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Can Ramírez improve his skills enough to continue catching long term? Or is he destined to move off of the position? The catcher position has been a sore spot for Marlins fans since the departure of J.T. Realmuto in 2019. The Rockies are the only MLB team to have received less overall value from their backstops during that span. As recently as last season, the Marlins were getting replacement-level production from the position, according to FanGraphs. It has been a different story thus far in 2025, in large part thanks to the rookie who Cal Quantrill amusingly referred to as "the greatest hitter alive" back on April 26. Agustín Ramírez’s historic start was a sight to see, to be sure. He went 7-for-10 the first three games of his career with more extra-base hits (five) than any other new big leaguer in the modern era had totaled through their first three games. Ramírez has slowed down since then, but only slightly. He boasts an .876 OPS through 20 games. Among all Marlins players, his 14 XBH trail only Kyle Stowers. As he spent his entire professional career with the Yankees organization prior to coming over in the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade last summer, it would be remiss not to share what Yankees Double-A hitting coach Kevin Martir had to say in 2024: “He might be like a generational player. Not many guys at his age can make contact as much as he does and also hit the ball as hard as he does with that elite bat speed. He’s an outlier for sure.” By the time Nick Fortes was reinstated from the injured list on May 4, Ramírez had already secured his place on the active roster with his offensive prowess. With Rule 5 Draft pick Liam Hicks performing well himself, the Marlins are currently making do with a funky three-catcher setup. Can Ramírez improve his skills enough defensively to continue catching long term? Or is he destined to become a full-time designated hitter, particularly with MiLB Gold Glove winner Joe Mack lurking at Triple-A Jacksonville? Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix insists “he’s a catcher.” The ballclub believes continuing in the bigs is the “best place” for Ramírez to hone his catching skills, manager Clayton McCullough said earlier this month. Kyle Sielaff reported during the May 6 television broadcast that they’re creatively getting some work for everybody in between games by having them catch pitch design sessions for both active pitchers and those like Andrew Nardi still working through injuries. Nobody questions Ramírez's intangibles. Quantrill complimented his preparation back on April 26. "He seems to have a good head on his shoulders. So it’s awesome to see him succeed like this.” It bodes well for Ramírez that his teammates are a testament to the power of player development. Fortes has done an admirable job improving his metrics behind the plate over the years to keep his defensive presence solid. Following an offseason where his former team didn't even select him to their 40-man roster, Hicks enters Friday ranked second among MLB catchers in blocks above average, even with fewer opportunities than some of his peers. Catchers almost always get a footnote mention when a pitcher has a spectacular outing, but it's worth the reminder that it was Ramírez behind the plate for Max Meyer’s recent 14-strikeout game. New Marlins catching coach Joe Singley began working with Ramírez early in the offseason. "I think he's improved overall at everything," he told the media during the last homestand. "But there's a lot of meat left on the bone. We're gonna chew down his exchange time. His arm strength and accuracy continue to rise. Doing a much better job of keeping strikes strikes and he's blocking the ball a lot better, and we're gonna continue to work on blocking balls laterally." Of the 17 baserunners who have attempted stolen bases against Ramírez, 16 have been successful, so there's continued room for improvement there. Ramírez has logged only 89 ⅔ innings at catcher since his debut. There's nowhere to go but up. “A lot of the game awareness, game situational things are just going to feel normal for him," McCullough said. "That just takes time.” However Ramirez’s defense pans out, he is undeniably talented and a valuable asset both on the field and in the organization’s never-ending obligatory business calculus. Let’s settle in and enjoy the show. View full article

