As Paddack flounders, how Marlins are navigating Garrett/White/Snelling issue
As the Marlins close in on the quarter mark of the season, they’re getting below-average production at five positions — all three outfield spots, first base and third base.
They have been a mess defensively at catcher, an issue they hope will be addressed by the promotion of one of their top prospects, Joe Mack, who was set to make his big-league debut on Monday against Philadephia.
And they have one starting pitcher — Chris Paddack — who has struggled badly.
Meanwhile, in top prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling and veteran Braxton Garrett, the Marlins have three talented left-handed arms in Triple A, any one of whom would be in many teams’ rotations if they were in the big leagues. MLB.com ranks White the 14th-best prospect in baseball and slots Snelling 34th.
Considering all of these realities, the questions are natural: Could the Marlins parlay their organizational pitching depth into offensive reinforcements on the big-league team? And should any of the three immediately replace Paddack after he allowed seven runs in 2 2/3 innings against Philadelphia on Sunday, dropping his record to 0-5 and raising his ERA to 7.34?
After Sunday’s game, manager Clayton McCullough said Paddack will make his next start Friday. That was somewhat in question Monday. His velocity dropped Sunday, and the Marlins were planning to evaluate him Monday to determine whether an IL stint is needed. If it’s not needed, he would be expected to start Friday against Washington.
[Update: Paddack told Marlins officials on Monday afternoon that he’s fine physically, and the team said he will make his next scheduled start on Friday.]
“We found some things that we’re trying to work on mechanically with my lower half to bump up some velocity, and it was the complete opposite today,” Paddack said Sunday. His four-seamer averaged 91.3 mph, a significant drop.
“I’ve got to go back to the drawing board and figure some things out,” Paddack said. “I’ll be all right.”
He said his season has been a “roller coaster. Right when we think we’re getting in a good place, I get hit in the mouth again. There’s no excuse for it. I work my butt off. I try to be a role model for younger guys. But I have to look in the mirror and clean some things up.”
Before Paddack was bombed Sunday, the Marlins had no intention of promoting Garrett or Snelling or White immediately. They felt Paddack deserved at least a few more starts.
But Paddack seems near the end of his leash. A stint on the injured list, if it happens, would buy the Marlins time. A move to the bullpen is a possibility at some point. The Marlins also could designate him for assignment, but that would be admitting a mistake on a player who was given $4 million guaranteed 2 1/2 months ago.
According to a source, Garrett has been positioned to get the call if a Marlins starter misses a turn or goes on the injured list. But Snelling’s recent dominance has made that topic a spirited discussion inside the team’s front office. If the Marlins need a starter, it’s now a toss-up between Garrett and Snelling.
White, considered by some to be a better prospect than Snelling, likely would be third in line for a promotion if the Marlins need a starter, a source said.
Garrett, at Jacksonville, has shown he’s fully recovered from December 2024 elbow surgery; batters are hitting .073 against him.
He allowed just four hits and one earned run in his first 23 innings this season but was lifted after yielding three runs in three innings in his last start (April 28). For the season, he has a 1.71 ERA, with six hits and 12 walks and 26 strikeouts in 26 innings.
With a 4.03 ERA in 65 big league games (63 starts), the 28-year-old left-hander has proven he can be a capable back-end starter.
Snelling, who was acquired in the 2024 Tanner Scott trade with the Padres, has been magnificent this season, posting a 1.86 ERA in six starts, with 44 strikeouts in 29 innings. He has allowed 11 hits and 15 walks in 29 innings, and batters are hitting .116 against him. He had a 2.51 ERA in 26 starts at Double A and Triple A last season.
White, who missed spring training with an oblique strain, has made three starts at Jacksonville, and has a 2.13 ERA in 12 1/3 innings, and batters are hitting .171 against him. The Marlins don’t want to rush him.
Drafted 35th overall in 2023 out of a Massachusetts high school, White has a 2.63 ERA in 50 minor-league games (49 starts), with 301 strikeouts and 156 hits allowed in 208 innings. He projects as a front-end rotation starter.
Former Rockies pitcher Bradley Blalock (3.09 ERA) also has thrown well in the Jacksonville rotation, while Dax Fulton (7.65 ERA) and Ryan Gusto (4.63 ERA) have been uneven.
Before Paddack’s latest bad outing, there had been an internal reluctance to force the issue with Garrett, Snelling or White — or trade one of Miami’s four reliable starting pitchers — for several reasons:
1). The Marlins are in a stretch of 26 games in 27 days and believe they need their pitching depth because injuries are inevitable. So they’re not eager, at least at the moment, to move any of their trustworthy starting pitchers.
2). Trades aren’t particularly common in early May, and the Marlins aren’t in position to turn Janson Junk or Max Meyer into a top bat — nor are they inclined to at this point, anyway. If Meyer (2.68 ERA) keeps pitching as well as he has, he would be a valuable rotation component, under team control through 2030.
3). The Marlins have no interest in trading White and Snelling, who are among the top dozen pitching prospects in baseball. And the Marlins believe that Garrett’s value as a trade chip would be maximized only if he’s pitching well in the majors, not the minors.
4). As for the idea of flipping one of their pitchers for a bat, that would disrupt the Marlins’ ongoing evaluation process of their young players, such as outfielder Owen Caissie and third baseman Graham Pauley.
5). The Marlins aren’t replacing Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Junk and Meyer with any of their top three starters in Triple A, and they wanted to give Paddack a fair chance to get himself right. But the clock is ticking on Paddack, louder than ever, after Sunday’s debacle.
With all top prospects across baseball, there’s always a question about whether a team will leave a player in the minors until late June or July to extend their service time another year. But that did not deter the Marlins from promoting Mack on Monday.
This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 12:17 PM.
