Fish Stripes: All Posts by Alex Krutchik

CIN 6, MIA 5; Chisholm, Sanchez exit early in Marlins loss

2023-05-13T18:00:46-04:00

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

The night after Miami’s bullpen blew a late lead, Sandy Alcantara let the game slip away against Cincinnati.

It took one 15-second play to suck all the air out of loanDepot Park Saturday.

Three at-bats after Cincinnati Reds left fielder Jake Fraley tied the game at 4-4 with an RBI single through the right side of the infield, right fielder Henry Ramos barreled a Sandy Alcantara changeup to the deepest part of the ballpark in center field. Center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. reached a top speed of 27 feet per second running towards the wall, which doubles as an LED advertising board. Not only did he not make the difficult play (the ball had a catch probability of 10 percent), but Chisholm banged his toes into the solid material at the bottom of the wall.

While Chisholm writhed on the floor, Jake Fraley ran home to give the Reds a 5-4 lead with two outs. Chisholm walked off the field with help of his outfield teammates, coaches, and trainers. In a span of a few seconds, the Miami lead was gone, and their center fielder—who had hit a solo home run just one inning prior to tie the game at 3-3—was out of the game.

“I saw a ball hit. It was a crucial part of the game,” said Chisholm, who was diagnosed with a right foot contusion. “So I just went all out, went after the ball. I wish I could at least come up with the ball and be hurt instead of not making a play.”

Chisholm said after the game he hopes to be ready to play in Sunday’s series finale, although Marlins manager Skip Schumaker would not confirm if he’d be available.

The Marlins entered that eighth inning up 4-3 thanks to a Peyton Burdick single that scored Jorge Soler from second base shortly after Chisholm’s game-tying home run. But, as has been a common theme for Miami the last couple of seasons, they played themselves out of more potential runs due to poor baserunning. Just after Soler crossed home plate, Bryan De La Cruz—running from first base—was thrown out at third for the final out. Had he not been thrown out, the Marlins would have had two runners on with Jean Segura at the plate.

“(That) can’t happen,” Schumaker said. “The ball is right in front of you. We’re honestly lucky that we scored that run. It was really really close there. … you just can’t make the last out at third with a big inning kind of rally. It kind of killed the momentum. So yeah, there’s not really an excuse for that.”

While the Marlins left runners on the board, Alcantara continued to struggle the fourth time through the lineup. After having retired seven straight following a three-run home run by Jake Fraley in the fifth inning, Sandy allowed two more runs in the eighth that began with a leadoff walk to Jonathan India, and was credited with a third run when Stuart Fairchild hit an RBI single against reliever Matt Barnes to give Cincinnati a 6-4 lead. Alcantara’s ERA has blown up to 4.91.

“I think he’d probably tell you that he wants that one pitch back to Fraley with that slider,” Schumaker said. “But other than that, Sandy pitched great. He was dominant as usual. I felt like he was cruising except for that one Fraley slider. I mean, I’d take Sandy out there in the eighth inning all day long again.”

Jake Fraley came into the series having only hit two home runs. This weekend, he is 4-for-8 with three home runs, eight RBI, and five runs.

The Marlins made one final stand in the bottom of the ninth. After Luis Arraez drove home Jorge Soler on a double down the right field line, Bryan De La Cruz and Jean Segura were walked to load the bases. With two out, Yuli Gurriel climbed into the box and began his crucial at-bat with a pitch clock violation to put him in a 0-1 hole. He struck out swinging on a slider outside by closer Alexis Diaz.

Notes:

Photo by Bryan Cereijo/Getty Images

-Jesus Sanchez was removed due to right hamstring soreness after making a diving catch in the second inning, aggravating an injury he originally suffered on Wednesday in Arizona. Schumaker said they’ll know more about the severity of it on Sunday after Sanchez undergoes an MRI.

-loanDepot Park was celebrating Cuban Heritage Day, drawing an announced crowd of 11,170.

-The Marlins are now 12-1 in one-run games. They’ve lost six of the eight times that Alcantara has started this season.

