Marlins SS Otto Lopez Should be an All-Star

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MIAMI — While there is still a month’s worth of baseball to go, we have seen enough.

Miami Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez should be an All-Star.

Not just an All-Star, but the starting shortstop of the National League. After all, the third-year Marlin leads Major League Baseball in batting average (.341) and hits (89). He is also second among all shortstops in total bases (128) and OPS (.859), while being third in on-base percentage (.369).

With Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz currently on the injured list, the chase for the top spot at shortstop is between Lopez and CJ Abrams of the Washington Nationals.

After Lopez knocked in three hits, including the go-ahead single in the Marlins’ 10-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, manager Clayton McCullough made the case for why he should be in Philadelphia on July 14.

“This has been a hitting machine since day one of the season, and he’s played a high-level defense,” McCullough said. “There’s hard to find someone at that position in our league that’s having a better year offensively than he is with the average, the clutch hits, and the extra base hits. He’s really doing it on both sides of the ball, and he’s making a very strong case for himself each and every day.”

Lopez is a success story in terms of Peter Bendix’s track record of finding diamonds in the rough. Lopez, born in the Dominican Republic but raised in Canada, spent his first two MLB seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Marlins claimed Lopez off waivers from the San Francisco Giants in 2024, where he batted .270 with a .690 OPS, six home runs, and 39 RBI through 117 games.

Lopez’s slash numbers dropped in 2025, but his power rose with 15 home runs and 77 RBIs. Now, all of his numbers are up.

“I feel pretty good at the plate,” Lopez said. “All the work that I’ve been putting in that year to now, it’s all the experience that’s been working.”

Ruiz becomes secret weapon for speedy Marlins

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Speed is a weapon that has been well wielded by the Miami Marlins so far this season. 

Led by Jakob Marsee (13), the Marlins have demonstrated to be the fastest team on the base paths, leading MLB with 57 stolen bases. However, on the other side, the have also been caught stealing 17 times, which is among the highest in the big leagues. 

The Marlins player with the second most stolen bases doesn’t have everyday playing time. Outfielder Esteury Ruiz has been used as a secret weapon by the Marlins. He came into Saturday’s 10-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays as a pinch runner to score in the 10th inning. The Marlins kept scoring that Ruiz ended having a plate appearance, in which he drove in a run on a base hit. 

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his postgame press conference on Sunday that the Marlins “try each day looking at how to best utilize the 13-man position player group in one way.”

“Those guys that aren’t starting to be ready for whether they come off the bench to play defense in a game, pinch-hit, pinch-run, whatever it may be,” McCullough said. “Do something that day. Be ready for your moment that may come.”

Ruiz is 6-for-27 with two home runs in his limited opportunities but also has seven stolen bases and seven runs this season. He started the season on the injured list and didn’t make his Marlins debut until April 23.

“He has swung the bat well,” McCullough said. “He put together some good at-bats and handled himself well versus left thus far. It’s a nice dynamic to have him on our team, and he’s a great guy.” 

The Marlins acquired Ruiz over the offseason from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade for international pitching prospect Adriano Marrero. Adriano Marrero the other way. Ruiz’s potential for base stealing came in 2023, when he swiped 67 bags as a rookie with the Oakland Athletics.

The Marlins (21-26) went 2-4 during their recent road trip, including falling to the Rays in the Citrus Series this past weekend. The Marlins return home on Monday for a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves and a three-game series against the New York Mets. 

Marlins Have Key Rotation Decision to Make After Cutting Paddack

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MIAMI — After declaring support for the status quo on Sunday, the Miami Marlins have reportedly designated Chris Paddack for assignment. News of the transactions was first reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and confirmed by MLB.com.

Paddack signed with the Marlins for $4 million to provide a stable veteran presence in the starting rotation this season. Miami has lost every game he started and the one game the Marlins won with Paddack involved a bulk relief appearance against the New York Yankees on April 5. 

Paddack has a 7.63 ERA and 5.00 FIP in 30 ⅔ innings pitched through a season he described as a “roller coaster.” 

