Kevin Barral

MIAMI, FL — Game two against the Washington Nationals began to look like a repeat of game one, as the visitors took an early 4-0 lead. The Miami Marlins climbed back to tie the game at 4-4 thanks to home runs from Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards. It was unlikely hero Jakob Marsee who hit the go-ahead homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. Despite some stress in the top of the ninth, the Marlins held on for an 8-7 win, marking their largest comeback win of the season. Stowers, the Marlins' 2025 All-Star, suffered a right hamstring strain during spring training that kept him out for the 20 games of the season. He entered Saturday slashing .206/.296/.254/.550 with one RBI and a 56 wRC+. Stowers went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the first game of the series, but Marlins manager Clayton McCullough felt like his final at-bat was "an encouraging one." Kyle Stowers hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth inning. He took Nationals pitcher Zack Littell deep to the second deck in right field. "He seemed like less in between," McCullough said after Friday's game. "He got some swings off and I think the Kyle that we know is someone who's incredibly convicted in his approach. Kyle is smart, and he goes into an at-bat generally knowing what he's looking for, where he's looking for it. Trust his eyes to lay off and just feeling for it a little bit to me. Looked like early on and then the last one, I think he got in there and got off some much more aggressive and convicted swings." He finished the game going 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. It was his second three-hit performance of the season. "I think just coming in with a plan was the difference for me," Stowers said. "When it comes to committing to a plan, there are areas in which you're still gonna give up, so once you get beat, it's making sure that there's a hill that you're willing to die on." In what looked like a replay of Edwards' third home run of the season from Friday night, he took Nationals reliever Mitchell Parker 422 feet deep to left field, tying the game at four apiece. It was his longest MLB homer in terms of distance and set a new career-high for most homers in a single season. It also marked the first time in his career that he has hit a homer in back-to-back games. Right-handed hitting was a weakness in 2025 for the switch-hitting Edwards. This year, he has an incredible .342/.405/.526 slash line from that side. "I like to treat both sides like two different hitters, so that's what I'm trying to do," Edwards said. "Got rid of my toe tap on the right-hand side, and kind of freed me up a little bit. My body moves different on the right-hand side, so let's try to treat it like that." With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth inning, Stowers knocked in his third hit and Connor Norby worked a walk. Jakob Marsee, who many have been calling for him to be sent back down to Triple-A as he entered Saturday's game with a 67 wRC+, hit a go-ahead three-run homer to give the Marlins a 7-4 lead. "Confidence is a weird thing," Clayton McCullough said postgame. "You're never quite sure where it's going to come from. Hopefully having some moments and coming through will certainly help spark that. I think also that is going to getting back to what we believe and what they think will lead to the opportunity to have success, and that's just getting there with some conviction in the box and being ready to go. If you get something that you like to get some swings off and not be so worried about it needing to be the perfect pitch, or what the pitch is—just having a plan and letting it go." For Marsee, his faith and his support system have helped him get through this slump to begin 2026. "Just trusting that everything happens for a reason," Marsee said. "It's all gonna work how it's supposed to, so that's been huge. These guys here every day have been huge for me. Then people back home that care and support me, so to have them is huge." Esteury Ruiz hit a double in the ensuing at-bat, stole third (sixth stolen base of the season) and Leo Jimenez drove him in on a sac fly to center field, extending he lead, 8-4. In six innings of work, Junk allowed four runs on seven hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Three of the four runs Junk allowed came in the top of the first inning when James Wood hit his 11th home run of the season and CJ Abrams knocked in his league-leading 36th RBI of the season. Four of Junk's sixth strikeouts came on his fastball, which he threw 37% of the time. All of those four strikeouts came looking. He also landed his fastball six out of 10 times for a first-pitch strike (60%). Where Junk struggled was surrendering a season-high 10 hard-hit balls. Of those 10, four of them came on the fastball. Michael Petersen, who entered into a pretty comfortable situation, leading 8-4, allowed three runs in the top of the ninth inning. After finally getting two outs, McCullough summoned lefty John King out of the bullpen to get the final out of the game. King earned his first career save in what was his 11th consecutive scoreless outing. With the win, the Marlins improve to 18-22 on the season while the Nationals drop to 19-21. Sandy Alcantara will get the nod for Miami in the rubber match on Mother's Day. First pitch is at 12:15 pm and the game will be aired exclusively on Peacock. It'll be the first of back-to-back Sunday games aired on that streaming service. View full article