Max Meyer has set the standard and the tone for the rest of the staff. Miami's competitive chances hinge on getting quality outings from other starters who have underperformed thus far. Saturday's late-inning push by the Marlins proved to be a good omen. They fell to the Phillies that day, extending their losing streak to five, but have since pulled off back-to-back wins, pushing their season total into double digits. Overall, it was a rough week. There’s a good amount that could be picked at. A lot to be broken up about, if you’re feeling dramatic. Certainly, seeing Griffin Conine go down was a gut punch to any Marlins fan watching, and we wish him the healthiest and speediest recovery after a diagnosis of a dislocated left shoulder. As Kyle Sielaff reminded us during Monday night's Marlins TV broadcast, “You’re only as good as tomorrow’s starter.” Oh, if wishes were fishes and that proves prophetic, because Max Meyer was, as Marlins skipper Clayton McCullough remarked during his postgame press conference, “gross.” Facing a Reds team that came to town on the heels of an eye-popping 24-2 onslaught win, Meyer was remarkable for a plethora of reasons. Tied for the second-most strikeouts in a single game in franchise history after racking up 14 of them, the Marlins starter did it in six innings, no less. It was only the 12th instance of a 14-strikeout game in franchise history, a feat accomplished by eight different pitchers. With 18 of his 23 first pitches going for strikes, it was a sight to see. Despite a lot of moving parts and minimal major league experience, the Marlins offense has performed solidly in 2025. They find themselves below .500 because of erratic pitching. Starting pitching, in particular. Wouldn’t it be great if every start looked like Max Meyer’s did? The problem is, none of the other starts have met Meyer's standard—after nearly a full month of regular season competition, he is the only Marlins rotation member to make it through the sixth inning. Starters Braxton Garrett, Eury Pérez and Ryan Weathers are on the injured list, though fortunately Pérez and Weathers are on track to return by the midpoint of the season. The IL also includes relievers Declan Cronin and Andrew Nardi, so even when the bullpen is handed a lead, it feels precarious. Cal Quantrill is in his first season as a Marlin. He became a full-time starter for Cleveland in 2022 and maintained a 3.38 ERA. Early in 2023, he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. However, he has missed time since then due to shoulder and triceps inflammation, struggling to regain the control he previously had. Over the last three seasons, including 17 ⅓ innings pitched with Miami, his ERA has ballooned to 5.29. Quantrill will have plenty of opportunities to steady himself, but his latest outing did not inspire much confidence. It’s difficult, too, when you have relied on the steadiness of your ace for years and he’s finally showing some glimmers of being mortal. Sandy Alcantara has cultivated a reputation as a workhorse who dominates games from beginning to end. He has a strong presence organizationally and in the clubhouse. Sandy took his time rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and 2025 is projected to be a return to form. He does not have his sea legs underneath him yet, lacking some of the usual zip on his fastball. Edward Cabrera has been a bit of an enigma, a wild card if you will. Cabrera certainly has the stuff. He’s historically fired fastballs that can touch 100 mph and changeups with record-setting velocity. In 2025, he’s relying more on his slider and sinker. His weaknesses have been managing runners and issuing walks, getting behind in the count and staying behind. On the postgame show following Max Meyer’s walk-less masterpiece, Rod Allen said he hoped that Cabrera "had a chance to take notes during the game” as he prepares to face the same opponent on Tuesday. He has what it takes to sit down hitters if he can get ahead in the count as much as possible. With bats like Jesús Sánchez back from the IL and the excitement of two new call-ups making a splash, there is plenty to be excited about going into the rest of the week. In between Meyer's starts, it's up to the rest of the staff to keep the Marlins afloat by pitching up to their potential. Monday MVP Highlighting a particular player from the previous week of play Meyer’s start Monday would be the obvious choice for this week’s Monday MVP, but his outing speaks for itself. Xavier Edwards is the standout from throughout the week, which included a 12-game hit streak that ended Monday. He notched 18 hits including 4 RBIs, four stolen bases and eight walks in 56 plate appearances. Not bad for 12 days' work. wy6roo.mp4 View full article

If you underestimate the 2025 Fish, they'll make you pay dearly for it. The game on April 9 in New York against the Mets was a small microcosm of the Marlins' brand of baseball. Both the current mix of brash talent and raw enthusiasm and, as the franchise is now in its 33rd season, hints of historic lineages of bulldog pitching and flashy defense. If you want to compare prowess and presence, righty Max Meyer’s brand of uncompromising certainty alludes to the likes of Josh Beckett or Josh Johnson. Marlins broadcaster Jeff Nelson sums Meyer up like this: “He pitches with no fear.” Oh, and it took the Mets 6 ⅓ innings to get a hit off Meyer. With the flair of web gems and capitalizing on errors to support the effort, the Marlins left New York with a win and avoided the sweep. It was a notable difference from the game prior. The second game of the series on April 8 was moved up to 4:10 pm