Peyton Burdick ready to take advantage of second year in the big leagues

2023-05-05T12:00:00-04:00

Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

The nerves and butterflies may be gone, but that could be the best thing for Miami Marlins outfielder Peyton Burdick. After two short stints with the Major League club as a rookie late last year, the 26-year-old was called up again Wednesday ready to compete without the rookie-year jitters.

Before Thursday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, Burdick told Fish Stripes his initial call-up from Triple-A Jacksonville last August was “just a dream.”

“You’re just kind of in shock,” Burdick said. “And now it’s just like you’ve been with the guys a lot and it’s just another game. So it’s definitely cooled off a lot in terms of feeling like you belong and whatnot. So this year, it’s more like, ‘been there done that’. So it’s really easy to just go out there and play every day.”

In his 32 games and 102 plate appearances at the Major League level last season, Burdick hit .207 with a .665 OPS along with four home runs. The most glaring issue was his 34.3% strikeout rate.

Burdick said the first thing he needed to learn in the majors last year was how to get back to doing what he does best.

“Just learning how to use my front side again and getting back into my front hip, which I was doing a lot in college and in my first couple of years in pro ball,” said Burdick, who added he worked a lot with Marlins hitting coach Brant Brown during spring training this year. “And then last year I was worrying more about the top (of the strike zone), and I lost my strength, which is the bottom two layers of the zone. And now it’s just focusing back on that stuff.”

Burdick’s second stint in late September and early October, while brief, was certainly more promising than his first. In six games, he went 5-for-10 with two home runs and seven RBI. He only had two home runs and four RBI in his initial 26-game stint.

But despite a solid start in Triple-A this year that saw him post a 1.017 OPS and 10 home runs in 25 games, his strikeout issues followed him. His strikeout rate was 38.9% at the time of his call-up.

“I think really, it’s the strikeout rate that has got to come down,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said Thursday, before saying he can be a Harrison Bader-type player. “And he knows that, we know that. So I think having him up here and (Triple-A hitting coach Greg Colbrunn) down there, he has done a really good job of pitch selection down there. Still work to do. But there’s so much talent in there. If we can somehow figure out how to cut down the strikeout rate, this guy’s a really really good player.”

Burdick got his first Major League start of 2023 on Thursday against the Braves. With three consecutive left-handed pitchers scheduled to make starts against the Marlins, along with three day games against the Chicago Cubs this weekend, Schumaker wanted to give regular center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. a day off.

Burdick responded by going 0-for-2, but collected a run with two walks, one of which was an 11-pitch battle against lefty starter Dylan Dodd.

It’s still unclear how long Burdick will be up here for, and what his role will be. With outfielders Avisail Garcia on the 10-day IL with back tightness and Bryan De La Cruz struggling offensively, Schumaker said the obvious: he’ll put Burdick wherever it helps the team on any given day.

“The most important part, here, is to win,” Schumaker said. “And so if he’s going to help us win, then he’ll play…so that’s kind of the message and the motive behind it.”

Burdick echoed the same team-first sentiment:

“Whatever I can do to help win,” Burdick said. “Go out there, compete, and just give it my all every day. That would be successful to me personally. Winning makes everything better and makes the clubhouse a lot more fun.”

ATL 6, MIA 3; Braves complete sweep, Ozuna continues Marlins revenge tour

2023-05-04T21:30:00-04:00

Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta pounded out 26 runs during the lopsided series, with some help from a former Fish star.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna may have missed loanDepot Park just a bit. The cavernous park that has neutralized many home run hitters over the years looked like a modest college field when Ozuna came to the plate this week, not unlike the five seasons he played as a member of the Miami Marlins.

His solo home run against starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo in the fourth inning on Thursday was the deciding run in Miami’s 4-3 loss. It was his fifth home run of the season—three of those came during this week’s series against the team that traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals after the 2017 season. One of those home runs was a grand slam against starting pitcher Braxton Garrett in a 14-6 victory over the Marlins.

Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports

“There’s no breaks in that lineup,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Really good rotation…You gotta play pretty clean baseball to beat that team.”

