Marlins Outright Stephen Jones
Right-hander Stephen Jones has been sent outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
It’s been a strange week for Jones, who started the season with Double-A Pensacola after signing a minor league deal with the Marlins. Miami added him to the big league roster on May 7th. He explained to members of the media, including Kevin Barral of Fish on First, that he had just been promoted to Triple-A. He sat in the bullpen for one game without being used by the Jumbo Shrimp before being told he was going to the big leagues. He didn’t pitch for the Marlins that night and was designated for assignment the next day.
It appears that Jones was nothing more than an emergency arm. The Fish had designated Chris Paddack for assignment on May 5th and would eventually give his rotation spot to Robby Snelling on the 8th. In the interim, they had an extra bullpen spot to use. They first recalled William Kempner for Paddack. After Kempner tossed on inning on the 5th, they optioned him out for Dax Fulton. Then Fulton tossed four innings on the 6th. Since he wasn’t going to be available for a few days, they swapped him out for Jones. They didn’t use Jones and then bumped him off the roster for Snelling.
The end result of all that shuffling is that Jones is now in position to potentially be a phantom player, one who makes a major league roster but never appears in a game. This is his first outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he has to accept the assignment.
He started this year with 16 2/3 innings at Double-A with a 3.24 earned run average. His 25.7% strikeout rate and 46.3% ground ball rates were good but he walked 17.6% of hitters who came to the plate. His previous stints in Triple-A have not gone well, with a 12.60 ERA in 60 innings at the top minor league level. He’ll look to post better results going forward in order to get back onto the roster.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Marlins Release Chris Paddack
The Marlins have released right-hander Chris Paddack, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment last week. It seems the Marlins took a few days to explore trades but couldn’t find a deal to their liking, so he’s been sent out to the open market.
The Fish signed Paddack to a one-year, $4MM deal in the offseason. The club had traded Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers in order to add a number of young players to their system. They then hoped that Paddack could cheaply replace some of the lost rotation innings.
They quickly pulled the plug on that experiment when it didn’t work out. Paddack made seven appearances for Miami, tossing 30 2/3 innings and allowing 7.63 earned runs per nine. They decided to give his rotation spot to prospect Robby Snelling, who had been pitching well in the minors. Paddack has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and keep his money, so the Fish have skipped that formality and simply released him instead.
Though the Marlins couldn’t swing a deal for Paddack, teams are now presumably interested in buying low on him. Miami will remain on the hook for the remainder of Paddack’s salary. Another club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Marlins pay.
The interest will be muted by Paddack’s results. Since a strong rookie year in 2019 where he posted a 3.33 ERA, he has a 5.23 ERA over the seven subsequent seasons. For what it’s worth, this year’s numbers probably overstate how poorly he pitched. His 18.5% strikeout rate and 39.3% ground ball rate were a few ticks worse than average but his 6.8% walk rate was quite strong, a usual strength of his. His .343 batting average on balls in play and 57.3% strand rate were both to the unfortunate side. His 4.97 FIP and 4.26 SIERA suggested he deserved far better.
It’s maybe not the most exciting thing to look at a pitcher with an ERA over 7.00 and squint for optimism but Paddack is cheap and can at least take on some innings. That could be useful for some club, especially with so many teams dealing with mounting injuries.
Photo courtesy of Rhona Wise, Imagn Images
Marlins Promote Robby Snelling
May 8: The Marlins have formally announced Snelling’s selection to the big league roster. He’ll start tonight’s game. Miami designated righty Stephen Jones for assignment in a corresponding move.
May 6: The Marlins are calling up pitching prospect Robby Snelling. He’ll be selected to the roster and will start Friday against the Nationals. They have an open 40-man spot after designating Chris Paddack for assignment earlier this week, so they will only need to open an active roster spot for him. Manager Clayton McCullough announced the news to reporters, including Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base.
The Snelling promotion has been expected since not long after Paddack’s DFA. He and fellow lefty Braxton Garrett were possibilities to take the ball Friday in place of Paddack, but Garrett tossed 80 pitches in a start for Triple-A Jacksonville last night, strongly hinting that Friday would be Snelling’s big league debut. The team has now made that official.
Selected by the Padres with the No. 39 overall pick back in 2022, Snelling made his way to the Marlins organization as part of the return in the deadline trade sending relievers Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing to San Diego. His stock was down a bit at the time of the swap, but he’s rebounded nicely with the Marlins organization — so much so that Baseball America ranked him 26th on this morning’s refresh of their top-100 prospect rankings.
The 22-year-old Snelling has been excellent this year in six Triple-A starts, recording a 1.86 ERA and a mammoth 40% strikeout rate — albeit against a concerning 13.6% walk rate. He’s kept 57% of batted balls against him on the ground. Snelling was also lights out in 11 Triple-A starts last year (1.27 ERA — 2.51 overall ERA between Double-A and Triple-A). At this point, he seems more than ready for a look in the majors, even with the sub-par command.