due to the chilly weather (even still the temperature was 44° at first pitch). The unavoidable growing pain moment for the Marlins this past week was the near-viral choice to walk Juan Soto to get to Pete Alonso in the bottom of the sixth. Underestimating the Polar Bear is a mistake you’d think all of baseball would learn from, but it seems to keep occurring, much to the delight of the Mets’ faithful. Not so much the Marlins, when he dumped an 0-1 breaking ball into the gap to clear the bases. Ultimately the Marlins would lose the game Tuesday by a score of 10-5. But hey across the board, room for growth. If the Marlins can let the collateral mishaps roll off their collective backs like water off a duck, next time the outcome may be more in their favor. There was a subtle turning point on April 9. Blink and you miss it. In the top of the fifth with a runner on first, Jonah Bride (at that point 2-for-32 on the season at the plate) came up to bat. And, he rolled an obvious double-play ball to Mets second baseman Brett Baty who…absolutely airmailed it across the infield. WU9yMzJfWGw0TUFRPT1fVjFkU0JWRldCVlFBQ3dOVUF3QUhBUVVEQUZsWFdnVUFCUVJVQWdBQVZGSUVVUU5l.mp4 Matt Mervis turned the next pitch into a 1-0 lead for the Fish in the top of the fifth. The energy was weird and the Marlins didn’t wait around to find out if it was going to go the Mets' way or not. Mervis took care of that. It was a little spark, a little “why not us?” energy instead. Bride, for his part, turned that pseudo-second chance E4 energy and translated into a much-needed RBI in the ninth. The Nats series had more of those glimmers of Marlins Baseball™️. Xavier Edwards bunting to move runners up, but instead his hustle turns the sac attempt into a bunt base hit. Scoring on a passed ball that same inning. Using the energy of the game as another tool to get under the opposing team’s skin. This past week, Marlins players showed a lot of aggression, and flashed some really nice leather. The bedrock of consistency with fundamentals is what will wind up being the key piece for the Fish going into the next week of play, particularly if they continue to tinker with this kind of small ball, brazen, make-it-happen attitude. Play aggressive but smart, fearlessly but with confidence—not recklessness. If you don't "make it happen," learn from what does happen. Force more of those moments when the complacency of an airmailed, easy-out grounder turns into an RBI one pitch later. That momentum built and built through the eventful see-saw Marlins win to wrap things up against Washington on Sunday. On a player level, Matt Mervis will tug that same momentum into Tuesday’s series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks, having hit a home run in each of the last three games. So, 2025’s squad might be the “why not us?” team, where the only requirement is underestimating the Fish and seeing what shakes out. Hopefully more of that scrappy brand of baseball. The Marlins are just growing up into a franchise with some years on it, and much like life, baseball is a game of opportunities. If you can wring out as much experience as possible from those opportunities, you might be onto something. Monday MVP Highlighting a particular player from the previous week of play This week’s Monday MVP can’t be just one player. It’s gotta be the whole outfield. From Derek Hill’s ridiculous catches, Kyle Stowers' timely hitting, and Griffin Conine making left field his own, the Marlins outfield has been a sight to see lately. Dane Myers might have taken the cake with this face plant into the wall to end Wednesday’s game in Queens. WU9yMzJfWGw0TUFRPT1fRGxRRlYxVlJCVllBV3dFQUF3QUhCRlJTQUFNQ1VsWUFWZ1lFQlZjRVVnVlFCZ1lF.mp4 View full article

One week into the 2025 season, hardly anybody could’ve envisioned the Marlins being only 1.5 games back of the NL East lead, and no one would've believed that the perennially successful Braves would still be winless. If the Braves and the Marlins have anything in common right now, it’s the fact that they both started off the regular season making history. The Marlins began 2025 with their very first Opening Day walk-off win. Then, they followed it up with two more walk-off wins in the first four games of the season. The Braves will come into the series on Friday with an historic 0-7 record. In the bottom of the eighth with two outs against the Dodgers on Wednesday night, you could feel the anxiety pouring off the Braves. Joe Davis of SportsNet LA just about summed it up when he remarked on the duality of the Dodgers-Braves matchup: “The Braves are having to do mental gymnastics just to play this game right now, whereas the Dodgers expect to. It’s the difference of, 'Oh, we’ve seen this movie before' and 'Oh! We’ve seen this one before!' An inning later Shohei Ohtani would hit the second walk-off home run of his career, and the Braves had to do the proverbial walk of shame off the field and back to Atlanta. 