It could probably have been worse for Luzardo, who gave up four runs (three earned) in 5 ²⁄₃ innings. He allowed multiple baserunners in three of the six innings he pitched in, and allowed the leadoff hitter to reach three times (although one of those was a botched fly ball by first baseman Yuli Gurriel in the first inning).

In total, Luzardo gave up seven hits and three walks. The Marlins have only had one pitcher go at least six innings over the last 14 games (that was Luzardo in his previous outing).

Although Luzardo had 92 pitches through five innings, he got the chance to start the sixth inning. He recorded two outs and allowed a single to Ozzie Albies before being relieved by Huascar Brazoban.

“I just know the bullpen has been taxed,” Luzardo said. “And I mean, I’d be lying if I said I don’t want to go as long as I can every game. And I felt like I had enough in me to go another inning. Obviously, I’m thankful that they gave me an opportunity to do that.”

The scoring opened in the first inning when Sean Murphy drove home Ronald Acuña Jr. on a double off the top of the right field wall. The Braves got two more on a Kevin Pillar sacrifice fly to right field and an Acuña single that drove home Eddie Rosario. The Braves tacked on another two insurance runs with a Matt Olson solo home run to right field and a Vaughn Grissom sacrifice fly, both in the ninth inning.

Ozuna was not the only slugger sticking it to his former team. Jorge Soler, who won World Series MVP with Atlanta in 2021, accounted for all three Marlins runs Thursday. The first two runs came from a first-inning home run that briefly gave the Marlins a 2-1 lead.

The third run game in the fifth on a double down the left field line to bring them within one run at 4-3. Soler went 3-for-5 Thursday with a double and a home run. Coming into the game, he had gone 1-for-21 with 10 strikeouts against the Braves this year.

But the Marlins certainly could have gotten more out of that fifth inning. With Soler at second base and Berti at third with no outs, Luis Arraez flew out to left fielder Eddie Rosario. Berti initially took a few hard steps towards home to potentially score the tying run before retreating back to third.

The Marlins wound up recording two more outs—with a Jean Segura intentional walk in the middle to load the bases—and didn’t plate any more runs.

Schumaker said the fact that Rosario was running in on the ball with forward momentum meant it would’ve been easier to throw out Berti on a tag-up attempt.

“Berti’s fast,” Schumaker said. “But Rosario has got a good arm. He’s played right field in his career. It’s not like he’s got a below-average arm…With one out, you probably take a chance. But with no outs, it doesn’t make much sense with your four and five hitters behind him. We just couldn’t get the job done.”

Schumaker’s Postgame Press Conference

"Tough series, especially after coming off a really good series against the Cubs...you have to play pretty clean baseball to beat that team."

Skip Schumaker speaks after the Marlins loss to then Braves, completing the ATL sweep@Marlins | #MakeItMiami pic.twitter.com/H7MGnugV7Z
— Bally Sports Florida: Marlins (@BallyMarlins) May 4, 2023

Despite Arraez’s amazing April, Marlins’ Player of the Month drought continues

2023-05-03T10:50:09-04:00

Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images

Arraez propelled Miami to a 16-13 start, but got snubbed of NL Player of the Month honors.

As announced on Wednesday, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña has been named the National League Player of the Month for April 2023, edging out Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez.

Arraez, who was traded from the Minnesota Twins to Miami in exchange for starting pitcher Pablo López and prospect hitter José Salas in January, had perhaps the best start to a season in Marlins history.

Through 25 games in March and April, the 26-year-old posted a 1.051 OPS with a .438 batting average, the latter of which is the highest mark for a Marlin in the first month of the season, surpassing Dee Strange-Gordon who hit .409 through April in 2015. Arraez’s .438 average at the end of April is the highest among qualified hitters since Barry Bonds hit .472 in 2004.

Arraez also has 12 multi-hit games, which are second-most in MLB behind only Acuña, Jr. and Bryson Stott, who both have 13. One of those games will be etched in Marlins lore forever. On April 11 against the Philadelphia Phillies, Arraez hit for the cycle—the first in franchise history.

