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A regular Monday feature here at Fish Stripes through the end of 2018, we’ll do a roundup of storylines, stats and highlights from Marlins players who are staying active this offseason. Now that the Arizona Fall League has concluded, that means turning our attention internationally (the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, etc.).
All the weekly updates will be contained in this thread.
Stats updated through Sunday’s games.
Rehabbing from July’s shoulder surgery, left-hander Caleb Smith checks in with Marlins radio host Kyle Sielaff about his physical and mental status entering 2019. Unsurprisingly, Smith describes this as the “longest offseason” of his career. He expresses a desire to have a normal progression during spring training, but admits that the training staff plans to be cautious, and his availability for Opening Day isn’t guaranteed.
Smith’s age-26 season exceeded most expectations. He totaled 77 1⁄3 innings of 4.19 ERA/3.96 FIP/4.42 xFIP performance for the Marlins. If he can increase his ground ball rate moving forward, there’s legitimate hope of sticking in the rotation long term.
(Fish Stripes will be interviewing KKKKKKKaleb later this week to provide a more detailed look at his life and career. Leave a comment if you have any questions that we should ask!)
Dominican Winter League
At least Christopher Torres has something to show for his winter ball campaign. Torres made his Águilas Cibaeñas debut on Monday—the club’s final regular season game—at just 20 years old. He went 1-for-3 with an opposite-field single.
Meanwhile, the Marlins decided to remove Peter O’Brien from the Toros del Este roster. MiLB, MLB and LIDOM combined, he blasted 36 home runs in 147 games played this year.
Jarlin García will be the only Marlins representative available for the Toros during their 2018-19 playoff run.
Venezuelan Winter League
Make that eight straight scoreless outings for left-hander José Quijada (Caribes de Anzoategui).
Puerto Rican Winter League
Newly minted as the Fish Stripes No. 5 Marlins prospect, Isan Díaz is a .276/.350/.381 hitter in his native Puerto Rico through 30 games. Something worth nitpicking—he’s stuck on one home run with just a week remaining in the regular season.
Two games played for Yadiel Rivera since the last update, and not much has changed. Zero extra-base hits in December. The 26-year-old would rank last in the league in OPS if he had enough playing time to qualify.