MIAMI, FL - Friday's series opener against the Washington Nationals marked one of the most highly anticipated major league debuts in a long time, as Fish On First's No. 2 prospect Robby Snelling took the mound. Unfortunately, the Marlins offense went ice cold, including going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, falling by a final score of 3-2. "He's made really tremendous strides since we've acquired him," said president of baseball operations Peter Bendix before the game. "It's a testament to Robby, how hard he works, the kind of competitor that he is. It's also a testament to our pitching group from top to bottom, Bill Hezel, our director of pitching, and everybody who's been involved in Robby's development. The great thing about Robby is he's really good right now. We're really excited about tonight, and he still has a lot of improvements that he can make. He has true top-of-the-rotation upside." Usually, a starting pitcher keeps to himself before an outing and is not spoken to, but Snelling took a different approach, and has throughout his whole career. During Marlins batting practice, Snelling was hanging out, chatting up teammates and staff just outside the Marlins dugout. Part of his reasoning is to keep things "super light" and doesn't want his start day to feel different from any other day. "Come in, try and chop it up with the guys," Snelling said. "My thing is kind of going out, and I was joking about the roof being closed today. I try and go out and roam around the outfield barefoot and walk around, and usually BP is not going on. There was no sun out today, so it's kind of like being able to just be outside of the clubhouse and interact with people. I don't want to feel isolated on any day. I want to treat it just like a normal day. Kind of gets my mind right." In five innings of work, Snelling allowed three runs on five hits, four walks and only two strikeouts. All three runs he allowed came in the top of the first inning with two outs. An RBI single from CJ Abrams and then a two-run homer from Jacob Young. He finished the game throwing 86 pitches, with 54 landing for strikes. He averaged about 17 pitches per inning. "For him to really navigate himself through five, maybe not the cleanest innings, but he really grinded well, showed a lot of moxie today," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. Snelling's fastball topped out at 97.2 mph and averaged 95.3 mph. Although the velocity of the fastball was up, the usage was down. Snelling threw his fastball 51.4% of the time in Triple-A, and on Friday, he threw it 33% of the time, his second most used pitch. "Everybody's geared up for 100 miles an hour up here," Snelling said. "I used my fastball in good spots where I needed to, and utilized my sinking fastball in really good spots to left-handed hitters. That got me a couple of groundouts tonight that I really needed." Some of the positives to take away from a start like this was his curveball playing well, generating five whiffs, including All-Star James Wood for his first career strikeout. Snelling suspected that Wood would be sitting on his fastball in that situation. "That guy is going to be geared up, expecting me to come out firing. and I was able to execute three really good pitches." The curveball was Snelling's most-used pitch on the night (34% usage). Another plus was landing 16 of 22 pitches for first-pitch strikes (73%), which he had told the media the day before he had been trying to work on at Triple-A. Although Snelling had a lot of traffic on the bases, the defense behind him helped him, turning two double plays (one in the second and another in the fifth). In total, Snelling had six groundouts. "Obviously, having runners on base as much as I did tonight, that's not what starting pitchers want," Snelling said. "Being able to continue to attack the zone, attack each hitter that stepped into the box, proud of myself about." Catching Snelling was Joe Mack, who spent a lot of time with him in the minor league after being traded from the Padres. When asked what he will remember the most from his debut, immediately went to "throwing to Joe." "Being able to go up through the minor leagues with him after I got traded, and create that dialogue with him and the relationship that I have, it's pretty cool." The Marlins scored twice off former KBO pitcher Foster Griffin in the bottom of the first inning. Xavier Edwards, who was leading off, took Griffin deep to left-center. It marked his first home run as a right-handed hitter and his third career leadoff homer. Kyle Stowers reached first on a fielder's choice and Otto Lopez, who was at second, scored on a throwing error. Unfortunately for the Marlins, Griffin was dominant after that. In seven innings of work, he allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits, one walk and struck out nine. His cutter generated nine whiffs, with four of his nine strikeouts coming on that pitch. "We just didn't put a whole lot of good passes on (the cutter) and he was able to crowd a lot of guys there," McCullough said. "He's having a really nice season, been throwing the ball well. I think just that combo of trying to bully guys in with action running into 'em and then go play the changeup off of it has been successful. Dump enough curveballs early in count to steal some strikes. He pitched a good game." With the loss, the Marlins drop to 17-22. Janson Junk gets the start on Saturday with a 4:10 pm first pitch. View full article