Arraez has a league-low strikeout rate of 4.8%. He also has a career-high walk rate of 10.5%. The Venezuelan has done much of this while battling a lacerated finger and left knee contusion.

This all came in the midst of a 16-13 start for Miami. Fifteen of those games were won in April (second-most wins in April in franchise history). It is the Marlins’ best record in April since going 16-9 in 2011.

The 16th win—a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday—again had Arraez’s fingerprints all over it. Tied at three with runners on the corners in the bottom of the eighth inning, Arraez flied out to the warning track in center field to drive home the go-ahead run from third base.

Ultimately, Arraez’s nagging injuries may have been the tiebreaker. Acuña played in four more games than him and accrued 25 more plate appearances. It’s worth adding that Acuña altered games as a baserunner, leading the league with 13 stolen bases. Both the FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference versions of wins above replacement preferred Acuña, too.

No Marlin has won National League Player of the Month since Giancarlo Stanton in August 2017. Since then, every other NL team except for the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants has had one of their players receive the award.

ARI 1, MIA 5; Bench gets it done to open the Suntan Classic

2023-04-14T22:30:08-04:00

Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports

Friday’s Marlins win vaulted the club back up to .500.

If there’s one thing South Florida weather has taught us over the last week: when it rains, it pours. The same can be applied to the Marlins offense Friday night.

In a span of five minutes during the fourth inning, four consecutive Marlins batters drove home at least one run against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner. With two runners on and one out, Jacob Stallings singled to center field to score Avisail Garcia. One pitch later, Garrett Hampson hit a double to left field—his first hit as a Marlin—to drive home Jean Segura. Jon Berti then hit a two-RBI single and subsequently scored on a Garrett Cooper single on the very next at-bat.

Bumgarner was chased from the game after allowing five runs and nine hits in five innings.

“That’s kind of what we’re looking for,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “You know, not looking for the home run all the time and the extra-base hit all the time. Just continue your approach, and you click one when you click one.”

The Marlins did all this without Luis Arraez and Jazz Chisholm Jr., who have been mainstays at the top of the lineup all season. Arraez injured his finger sliding head first into home plate Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia against the Phillies. Schumaker said it was only a laceration, and that he simply wanted to give the hot-hitting Arraez an extra day off on top of the team’s day off on Thursday. Schumaker gave a similar reason for keeping Chisholm out of the game Friday, citing that the center fielder had been the only one on the team to not have a day off this year.

Berti took Arraez’s defensive spot at second base Friday—and Chisholm’s spot as a leadoff hitter—going 2-for-4. Hampson also found himself in the starting lineup for the second time as a Marlin because of the reshuffling.

“Jon Berti at the top of that order, setting the tone right away from leadoff starting the game, stealing bags, playing great defense,” Schumaker said. “Garrett Hampson hasn’t played much, and then he gets a start spot today with a huge double. I’ve talked about a strong bench before. Good teams have a strong bench, and today we had a strong bench in that lineup.”

As a team, the Marlins only struck out two times (both from Hampson). The last time the Marlins had just two strikeouts in a game was September 1, 2018, according to Stathead.

Marlins starting pitcher Trevor Rogers had perhaps his best outing of the season. Through the first six innings, he allowed just three hits and one walk.

It wasn’t until the seventh inning that Rogers got himself into a jam. After being anemic all night, the Diamondbacks opened the inning with two singles before Rogers was pulled for Huascar Brazoban.

With runners at the corners, Brazoban induced a 6-5 fielder’s choice that resulted in a run scoring from third. That run, credited to Rogers, was the only blemish for the Miami pitching staff. Brazoban, Dylan Floro, and A.J. Puk combined for three scoreless innings while allowing just one hit.