“It definitely sucks,” Paddack said on Sunday. “I feel like this year I haven’t been able to allow things to continue over. Right when we think we’re getting in a good place, I get hit in the mouth again.”

This past Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies was his worst start. He lasted just 2.2 innings with seven runs on six hits allowed with three walks and a single strikeout. Six of his seven runs came in the first inning, dooming the Fish before the Phillies starting pitcher ever took the mound. 

“Outside of today, Chris is throwing the ball well,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said on Sunday. “He has probably ran against some tough luck in some outings, but he has thrown the ball and kept us in the games that he’s pitched. [Sunday] it was a tough one from pitch one till it was over.”

A decision will need to be made on who will take his spot. The decision is basically down between their top pitching prospect, and a longtime arm who has been one of the Marlins’ better pitchers since his big league debut. It may come down to scheduling.

Left-handed pitcher Robby Snelling (No. 2 prospect) last pitched on Friday against Durham, earning International League Pitcher of the Week honors tossing five no-hit innings with nine strikeouts in Triple-A Jacksonville’s 12-0 win. His next scheduled start lines up with when the Marlins need Paddack’s replacement to go on Friday against the Washington Nationals.

Snelling is tied for the International League lead in strikeouts (44) while ranking second in batting average against (.116), third in both ERA (1.86) and WHIP (0.90), and 14th in innings pitched (29.0). Snelling has a fastball that touched 100 last season, showing he has the raw stuff to take on Major League hitters. In four spring training appearances this year, Snelling threw 13 strikeouts in 8.1 innings pitched.

Braxton Garrett is the one who deserves the most to be called up, but is scheduled to start for the Jumbo Shrimp on Tuesday against Charlotte. Garrett has a 1.71 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26.1 innings over five starts. Two of his five starts involved him throwing a combined 14 hitless innings. 

Garrett proved to be a solid pitcher for the Marlins since his MLB debut in 2020. His best season was in 2023, where he recorded a 3.66 ERA with an 8.79 K/9 in 31 outings, as well as starting in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card series against Philadelphia.

Garrett, who missed all of last year due to an injury, missed out on the starting rotation during spring training in favor of Janson Junk. That decision has paid off for McCullough as of Monday, as the right-hander went 5.1 innings with, six strikeouts, five hits allowed in a 1-0 loss.

Junk (2.82 ERA) has given up one earned run in the last three starts. That one run was Bryce Harper’s solo home run on Monday.

“I felt Janson overall was really terrific,” McCullough said on Monday. “Outside of that sweeper to Bryce that probably didn’t catch well and just kind of stayed more middle of the plate that he was able to put a swing on. To go out there and to get us to where he got there and one run, you should win that game.” 

Garrett didn’t exceed rookie limits until 2022, when he started 17 games with a career-best 3.58 ERA for the Marlins. Garrett, 28, is signed for $1.53 million this season and isn’t eligible for arbitration until 2027 and barring an extension, won’t hit free agency until 2029. 

Should Garrett pitch as scheduled on Tuesday, the logical logistics would point to Snelling getting the call up. If Garrett is scratched, he will most likely return to loanDepot park.

In the meantime, the Marlins will call up right-handed reliever William Kempner from Triple-A Jacksonville to fill Paddack’s spot in the roster, giving the bullpen a fresh arm leading up to a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles. Kempner has struck out 34 batters in 15.1 innings pitched, but he also allowed 11 runs during his time with the Jumbo Shrimp.

The Marlins (16-19) are tied for second with the Washington Nationals after dropping 3-of-4 against the Philadelphia Phillies and interim manager Don Mattingly. They are welcoming a Baltimore Orioles team that is coming off being swept by the New York Yankees.

Move to 1B Working Out for Marlins’ Connor Norby

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MIAMI — Miami Marlins first baseman Connor Norby has been a jack of all trades ever since he turned pro. He was considered one of the premier second-base prospects in the Baltimore Orioles organization but also played numerous games in the outfield. 