MIAMI, FL — On Friday, just under two hours before Robby Snelling made his major league debut, Miami Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix spoke to local media for about 10 minutes, discussing a variety of topics. His most notable responses are featured below, along with some additional context and statistics. What are you seeing with Owen Caissie, and how much longer of a leash do you give in at the big league level? "Adjusting to major league pitching is the hardest thing a player is ever going to do. With guys like Owen (Caissie), he has never failed at any point in his career. So what happens when you get punched? What happens when you get knocked down? You have to figure out a way to get back up and adjust. Players do that at different points in their career. It takes them different amounts of time. We saw Kyle Stowers get punched in the face every single night at the end of 2024 and then he was able to use that to make an adjustment. I'm optimistic that Owen can do the same thing." Through 34 games this season, Caissie is slashing .202/.261/.323/.584 with two home runs, 16 RBI and a 60 wRC+. The biggest issue for Caissie has been his strikeout rate, which is at 41.4%, highest in baseball (min. 100 PA). His last home run was hit on April 1 against the New York Yankees. Starting pitching leash and bullpen management. Does Clayton McCullough make all the moves? "Before every game, there is a meeting that involves a lot of different people that is run by Clayton to talk through as many different scenarios as we can imagine coming up in that game. I think the best decisions are the decisions that are made ahead of time, in the sense that you don't want to be caught off guard. You want to be prepared for anything that might happen. What's option A, option B and option C. That's not to say it's scripted a predetermined, it's just thought about ahead of time. There's a lot of time spent on that. A lot of it is managing both to win today and to get through 162 games." What are you seeing with Eury Pérez? "Eury is still one of the youngest pitchers in baseball. He's got as good stuff as anybody, and he's still learning how to utilize it and best deploy it. The path to being a superstar is not always linear, and so I think that's what we're seeing." In eight starts, Pérez is sporting a 5.01 ERA, 4.90 FIP, 9.80 K/9 and 4.57 BB/9. In his most recent start, Pérez went five innings, allowing five runs on four hits (one home run), five walks and struck out six. At the moment, there is no plan to send Pérez down to Triple-A. How do you navigate that type of situation where you want Agustin Ramírez to develop up here, but you also don't want to take reps away from guys that are contributing? "I will sign up for the scenario in which we have three really good catchers. I think that very well could happen. If it does, then we'll deal with it. But that's the kind of problem we want to have." Since being sent down to Jacksonville, Ramírez is slashing .250/.333/.250/.583. The Marlins called up Joe Mack ahead of Monday's series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies, and since then, he is slashing .300/.300/.400/.700 with one RBI and a 92 wRC+. Liam Hicks is slashing .319/.372/.584/.956 with a team-leading nine home runs and MLB leading 34 RBI. "What Liam is doing is incredible. The fact that he set out this offseason to add power and improve his bat speed. He clearly did that and somehow also lowered his strikeout rate to be one of the best strikeout rates in all of baseball. He's hitting lefties, hitting guys who throw hard. He's hitting guys who throw breaking balls. He's hitting for power. He's hitting for average. Like, absolutely incredible." Why was Ramírez sent down? "He was called up after several other guys back here went down. He was called up relatively early in the year, and to his credit, he hit the ground running and took advantage of that, but didn't have the level of development, especially defensively in the minor leagues with us that we may have been planning for him. I think getting him down to Triple-A where he can really worry about getting better without all of the noise that comes with being at the major league level, I think is really going to do him a lot of things." Thoughts on Braxton Garrett and when we can see him back up at the big league level? "He's been great. I think the fact that Braxton is in Triple-A really speaks to the depth of pitching that we have. There will be an opportunity for him. I'm sure of it. He will be ready for it. I'm sure of that, too. The fact that he's healthy and throwing the ball well, that's what's important." View full article

