Rookies Marsee, Pauley ready to share big-league dreams with Marlins

Jakob Marsee remembers the moment when it hit him.

It wasn’t during a game or in the batting cage, but on the field, during the national anthem. He looked over and saw his longtime friend and teammate Graham Pauley. On the same team, same field, with the same dream.

“I think it really hit us. Obviously, when I got here and saw him, it was really cool and stuff. But then, the second game, we both started, and we’re on the line together during the national anthem. He looked at me and was like, ‘dang, we’re really…this is really happening.’ That was just a really cool moment.”

Context around that moment is straightforward: Marsee arrived in May 4, 2024, as a player in a trade that involved Luis Arraez, Dillon Head, Woo-Suk Go and Nathan Martorella.

A little more than a year later, he was called up to the Majors on Aug. 1. Since that day, he’s batting .338, with 4 homers, 20 RBI, seven stolen bases and a 1.088 OPS (entering Sunday’s game .

Additionally, that production has held up alongside everyday work in the outfield. But before Marsee had ever put on a Marlins uniform, He and Pauley had already shared stops at High A Fort Wayne and Double A San Antonio before reuniting in Miami.

“We thought it’d be with the Padres at the time, but now we get to play for the Marlins… We’ve always been in the same lineup together. So, it’s cool. We’ve kind of progressed through the system together,” Pauley told MLB.com.

When Marsee got the call, Pauley didn’t wait.

“He immediately called me and was, like, super excited,” Marsee said. “He was just there for me whenever I needed help coming up here and everything.”

Their friendship was built on the basics of a shared lifestyle and similar interests. Both roommates early on, with similar routines, similar hobbies and the willingness to disconnect from the game sometimes. Marsee even mentioned their shared liking for playing fantasy.

On adjusting to big-league sequencing, Marsee didn’t overthink it:

“There’s definitely been different times where I’ve noticed pitchers go at me certain ways and I’ve just been adjusting towards that,” he said. “But, approach-wise, I just try to stay within myself and stick to my approach.”

On Aug. 18, Pauley was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain. However, the conversations between him and Marsee continue, awaiting another time they can have a full-circle moment.

There will be more of those nights when Pauley returns. For now, the image holds: Marsee on a big-league line, realizing in real time that the friend who shared rooms, bus rides and batting cages is sharing the dream, too. The path from Fort Wayne to San Antonio to Miami, feels less like a coincidence and more like fate.