The Marlins acquired the 25-year-old along with Kyle Stowers in a trade for Trevor Rogers in 2024 and were immediately shifted to third base, a transition he said was “not easy.”

“Learning going from second to third was extremely difficult,” Norby said. “I felt like I made a lot of good strides compared to the first month, six weeks that I had over there at the end of 2024.”

Norby posted a .924 fielding percentage during 30 games at third base in 2024 and improved to .954 through 82 games last year. He said he “worked really hard at third this spring,” knowing that he is competing for a full-time spot with a recipient of a Gold Glove as a utility fielder. He welcomed adding first base to his list of positions because the true goal is to “be in the lineup every day and putting up consistent at-bats and having my bat in the lineup.”

“I feel pretty good over there,” Norby said. “I almost treat it pretty much like second base. I just have to cover the base, and I think that’s really helped me a lot. Obviously, we have a really good second baseman, so that helps me even more. He covers a lot of ground, and the transition has been, honestly, not as bad, not as tough as I thought it would be.”

At a new position, 2026 has shaped up to be Norby’s best with a glove, turning in a .985 fielding percentage with two errors in 18 games at first base. It’s the first year that he has a positive run value (1). Norby said it’s about “being comfortable with your feet around the base,” and “knowing how our guys throw.”

“That’s more so the thing that I’m working through the most and getting as comfortable as I can,” Norby said. “But overall, I feel great.”

 The Marlins (15-16) return home for a 10-game homestand, starting with a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Liam Hicks Emerging as Marlins Breakout Candidate

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Liam Hicks has quickly turned into the Miami Marlins’ next breakout candidate.

The second-year catcher hit his sixth home run of the season in the Marlins 5-4 road loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. He hit six home runs through 119 games as a rookie last year.

Interestingly enough, the most home runs Hicks has hit in a season as a minor leaguer was also six.

“Liam is physically a different individual,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He’s hitting the ball much more.”

Hicks has collected base hits in 11 of his last 13 games. With a .311 batting average so far this season (28-for-90), Hicks is tied with Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin for the highest average among qualified catchers in baseball.

With 27 RBI this season, Hicks leads the Marlins in the category and is second in the big leagues, behind only Cincinnati Reds rookie first baseman and Miami native Sal Stewart (29).

“Liam’s a good hitter,” McCullough said. “He has all the ingredients, the ability to control the strike zone, make a ton of contact, and use the whole field.”

Hicks entered Monday leading MLB in whiff percentage (6.4), in addition to ranking second in strikeout percentage (6.3), and third in squared-up swing percentage (40.3), per Baseball Savant.

Hicks was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the ninth round out of Arkansas State in 2021. He was part of a 2024 midseason trade with the Detroit Tigers for veteran catcher Carson Kelly. He was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft that year and made the Opening Day Roster last year for his MLB Debut.

“Getting hits in the big leagues is hard,” McCullough said. “It’s probably never been harder just to get a base hit than it is right now. For us, it’s an important thing. You make a lot of contact.”

Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards Emerging as Marlins Next Great Middle Infield Duo

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It’s ironic that while the Miami Marlins are bringing back the uniforms and colors of a glorified past, they are sporting the next iconic middle infield duo.

Like Luis Castillo-Alex Gonzalez and Dan Uggla-Hanley Ramirez before them, Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards are emerging from low-key acquisitions as key parts of the Marlins lineup.

Lopez came to the Marlins in 2024 as a waiver claim. Just as the Marlins were slowly trading away pieces of their most recent playoff team, Lopez emerged as an intriguing rookie with a .270 batting average, 20 stolen bases, and elite defense at second base.

His bat has taken the next step this year, batting .337 with a .945 OPS through 22 games. He was a double shy of a cycle last Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough says Lopez is taking “less empty at-bats,” which is leading to better results.

“He’s a physically strong guy,” McCullough said of Lopez. “Maybe it doesn’t appear that way. It’s a really compact body. He’s strong. He’s got strong hands. There’s speed in his bat. So I think it’s not, to me, that completely shocking, that we’re seeing some of this.”

