Here’s what the Marlins are planning at third in 2026. And insight from Norby
Connor Norby’s first full season with the Marlins began with a decision he regrets, continued with a slow start, worsened with a hand injury, then was derailed by another injury just as he was finding an offensive groove.
But the Marlins aren’t giving up on him as a potential starter, not after seeing flashes of his potential last summer – after the July 2024 trade with the Orioles – and witnessing more promising glimpses this summer, before a quadriceps injury that sidelined him the past week.
According to a source, the Marlins are planning to address third base internally next season by having Norby compete with Graham Pauley for the starting job, with Max Acosta potentially also getting a look. Norby and Pauley are both beginning minor-league rehabilitation assignments this week.
Pauley, acquired in last summer’s Tanner Scott trade, had shown improvement offensively before a right oblique strain landed him on the injured list on Aug. 18. He’s hitting just .229 (.310 on base) with four homers and 11 RBI in 54 games. But in a 26-game stretch in July before his injury, Pauley hit .254 (.371 on base) with four homers and six RBIs in 26 games.
Defensively, at the time of his injury, Pauley was tied for third in the majors among third basemen in the advanced metric of “outs above average,” per mlb.com.
Acosta could join the spring 2026 third base competition, but he would need to hit far better to be a legitimate challenger for the starting job next March. He’s batting .205 with three homers in 48 at-bats.
Norby, who plans to return before the end of the season on Sept. 28, is hitting .247 (same as last season), with a .298 on base average and six homers, 31 RBI, and 14 doubles in 77 games.
“There are a lot of underlying numbers I’m aware of that are pretty good and I’m happy with, especially offensively,” Norby said at his locker this week.
Before a quadriceps strain landed him on the injured list Sept. 5, “my at-bats were the best they’ve been all year,” Norby said.
“And I thought, ‘I feel like me for once this year!’ This is the player I am, the hitter I am. I believe the front office sees that as well.”
After being acquired with Kyle Stowers in the Trevor Rogers trade last July, Norby tantalized the Marlins last summer, hitting .247 with seven homers, eight doubles and 17 RBI in 36 games.
But as the now-injured Stowers blossomed into an All Star this season (.288, 25 homers, 73 RBI in 117 games), Norby stagnated, which he attributes partly to a decision to alter his swing in training camp. Norby made the change with the hope of having more success hitting “the riding fastball at the top.”
He realized, after 2 ½ months, that “there aren’t many guys who can hit the pitch. So why would I sacrifice everything I’m good at to hit one singular pitch? Obviously it didn’t work. I was trying to be someone I was not for a lot of the year.
“I never felt comfortable what I was doing. I got to spring training and pretty much overhauled everything I was doing ever and tried to have a swing that essentially was trying to cover one exact pitch.”
Norby hit .202 in 84 at bats in June before determining he needed to make a change.
“It wasn’t working. I didn’t look comfortable. My at-bats didn’t look good. I was chasing a lot. I got to the middle to the end of June and decided to go back to whatever I did last year.
“There was a game in DC, I didn’t play that day and we watched video before that game, looking for differences between this year and last year and we were like, ‘Do that! Be yourself!’ After that, I wasn’t always getting hits, but my at-bats were great. I was walking more.”
But then Norby began experiencing wrist soreness and underwent surgery July 18 on a broken left hamate bone.
He returned Aug. 19, had six hits and 18 at-bats and then sustained the quad injury Sept. 3. “The week I was back before the quad, that was the best I’ve been all year. That’s why this last injury sucks.”
Defensively, Norby’s post-trade adjustment to third base -- a position he had played only sparingly, and not since 2019 -- remains a work in progress. He has 15 errors in 103 games for the Marlins at third base, including eight in 73 this season.
“I started off the year really well, then kind of faded a bit,” said Norby, who played primarily second base for Baltimore. “I’m working hard to be the best defensive player I can be. It has been night and day better than last year. I did it for 30 something games last year and I was not good. I still have a lot to learn.
“I’m trying to cut myself some slack at a position I had never played [since 2019 in the minors] and I’m trying to do it at the highest level. There’s Giancarlo Stanton in the box or Jorge Soler or Pete Alonso, those guys hit the ball very hard. It’s a very hard position to learn.”
The Marlins aren’t dissuaded by his uneven, injury-interrupted season.
“I know I’m the guy, and I can be that guy for years to come,” he said. “The good news is I’m still young. I’m only 25.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM.
