Kevin Barral

Ryan Weathers set another career high with 11 strikeouts on Saturday, yet he allowed four earned runs. Meanwhile, the Marlins offense was held scoreless. MIAMI, FL—On a day that their batters struck out 11 times against Ryan Weathers and 16 times against Miami Marlins pitchers overall, the Texas Rangers won by a final score of 7-0. Michael Lorenzen and three relievers combined to shut out the Marlins and even the series. The sweeper has been Weathers' best swing-and-miss pitch during his strong start to the 2024 season. This time around, he leaned more on his changeup. He generated 21 whiffs against the deep Rangers lineup, with the changeup accounting for 13 of them (the sweeper only generated three whiffs). "We kind of used (the changeup) a lot the first time through the order," said Weathers. "The second time through, they didn't change their approach, and then the third time, they still weren't changing their approach. It was working out there, so we just kind of used it." Overall, Weathers threw his changeup 37 times, matching a season high. The lefty has shown that he can switch up his pitch usage from one start to the next depending on the opponent. a8712714-7e7433ff-b62320a7-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Although Weathers set a career-high in strikeouts, he surrendered four runs off of nine hits. In the top of the third inning, he gave up an RBI double and a sacrifice fly to drive in two runs. In the top of the fourth inning, he gave up two more runs the same way he did in the top of the third. The last time a Marlins starting pitcher gave up four runs, but struck out ten was José Fernández in April 2016. The last Marlins starter to surrender four runs, strike out ten or more and not give up a walk was Ryan Dempster on July 7, 2000. "I'll take that version of Ryan every day of the week," said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "A lot of the hits were on the ground. Seven singles...I'll bet on that all day and give us a chance to win." Lorenzen's last start against the Marlins came in August 2023 when he was making his Philadelphia Phillies debut right after the MLB trade deadline. He went eight innings, giving up two runs off of six hits and struck out five. On Saturday, the Rangers starter was effective again, going 6 ⅓ innings of shutout ball, only surrendering five hits and two walks. He also struck out seven which matches a season high. "It's a fastball, slider, cutter and changeup combination that just kept us off balance," said Schumaker. "There was not much hard contact. When we did have guys on base, we hit into double plays. I think we had first three or four innings we had some traffic and then hit into a couple of double plays. That was really the only time we had any threat, so there just wasn't much offense today." The Marlins were held hitless from the fourth inning through the eighth inning, a drought that finally ended when Josh Bell led off the ninth with a double. This marked the fourth shutout win of the season for the Rangers. After a six-hit night on Friday, the Rangers offense went for 13 hits. Both Marcus Semien and Corey Seager had three-hit games. Rookie Wyatt Langford and veteran Robbie Grossman tacked on two RBIs each and catcher Andrew Knizner had himself an RBI as well. The Marlins and Rangers will go into a rubber match on Sunday afternoon. Trevor Rogers vs. Andrew Heaney will be the pitching matchup. First pitch will be at 1:40 pm and there is a Eury Pérez bobblehead giveaway at the ballpark as well. View full article

The Marlins wrapped up the month of May on a high note, taking game one of a three-game set against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. They finished May with a 14-13 record. MIAMI, FL—After a putrid 7-24 start to the season, the Miami Marlins went 14-13 in May, capping it off with a win over the Texas Rangers. Highlighted by a 3-for-3 night for Jesús Sánchez, the Marlins offense defeated the defending champs by a final score of 8-2. Entering Friday's game, Sánchez had been slashing .230/.285/.309/.594. In the final game of the Marlins road trip against the San Diego Padres, he went 2-for-5 with a home run. Although he's had a rough season compared to 2023, he may be turning the corner after back-to-back strong performances. "I think that's something that we look for," said Jesús Sánchez following the game. "Offensive players just having that pitching there, backing us up and then we can feel comfortable to get those results. I think we're a team that can hit. We're gonna get offensive results and you're seeing that and I think we also have the capability of winning a lot of games if that's what happens." Sánchez owned the the exit velocity leaderboard on Friday. His first double of the night left the bat at 111.0 mph and he followed it with a 114.5 mph double. His three-run homer was the "softest" hit ball of the night at 109.8 mph, but that's still harder than some of his teammates have hit a ball all season. Each one of his hits came off of different pitchers "Some guys are getting hits and then some guys are getting loud hits and his are loud right now," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. "The west coast, it felt like it's something that starting to click in Arizona. Those are some loud outs and then some really loud hits. The San Diego series, he was taking the ball really well. Today it was it was loud. The guy can hit the ball as hard as anybody in the big leagues." José Ureña made his first start at loanDepot park since being non-tendered by the Marlins following the 2020 season. Entering Friday night's game, the former Marlin was posting the lowest ERA of his career. He joined the Texas starting rotation after multiple pitchers went down with injuries. The Marlins got to the Rangers starter early in what proved to be his worst start of the season. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the first for Ureña, he ran into trouble in the second inning, surrendering a 111.0 mph double to Sánchez followed by an Emmanuel Rivera grounder that moved Sánchez to third and Nick Gordon hit a two-run homer to take an early 2-0 lead. The ball left the bat at 101.1 mph and went 396 ft. That was Gordon's sixth home run of the season, three away from his 2022 total. The Marlins would tack on two more runs off of Ureña in the third inning. Josh Bell drove in Jazz Chisholm Jr. on a sac fly and a Gordon groundout with the bases loaded drove in Jake Burger. That gave the Marlins a commanding 4-0 lead through three innings of play. In his first start as the opposing pitcher in loanDepot park, Ureña went 2 ⅓ innings, giving up four runs (two earned), two walks and one strikeout. He was credited for the loss. One of the biggest issues for Marlins starting pitcher Sixto Sánchez has been the first inning of work. Although Sánchez's velocity was lower than usual, he got out of the first inning without allowing any damage thanks to a Corey Seager double play and a flyout. Sánchez ended the night going four innings, giving up two runs off of four hits, one walk, but did not record a strikeout. Sánchez relied heavily on his cutter and changeup. His four-seam fastball averaged 91.0 mph, which is down 3.2 mph compared to his season average of 94.2 mph. "I think he was fortunate," said Schumaker. "I think there's a lot of hard contact. There wasn't much swing-and-miss, got some double play balls which is good, but I think we got to figure out what's going on with the velo and just doesn't feel like it's coming out. And I know he went four innings or whatever it was and two runs, but it doesn't look like it's coming out like it should. He grinded through it." The Marlins starter didn't generate a single whiff and surrendered five hard-hit balls. He also induced two double plays. One got him out of the first inning as well. His next scheduled start is projected to be next Friday against the Cleveland Guardians. View full article

Once upon a time, José Ureña was the Opening Day starter for the Miami Marlins. In 2024, he's pitching for the Texas Rangers as they look to defend their World Series title. After facing his former team on Friday, Ureña spoke to Fish On First about where his career has taken him. MIAMI, FL—On Friday, José Ureña made his first start as the opposing pitcher in the ballpark he used to call home. Ureña signed with the Florida Marlins for $52k out of the Dominican Republic in 2008. In parts of six MLB seasons as a Marlin (2015-2020), he posted a 4.60 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 6.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 through 597.0 IP. Safe to say that Ureña's tenure with the Marlins had its ups and downs, but he contributed to the team long enough to rank 12th in franchise history in innings pitched and 15th in strikeouts. "It's something that feels great," said Ureña in Spanish a day after his start. "Those emotions are ones that you need to learn to control. I knew that I didn't get as far into my outing as I would've wished for. The goal of any starter is to go five innings." Ureña only lasted 2 ⅓ innings and took the loss against the Fish. Ureña had the rare honor of being Miami's Opening Day starter in back-to-back seasons (2018 and 2019) and he did not take that lightly. "That's something that you note as an accomplishment," said Ureña. "You give thanks to God that you're able to stay healthy in those moments and you give credit to them to have the confidence that you can do that job...You wanna go out there and be the number one and get the best out of yourself for the team." Ureña was a veteran when the Marlins acquired St. Louis Cardinals prospect Sandy Alcantara in the Marcell Ozuna trade. Now a Cy Young Award winner, Alcantara speaks highly of how his former teammate treated him as a rookie. "He was the first guy who opened his arms when I came here in 2018 for the first time," said Alcantara. "He was a tremendous teammate to me. Great person and great friend." Alcantara noted how Ureña was a lead-by-example type of person. "He doesn't talk too much. I was learning from him because there was a quiet guy who liked to work hard and that's what I saw from him. That's what I learned from him. Everywhere he goes, I was with him. I was watching everything he was doing and I think I got really good memories with him when we were working out in the weight room. The way that he worked, the way that he pitched in the game, he was a great guy." Ureña shared his perspective on being a mentor to Alcantara. "That's something that comes for every player. They have the time and try to help out the new players that come—how they should behave themselves, what they should do to not run into trouble and get the best out of them." Both players remain in touch and in fact, still play video games together. Since Ureña was non-tendered by the Marlins following the 2020 season, he has signed with six different teams. Through 15 games (five starts) with the Rangers, he's posted a 3.74 ERA, 4.60 FIP, 6.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 through 45 ⅔ innings pitched. With the Marlins, Ureña was a sinker-heavy pitcher. That pitch is still averaging 95.5 mph in 2024, but the slider has become his most-used pitch. "That just changes over time," said Ureña in regard to his pitch usage. "You have your reports and you begin to realize that you can be more efficient attacking with a different approach that isn't exactly your strong suit. Not leaving your strong suit because you are going to use it at any moment, but you use it to build up your arsenal. I do think that helps out a lot as well." View full article

Any team trying to contend in 2024 could use Luzardo in their rotation. We'll focus on several potential landing spots that make the most sense for the Marlins left-hander. As has been widely reported, including by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Jesús Luzardo is going to be available at this year's trade deadline. There's no question that the 26-year-old Miami Marlins left-handed pitcher has widespread appeal—working full time as a starter, Luzardo has a 3.79 ERA since the start of the 2022 season and isn't a free agent until 2027. Last season, he ended up pitching a career high 178 ⅔ innings. Luzardo's current salary of $5.5M could fit with any team's payroll. Here is a brief overview of five possible Luzardo trade partners, including why they would be motivated to make a deal and notable prospects that the Marlins might target in return. San Diego Padres These teams already linked up on a trade this season involving Luis Arraez, which showed how serious the Padres are about winning now. Their pitching staff ranks 11th in fWAR and 14th in ERA, but those numbers should go down as they lean more heavily on organizational depth pieces. Veteran starters Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish recently landed on the 15-day IL. When trading both Arraez and Jon Berti, the Marlins went with very young players as the centerpiece of those packages. During Sunday's State of the Fish, Sports Grid's Craig Mish said that trend will likely continue. With top-rated catching prospect Ethan Salas highly unlikely to be available, Miami should be focused on 17-year-old switch-hitting outfielder Leodalis De Vries. He would immediately be the best hitting prospect in the Marlins organization. Other names to keep an eye out for: catcher J.D. Gonzalez, outfielder Homer Bush Jr. and utility man Graham Pauley. Baltimore Orioles Even while suffering key injuries, the Orioles still rank fourth in