Around the same time, Edwards was also emerging alongside Lopez, batting .328 with 31 stolen bases in 70 games. Edwards didn’t replicate those numbers through the course of a full season in 2025 but his start to this season (.341/.423/.482) is signaling a return to his breakout season.

Edwards said during an interview with Five Reasons contributor Tyler Boronski that he has “been swinging at good pitches for the most part” and doesn’t feel the need to enter new seasons with statistical goals.

“I did that in years past and it’s kind of put pressure on myself to feel like I need to hit certain numbers,” Edwards said. “My goal this year is to play my game do my best every day and at the end of the year, I’ll look up and be happy with what I got.”

Unlike middle infield duos of the Marlins’ past, Edwards and Lopez switched positions and benefited from the adjustment.

“Otto has a bigger arm than me,” Edwards said. “We’re both really good defenders and pretty athletic so it’s a treat to play infield with him for parts of three years.”

Edwards came to Miami in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays leading up to the 2023 season. He was part of the Marlins’ fourth postseason appearance in franchise history (second since 2020) but became a key part of the rapid rebuild.

“We had a bit of an older team in 23 and now we’re one of the younger teams in the league,” Edwards said. “We made the playoffs that year and we got a good team this year, so looking to do the same this year. It’s been a lot of turnover but it’s a great group that we have here. It’s been a treat to come to the field with these guys and to suit up with them and spend time in the clubhouse. We got a great group.”

Miami Marlins Seeing Encouraging Signs From Janson Junk

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MIAMI – In his second season with the Miami Marlins, Janson Junk is pitching to his role, as the fifth starter.

Junk came onto the scene in 2025 as a minor league free agent and finished with a 4.17 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 110 innings pitched through 21 appearances (16 starts). Junk has posted similar numbers through four starts entering this season. 

Junk has a 4.50 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in four starts this season. Before the Marlins’ 7-5 loss against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, McCullough said it’s “been very encouraging to see the velocity that he’s shown in the early goings.”

“We’ve seen his fastball at times in the mid-90s and just how that helps the breaking stuff then to be firmer and it helps the changeup play off of that,” McCullough said. 

The Marlins are counting on Junk to give them at least five innings each start, which is what he has done in the previous two outings. His second start of the season was the deepest of his career, when he went 7.1 innings with only two runs allowed. 

“Every time he takes the ball, we expect he’s not going to beat himself,” McCullough said. 

So far, even if Junk isn’t mainly to blame, the Marlins aren’t winning with him on the mound. The only time Miami was victorious with Junk starting was his first start against the Chicago White Sox, where he didn’t get the win because he was taken out before completing the fifth inning. 

Junk is projected to finish out the six-game homestand against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, at 12:10 p.m.

‘Vintage Sandy’ needed for Marlins to become playoff contenders

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There were two signs over the offseason that proved the Miami Marlins front office believed in what they did in the first year of the latest rebuild and leaned into it going into 2026.

They signed a reliable closer in free agency and kept their ace.

Fresh off an Opening Day pitching performance that prompted infielder Connor Norby to call him “Vintage Sandy” in his postgame interview with the Marlins Radio Network, Sandy Alcantara tossed the first complete game shutout of the season, allowing only three hits with seven strikeouts to lead the Marlins to a 10-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.

“Sandy was really good,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “I thought we came in with a good game plan, guys were engaged and were competitive. We just got beat by a really good pitcher and I think it’s as simple as that.”

It was Alcantara’s 13th career complete game and first since 2023. A lost art in modern-day pitching, Alcantara won the 2022 National League Cy Young Award for throwing six complete games.

“It’s been a long time since throwing a complete game but this one is special for me,” Alcantara said.

In his first two starts of the season, Alcantara has gone 16 innings without giving up an earned run, nor has he hit the 100-pitch benchmark in each of his starts. He has 12 total strikeouts and two walks while averaging 10.4 pitches per inning.

“We just didn’t have an answer for him. He had really good stuff. He pounded the zone, made it really tough on us to do anything,” Venable said, “just never had a chance.”