Notes:

-Jorge Soler was removed in the seventh inning due to lower back tightness

-Sixto Sanchez is scheduled to pitch in an extended spring training game on Saturday

-J.T. Chargois (right oblique strain, 15-day IL) is still not throwing

-Johnny Cueto (right biceps tightness, 15-day IL) will throw a bullpen session in Jupiter Saturday

-Steven Okert (left adductor strain, 15-day IL) will throw a rehab game Saturday for Triple-A Jacksonville

-Joey Wendle (right intercostal strain, 10-day IL) is hitting off a tee and participating in defensive drills

-LoanDepot Park opened the doors to its own Marlins Museum, located by section 29 on the promenade level

What Flashback Fridays mean to Jesús Luzardo, who grew up a Marlins fan

2023-04-14T19:27:56-04:00

Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Marlins pitcher Jesús Luzardo grew up in Parkland, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale and Miami that is characterized by transplants from the northeast United States and Latin America. Luzardo himself was born in Peru to Venezuelan parents prior to moving to Parkland when he was a year old. Based on the demographic makeup of his alma mater—Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School—and surrounding schools, it would have been easy to fall into the front-running fanbases of the Yankees, Red Sox, or even the Mets. But he opted for “the hometown team,” the then-Florida Marlins.

“My dad fell in love with them, then my grandpa as well,” the 25-year-old Luzardo said. “They had a bunch of players that I was a big fan of. They were people I looked up to throughout the years. I mean, Anibal Sanchez, Juan Pierre, Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera—they had a bunch of guys that were like staples in South Florida for me.”

While Luzardo wears the number 44 now, he actually grew up wearing number nine because of Juan Pierre. He models his pitching game after fellow lefties Willis and Johan Santana. The former of which, Luzardo said, is who he took “a lot of pieces from” including his pitching mentality.

But before he was a pitcher for the now Miami Marlins, Luzardo’s first memories of the franchise that has called south Florida home for 30 years was in 2003. The then-six-year-old was one of 65,000 fans at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) to witness the Marlins in the World Series against the New York Yankees.

When life goes full circle...from watching together the @Marlins win the WS to watching him play for the #Marlins God Bless you. Dios te Bendiga @Baby_Jesus9 pic.twitter.com/dzn5RW3c8n
— Jesus Luzardo Sr. (@JesusL65) August 3, 2021

Speaking with Fish Stripes prior to Friday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Luzardo recalled times when his father would take him out of school early to watch the Marlins. Specifically, he recounted the time he got to leave early at 13 years old when Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson and Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez went head-to-head in April 2011.

Johnson and Jimenez were coming off solid years in which they were both selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and finished in the top-five of Cy Young Award voting. The Marlins won that day, 6-3, behind a seven-inning, one-run performance by Johnson.

Fast forward 11 years later, Luzardo gets to take the mound for the hometown team every five days. While the team is three generations removed from the teal jerseys Luzardo and the rest of the fanbase fell in love with, the Flashback Friday promotion allows the Venezuelan pitcher to relive his childhood. Only this time he gets to be part of the game he grew up watching from the orange seats of Pro Player Stadium.

In this last iteration of Flashback Friday on March 31, Luzardo pitched a gem. Adorned with a teal hat, white jersey with pinstripes, and the famed teal script MARLINS across the chest, Luzardo pitched 5 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings in a 2-1 victory over the Mets.

“To suit up in that was just awesome,” Luzardo said. “It just brings back a lot of good memories and you feel the history that the Marlins have.”

Photo by Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images

MIA 8, PHI 4; Luis Arraez hits first cycle in franchise history

2023-04-11T22:42:46-04:00

Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

Many people thought they had seen the peak of Luis Arraez. Coming into Tuesday’s game hitting .500, it would’ve been hard to further improve upon his performance in the first month of his Marlins career. But the 26-year-old continues to raise the bar.

Just 12 games into his Marlins tenure, Arraez hit for the cycle. A feat that no Marlins had accomplished in the team’s 30-year history. But in the 4,700th game for the franchise, Arraez came through. He came to the plate in the eighth inning needing only a single to achieve the feat that all other 29 MLB teams had accomplished at least once. In typical Arraez fashion, he slapped a ball to the opposite field and solidified his place in Marlins history.

