Offishial news, 4/12/23: Luis Arraez makes history

Tuesday’s Marlins Game

Marlins Podcast Episodes

• Tuesday’s Marlins MiLB scores: Triple-A Jacksonville won, 9-5; Double-A Pensacola lost, 7-6 (F/10); High-A Beloit won, 8-5 (F/10); Low-A Jupiter won, 3-2. Jerar Encarnación (Jacksonville) went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI (though he continued his streak of striking out in every game this season). Right-hander Cristian Charle attempted to close out the game for Pensacola, but yielded a walk-off, two-run home run to Jackson Chourio, who’s arguably the top prospect in baseball.
• Luis Arraez snapped the Marlins’ three-decade-long cycle drought. He doubled and tripled against Phillies starter Aaron Nola, then homered against Connor Brogdon and singled against Andrew Bellatti. He also announced that his wife is expecting the couple’s third child. “I’ll forever treasure this day,” Arraez tweeted following the game.
• After his epic performance, Arraez now leads all MLB hitters with 1.3 wins above replacement as calculated by Baseball-Reference. He is tied for third in the majors using FanGraphs’ formula (0.9 fWAR).
• Right-hander Eli Villalobos was claimed off waivers by the Pirates. It’s a strangely abrupt end to Villalobos’ Marlins tenure. A 14th-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, he had been in the organization his entire professional career. He showed enough promise in 2022 (2.86 ERA, 3.95 FIP in 78.2 IP at AA/AAA) to merit a spot on the 40-man roster, yet the Marlins designated him for assignment to make room for Devin Smeltzer to pitch in a low-leverage relief role.
• There’s still no timeline for Johnny Cueto’s return from his right biceps injury, Craig Mish and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported. Following up on rumor from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, they noted that Marlins-Cardinals offseason trade talks regarding Tyler O’Neill also included Pablo López, and “Trevor Rogers came up in discussions as well.”
• Additional injury updates: Avisaíl García (left hamstring soreness) was available to play on Tuesday if necessary and Steven Okert (left abductor strain) will make his second rehab appearance with Triple-A Jacksonville tonight.
• The main piece that the Marlins sent to the Twins for Arraez, López is off to a similarly excellent start this season. As Lucas Seehafer of Baseball Prospectus wrote, “what’s become clear through his first couple of starts is the value of even an average third pitch combined with an increase in fastball velocity.”
• Ian Anderson will miss the rest of this season—and likely a chunk of 2024—due to Tommy John surgery. The right-hander faced the Marlins frequently over the last three years as a member of the Braves starting rotation, but failed to crack their 2023 Opening Day roster. He was diagnosed with a torn UCL following a Triple-A outing.
• Elsewhere around the majors: the Rays extended their season-opening winning streak to 11; after falling behind 7-0, the Cubs outscored the Mariners 14-2 the rest of the night.
• The Marlins have a 36.7% chance to win their series finale against the Phillies, per FanGraphs. Low-A Jupiter is at home (6:30 p.m. ET), while Triple-A Jacksonville (6:35 p.m. ET), High-A Beloit (7:05 p.m. ET) and Double-A Pensacola (7:35 p.m. ET) are on the road.

• Michael Baumann of FanGraphs pointed to Jesús Luzardo’s increased fastball velocity and subtle pitch usage changes as factors possibly contributing to his early-season success.
• Glenn Geffner observed that the Marlins have slightly outspent the Rays on their MLB payroll over the last 15 seasons, yet Tampa Bay has averaged 15 more wins per season.
• I’m gradually unpacking notable passages from Jeffrey Loria’s new memoir. Here are his thoughts on the relocated home run sculpture.
• On this day 30 years ago, Benito Santiago hit the first home run in Marlins history.