07d45481-63daa15b-ce0676d4-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 In the first week of the 2025 season, the travesties continue to mount for the Braves both on and off the field. What seems to be befalling the Braves is, to understate it, unexpected. One could argue the "strength of schedule" point—opening their year with consecutive road series against the ultra-talented Padres and Dodgers—or highlight that they headed into the season already managing pitching rotation issues, but no matter how you hash it, this has the makings of a grade A crisis in The Battery. There’s a whiff of desperation that’s creeping down from the south. Starting Friday at 0-7, the Braves are looking at overcoming an obscure but startling stat: no team has ever made the playoffs after starting the season 0-7. Yikes. So, this is the opponent the Marlins are preparing to meet in Atlanta for the Braves' home opener Friday. The Marlins are, and always have been, perennially expected to slot into the bottom third of the majors starting from Opening Day all the way through Game 162. That was applicable again here in 2025 with this rebuilding club assembling the league's youngest and least-experienced roster. In a game where timing is everything, and adjustments can make or break the season, how can the Marlins continue to overachieve? By continuing to make adjustments. Breaking down Kyle Stowers' walk-off hit on Opening Day, that’s exactly what he did. He recognized how Pirates closer Bednar was pitching him and made it work for him. First a high fastball for a strike. Stowers then whiffed on a 97 mph fastball right down the middle. In an 0-2 count, two on with nobody out, Bednar opted to challenge him, and Stowers walked it off with a base hit down the line. Stowers recognized Bednar’s game plan and contradicted the scouting reports that claim he can be “beaten at the letters”—apparently he can’t hit a high fastball. He just did. Once you make adjustments, then you build on the confidence that comes from experience. Looking ahead to the series against the Braves, it should be a good litmus test for the Marlins. The Braves will have a day of travel to either get inside their own heads, gear up for a fresh start, or continue to struggle to get up off the mat. No matter what iteration of the Braves the Marlins see in this series there should be ample opportunities with every play and at-bat to tinker with each player’s approach as much as with any strategizing following any in-game result. One of the most obvious strengths the Marlins have already this season is in the bullpen. Yes, Pete Alonso’s home run off Calvin Faucher made quite a splash, but that was one pitch. The reliever made a relevant point following Wednesday's game (h/t Christina De Nicola): “I think overall we’re throwing the ball well when our names are called.” Coming into Friday, the Marlins bullpen has the third-lowest opposing BA at .160, and the fourth-lowest ERA in the National League (2.22). That’s throwing the ball very well. Knowing you have bullpen strength already established a week into the season is another piece of the confidence puzzle, particularly for a team that has to lean on its 'pen to cover a lot of innings. Then there's the other stuff, the things that can't be quantified. Were the baseball gods smiling down on the Marlins on the day they opened their long-overdue team Hall of Fame with the induction of Jeff Conine? Griffin Conine's blast sure put a thematic exclamation point on the statement that the Marlins made opening week. The process for the Marlins so far seems to be settling into sustainability while also reviving a heritage of grit, endurance and surprise. The early-season vibes are outstanding and the players have subscribed to a culture of selflessness, which can only help their chances of success. Once the Braves reincorporate injured stars like Ronald Acuña Jr., Spencer Strider and Sean Murphy, they are likely to leapfrog Miami in the standings. In the meantime, the Marlins have something to prove and won't hesitate to kick them while they're down. View full article

In January of 2024, a week or so after being hired by Peter Bendix as the Marlins organization’s new director of player development, Rachel Balkovec took some time to Zoom in with Kyle Sielaff and Stephen Strom from the Marlins Radio Network. I’d like to thank Mr. Sielaff for asking the question a lot of people may have skipped over: “You’re the director of player development–what does that mean? What do you do?” And it's a fair question, as Balkovec points out the truth that yeah, not everyone always knows exactly how the business side of baseball functions (as she says, “even great baseball fans may not know the full extent of the minor league system”). As one of those fans who specializes in being passionate about things like on-field gameplay and major leaguers, but admittedly gets in the weeds in understanding the business side of things, I appreciated the 12-minute conversation that really dug into how she was planning to approach her new role ahead of Spring Training. It’s worth a listen if you’d like to learn more about the role, and her blend of process/goal oriented approach from her first impressions her first week on the job. However, I digress. Who is Balkovec, and what impact can we hope she’ll make on the organization? Balkovec has taken a 12 year path to director of player development, and many of her roles seemed to have set her up to be a logical addition to Peter Bendix’s new front office. She has a very solid educational background. Forbes tells us, “She possesses a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science with two master’s degrees– in Sports Administration and Biomechanics.”