Alcantara hasn’t looked as good since his Cy Young season. Unfortunately, that didn’t yield a winning season from the Marlins, and by the time Miami was good enough to reach the postseason a year later, he was declining to the point of requiring Tommy John surgery.

By the time he returned in 2025, it was a completely different team. He still had his affable apprentice in Eury Perez alongside him to form one of the more formidable 1-2 pitching duos in the NL East.

His return to form coincides with the team’s rebirth under a newer, younger flourish. As the Marlins started the previous season with a bunch of unknowns who arrived via waiver claims, mixed with some who came in high-profile trades. He had a pre-All-Star break ERA of 7.22 in 18 starts and the Marlins were as low as 25-41 on June 11, 2025.

A switch was flipped on June 13 and since then, only four division winners have won more games than the Marlins: Milwaukee (64),

Seattle (60), Toronto (60), and Philadelphia (59). Alcantara posted a 3.33 ERA in his final 13 starts of the season as a clear sign of his comeback.

“It’s been well-documented a ton how much of a struggle it was early for him last year and most of the year,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “So for him, he just never gives in. He just keeps competing.”

Marlins president of Baseball Operations Peter Bendix resisted the urge to trade Alcantara on the final year of a 5-year, $56M extension (with a 2027 team option) knowing what was coming. He predicted on Opening Day that this was going to be Alcantara’s best season and so far he may be right.

The Marlins (5-1) have won both of their home series to start the 2026 season. Miami will travel to New York to take on the Yankees on Easter weekend for their first road trip of the year. They are going to need vintage Sandy all year if their playoff aspirations are to be realistic, and they know that.

“Hopefully I gotta keep healthy all season long and keep winning to take this team into the playoffs,” Alcantara said.

Paddack’s first impression lines up with recent Marlins free agent pitching flops

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Even as stopgaps, free agent starting pitchers have not bode well for the Miami Marlins in recent history.

Cal Quantrill posted a 5.50 ERA last year. The Marlins went to the playoffs in 2023 despite Johnny Queto’s 6.02 ERA. Wei-Yin Chen (2016-19) was the franchise’s biggest free agent signing as a starting pitcher and the worst, making Edinson Vólquez (4.19 ERA, 2017) look like an ace by comparison.

While not sky high, Chris Paddack was expected to be different. Nicknamed the “Sheriff”, Paddack arrived in Miami on a one-year, $4M deal after posting a 5.35 ERA with the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.

The Chicago White Sox put him out to pasture with eight runs on eight hits in the first four innings to win 9-4 and spoil his Marlins debut. His eight earned runs allowed in a team debut set a Marlins franchise record.

Six of Paddack’s eight earned runs came off two home runs from the White Sox. Austin Hays took a 95 MPH fastball high in the strike zone for a two-run dinger in the third inning. Miguel Vargas changed the trajectory of an 85.3 MPH changeup that fell in the middle of the zone and turned into a grand slam. In between all of that are six strikeouts in an outing that started with two shutout innings.

“It was off to a really good start, but as you reflect on the outing, a couple snowball innings there, a couple crooked numbers there in the third and the fourth, not how I envisioned my Marlins debut by any means,” Paddack said. “It’s not an ideal situation to be in to start the year. Especially coming off a really good spring, having some confidence going into the season.”

Nobody envisioned the result, but it was a debut 11 years in the making. Paddack was drafted in the eighth round by the Marlins in 2015 out of high school in Texas. He was dominating Single-A with a 0.95 ERA and 48 strikeouts in six starts before being traded to the San Diego Padres for All-Star closer Fernando Rodney in 2016. At the time of the trade, then-Marlins assistant general manager Mike Berger defined Paddack as “A guy that definitely plugs in as a, worst case, mid-rotation starter,” in an interview with MLB.com.

Paddack broke out as a rookie in 2019 with a 3.33 ERA and 153 strikeouts in 140.2 innings with a Padres team on the verge of becoming perennial contenders. He hasn’t matched those numbers since but has reached his perceived floor when healthy with the Padres and Twins.