starting pitcher fWAR. The Marlins and Orioles reportedly were in conversations during the offseason, but after the Marlins' asking price was too high, the Orioles pivoted and acquired Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers. Although Burnes has performed exactly as hoped, he's an impending free agent. Baltimore's rotation depth has taken a hit since then with John Means and Tyler Wells both going down with season-ending injuries, so adding Luzardo makes a lot of sense. Baltimore has a surplus of exciting prospects at Triple-A, led by outfielder Heston Kjerstad. With AAA-Norfolk, he's slashing .325/.406/.663/1.069 with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs, struggling during the very brief call-up to the Major Leagues he received earlier this season. The Orioles just don't have enough space for Kjerstad at the MLB level, though the Marlins obviously do. Catcher Samuel Basallo would be the ideal target. This season in AA, Basallo is slashing .284/.333/.454/.787 with nine home runs, 29 RBIs and a 121 wRC+. Ordinarily, a prospect as special as him would not be on the table, though the Orioles are a unique case because they already have Adley Rutschman in place as their catcher of the future. The Marlins would have to add another piece on top of Luzardo to get Basallo. More potential names that could be discussed include Coby Mayo, Connor Norby, Enrique Bradfield Jr. and 18-year-old Thomas Sosa. Houston Astros The Astros may not look like regular buyers at six games below the .500 mark, but they aren't going to let their streak of seven straight deep postseason runs end without putting up a fight. Their need for rotation help is obvious with both Cristian Javier and José Urquidy having season-ending surgeries this week. However, with one of the worst farm systems in baseball, it will be hard for them to outbid the other teams mentioned in here. Joey Loperfido can play all three outfield spots. When called up by the Astros, he's been productive, slashing .333/.381/.436/817 with one home run, five RBIs and a 138 wRC+. At AAA, the Astros prospect is slashing .267/.365/.593/.957 with 13 home runs, 29 RBIs and a 125 wRC+. The Marlins can also look lower into the lower levels of their system such as a 18-year-old shortstop Camilo Díaz who signed for $2.25M. In 2023, Díaz slashed .209/.374/.353/.727 with four home runs, 15 RBIs and a 103 wRC+ in the Dominican Summer League. This season in the FCL, his strikeout rate has made a concerning jump to 46.8%. Although he's currently listed as a shortstop, it seems as if third base will be his more likely long-term home. Jacob Melton is the Astros number one prospect, according to MLB Pipeline (#71 on their Top 100 list). This season at AA, he's slashing .268/.328/.455/.784 with five home runs, 24 RBIs and a 114 wRC+. Minnesota Twins The Twins have been arguably the streakiest team in baseball this season. A 33-30 record would be enough to lead the American League Central in some years, but little by little, that division is becoming more competitive and they currently trail the Guardians and Royals. They may need help from outside the organization to repeat as AL Central champs. Last time these teams struck a deal, they sent the 2022 American League batting champion Luis Arraez to the Marlins in exchange for Pablo López and two prospects. It would be fascinating to see them strike a deal for Luzardo, but not out of the realm of possibility. In 2022, the Marlins missed out on their opportunity to draft shortstop Brooks Lee, who stands as the number two prospect in the Twins organization, according to MLB Pipeline. Two years later, he is almost major league ready after rehabbing from a back injury and would be the ideal everyday shortstop for the Marlins if traded. Emmanuel Rodriguez still has some flaws, but has shown the potential to be a nice major leaguer. Strikeout percentages have been high, topping out at 36.6%, but he has lowered it to 27.5% in 2024 along with a slash line of .298/.479/.621/.1.100 with eight home runs, 20 RBIs and a 198 wRC+ in 167 plate appearances in AA. Recently sent down to AAA, Edouard Julien would also make sense. The Marlins don't have a clear successor to Arraez as their long-term second baseman. Julien had a breakout rookie campaign slashing .263/.381/.459/.839 with 16 home runs, 37 RBIs and a 136 wRC+. Cleveland Guardians This season, the Guardians surprisingly find themselves at the top of the AL Central with first year manager Stephen Vogt. Early on, Cleveland lost Shane Bieber for the season, plus Logan Allen and Carlos Carrasco have both struggled, so the need for a starting pitcher is there. Adding Luzardo would be a win-now move. The top prospect in the Guardians system is Chase DeLauter who tore it up in the Arizona Fall League, but has gotten off to rough start at AA, slashing .194/.301/.290/592 with one home run and three RBIs. He's coming back from an injury, so he's only played 17 games. One of the best prospects in Minor League Baseball before being promoted to the majors, first baseman Kyle Manzardo slashed .303/.375/.642/1.017 with nine home runs, 20 RBIs and a 148 wRC+ in AAA. It's unlikely they move Manzardo, but it would be worth a shot to ask from the Marlins' perspective. The Guardians also have the young tandem of Jaison Chourio and Ralphy Velazquez progressing well at Low-A. Chourio is a Top 100 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and at 19 years old, there's a lot of projection and upside. Jaison is the brother of Jackson Chourio, so the bloodline is strong. View full article

This season, Tim Anderson has graded out as a solid defensive shortstop, but a pair of errors he committed in the seventh inning on Monday ended up being the difference for the Marlins in their loss to the Padres. The Miami Marlins signed Tim Anderson in free agency counting on him to bounce back from a horrid 2023 season. While it has continued to be a struggle for him offensively, Anderson has been a league-average shortstop in terms of both defensive runs saved and outs above average. Unfortunately, he was not at his best during the bottom of the seventh inning of Monday's game against the San Diego Padres. Anderson committed two errors to load the bases and extend the inning, setting up Jake Cronenworth's RBI walk that gave the Padres a win by a final score of 2-1. "It's not like he's trying to make errors," said manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "Those are gonna happen, so I feel bad for TA. We feel for the guy. No one feels worse than him. It's a tough way to lose, but we scored one run also, so it's not all on him, and when you only score one run, sometimes stuff like that happens behind you and we just couldn't get the big hit either." Last season, these mistakes were