--the latter being heavily research based. © | rachelbalkovec.com The grit and drive is all there, too, as she emptied her savings to go abroad to get her master’s in biomechanics prior to her internship at Driveline Baseball (one of 6 internships she completed in her career). There was a rumor, eventually confirmed by Balkovec during a press conference, that she did in fact have to dumpster dive for a mattress to sleep on while in school in the Netherlands. Presumably because of the aforementioned draining of her finances to take the opportunity for her second masters. Talk about dedication to the craft. All of that built her analytical acumen necessary to develop players, which is in addition to her coaching career. On top of coaching experience from the Cardinals organization to the Arizona fall league, the Astros, Yankees and internationally in Australia among other organizations, she comes with the insight of managing a minor league club to a record of 61-69 in her rookie year. This should set her up to effectively help “coach the coaches”, as she put it to Sielaff and Strom. Overall in Miami, she sees an opportunity for the whole front office staff to make their mark right out of the gate: “What’s really incredible and unique about this situation is having Gabe [Kepler] come in, myself–there’s a lot of us kind of starting fresh and new. And that can be a big advantage, at times, where there’s no preconceived notions about ‘what it has been before’ or ‘what baseball has done before’. It’s all kind of a really blank slate for us personally, of kind of getting a fresh perspective on what’s going on inside the organization and where it could possibly go.” Maybe it's my optimism coming in from the 2023 season at the MLB level, or the fact that Balkovec was managing as recently as last year for the Yankees (Tampa Tarpons, single-A), but it brings to mind the thinking behind the Skip Schumaker hiring. Fresh mindset, new role, qualified and creative baseball minds. Taking a wide angle view of the organization, one thing that was talked about almost ad nauseam last year was culture. The culture in the clubhouse, a new Marlins culture of winning and the mindset of success at every level. Even the culture of sports in Miami as a whole was a hot topic in 2023. Since this was a huge component of organizational success last year, what insight do we have on how Balkovec in particular thinks about creating culture in baseball? She was asked about building clubhouse culture on opening day of 2023, her first as a team manager, Balkovec had this to say: “The music is loud, and that’s how we want it. The energy is high…it's an environment where we’re having fun, and we talked about [this] in the first meeting. ‘Having fun’ is all relative–in my mind, winning is fun. And having success is fun. If we can also say we wanna relax and have fun, but we also want to push and compete…that’s kind of the culture that’s already been set. I’m fortunate I’m not the only one setting that.” There’s obviously more to baseball operation and building on success than just culture, and that’s where player development comes in. With around 350 players under the purview of player development within the Marlins organizational structure, all of whom have the goal of getting the the big league ballclub, Balkovec plans to blend process and goal oriented thinking to enhance every opportunity each individual player can go after. “Focusing on what I can control in the moment and what I can control in the smaller goals has always been really productive for myself personally, but also in general with research and understanding how humans function. For example with a player– ‘Hey, 16 year old Latin American player, your goal is to make it in the big leagues!’ That can be 7 years from now. That can get really easily lost and forgotten about, and you can lose motivation. But, if I give you a small goal, right now, to accomplish that’s a part of that process, then you’re going to be much more likely to see that right in front of your face and to really push for it.” The organization had to make late hires in winter, including Balkovec. Once the dust settled just before pitchers and catchers began, it had something of the feel of letting in some fresh air after a stuffy, uncomfortable winter. Ten days ago, Sports Illustrated reported on 2 new hire minor league coordinators from Bendix, Balkovec and director of Minor League operations Hector Crespo. The work of building and adjusting the structure and personnel of the minor league system has begun. Others outside of Miami seem to be starting to recognize that things have changed for the better for the fish, that there’s a possible big-picture upswing on the rise. Balkovec as director of player development is one strong hire within the front office. The move should prove to have been a smart one for the Marlins and allow the front office to have an extra edge because of it, both on the field and behind the scenes. This week, Balkovec spent time with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and took a few minutes to hop on the radio broadcast during a home game. Two questions came up, first--what have you liked about your first month at the helm of this minor league department? “We’re taking a really aggressive approach to making sure that we can be one of the best communicating organizations in baseball. There’s a lot to be excited about. Overall philosophy about being aggressive to give guys opportunities to show what they can do at higher levels." Forecasting ahead is a key component of having a broad view of the big picture of player development. Balkovec brings that to bear in remarking on the intentionality behind her role. "we’re all very focused on using our minor league system moving forward and making sure that player development is at front of mind for us." At the end of the day, however, there's a clear endgame to player development across the board in the MLB, and Balkovec doesn't see it any differently than one would expect. How would she mark a successful first year at the helm of this player development department? “I would say at the end of this year is a really short timeline to make huge progress–shifting a minor league system is like moving the Titanic…success for this season would be markers of success for each individual player…staying really process oriented for this year, and for years to come, but[...]in three or four years it’s going to be how productive our minor league system is at developing major league players.” Balkovec has earned the respect of the baseball organizations she’s worked in and the players she’s worked with, or else she wouldn’t continue to evolve upwards in baseball. Here’s to the future of the Marlins organization, with leadership at all levels with fresh perspectives and creative grit determined to continue giving fans the heart and hustle we expect out of a quality major league organization. Side note: Balkovec is bilingual, which is sure to be a help, especially thinking of things like the stronger player development presence the Marlins now have in the Dominican Republic. MLB.com reporter Dawn Klemish mentioned a sidebar during a press conference, “I talked to Aaron Boone and Nick Swisher and they said, ‘Man, you should hear her yell at somebody in Spanish!’-- they were so impressed!” View full article

With 2024 Spring Training now underway, this is an opportune time to turn our attention to a new Marlin who could be a big influence on the club. "Journeyman" would be a good word to use for Christian Bethancourt’s baseball chronology. He’s played for his home country of Panamá in both the World Baseball Classic and the Caribbean Series, plus a stint in South Korea. Bethancourt pinballed around several minor league systems, and in the majors, he’s played for Atlanta, San Diego, Oakland, and Tampa Bay. This week, he donned the tools of ignorance for Miami. Bethancourt arrived in what was Peter Bendix’s second trade after being hired as the Marlins new president of baseball operations, with only one degree of separation between Bendix and Tampa Bay in the trade (make of that what you will). Bethancourt has shown a willingness to be creative in order to contribute to an organization. The Padres tried him as a reliever in 2017 before sending him down to the minors. Five years later with Oakland, he split time between catching duties and first base. “At some point, I was like, maybe I’m never going to go back to the big leagues,” Bethancourt said (h/t SF Chronicle). “But I never put my head down. I’m a very positive person. I’m a believer that there’s always going to be another opportunity. You strike out three times today, but tomorrow, if you’re in the lineup, that’s your other chance.” That type of attitude is simpatico with Skip Schumaker’s clubhouse in 2023. During the Winter Meetings, Bendix spoke to some of the calculus behind the Bethancourt acquisition. This was ostensibly couched in the contextual nuance of frustration from…well, people seemed to just want him to sign Jorge Soler already. Bendix’s response in terms of why the organization was taking the perspective of preserving runs/preventing runs, rather than using the lens of getting offensive help, is more than a little Moneyball adjacent. “In my mind, value is value—runs scored, runs saved,” Bendix said to MLB.com. “They all help you win games. There's a lot of different ways that you can get to being a really valuable player. And so it's never about