wednesday when they send Max Meyer (3-3, 5.44 ERA) to make his first career start against the Rockies. Kyle Freeland (3-6, 5.76 ERA) will meet the Marlins for the seventh time in his career, owning a 3.60 ERA in six prior appearances. First pitch from Coors Field is slated for 8:40 EST. View full article

Oller provides some light beneath the darkness for a broken and beaten Marlins rotation and Norby continues to blossom in win. MIAMI, FL—What do you get when Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and Eury Pérez each go down with extended injuries? You're left with a starting rotation so ill-equipped to face big league hitters, it makes the Continental Army at Valley Forge look formidable. Entering play Sunday, Miami Marlins starters had a collective 5.25 ERA. That's third-worst in franchise history, trailing only 2007 (5.58) and 1998 (5.40). Their arms have totaled a league-worst 24 quality starts with 16 different individuals toeing the rubber at least once as a rotation member. To have Adam Oller—now in his eighth big league organization and the owner of a career 7.21 ERA—making starts in late August is a microcosm of one of the more hard-to-watch seasons in franchise history. Thankfully, there is a sort of randomness endemic to baseball that keeps us coming back. The same Chicago Cubs lineup that erupted for 14 runs in Saturday's drumming of Miami was limited by Oller to just one over 5 ⅔ innings. The right-hander's outing served as a rare feel-good moment for the 2024 club in their 7-2 win over the Cubs. Notable was Oller's fastball, a pitch he used 72 percent of the time in helping him punch out six batters, the most by a Marlins starter since Edward Cabrera's eight back on August 4. Since the start of play on August 5 through Saturday, Miami's 5.86 ERA starters ranked 28th among the 30 clubs. Notes from Across the Diamond The Miami offense erupted for seven extra-base hits in the win, matching the season-high posted on August 21. Undoubtedly, the most notable of those magnificent seven was Connor Norby's first-pitch, lead-off home run in the bottom of the first. While the rest of the Marlins lineup managed just four hits off Chicago starter Javier Assad (7 IP, 3 R), Norby seemed to have the crafty righty figured out, adding a third-inning double to his tally in what saw him collect a career-best three hits, ultimately falling just a triple short of the cycle. Norby's six extra-base hits are the most through a player's first six games with the Marlins in franchise history. Of note, too, was the continued suppression of the long ball by Declan Cronin and Calvin Faucher. Now at 264 and 216 hitters faced, respectively, Cronin and Faucher have yet to allow a home run this season. Kelvin Herrera in 2014 was the last MLB pitcher to face as many hitters as Cronin has in a single season without letting any of them leave the yard. Looking Ahead The Marlins will head Rocky Mountain high as they trek to Denver to begin a series against the NL West cellar-dweller Colorado Rockies. Edward Cabrera (2-5, 5.65 ERA) will take the ball for Miami in Monday's series opener. First pitch from Coors Field is slated for 8:40 EST. View full article