more common from Anderson when he had a -16 DRS and -2 OAA. Marlins fans will remember an example from when the Fish played the Chicago White Sox on June 10. Trailing 1-0 with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning, Bryan De La Cruz hit a routine roller to short that was fumbled by Anderson, tying the game. It wasn't an identical play, but certainly had a similar impact in a game his team lost. bkdvQThfVjBZQUhRPT1fVlZBRVhBVlNBd1lBWFZzRlZnQUFBQTVUQUZsUVVBTUFCRk5XVTFFQ0JWSUVBQUZY.mp4 "Overall, I just gotta make those plays," said Anderson following Monday's game. "That's really it. I just gotta make those plays in that situation... It's not like I am trying to mess it up. All I can do is to continue to keep working and keep trying to be better and put this one to rest." Schumaker also spoke about the season Anderson has had. "I think he still has some work to do. No doubt. He's frustrated, you can tell he was frustrated today. Frustrated defensively. He took a good at-bat and a big walk at the time. But I think he's overall kinda frustrated honestly and he knows he's a better player and he's a winning player. I think that's what hurts him the most." This season, the former All-Star and AL batting champ is slashing .203/.240/.224/.464 with six RBIs. His -0.5 fWAR is tied for the lowest among MLB shortstops. "I'm not where I need to be," said Anderson. "The work is there, the work ethic is there, but it's only a matter of time that hopefully things can swing my way. All I can do is to continue to keep trusting and keep believing in it." The only run for the Marlins came in the top of the third inning thanks to Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s eighth home run of the season off of Padres starter Michael King. The ball left the bar at 107.7 mph and went 416 feet into the air. That tied the game at one apiece for the Marlins. The offense ended the game with four hits. King, who has inconsistent this season, struck out seven and walked one. Including the home run, King surrendered three hits. All seven of his strikeouts were swinging and the majority of his 16 whiffs came from his changeup. "Initially, we couldn't pick up the changeup," said Schumaker. "We were swinging right through that thing. His sinker/slider combo to the righties was effective as well. Lot of weak contact. Just really could not get anything going. Jazz had a big swing, but other than that, Josh Bell doubled and Jazz another double, but other than that, not too much offense." Marlins starting pitcher Trevor Rogers kept the Marlins in it, going 5 ⅓ innings pitched, giving up one run off of six hits, two walks and three strikeouts. Rogers went with a sinker/slider combo, which are his two least-used pitches this season. His sinker averaged 91.1 mph and the four-seam fastball was averaging 92.2 mph. Despite less usage on the four-seam, it generated three out of the four whiffs he had on the evening. His only other whiff came on the slider. "He was behind quite a bit," said Schumaker. "I also thought he made pitches when he had to. Jon Jay did a great job positioning with a couple of guys in the outfield. Jazz running down balls in the gap. (Jackson) Merrill squared one up right to him as well. His velo was better and got into the sixth inning. Last couple of starts have looked a lot better, no doubt about it and definitely gave us a chance to win. I thought he was good against a pretty good lineup, so I'll take that version of Trevor every five days, no problem." The only run Rogers gave up was a solo homer to former Marlin Donovan Solano in the bottom of the second inning. That was Solano's first home run of the season. It had an exit velocity of 97.6 mph and went 376 feet into the air. It gave the Padres an early 1-0 lead prior to Chisholm's home run. Rogers next scheduled start is set to come in the series finale against the Texas Rangers on Sunday. With the loss, the Marlins are now 19-36 on the season. Game two of the three-game set will be on Tuesday at 9:40 pm. Jesús Luzardo will take the mound for Miami. Knuckleball pitcher Matt Waldron gets the start for the Padres. View full article

Once again on Sunday, Ryan Weathers worked deep into the game to give the Marlins a chance to win. Miami's bats finally woke up in the seventh inning to support him and take the series from the Diamondbacks. Led by excellent pitching and Jake Burger's bat, the Miami Marlins clinched their fourth straight series win on Sunday, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks by a final score of 3-1. "It always starts with pitching," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. In the month of May, starting pitcher Ryan Weathers has completed six innings or more in all of his outings. He continued that streak in Arizona with six innings of shutout baseball, allowing four hits and one walk. He also struck out seven, which is the second-most for him this month. "Five walks all of May," noted Schumaker, "which just shows you his growth and the confidence he has in our pitching coach, but to watch his secondary pitches work so well in any count; we knew he had his fastball—he throws 97, we knew that—but all the work that he's put in to be able to spin it and to command his changeup at any given moment, it all starts there." Weathers heavily attacked the strike zone (65.9% of his pitches were strikes), primarily going with his four-seam/changeup combo. Although the sweeper was Weathers' least-used pitch, he generated four out of 12 whiffs and five of his seven strikeouts with it. The Diamondbacks have been a very good offensive team against left-handed pitching, slashing .281/.334/.443/.777 with 18 home runs and 83 RBIs. They couldn't get anything going against Weathers and a big reason for that was his ability to limit hard contact and generate ground balls. Weathers' groundball percentage was 66.7% in this start, raising his season average to 50.8% (the MLB average is 42.6%). Rookie lefty Blake Walston was very effective as well (4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K) and the game remained scoreless until the top of the seventh inning. With runners on first and second, Bryan De La Cruz looked like he may have grounded into an inning-ending double play, but a throwing error on Diamondbacks shortstop Kevin Newman allowed Nick Fortes to score from second and give Miami a 1-0 lead. S3d2ZXZfVjBZQUhRPT1fVXdoWlZsMEhCd1FBV1FZRFVBQUFBRkJSQUZrRVZGa0FVd2NDQWxVTkJBZGRCZ29F.mp4 After struggling since his return from the IL, Jake Burger capped off his strong series against the Diamondbacks by driving in two insurance runs to extend the lead to 3-0. Burger ended the series with six hits, including a home run in the first game of the series. Burger jokingly mentioned that his trip to a local water park