replacing one for one so much as just building the strongest team possible…I think you can score runs in a lot of different ways: power, speed, average, on-base [percentage], all of that. Ideally, the more ways a team has to score runs, the better.” He sounds like he’s diversifying a portfolio, but the point is not without merit. To the culture of the team, and the need for leadership and intangibles this season, Bethancourt is likely going to be a boon to the organization. Schumaker chimed in while he and Bendix were at the Winter Meetings. “We are so pitching-heavy that you need to be able to throw to a guy that you love throwing to. The offensive part, obviously, we would love to have, but I think having a leader back there that’s—it's really, really important, that's done it before." Hearing from Schumaker highlights, in part, why the club thought that going out and getting Bethancourt was a good idea. Bethancourt is also bilingual, and could easily be a solid mentor to catcher Nick Fortes in a year where there’s a ton of opportunity for Fortes to increase his catching IQ. The stable of pitchers the Marlins have is full of young arms, which translates into chances for Fortes to work mostly with raw talent, on the field and off. Absolutely,” Fortes said emphatically last month when asked if he was looking forward to “picking [Bethancourt’s] brain. “He comes from an organization where they’re very analytical, so I’m very curious to hear his take on what they did over there and maybe stuff that we can bring over here to help…He’s a great defender, he’s got a cannon of an arm, so anything I can learn from him will always be knowledge worth knowing.” There was clear enthusiasm from Fortes, and with that kind of bent towards analysis he’s talking about in this overall MLB cohort of catching talent, there seems to be ample opportunity for Fortes to personally thrive under Bethancourt’s wing. If that bears out, the ripple effect to the wider clubhouse can only help. The Marlins have been starved for stability at the catcher position. It is obvious that it has more or less been musical chairs at backstop since J.T. Realmuto’s departure in 2019. Ideally the one-year, $2.05M contract won’t be a stopgap without value. Coming into 2024 Bethancourt is a career .231 hitter. He strikes out about 25% of the time, but makes contact when swinging in or out of the zone 67% of the time (for some context, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s contact% currently sits at 70%). It implies there is a smidge of room to improve and tinker, even with 10 years of pro ball under his belt. He wasn’t acquired for his offense, and has other means to help the team get wins. In terms of fielding chops, Baseball Savant tells us he has an impressive pop time, ranking first or second in the stat between four seasons. Bethancourt’s framing has improved overall, too. (via Baseball Savant) On the flip side his blocking is nearly on the bottom rung, 64th place in the majors (among 68 qualified catchers overall). Between his pop time and ranking fifth in CS at second base, though, maybe some of the fielding stats with cancel each other out in 2024. Tanner Scott "marveled at Bethancourt’s throwbacks to the mound" during their first bullpen session together, per MLB.com's Christina De Nicola. “I felt like he was great back there," Jesús Luzardo remarked after throwing to Bethancourt himself. Those are two key pitchers for the new guy to have in his corner. Bethancourt is a gamer, tenacious but doesn’t seem to have a chip on his shoulder. While he comes from a downtown landscape in Panama City, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that during the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his brother-in-law purchased a 17-acre farm in the countryside. Hard work and sweat equity is necessary to make either a pro baseball or farming venture successful, so look for Bethancourt to stick it out and target producing results for both the pitching staff and the club as a whole. View full article

You may already know about his baseball parentage. What else sticks out about Weathers' career path, and how might his skillset impact the Marlins organization in 2024 and beyond? According to Baseball-Reference, there were 6,288 players who made their major league debut between David Weathers and his son, Ryan Weathers. News articles and social media chatter often remark on the lineage between father-son connections like theirs. David's career was nothing to scoff at. He endured for 19 MLB seasons (1991-2009), spending two separate stints with the Marlins and winning a World Series title with the New York Yankees. His 4.25 ERA was an era-adjusted 102 ERA+ (slightly better than league average). The journeyman right-hander set a high standard for his southpaw son. 2ea82ba7-1b8d9978-bae8f111-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_16000K.mp4 Even so, Ryan was seemingly up for the challenge. The Tennessee native was named Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year in