MIAMI, FL - After the Marlins had trailed in the first inning of every game in the series against the Baltimore Orioles, the script was flipped, as the Marlins took the lead early, but after Baltimore tied it late in the game, it took a wild walk-off for the Marlins to defeat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3, improving to 17-21 on the season. "You never know what might get some things going, and I think certainly enough to have a tight game and one tonight where we get out ahead and to claw back into it, hang in there, they tied up," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "Good for us to hang in there and win a close game here at home and salvage this series. Hope this is something that kind of can get us going a little bit." In the top of the eighth inning, leading 3-2, McCullough turned to Fish On First No. 20 prospect Josh Ekness. It marked his first high-leverage moment in the big leagues, but failed to hold the lead, allowing an RBI single to none other than Pete Alonso, tying the game, 3-3. He kept the game tied, as Samuel Basallo grounded into a double play and Tyler O'Neil flew out to Heriberto Hernandez. "Everyone was available," McCullough said. "I think (Josh Ekness) is a really good pitcher. It's big time stuff and he's had a couple of outings under his belt to this point. You can see Josh get put into a lot of various situations and scenarios. I just think that the time is going to come for him where I'm going to continue to ask him to maybe be in some of those spots, and proud of him for being able to wiggle out of that, at least keep it tied." Although the Marlins had runners on second and third in the bottom of the eighth, the inning concluded after Hernandez popped out to Gunnar Henderson. The Marlins went with Kyle Stowers to lead off the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitting for Esteury Ruiz, but popped up on the second pitch of the at-bat. After Jakob Marsee struck out, Joe Mack, who entered the game in the top of the eighth inning, mainly for his defense as McCullough later noted, smacked a double into the right field corner. It marked his first career double. With a runner on second and two outs, Javier Sanoja was up for the Marlins. He hit a grounder to third baseman Coby Mayo, who bobbled it while Mack was on the move to third, and after not attempting to tag Mack, Mayo made the throw to first, which was off and allowed Mack to score the winning run. "I definitely have to work on my base running," Mack said postgame. "We're probably going to have some work on that tomorrow. Honestly, it was just kind of as soon as he swung the bat, I was going, and he kind bobbled it a little bit, so I ran past him and ducked in front of him. Just seeing that whole thing unfold, then running home, looking at Otto (Lopez) with this hands up and jaw open, it was really cool experience." Through his first four big league games, Mack is 3-10 with an RBI. Behind the plate, Mack has looked comfortable and as McCullough said, he will be playing almost everyday. "It's been awesome," Mack said. "The guys here have been so awesome in every single way. They've been just joyful to be around, very happy and just welcoming. It's a great group of guys, the staff's also phenomenal. It's just awesome to be around these guys. Truly a dream come true." After Connor Norby, who was hitting second, worked a walk in his first at-bat, the stage was set for Liam Hicks to hit his team-leading ninth home run of the season. Hicks now leads all Major League Baseball with 34 RBI on the season. Following the first inning, the Marlins led, 2-0. In the bottom of the third inning, Norby drove in the Marlins third run of the game. Meyer, who had the best start of his season against the Philadelphia Phillies in his last appearance, went five innings allowing two runs on six hits, two walks and struck out five. He threw 94 pitches, in which 55 landed for strikes. The righty mixed his pitches well, throwing his slider and sweeper 29% of the time. The slider, generated seven whiffs, but only struck one out with the pitch. The sweeper on the other hand generated only three whiffs, but three of his five strikeouts came on that pitch. "Just one of those outings that make it really tough on the pitcher," Meyer said. "Fell behind in some counts, lacked a little bit of my fastball location, that kind of made it hard. Other than that, yeah, just grind up and outing." Fish On First's No. 2 prospect Robby Snelling will make his MLB debut on Friday in the series opener against the Washington Nationals. Joe Mack, who caught him in Triple-A, will start at catcher. "I'm very excited," Mack said regarding Snelling. "He's been very dominant throughout the whole year in AAA, and last year as well. It's been really cool. He's a great guy as well, so, I'm really happy to see him get a shot and be the one to catch him. I think that's a good comfort for him as well. It's all coming together and I think he's earned it and deserves a shot." First pitch between the Marlins and Nationals is set for 7:10 pm. View full article