Snelling, listed at 6’3″ and 210 pounds, works primarily off a four-seam fastball that averages just over 94 mph and a curveball that sits 82-83 mph. He mixes in an occasional changeup and slider, but the four-seamer/curveball combo has accounted for more than 80% of his pitches in 2026. Snelling’s four-seamer and curveball both drew plus grades (60) on BA’s scouting report, while his lesser-used changeup and slider still garner above-average (55) ratings on the 20-80 scale. He’ll need to rein in his command, but it’s not hard to see why the Marlins are eager to take a look at a 22-year-old southpaw with four above-average pitches and a sub-2.00 ERA in 18 career Triple-A starts.
Since Snelling opened the season in the minors and wasn’t called up until early May, he won’t qualify to net the Marlins an additional draft pick under MLB’s prospect promotion incentive (PPI) program. Enough time has elapsed this season that the only way for him to accrue a full year of major league service time would be to finish first or second in National League Rookie of the Year balloting. Snelling certainly has the pedigree to do so, but young standouts like Nolan McLean, JJ Wetherholt and Sal Stewart all have a considerable head start on him in that race.
Barring a top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Snelling will remain under club control for at least six years beyond the 2026 campaign. If he sticks in the majors for good from this point forth, he’ll be a surefire Super Two player, thereby making him eligible for arbitration four times (beginning after the 2028 season) rather than the standard three.
With Paddack on his way out the door, there’s a long-term spot in the Miami rotation open. This figures to be more than just a simple spot start. Snelling should have a clear runway to prove he can be a building block in the rotation. Triple-A teammate Thomas White, who ranked 11th on the aforementioned Baseball America top-100 update, should get the chance to join him at some point down the road this year.
Miami only has Sandy Alcantara signed through the 2027 season, but the allure of a rotation including Alcantara, Snelling, White, Eury Pérez and Max Meyer — with Garrett and Janson Junk also in the mix — is readily apparent. Even if the Fish finally trade Alcantara this summer, the starting staff has several high-upside young pieces who could form the nucleus of a contending staff … if the Marlins can find a way to put together a decent offense. Only twice in the past two decades have the Marlins put together an offense that was better than league-average, by measure of wRC+. The 2007 and 2017 Marlins both logged collective wRC+ marks of 101, indicating they were 1% better than average. They’re exactly average (100) so far in 2026.
Marlins Designate Stephen Jones For Assignment
The Marlins announced Friday morning that right-hander Stephen Jones has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man and active rosters will go to top pitching prospect Robby Snelling, whose widely reported promotion to the majors is now official.
The 28-year-old Jones received his first call to the majors just yesterday after eight years in pro ball, but the Marlins didn’t get him into a game before removing him from the roster. He’ll now be traded, placed on outright waivers or released within the next five days. Waivers would take another 48 hours, so his stay in DFA limbo could last up to a week.
Jones has opened the 2026 season with 16 2/3 innings and a 3.24 ERA in Double-A. He’s surrendered six earned runs on 10 hits and a problematic 13 walks, tacking on 19 punchouts in the process. Jones’ 25.7% strikeout rate isn’t supported by his well below-average 8.5% swinging-strike rate, however, and his colossal 17.6% walk rate presents an obvious red flag.
Originally a 21st-round pick by the Rockies back in 2019, Jones is in his first year in the Marlins system. Miami signed him as a minor league free agent over the winter. He spent 2025 with the Padres organization — also after inking a minor league contract. He typically works off a four-seamer that sits 95 mph and a slider that sits 86 mph, sprinkling in an occasional sinker, cutter and changeup.
Marlins Announce Several Roster Moves
The Marlins announced a quartet of roster moves this morning. Infielder Graham Pauley and lefty Dax Fulton were optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville. Right-hander Stephen Jones‘ contract was selected from Double-A, and outfielder Heriberto Hernandez has been recalled as well. Miami had an opening for Jones on the 40-man roster after this week’s DFA of veteran righty Chris Paddack. However, with top prospect Robby Snelling confirmed to be Friday’s starter and needing a 40-man spot, the Fish will now need to make a 40-man roster move between today’s game and tomorrow’s game in order to get Snelling onto the roster.
It’s the first time in nearly a year that Pauley has been sent to the minors. He’s taken the majority of Miami’s reps at third base this season but has struggled immensely, batting just .173/.225/.293 in 81 turns at the plate. Pauley didn’t offer much with the bat last year, either, but his .224/.311/.366 slash (184 plate appearances) was miles better than what he’s posted so far in 2026. Pauley is actually chasing fewer pitches off the plate and making contact on a higher percentage of his swings, but because he’s swinging less often in general and thus taking more called strikes, his walk and strikeout rate have both trended in the wrong direction.