Arraez began the game with a double to center field in the first inning and followed it up with a triple to the right field corner in the sixth and a solo home run to left field in the seventh. He also had two runs and two RBI.

Top of the 1st: Double
Top of the 6th: Triple
Top of the 7th: Home run
Top of the 8th: Single

4,700 games in franchise history.

Luis Arraez, in his 12th game as a Marlin, does it. pic.twitter.com/G80Mye1Dqg
— Isaac Azout (@IsaacAzout) April 12, 2023

While Arraez was certainly the headliner in Wednesday’s victory, the whole squad got in on the party. Jon Berti, Yuli Gurriel, Jean Segura, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each had two hits, with one of Berti’s hits being a solo home run to center field. Chisholm, Jr. is on a six-game hit streak, and is 8-for-24 with three RBI in that span.

Most of the Marlins’ scoring didn’t come through until the sixth inning and later. Up 1-0 thanks to Berti’s home run earlier in the game, Arraez scored from third on a Jorge Soler double. Gurriel and Nick Fortes each had RBI singles in the sixth as well to take a 4-0 lead.

Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo breezed through the first five innings, allowing zero runs on just four hits and one walk.

But the sixth inning was Luzardo’s biggest test this season. He allowed a leadoff solo home run to Kyle Schwarber. He got J.T. Realmuto to ground out to third, but then allowed a single to Nick Castellanos. He got one more out on an Alex Bohm popout, but proceeded to load the bases on an infield single to Josh Harrison and a hit-by-pitch to Edmundo Sosa.

What happened next was a bit of a double-edged sword for Luzardo. He allowed a two-RBI single to Bryson Stott. But Stott took a wide turn around first base and was thrown out by left fielder Bryan De La Cruz.

Bad: Luzardo gets into a bases loaded jam and allows an RBI single to Bryson Stott

Good: Left fielder Bryan De La Cruz throws Stott out after he took a big turn around first. Marlins get out of the inning still up 4-2 pic.twitter.com/Ig8qjOzBHq
— Alex Krutchik (@AlexKrutchikCJN) April 12, 2023

The Marlins got three more insurance runs in the eighth on two singles by Berti and Arraez, and a triple by Chisholm.

Dylan Floro walked two in his scoreless seventh-inning appearance, but got out of it thanks to a 6-4-3 double play. Huascar Brazoban allowed one run in two innings.

Luis Arraez’s Postgame Press Conference

Luis Arraez says that his wife is pregnant with the couple's third child

She just told him on Sunday (his birthday)
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) April 12, 2023

The rubber game of the series will take place Wednesday at 4:05 p.m. ET. Probable starters are Edward Cabrera and Zack Wheeler.

Buy! Buy! Buy! Whose stocks are on the up and up?

2023-04-06T20:40:12-04:00

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images

It’s not too soon to get excited about these Marlins players.

Miami Marlins general manager Kim Ng and president of business operations Caroline O’Connor rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning. It was a celebration of the diversity of the Marlins organization, with the Marlins being the first professional sports franchise in the United States to have women serving as general manager and president.

The @Marlins are the first major U.S. sports franchise to have women as both their president and general manager. @JudyKShaw catches up with Caroline O'Connor and Kim Ng about their optimism of the team's future and the power of their partnership with @ADT pic.twitter.com/IOBVO7DMwq
— NYSE (@NYSE) April 6, 2023

In true stock market fashion, I was curious about which players on the Marlins would make good stocks to buy low (or medium) on.

Just like with real-world stocks, some of these choices are based on small sample sizes. It’s a matter of figuring out if these encouraging 2023 trends—combined with trends from last year—will result in anything significant.

Jorge Soler

Some Marlins fans were against this 2022 free agent acquisition before games were even played. Throughout his 20s, Soler consistently posted strikeout rates that were worse than the MLB average. Even with his 27 home runs and a World Series MVP award in 2021, many were turned off at the prospect of adding another strikeout-heavy player to the Miami lineup.