during Thursday off-day was the key to his recent hot streak. "All ripping tubes," said Burger. "That had a big impact on it, but I think (hitting coach John) Mabry and I got some stuff figured out in the cage and I probably give that 90% and ripping tubes the other 10%...I think just calming everything down in the box. Skip and I had a really good conversation a couple of days ago: 'let's just get back to having fun,' and I do think ripping tubes was a part of that, but I think it's just getting in there and knowing who I am as a hitter and it's me versus that guy. It's no other thought. Just get in there and compete." With the win, the Marlins improve to 19-35, having taken two out of three from the Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers and now the D-backs. This marks the first time since April 2023 that the Marlins have won four straight series. Next, the Fish will travel to San Diego for a three-game set which begins on Monday at 6:40 pm. They'll be reunited with star infielder Luis Arraez less than one month after trading him to the Padres. Since the Arraez trade, the Marlins have a .500 winning percentage, so they will put that to the test against one of the hottest hitters in baseball, who has a .391/.418/.471/.889 slash line with his new squad. View full article

After establishing a new professional career high with 11 strikeouts on Saturday, Marlins pitching prospect Noble Meyer speaks to Fish On First about the keys to his recent success. View full video

Making the trip to Jupiter on Saturday was well worth it as Marlins RHP Noble Meyer set a new career high with 11 strikeouts and continues to deliver strong starts. Here's what the young prospect told Fish On First after his latest outing. JUPITER, FL—Fish On First number two prospect Noble Meyer has been improving rapidly. After struggling with his control early in the 2024 season, the 19-year-old righty has begun to dominate at the Low-A level. Facing the Tampa Tarpons on Saturday, Meyer pitched five innings, giving up two runs off of two hits, three walks and struck out a career-high 11 batters. "Everything felt like it was like sharp today," said Meyer after his start. "Slider was really coming in nice. Throwing hard too—had a couple of high 80s, accidental cutter at 90—and the fastball velo is coming back. It's there. I know it's been down, but it's really coming back." Mainly going with his four-seam fastball and slider, Meyer was able to generate 14 whiffs on the night. His four-seamer velocity was averaging 95.0 mph and topped out at 97.5 mph (tracked as his hardest-thrown pitch this season). Five of his 11 strikeouts were swinging and at one point in his outing, he had six straight strikeouts. Some of the notable bats he faced and struck out were New York Yankees number four prospect Roderick Arias and number six prospect George Lombard Jr. He struck out Lombard three times and Arias once. The only mistake of the night for Meyer came in the top of the first, surrendering a two-run shot to Dylan Jasso. "He was staying off the plate, so I can tell he was diving back onto the plate trying to get to an away pitch, trying to bait that out. I throw one in, trying to make sure, 'Hey, you're not gonna be able to do that.' On the chalk, pulls his hands through, makes an amazing swing, 105 off the bat. Just gotta tip the cap. It's a great swing." Meyer had posted an 8.00 ERA in his first three starts of the season with more walks than strikeouts. However, he has allowed only three earned runs over his last five starts combined (1.08 ERA) while generating a lot more swing-and-miss. "I just changed my mentality and told myself, I'm not gonna have a battle with myself. I gotta throw a strike here, but I'm gonna execute and I'm gonna give you my best stuff," said Meyer. "Good luck hitting it." Assistant general manager Gabe Kapler helped Meyer arrive at his current mindset by reminding him to "make it a battle against them, not yourself." Meyer has also received advice from director of player development Rachel Balkovec. Kapler and president of baseball operations Peter Bendix were both spotted at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Saturday. "I've talked to Kapler a lot," said Meyer. "I've talked to Rachel a lot and I don't think I've had a full conversation with Bendix, but I am looking forward to it." Through eight starts this season, Meyer's ERA is now at 2.91 with a 1.21 WHIP and 43 strikeouts. His next scheduled start is a week from Saturday against the Daytona Tortugas, the Cincinnati Reds Low-A affiliate. View full article

Braxton Garrett turned in the best start of his career on Friday night, throwing a 95-pitch shutout against the Diamondbacks and leading the Marlins to a win. After a rough two starts to begin his 2024 season, Braxton Garrett was tasked with facing the National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Garrett not only out-dueled former Marlin Zac Gallen, but he threw the first complete game of his MLB career, a 95-pitch "Maddux" to defeat the Diamondbacks by a final score of 3-0. Efficiency was key for Garrett, averaging 10.6 pitches per inning and on top of that, not issuing a single walk. Garrett's sinker/slider combo was great, recording five out of his six strikeouts between those two pitches. He used his whole arsenal and ended up generating 11 whiffs. Four of his 11 whiffs were swinging strikeouts. "I think I pulled him more than anyone in the sixth inning last year," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "To do a complete game this year just shows you where he's at and how much better he's gotten since maybe the first day I met him in spring training last year." "Hard to put into words, really," said Garrett in his postgame on-field interview. "After the fifth, sixth inning, I was just telling myself to keep getting quick outs, go as long as I can and look what happened." Because the game was close throughout, Schumaker still had to manage carefully entering the final inning. Closer Tanner Scott was warming in the bullpen just in case. "I knew (Garrett) was going to go out in the ninth and then I was going to give him one hitter until he got two outs. When he got two outs, I was gonna give him two hitters. I didn't wanna just leave Scott out there and not give Brax a chance to win the game, but Corbin (Carroll) hit a ball pretty hard and I was getting a little bit nervous. Then (Jesús) Sánchez made a good play, (Jake) Burger made a good play and seems like (Christian) Walker just missed it, but credit to Braxton: got quick outs and allowed himself to get into the ninth inning and obviously get the complete game shutout." Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett are the first Marlins pitchers to pitch at least eight innings in back-to-back games since Dan Straily and Wei Yin-Chen (8/31/18 and 9/1/18). Garrett also became the second Marlins lefty (joining Dontrelle Willis in 2005) and the fifth Marlins pitcher overall to toss a Maddux. He became the first Marlin since Sandy Alcantara on (4/4/23) to throw a complete game. This marks the fifth shutout that Nick Fortes has caught this season, all five of them happening in the last 11 days. "Me and Nick were talking and I felt like I could throw my sinker down and away every single pitch and they would've kept rolling over it," said Garrett. "I can't say enough about Nick. He's so incredible back there and made some really awesome calls." What took pressure off of the Marlins starter was the early 3-0 lead that the offense gave him against Zac Gallen. Entering Friday's game, Gallen was a perfect 3-0 against his former club, posting a 1.35 ERA. However, in the top of the second inning, three straight base hits set up Otto Lopez with the bases loaded where a hit up the middle drove in two runs. Ever since coming off the IL, Jake Burger was 6-for-59 with one RBI and 16 strikeouts. On Friday, Burger had a 2-for-4 night which included his fourth home run of the season. Lopez and Burger were the only Marlins to have multi-hit games. "He just needs to relax," said Schumaker about Burger. "You're not going to get four hits every at-bat. It's a long season. He's hit his whole life, he's gonna be fine...He's a middle-of-the-order bat that can do damage and I think at the end of the season, you'll see a lot of damage." Despite losing to his former team, Gallen gave the Diamondbacks seven innings, struck out five and only walked one. His head-to-head success against Jazz Chisholm Jr. continued. Chisholm laid a bunt down in his first at-bat, but was unable to reach base. He struck out the other two times. Nearly five years after they were traded for each other, Chisholm is now 0-for-12 with five strikeouts against Gallen. "He's one of the best in the game," said Schumaker about Gallen. "He's going to have Cy Young award votes again. Every single year he plays in the big leagues, he'll get Cy Young votes. He's that good." With the win, the Marlins are now 18-34 on the season and aim to clinch their fourth straight series win with Sixto Sánchez taking the mound on Saturday against Jordan Montgomery for the Diamondbacks. First pitch is at 10:10 pm EST. View full article

Two years ago, Chisholm earned an All-Star selection with 60 games of excellent production at the start of the 2022 season. How do his current numbers stack up after the same 60-game sample size? In 2022, Jazz Chisholm Jr. fully broke out as a star. The Miami Marlins second baseman slashed .254/.325/.535/.860 with 14 home runs, 45 RBIs, 12 stolen bases and a 136 wRC+. Chisholm's combination of power, speed and personality attracted international support and MLB fans voted him a National League All-Star Game starter, a rare honor for any Marlins player. He wasn't able to play in the All-Star Game, unfortunately, due to a back injury. In fact, his season was cut short on June 28, so he couldn't even build upon his special 60-game start. Still only 26 years old, Chisholm should be entering the prime of his career. It is within the realm of possibility that, if healthy, he can put up similar numbers again or even take his game to the next level. Through 60 games in the 2024 season, how close is Chisholm to his 2022 form? Overall, there is a big gap. Chisholm is slashing .251/.319/.429/.747 with eight home runs, 29 RBIs, 11 steals and a 110 wRC+. However, since the Luis Arraez trade, he has taken over as the team's lead-off hitter when facing right-handed pitchers and there has been improvement. He's slashing .275/.325/.477/.802 with four home runs and 11 RBIs since May 4. 3a51bacc-f2c4e9f6-b929fae9-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Although Chisholm was named an All-Star, there were still flaws in his game back then. One of the biggest improvements from 2022 to 2024 has been lowering his strikeout percentage from 27.4% to 24.0%. Chisholm is also much improved at hitting left-handed pitching. In 2022, Chisholm slashed .143/.205/.314/.519 against lefties and would often be benched by then-manager Don Mattingly in those matchups. In 2024, Chisholm is slashing .244/.298/.410/.708 with two home runs and 11 RBIs, pretty much a league-average hitter. The most obvious change from two years ago: Chisholm is playing a different position. He made the transition from second base to center field following Miami's acquisition of Arraez and he has continued to play there every day since Arraez's departure. Chisholm's defensive metrics have been mixed, rating well in outs above average since 2023 (5 OAA), but poorly in defensive runs saved (-11 DRS). That being said, it's important to note that center field has been the weakest hitting position in MLB this season (.230/.296/.368/.663 slash line). Chisholm stands out from the group more than he would otherwise. The best news of all, Chisholm is proving to be durable for the first time. He has played 60 out of 61 Marlins games entering Wednesday. Even before his season-ending injury in 2022, he had missed 13 of the team's games on his way to making 60 appearances. Whatever ends up happening to Chisholm, he has matured in certain aspects of his game and there's reason to believe that there's still room for improvement. If he gets back to showing off his home run power more consistently, this should end up being the first 20/20 season of his career. View full article

For the first time in his career, Luzardo completed eight innings of work, leading the Marlins to a 1-0 win against the Brewers and Miami's third straight series win. MIAMI, FL—The last time Miami Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo entered the eighth inning of a ballgame, it was his final start of the 2023 regular season against the New York Mets. Luzardo ended up going 7 ⅓ innings, giving up one run off of four hits. He walked one and struck out ten. That game was cut short and ultimately ruled a Marlins loss after the infamous rain delay in Citi Field. On Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Luzardo finished the eighth inning himself. The Venezuelan pitcher was even more dominant, and he needed to be because a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning accounted for the only run in the Marlins win. "I think since he's come off the IL, it's the best version," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "One walk in 20 innings since he's come off the IL shows you what it's all about. He's in a groove." One of the biggest issues for the left-hander entering this game was his fastball command. Although Luzardo struck out seven in his last start, he still wasn't comfortable with