MIAMI, FL — Fish On First No. 2 prospect Robby Snelling will start on Friday night against the Washington Nationals. His selection to the Miami Marlins roster is not official yet, but he's already with the big league club, "trying to soak it in." "Take it all in and not let the moment get too big," Snelling said on Thursday. "Just enjoying today and then try not to change anything and go into tomorrow and replicate to as nearly and closely as I can what I was doing in Jacksonville." Snelling, 22, made six starts in Triple-A Jacksonville, posting a 1.86 ERA, 2.91 FIP, 13.66 K/9 and 4.66 BB/9, before being called up. It took a while for Snelling to be informed that he was going to be called up. The Marlins designated Chris Paddack for assignment on Tuesday morning, but even following Wednesday's Jacksonville win, manager David Carpenter did not announce who would be filling that open rotation spot. Later that afternoon, Snelling was called into Carpenter's office. "They sat me down and said, 'We know you've been stressed the last couple of days, but it's pretty awesome that you haven't let it affect your routine. It's very professional of you,'" Snelling said. "I was like, 'It's really hard to keep my sanity knowing that potentially I was an option for me to come up here, but I did the best that I could to keep doing the same thing I've been doing day in and day out.' He goes, 'hopefully this eases you a little bit, but they have their guy for Friday. They know who they want. So knowing that we just wanted to put your mind at ease.' He didn't tell me and I was like, alright, I'm still throwing on Friday. He's like, 'You're so good to go on Friday, right?' He goes, 'Well, you're gonna be throwing in Miami.'" In four spring training appearances (two starts), Snelling had a 7.56 ERA, but 3.53 FIP. The big issue he identified was his 4.32 BB/9, something he said he needed to cut down on with the help of throwing more first-pitch strikes. Through his six regular season starts, Snelling has only walked three or more hitters twice; outside of that, it has been two walk or less. Snelling has a new sweeper in addition to a gyro slider that entered his arsenal in 2025. He's been focused on throwing the gyro at the bottom of the zone. His original breaking ball, the curveball, continues to be one of his best pitches. In that start against Durham, he generated six whiffs and four of his five strikeouts came on that pitch. Overall, the curveball is his second-most-used pitch and has a 32.4% whiff rate. The final start Snelling made for the Jumbo Shrimp came against the Durham Bulls, where he tossed five hitless innings, striking out nine and walking one. His fastball topped out at 96.1 mph and averaged 94.7 mph. Five of his nine strikeouts came on the fastball. Aside from his left-handedness, Snelling differs from the other Marlins starters in that he's very difficult to steal bases against. Since the beginning of last season, opponents have succeeded only eight times on 24 attempts. Partly due to that, he's the reigning Minor League Gold Glove Award winner. The Nationals enter the weekend series with an 18-20 record under first-year manager Blake Butera. Snelling has seen most of the players in the Nationals lineup before, whether that be in minor league or Grapefruit League competition. With left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin on the mound for Washington, all signs point to Liam Hicks catching Snelling on Friday. First pitch is set for 7:10 pm. View full article

Prior to making his major league debut on Friday, Marlins left-hander Robby Snelling speaks with the media about what he's been working on to become a more complete pitcher. View full video

MIAMI, FL — Left-handed pitcher Robby Snelling will be called up by the Miami Marlins on Friday, manager Clayton McCullough has confirmed. He'll start against the Washington Nationals on Friday in what will be his major league debut. Snelling, 22, was one of four players acquired from the San Diego Padres in the trade that sent relievers Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing the other way in 2024. At the time he was acquired, Snelling was struggling, posting a 6.01 ERA at the Double-A level with Padres. When he arrived with the Marlins, he finished his AA stint with a 4.00 ERA and 2.76 FIP, showing some signs of improvement. Snelling performed even better throughout the 2025 campaign, particularly following a promotion to Triple-A Jacksonville. He led all Marlins minor leaguers in both innings pitched (136) and strikeouts (166). Through six starts this season with Jacksonville, Snelling has a 1.86 ERA, 2.92 FIP, 13.66 K/9 and 4.66 BB/9. He currently leads AAA baseball in strikeouts, while being second in ERA, opponent batting average and WHIP. His final outing was on May 1, where he went five hitless innings with 9 Ks. Fish On First ranks Snelling as the second-best prospect in the Marlins organization behind only fellow southpaw Thomas White. By designating Chris Paddack for assignment on Tuesday, the Marlins created an opening for him to take. A corresponding 26-man active roster move still must be made, with the expectation being that the Marlins will send down one of their relievers. View full article