While his age-30 campaign was cut short by a back injury in late July, it’s easy to forget he was on pace for 25-plus home runs.

Seven games into 2023, Soler already has three home runs. Two of those came Wednesday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins, the latter of which was a three-run shot to left field in the eighth inning to provide insurance runs en route to a 5-1 win.

Soler’s barrel rate is up to 26.3% compared to 12.2% last season and his hard hit rate is at 57.9% after previously being 43.6%. These numbers will surely come back down to earth. But if he can manage to replicate the career-best Statcast numbers he put up in 2019 (16.9 barrel %, 50.1 hard-hit %), this will be a fun year for him, especially if the Marlins keep getting guys on base in front of him.

Nick Fortes

The 26-year-old has become a bit of a cult hero for Marlins fans over the last two years. But the rest of the league should be worried about what the Marlins are cooking with this one. He had made it onto some radars during the first 21 games after his call-up last May in which he slashed .293/.388/.535 with three home runs.

In order to prove that this wasn’t a flash in the pan, Fortes had to come into the regular season hot. In three starts, he is 3-for-10 with a two-run home run (against the Mets on April 1).

Playing in cavernous loanDepot Park, his speed and ability to simply put balls in play make him possibly the best prototypical player for this team. His BABIP has gone up to .286 this year compared to .252 last year. His sprint of 27.5 ft/sec in in the 75th percentile of all big leaguers, and is the fifth-fastest for a catcher, according to Baseball Savant.

But he’s not just a hitter who can be a serviceable backstop. Fortes is quietly becoming a better defender than his teammate Jacob Stallings, who was traded to Miami from Pittsburgh prior to last season specifically for his defense. While Stallings may be better at blocking, Fortes is in the 80th percentile in framing this year. It’s still too early to get proper rankings on his pop-up time to second base, but last year he was ranked in the 79th percentile.

He has also thrown out two out of five potential base-stealers this year. That rate is above average for any catcher, especially with the introduction of bigger bases and limited pickoff throws from the pitcher.

Jesús Luzardo

When people ask you about the Cy Young candidate for the Marlins this year, you’re going to have to clarify, “which one?” After Sandy Alcantara won the award last year for his dominant performance, the Marlins might have another bullet in the chamber.

Luzardo showed flashes of good pitching last year. He finished with a 3.32 ERA and a 3.12 FIP. While he didn’t rack up a lot of counting stats due to a forearm strain, his strikeout rate (30%) and whiff rate (40.2%) ranked in the top quarter of Major League Baseball. This was helped by his fastball that averaged 96.3 MPH with 5.8 inches of horizontal movement. This year, his fastball is averaging 97.3.

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images

The only question for the 25-year-old would be if he can limit his walk rate. He averaged 3.14 walks per nine innings last year, which was near the bottom-third of the league. He walked four batters in 5 ²⁄₃ innings against the Mets on Opening weekend. He followed it up by walking just one batter in seven innings against the Twins on April 5, along with striking out ten and allowing just one run.

Pablo López and Jesús Luzardo’s Miami reunion

2023-04-05T16:26:10-04:00

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Before starring for their respective teams in Wednesday’s game, López and Luzardo developed a close friendship as rotation mates.

The 2023 World Baseball Classic brought together 600 players from 20 different countries for two weeks of intense competition. Players from Major League Baseball and other international leagues had the chance to play, some of which are/were already teammates for the club teams prior to the international competition. For some, it was an introduction to guys that had never played together. For others, it was a reunion. And for some, it was one last chance to play side-by-side.

In the Team Venezuela clubhouse, familiar faces Jesús Luzardo and Pablo López once again donned the same jerseys as each other—only this time, it was a blue, yellow, and maroon jersey with a cursive “Venezuela” emblazoned across the chest, rather than the Miami Marlins jerseys they had shared in 2021 and 2022.

The WBC might’ve been the final time that the two good friends will represent the same team. López was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with infield prospect José Salas and outfield prospect Byron Chourio on January 20 in exchange for fellow Venezuelan infielder Luis Arraez.