it. This time around, he lowered his velocity and the location of his pitches heavily improved. His average fastball velo was 94.1 mph, down 1.7 mph from his season average. He generated six whiffs on the four-seam and threw 72 strikes on 100 pitches. "I still go back and try to reach for it," said Luzardo after the game. "Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not, but in terms of health, I felt healthy and right now, I'm focused. The location and my misses had been really good, which is something that me and Mel (Stottlemyre Jr.) talked about a lot. Just emphasizing location over velocity." Along with strong use of his four-seam and slider, Luzardo's changeup has vastly improved from where it was prior to his IL stint, generating nine whiffs in his last start and six times on Wednesday. It's still his third most-used pitch, but it's been impacting the result of his starts a lot more. "Utilizing that side of the plate with his four-seam definitely opens (the changeup) on the other side of the plate," said catcher Nick Fortes following the game. "Everything kind of goes hand in hand, but yes, past three starts he's definitely had really good fastball command, really good slider command and then a really good changeup whenever we need it. It's been a complete package for him." The Marlins have thrown four shutouts in their last eight games. Fortes has caught all four of them. According to Fish on the Farm, Luzardo became the second Marlins pitcher to throw eight shutout innings in loanDepot park. Adam Conley was the last to do it, which came in 2016. He gave up four hits and struck out four. Opposing Luzardo was Brewers ace Freddy Peralta. His last time against the Marlins, he gave up four runs off of nine hits and only struck out four. On Wednesday, Peralta gave up one run off of four hits, one walk and struck out seven. His only mistake came against the first hitter of the game: Jazz Chisholm Jr.. On a 3-1 count, Peralta surrendered a lead-off homer to Chisholm off of his four-seam. It was Chisholm's second lead-off home run of the season and the seventh of his career, surpassing Chris Coghlan's Marlins career total. Hanley Ramirez holds the franchise record with 25. A few minutes earlier, former teammate and good friend of Chisholm, Luis Arraez hit his first home run of the season, a lead-off homer of his own for the San Diego Padres. Chisholm says he was "a little bit pumped up" to receive the notification on his phone about it and had to do the same. The Marlins have won three straight series and are now 17-34 on the season as they begin a six-game west-coast road trip to Arizona and San Diego. Braxton Garrett will take the mound for the Marlins in his third start of the season on Friday night. First pitch will be at 9:40 pm. 42fe77cb-a089420d-f39a10fd-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 View full article

After a strong start against the Detroit Tigers, Trevor Rogers struggled on Tuesday night. A sixth-inning rally wasn't enough as former Marlin Christian Yelich had a game-winning, two-run triple to even up the series for the Brewers. MIAMI, FL—For Trevor Rogers, Tuesday's start against the Milwaukee Brewers was an opportunity to take another step forward and help the Miami Marlins secure a series win. However, Rogers struggled with his control throughout the start did not factor into the decision. The Marlins ended up taking the lead in the bottom of the sixth, but their bullpen couldn't come through. The Brewers defeated the Marlins by a final score of 7-5. Rogers went only 3 ⅔ innings, gave up four runs off of six hits and four walks. He also struck out four. After initially showing higher velocity than usual, topping out at 94.8 mph in the first inning, his four-seam fastball averaged 92.6 mph overall vs. the Brew Crew. "I've been putting in a lot of work," said Rogers when it came to the increase in velocity. "Working on a small things and just trying to get back and working on so much, kind of getting out of my normal routine, but it's a necessity as far as me getting back to where I need to be. It's a long process and two weeks into this whole new routine. No excuse, gotta put the ball over the plate and give this team a chance." Walks were the main issue for the 26-year-old. Rogers walked the lead-off hitter in each of the first three innings and two of them ended up scoring, putting the Marlins behind early 2-0. A William Contreras double drove in Andruw Monasterio in the top of the first and in the top of the second, a Blake Perkins RBI single drove in Gary Sanchez. Rogers made a pitch usage adjustment, using his changeup only 6.7% of the time on Tuesday, the lowest rate of his MLB career. In his previous starts this season, opponents were hitting .323 off the changeup with a 91.0 mph average exit velo. The slider, which is his least-used pitch on average so far in 2024, had the highest usage against Milwaukee (35.6%). "Thought I was landing it pretty well back door," said Rogers on the slider. "(Home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz) missed a couple of calls, but that's gonna happen. Had a good swing-and-miss. It was more horizontal [movement] than I wanted it. That's a quicker fix to get depth back to that pitch, so in a good spot with that." Otto Lopez continued his success at the Major League level Tuesday night. In the bottom of the second inning, facing Brewers rookie Robert Gasser, Lopez drove in Jazz Chisholm Jr. on an RBI single to put the Marlins on the board. Lopez, who is a rather quick player, laid down a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the sixth inning with runners on first and second. Chisholm, the runner on second, was able to take advantage of the throw to first on the bunt and scored from second. Chisholm's sprint speed on the play was 30.9 feet per second. That put the Marlins down one run. "Pretty electric place and good baseball play from Jazz," said Skip Schumaker. "I'm not sure how many people can run the bases like that. Really impressive instincts. Not a lot of people can do what he did." Chisholm shared his insight on the play following the game: "As soon as I saw the catcher field the ball, he was pretty far from home plate and then the momentum was still going away from the plate. Just used my speed to give us some runs and get a rally going." Along with the impressive baserunning, Chisholm notched another multi-hit game and scored two runs. Particularly since the Luis Arraez trade, he's been one of the Marlins' hottest hitters. "I called my grandpa, Franklin Stubbs," said Chisholm. "He's my baseball grandpa. So I called him and I was like, 'Man, I feel like I'm not hitting the ball the right way.' He's like, 'Yeah, you're not. Just go watch your old videos from when you were in high