Chris Paddack introspective after rough Marlins debut: ‘A long journey ahead’
Chris Paddack made it through the first two innings of his Miami Marlins debut — a start more than a decade in the making that saw him play for three other teams before finally suiting up for the team that drafted him — unscathed. He needed just one pitch to get his first out, a Miguel Vargas flyout to left field. He battled with Lenyn Sosa for 10 pitches in the second, winning the at-bat with a low changeup Sosa swung through. He faced the minimum, striking out three of the first six batters who stepped into the box.
And then everything unraveled.
A five-hit, 27-pitch, four-run third inning, headlined by an Austin Hays three-run home run.
A three-hit, 27-pitch, four-run fourth inning, punctuated by a Vargas grand slam.
His night was done at that point.
The Marlins’ short-lived undefeated run to begin the 2026 season soon came to an end as well, with Miami falling 9-4 to the Chicago White Sox on Monday at loanDepot park to start a three-game series.
“Not how I envisioned my Marlins debut by any means,” Paddack said postgame.
But Paddack won’t let the sting linger. He knows he can’t. The Marlins are going to rely on him to have quality outings as the year continues.
“I mean, if I get the opportunity, I’m gonna have 31 more starts,” Paddack said. “That’s a long journey ahead.”
Monday marked the sixth time in 112 career MLB starts that Paddack gave up at least eight earned runs. Three of the previous five outings came last season, a campaign in which he tied for the eighth-most earned runs allowed (94) and fourth-most home runs allowed (31) in baseball while playing for the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.
The Marlins (3-1) signed Paddack to a one-year, $4 million deal this offseason with the hopes he would, in president of baseball operations Peter Bendix’s words, “take the ball every fifth day and just give us some level of consistency — be a veteran presence but somebody who we think we can really get a lot more out of him as well.”
Paddack called the signing a “full-circle moment” after the Marlins selected him in the eighth round of the 2015 MLB Draft before trading him to the San Diego Padres one year later for All-Star closer Fernando Rodney. Paddack spent time with the Padres, Twins and Tigers before making it to Miami.
And while there was plenty to like in Paddack’s outing if looking beyond the final line — the six strikeouts to no walks; the 15 swings and misses, including seven on 19 against his changeup; the ability to mix in all six of his pitches, including having some success with the sweeper he added to his arsenal this spring — two frustrating innings soured a lot of the positives in the moment of Paddack’s Marlins debut.
“I wish it would have went a little different tonight,” Paddack said. “The loss is on me.”
The trouble began immediately in the third, with Everson Pereira sending a middle-middle curveball down the left-field line for a double. Vargas followed three batters later with a two-out RBI single just over shortstop Otto Lopez’s head to open scoring for Chicago (1-3). A Munetaka Murakami swinging bunt then set up Hays’ home run, sending a 95 mph four-seam fastball that clipped the top of the zone 353 feet to right field.
Just like that, Miami’s down 4-0.
The damage continued in the fourth. Back-to-back line drive singles from Tristan Peters and Pereira, an Edgar Quero sacrifice bunt and Luisangel Acuna hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out. Vargas then capitalized on a middle-middle changeup on a 3-1 count, sending it 402 feet to left field for a grand slam.
“I just let up a little bit of conviction,” Paddack said.
Paddack struck out the final two batters he faced — Murakami and Hays, both swinging — to end the outing, but the damage was already done.
“We’ll get a lot of better days out of Chris than today,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “You can’t take them back. ... He’s a pro. He’ll flip the page.”
Miami attempted to chip away at the deficit. The Marlins scored four runs on a Liam Hicks two-run home run in the fourth, Jakob Marsee RBI single in the fifth and Hicks RBI single in the eighth but couldn’t fully close the gap. They had the bases loaded with two outs in the eighth, but Jordan Hicks ended the threat by getting Connor Norby to line out.
The White Sox tacked on one run against Miami’s bullpen on a Vargas sixth-inning sacrifice fly against Lake Bachar, who pitched three innings in relief. John King and Michael Petersen pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, for the Marlins.
Paddack could only watch as his team attempted to undo the problems he put them in.
But there was no finger pointing, no blame passed. Rather, his teammates lifted him up.
Paddack noted how Sandy Alcantara came to him in the dugout and gave him words of encouragement.
“He approached me right away, and he said, ‘Hey, man. You’re here for a reason. We believe in you; I believe in you,’” Paddack said. “We had a conversation that I won’t say on air, but he has my back, and it was cool to hear that from our ace.”
Now, Paddack will quickly get back to work. He’ll spend the next four days building on what went well, improving what went wrong and keep himself in the proper headspace.
His next start is scheduled for Sunday to cap the Marlins’ first road series of the season at the New York Yankees.
“You think those guys feel sorry for me? No,” Paddack said. “So it’s you got to get back on the saddle. ... Get all that negative out and be able to get back on that mound and be ready to go and compete at a high level, because it’s expected from the fans, and it’s also expected from the 25 other guys in that clubhouse, for us to do our job.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 9:21 PM.
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