Starting pitcher predicament, first base, Meyer feats, farm: 10 Marlins nuggets
Ten Marlins takeaways and notes as they return home from a nine-game road trip that began with five losses in six games against the Blue Jays and Mets but ended with a three-game sweep of the Nationals:
▪ `As Miami (29-34) opens a three-game series against struggling Tampa Bay (7:10 p.m. Friday, Marlins.TV), the starting rotation remains in a precarious position, badly depleted by injuries (to Eury Perez, Janson Junk and Robby Snelling) and ineffectiveness (from since-jettisoned Chris Paddack and more recently, Braxton Garrett).
That confluence of issues has left Miami without a listed starting pitcher for Saturday’s game against Tampa and Tuesday’s game against visiting Arizona. (Saturday is expected to be a bullpen game.)
The Marlins have needed to use “bullpen” games twice during the past week, with reliever John King starting one game and Lake Bachar another.
The current rotation has only two players who started the season as starting pitchers — Sandy Alcantara and Max Meyer. Former reliever Tyler Phillips initially was slated to start Friday, but the Marlins said Thursday that Ryan Gusto will start and Phillips will pitch in relief.
The Marlins entered the season believing they had at least 10 potential big-league starters who were ready or close to ready. But one of those 10, Garrett, struggled in two Marlins appearances and is now working back into form at Triple A, where he began the season. He pitched Wednesday night for Jacksonville.
Another of those 10, Gusto, allowed five hits and three runs in two innings against Washington this week, only his second big-league appearance this year. He’s now set to start the opener of this homestand.
Another one of the 10, top pitching prospect Thomas White, has been sidelined with an injury. And two other Triple A starters, Bradley Blalock and Dax Fulton, have high ERAs (6.70 and 5.82, respectively).
Karson Milbrandt, the Marlins’ top minor-league pitcher this season, was promoted from Double A to Triple A this week, and the team would ideally like him to start a few more games before his big-league debut. Milbrandt, who’s scheduled to pitch Monday for Jacksonville, had a 1.34 ERA in nine starts at Pensacola, with 70 strikeouts in 47 innings.
▪ Meyer continues to do his part. He rebounded from his worst start of the season with a sterling seven-inning performance against Washington on Wednesday (two hits, one run allowed, seven strikeouts). He raised his record to 6-0, dropped his ERA to 2.81 and completed his 13th start to the season without a loss, tying Liván Hernández’s 1997 team record.
The 13 games without a loss are also tied for the fourth-longest streak by a starter in club history during any span. Only Brad Penny (17 consecutive starts from 2000-2001), Elieser Hernández (16 from 2019-2021), and Aníbal Sánchez (14 in 2011) had longer streaks.
▪ A needed power surge is finally happening. The Marlins hit eight home runs in the Nationals series, including three by Heriberto Hernandez. Despite that, they rank only 26th in baseball with 54 home runs.
Power numbers are short of expectations for Jakob Marsee (three), rookie Owen Caissie (five) and Agustin Ramirez (just two homers before his demotion to Jacksonville). Kyle Stowers, who missed the first 19 games of the season, has only four, including one this week.
▪ First base isn’t producing nearly enough offense on days Liam Hicks doesn’t play there.
Christopher Morel is now hitting .172 (11 for 64), with only three extra-base hits (all doubles). Connor Norby is mired in a 3-for-34 swoon, dropping his average to .207.
But there aren’t great options at Triple A, because outfielder/first baseman Kemp Alderman remains sidelined and Deyvison De Los Santos (.265, .322 on-base, six homers, 29 RBI) has been decent but not dominant.
Ramirez is making a case to return, hitting .282 with a .360 on-base average, four homers and 11 RBI in his first 20 games at Jacksonville. But he remains subpar defensively, and the Marlins have resisted moving him full-time to DH and first base. If he returns as a designated hitter, that would allow Hicks to play most days at first.
Stowers played first base for only the second time on Wednesday and made a very good play defensively.
▪ Catcher Joe Mack continues to grow, driving in five runs in the three-game sweep at Washington.
Besides hitting a homer earlier in the series, Mack had the key hit in Wednesday’s 4-1 win, delivering a two-out, two-run single to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead in the eighth, while lifting his average to .233.
Defensively, he has three errors in his first 23 games at catcher but has thrown out 32% of base stealers (7 of 22). That’s a huge improvement over Ramirez (2 of 21) and Hicks (4 of 34).
And Mack’s 19 successful challenges are ninth most in the majors since his promotion.
▪ Not only does shortstop Otto Lopez lead the National League with 81 hits, but his 23 multihit games lead the NL, and he’s now batting a league-leading .332 — not bad for a player claimed off waivers in April 2024. His evolution remains one of the greatest success stories of the Peter Bendix regime.
▪ Caissie has had some good moments recently, including eight RBI over five recent games (giving him 30, second most among NL rookies). He also had a recent 14-for-46 stretch (.304) to raise his average above .240. (He’s now at .228 with an on-base average at .296.)
But he has struck out in 69 of his 149 at-bats, among the worst percentages in baseball. He struck out swinging, on a slider, in a tie game with the bases loaded and none out Wednesday, before Mack rescued him with his go-ahead hit after Javier Sanoja was retired for the second out.
▪ Shortstop Aiva Arquette, the Marlins’ first-round pick last summer, continues to tantalize. He hit a walk-off homer in a seven-inning, weather-shortened game for Double A Pensacola on Tuesday and now has 21 RBI in 21 games for High A Beloit and Pensacola.
▪ Second baseman Xavier Edwards played in his 300th game as a Marlin on Monday, and his 350 hits in those 300 games are the second most by a Marlins player in his first 300 games to begin his MLB career with the club, trailing only shortstop Édgar Rentería (354). Miguel Cabrera and Christian Yelich are tied for third on this list at 331.
▪ The Marlins released first baseman Nathan Martorella, leaving Marsee and once-promising prospect Dillon Head as the two remaining players from the May 2024 deal that sent Luis Arraez to the Padres.
Martorella, who was hitting .156 at Jacksonville, joins previously released pitcher Woo-Suk Go as washouts from that deal.
Head, a skilled defender and base stealer, has a .225 career average in the minors and is at .159 (.279 on base) in 25 games for High A Beloit this season.
The Marlins remain optimistic about Marsee, who has shown some signs of life recently and is third in the NL with 15 steals. He is still below the Mendoza Line (.199) albeit with a much better on-base percentage (.326).
This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 12:46 PM.