school. Go watch your first time coming into pro ball get back to that swing because that's the Jazz Chisholm I know.' I feel like I got back into that. Swinging down to the ball instead of trying to hit everything out of the park. Just trying to get hits and let the homers come." Marlins third baseman Emmanuel Rivera posted his third multi-hit game of the season. His last came on May 1 against the Colorado Rockies. Rivera's first hit of the night was a double, but his biggest hit of the game would be in the bottom of the sixth to drive in Tim Anderson on an RBI single to tie the game at four apiece. A Dane Myers sac fly drove in Rivera, who was moved up on a Christian Bethancourt base hit. The Marlins took a 5-4 lead during that rally, but it ended up not being enough. Since returning from the IL and going back to a bullpen role, A.J. Puk hadn't allowed a hit nor a run. Jake Bauers led off the eighth inning with a double against him. Even so, Puk was one out away from stranding Bauers on third and preserving the lead. Milwaukee's most productive hitter this season, William Contreras, worked a 3-2 count and walked to extend the inning. Puk got a more favorable lefty-lefty matchup, but it was against Christian Yelich. The 2018 NL MVP smacked a triple, driving in two runs. Puk then gave up a double to Willy Adames that drove in a third run. "I missed my first-pitch slider," said Puk recalling the Yelich pitch sequence, "and then went with a sinker in, hit it into the dugout. Did the same thing, hit it on the black and made a good adjustment. [He] put the ball in play and got me good." The triple had an exit velo of 111.0 mph, the hardest hit for either team on Tuesday. With the loss, the Marlins drop to 16-34 on the season while the Brewers move to 28-20. The rubber match will be a battle of aces. Jesús Luzardo will go up against Freddy Peralta. First pitch is at 6:40 pm. View full article

A 7-24 start in March/April quickly took the Marlins out of the 2024 postseason race, but many players on the roster have turned things around since then to make the team far more competitive. After a putrid start to the season, the Miami Marlins currently find themselves at 16-33 on the season. Although they are on pace for the most losses in franchise history, the overall record doesn't truly reflect the talent that they have. In the month of May, the team is finally clicking, going 9-9 since the calendar flipped and showing improvement in every area. Understandably, there were serious concerns about Miami's offensive production once the decision was made to trade NL batting champion Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres. The Marlins lost their leadoff hitter, creating a hole in a lineup that was already struggling mightily even with his help. Fortunately, several underperforming veterans have gotten hot at the plate to make up for Arraez's absence. Josh Bell, the most expensive player on the Marlins roster, has begun looking like his usual self. In the month of March/April, Bell slashed .181/.269/.285/.554 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. In the month of May, he has completely turned it around, slashing .328/.408/.522/.930 with three home runs and 15 RBIs. "It wasn't like I was gonna take him out of games," said manager Skip Schumaker regarding Bell's slow start. "He's good on both sides of the plate. It's just a matter of time and we needed him to get going." On Saturday, Bell took New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz deep for a three-run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Marlins eventually won in extra innings. On Monday, Bell delivered the walk-off hit himself, ripping a single through the infield with the bases loaded to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers. 200d8dea-6909a21b-9c59957a-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Utility man Nick Gordon is a platoon player, mainly facing right-handed pitching. The recent scheduling has been favorable for him as the Marlins faced only three lefty starters in their first 18 May games. That has put Gordon in a position to start almost every single day in left field, and he's taken advantage of the consistent playing time. In the month of March/April, Gordon slashed .177/.208/.338/.547 with three home runs and 12 RBIs. In May, Gordon is slashing .327/.352/.481/.833 with two home runs and six RBIs. Schumaker noted following Saturday's game that Gordon isn't putting as much pressure on himself to hit for power, yet he's still making quality contact, raising his average exit velocity from 86.5 mph to 89.2 mph. The Marlins catching tandem has been extremely underwhelming offensively to begin the season, but this past weekend, both Nick Fortes and Christian Bethancourt hit home runs against the Mets. In the first month of the season, the catchers combined to hit 8-for-95 with five RBIs. They've improved to 13-for-54 with nine RBIs in May. The trade of Arraez and injury absence of shortstop Tim Anderson cleared the way for Marlins waiver claim Otto Lopez to get an opportunity. After torching the Triple-A level, Lopez has made a smooth transition to the big leagues, slashing .296/.339/.519/.858 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and a 140 wRC+. He also leads all Marlins position players with 0.8 bWAR (tied with Bryan De La Cruz). The Marlins have turned to Jazz Chisholm Jr. to be their new everyday leadoff hitter. Since the Arraez trade, Chisholm is slashing .286/.438/.492/.840 with two home runs and six RBIs in 16 games, closely resembling the production that made him an All-Star in 2022. In addition to these bats turning the corner, the Marlins' run prevention has been a lot better in May. Recently, their pitching staff threw three straight shutouts, becoming the first Marlins team in 19 years to do so. Jesús Luzardo has posted a 1.54 ERA and 0.84 FIP in two starts since returning from the injured list. The Marlins have also benefited from the emergence of Ryan Weathers. The young lefty went eight innings against the Detroit Tigers and seven more against the Brewers on Monday, keeping games close while also helping the bullpen stay rested. b06e2ab5-d65ac4b1-239ae9f4-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 You can see the difference from a defensive standpoint. Marlins fielders combined for minus-20 outs above average in March/April, per Baseball Savant, by far the worst mark in MLB. Entering Tuesday, they are at plus-one OAA in May. The Marlins have nine games still to play in May: two at home against the Brewers, then they go on the road to face the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres for three games apiece before returning to Miami on May 31 to host the defending World Series champs, the Texas Rangers. View full article