Liam Hicks Emerging as Marlins Breakout Candidate

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.”