“Luzardo is one of my best friends that I’ve (made) through baseball,” Lopez said prior to Tuesday’s game. “So I’m extremely grateful to have him as a person, as a friend, as a brother.”

Luzardo pitched four shutout innings against Team Israel in group play, allowing four hits, one walk, and racking up five strikeouts.

“Luzardo is such a great competitor,” López said. “He was just out there battling the way he does, competing with everything he got. And he’s always willing to go to that field and let everyone know he’s willing to die out there if you need him to be.”

López himself pitched 4 ⅔ innings in a win against Puerto Rico in front of 35,615 fans during pool play. He allowed just one run on two hits and struck out six. López was one of many who celebrated the idea of an intense World Series-type competition in mid-March.

“I think those are the situations that make us better,” López said. “Obviously as athletes and as baseball players, you’re always looking for that competition. You’re always looking for that extra gear moment…It’s just those opportunities that you try to cherish and soak in as much as you can.”

As this is the only series between the Twins and Marlins until next season, López and Luzardo made sure to catch up the day before their respective starts. On the outfield prior to Tuesday’s game, the two Venezuelan pitchers spoke about life, family, and of course, baseball.

“We don’t have to talk about it to know that (Wednesday) is going to be special,” López said. “It’s gonna be something we’ll remember.”

When the two faced each other as opponents for the first time in the series finale, they were equally brilliant. Both completed seven innings and combined for 18 strikeouts while allowing only one run apiece.

After the starters exited, the Marlins rallied against Minnesota’s bullpen to win, 5-2.

Bally Sports Florida

Jesus Luzardo’s final line:
7 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 10 K

What I’m most impressed with is the one walk. He had a 3.1 walks per 9 innings last year, and had 4 in his 1st start of the year a few days ago.

Walks seemed to be the last glaring weakness for him. If he’s fixed that, watch out
— Alex Krutchik (@AlexKrutchikCJN) April 5, 2023

Asked about what it was like to be on the other side of a López start after Wednesday afternoon’s game, Luzardo said it didn’t feel “different,” but it was “funny” to him.

“I just sent him a text,” Luzardo said. “And we talked about it yesterday. It’s fun to get a pitcher’s duel, especially with him. I feel like we both pitched pretty well, so I’m happy about that.”

Yuli Gurriel “should be” on Marlins Opening Day roster

2023-03-26T14:42:40-04:00

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

The veteran first baseman is poised to get the final spot on Miami’s 26-man active roster, per general manager Kim Ng.

Yuli Gurriel has made the Miami Marlins 26-man Opening Day roster, according to Marlins general manager Kim Ng. On the Marlins radio broadcast during Sunday’s game against the Washington Nationals, Ng said Gurriel “should be” on the roster when the Marlins begin their regular season against the New York Mets on Thursday. Ng added that shortstop José Iglesias would not make the initial major league roster, but that he would remain with the organization.

Both players were originally signed to MiLB non-roster deals midway through spring training with clauses allowing them to opt out this past Saturday if their contracts weren’t selected to the big league club. Although Iglesias is sticking around for now, he can also opt out on May 1 or June 1 if his opportunity doesn’t arrive by then. Iglesias finished 3-for-15 at the plate in Grapefruit League games.

On Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals—Gurriel’s last game before the announcement—Gurriel went 2-for-3 with a couple of solid defensive plays. Gurriel began the spring 1-for-13, but went 4-for-9 with a double and RBI since March 21. It was also Gurriel’s third consecutive game recording a hit, going 2-for-3.

“It feels like he’s locked in,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said after Saturday’s game. “In the first couple of games, he kind of cut off his swing a little bit towards the right field. And then you could see that the timing was just getting a little bit better and better and better. And now It’s barrel to the ball and pullside doubles. And that’s who he is.”

Gurriel had a 105 OPS+ against left-handed pitchers last season, compared to a paltry 68 OPS+ for the Marlins as a whole. He turns 39 on June 9.

Courtesy of Roster Resource, here are all 26 expected members of the Marlins Opening Day roster and their likely roles:

Roster Resource