After his fraught first impression, Paddack said Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara reassured him inside the dugout, saying, “You’re here for a reason. We believe in you. I believe in you.”

“He has my back, and it was cool to hear that from our ace,” Paddack said. “He noticed some things that were a little different there in the third and fourth than there was in the first and second. So I noted that.”

Alcantara is not alone in that opinion. Paddack was not brought to Miami to be a budding ace, but as a veteran presence meant to be productive in the bottom of the rotation.

“Results aside, we’ll get a lot better days out of Chris than today,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He’s a pro. He’ll flip the page.”

Paddack is expected to pitch again in New York on Sunday against the Yankees.

“If I get the opportunity, I’m going to have 31 more starts,” Paddack said, “and that’s a long journey ahead.”

Marlins OF Owen Caissie living up to the promise

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The Miami Marlins were promised a star in the making in Owen Caissie and so far it appears that promise is being kept.

Very few Marlins players have made the introduction Caissie has. Every hit he knocks carries significance. None more so than when he entered Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies late and won it on a two-run walk-off homer to put the Marlins on top 4-3.

“I kind of blacked out,” Caissie said. “It was awesome to get the W and to get the sweep was great.”

Caissie wasn’t in the starting lineup entering the game due to the Marlins playing the matchups against Rockies left-handed starting pitcher Jose Quintana. He entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and delivered when the Marlins were down to their last out.

“You kind of wish for those moments like this,” Caissie said. “I just want to keep putting good swings on the ball. I know that it’s not always going to be like this, but if I can continue to stick with my plan, I know good things are going to happen.”

While the first series of the season is a microscopic sample size, one has to also include his initial introduction to the Marlins organization, which was to play for Team Canada at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Caissie collected seven hits, led the team with five RBI, and helped propel Canada to its first quarterfinal round in the tournament’s 20-year history.

“He started off spring training a little slow. I think he was putting a little pressure on himself, obviously trying to make a good impression for the new organization. Then WBC he really kind of got those ABs every day,” said Marlins catcher Liam Hicks, who was also Caissie’s teammate with Canada. “It’s awesome to finally see him get the opportunity.“

Now compound that to his first three games where every time he reaches base, it leads to the Marlins scoring a run that proved to be the difference between 3-0 and 0-3. Similar numbers, as he went 5-for-10 with a home run, four RBI and a stolen base. 

“He’s been unbelievable for us,” Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards said of Caissie, “swinging a really hot bat.”

With a left-handed stroke that generates swift bat speed and power, Caissie’s stated approach of hitting the ball down the middle has paid off early on. Especially Saturday when he hit for two doubles and a go-ahead RBI single.

“I’m gonna make mistakes, but today I felt like I did a good job at swinging at good pitches,” Caissie said after Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.

The price for him was seemingly high. The Marlins had to send Edward Cabrera away after completing the best season of his young career (3.53 ERA, 150 SO, 137.2 IP). He is signed for $4.45M this year and is bound to be far pricier as he goes through more years of arbitration, so it was time for the Marlins to restart the clock on a player with just as much potential.

It wasn’t the first time Caissie was traded for a potent pitcher. After the San Diego Padres made Caissie the highest-drafted Canadian outfielder ever (45th overall) in 2020, he became the prized prospect in a seven-player trade for Yu Darvish that December.

Through one year in Double-A and two in Triple-A, Caissie averaged 21 home runs per season in his aged 20-22 seasons. His 22 homers last year with Triple-A Iowa came in 99 games, his lowest since 2021, and it came with a career high .937 OPS, which was third in the International League. That propelled him to the big leagues with the Cubs in mid-August, where he collected five hits in 12 games.

It’s evident early on that Caissie fits with this young Marlins team far more than with a Cubs squad filled with established veterans and deep postseason expectations. Who knows, maybe they’ll meet again in October.

”We have a lot of fun and we play loose and relaxed,” Caissie said. “We’re never out of the game so we really play with that intensity.”