high school and drafted in the first round (seventh overall) by the Padres in 2018. After graduating and before his first pro season, Weathers and his father worked together to prepare for the next chapter. Weathers quoted a particularly poignant piece of advice from his father during that time. "We talk a lot about certain things, but one thing he always wanted me to understand is, there is a lot of failure in this game," Ryan told MiLB.com's Sam Dykstra. "It's how you handle it mentally that'll decide how good you can be." It seemed prophetically on the nose. In his first start at rookie level ACL, the first hit Weathers gave up was a home run. He faced five more batters before exiting the game. The most interesting, intriguing gem is this—in his next start, Weathers went four innings, allowing two hits, four strikeouts, no walks, no earned runs. Weathers was promoted all the way up to Class A Fort Wayne, ostensibly leaning into his ability to make quick adjustments and bounce back efficiently while in Arizona. The Athletic snagged a quote from TinCaps pitching coach Matt Williams that sheds light on how Weathers’ approach may be well-aligned with the culture the Marlins organization is developing in Miami: “Discussing Weathers’ aggressive style brought a grin to Williams’ face. 'Very aggressive bulldog style,’ Williams said. ‘He’s going to attack you with three pitches. Very, very confident kid. He’s Ryan Weathers. He is who he is and very much a bulldog.’" History was made in 2020 when Weathers, a southpaw, became the fifth MLB player to make his debut in the postseason. It was a breakout moment in the NLDS for any player debut as he went 1 ⅓ innings with a strikeout and no runs allowed. And against the titan Dodgers, no less, who would go on to win the World Series at the end of that COVID-shortened campaign. Back in the minors for the 2021 season with the El Paso Chihuahuas, opponents provided a lot of feedback on Weathers’ fastballs in particular. In terms of batters’ success against him, a 7-7 record is respectable enough, but the 6.73 ERA and 31 home runs allowed (in 123 innings) sent the lefty back to the drawing board. A good report from catcher Luis Campusano the following spring sums up the results of efforts to improve over the winter. Campusano remarked to Ronald Blum (AP), “More velo, more movement. It’s just making his four seam a whole lot better.” Weathers never did stick around the Padres big league team for an extended period, though. Early in the 2023 season, he was 1-6 with a 6.25 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts). Weathers was demoted to AAA El Paso and traded to the Fish on August 1. The acquisition of Ryan Weathers was overlooked. In fact, the loss of Garrett Cooper was the headline most will remember from that trade. Right after Weathers changed organizations, Skip Schumaker offered his initial assessment of his potential as a Marlin. "I think he's going to have three above-average pitches at some point—if not by the end of the year," Schumaker said pregame (via Christina De Nicola, MLB.com). "He's just going to continue to work. The guy's a worker. He's not content, and he's got some edge to him, which I love. Grew up the right way, obviously, with his dad, so I think there's a lot left in the tank for him, and he's going to have a long career. We're just hoping he can get better and better here while he's here." Weathers' struggles initially continued in Miami, blowing a lead against the Rangers on August 5 and taking the loss. Weathers did well when he was sent down to AAA Jacksonville and demonstrated his ability to efficiently adjust when starting the Marlins' regular season finale in Pittsburgh. He pitched six innings, with no runs scored and five strikeouts. The opportunity for Weathers to take his substantive personal experience on the field and turn it into a breakout year is definitely within the talented lefty’s reach. Still just 24 years old, he has three solid pitches in his toolbox: fastball, slider, and changeup. The exposure a young talent like Weathers will have to pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.’s expertise is a perfect fit. And, If the bulldog mentality touted by his prior MiLB pitching coach bears out, he should be up to the task and ready to rock this season. Problem solving the Marlins’ sudden void in pitching depth at the starter position left by Sandy Alcantara’s injury is a hot topic this offseason, especially in light of the rumors kicked around this winter concerning a possible trade of Jesús Luzardo (not to mention the general front office shake ups). Weathers can provide the tangibles as well as the intangibles. A grounded force of raw talent. A model of tenacity and effective work ethic. Heritage, both in teal pinstripes and baseball acumen. The Marlins’ fanbase has every reason to be excited for the next chapter in Ryan Weathers’ career as the entire baseball community gears up for a fresh start in 2024. View full article

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