A brief reset for the 25-year-old Pauley could do him some good. He turned in a strong .263/.342/.511 batting line (127 wRC+) in 37 games with the Marlins’ Jacksonville affiliate in 2025, walking at a quality 9% clip against a tiny 11.6% strikeout rate. Given that Pauley plays an above-average third base, Miami would surely take even average offense out of his bat.
With Pauley looking to get back on track in Jacksonville, the Fish will likely turn third base over to utilityman Javier Sanoja, although fellow infielders Leo Jimenez and Christopher Morel could potentially mix in as well. Morel was signed to be the primary first baseman and is a poor defender at third base, but he does have experience there. Connor Norby — who also has experience at third base — has been the primary option at first base, but the Marlins could at least consider sliding him back across the diamond on occasion. Broadly speaking, manager Clayton McCullough will have plenty of scenarios to consider, though none of them stands out as ideal.
Jones, 28, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game. He’s a former Rockies draftee who spent the 2025 season in the Padres system and signed a minor league deal with the Marlins over the winter. Jones has opened the 2026 season with 16 2/3 innings and a 3.24 ERA. He’s surrendered six earned runs on 10 hits and a problematic 13 walks, tacking on 19 punchouts in the process. Jones’ 25.7% strikeout rate isn’t supported by his well below-average 8.5% swinging-strike rate, however, and his colossal 17.6% walk rate presents an obvious red flag. He’ll get an opportunity to show he can hack it in the majors, but he’ll need to both improve his ability to miss bats and, more importantly, scale back on those walks if he’s to have any staying power.
Marlins Recall Dax Fulton For MLB Debut
1:45pm: The Marlins have now officially announced that they have recalled Fulton and optioned Kempner.
11:32am: The Marlins are set to recall left-hander Dax Fulton from Triple-A Jacksonville, Isaac Azout of Fish on First reports. Righty William Kempner, who made his own big league debut last night, will be optioned to Jacksonville in his place. Fulton has been a starter for the vast majority of his professional career but will make his debut in the Miami bullpen, Azout adds. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that left-hander Robby Snelling is still on track to make his big league debut Friday in place of recently DFA’ed veteran Chris Paddack.
Kempner tossed only eight pitches in last night’s debut, so it’s not a matter of him being unavailable. Perhaps the Marlins simply wanted another lefty in the ‘pen after Andrew Nardi tossed 22 pitches yesterday, or perhaps they preferred to add some more length after using five relievers Tuesday. Whatever the rationale, Fulton will head to Miami for his first call to the majors. He’s made five starts and two relief appearances this season in Jacksonville but been hit hard: 20 innings, 17 earned runs, 23 hits, 11 walks, three hit batters and 24 strikeouts.
It’s been a shaky start to his year, clearly, but Fulton is a former second-round pick and well-regarded prospect whose path to the majors has been set back by injuries. Most notably, he underwent an internal brace procedure on his left UCL in June 2023. (Fulton also had Tommy John surgery as an amateur.) That 2023 surgery wiped out his entire ’24 campaign. Fulton returned in 2025 with 103 2/3 innings, posting an unsightly 5.38 ERA with more encouraging underlying marks (3.55 FIP, 23.8% strikeout rate, 47.3% grounder rate).
Fulton is a towering 6’7″ southpaw who’s listed at 245 pounds. He’s sitting 93.6 mph on his heater and can ramp the pitch up to 96-97 at times. The big lefty’s other go-to offerings are a low-80s curveball and an upper-80s changeup, though he’ll occasionally sprinkle in a sinker.
Whether the move to a relief role has any permanence remains to be seen. The Marlins have a good bit of rotation depth even after Paddack’s DFA and offseason trades of Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers. The current staff includes Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Max Meyer and Janson Junk. Snelling, who sits 26th on Baseball America’s just-released update of their top-100 prospects, seems ticketed for a debut Friday.
Fellow lefty Thomas White, ranked even higher at No. 11 overall, will likely debut at some point this season. The Fish also have talented lefty Braxton Garrett in Triple-A — he started last night and is thus not a candidate to return to the big league rotation Friday — alongside swingmen Ryan Gusto and Bradley Blalock. Jacob Miller and Karson Milbrandt, the team’s second- and third-round picks in 2022, are both in their second stints at the Double-A level (with the latter throwing very well at present).
That stock of arms could make the bullpen Fulton’s clearest path to carving out a lasting spot on the big league roster, but he’ll likely need to get back to his pre-surgery form with another stint in Triple-A regardless. If he’s up to provide some length in the bullpen for the next couple days, he’ll be a candidate to be sent back down to Triple-A on Friday — assuming Snelling is indeed promoted for his debut that day.
MLBTR Podcast: Skubal’s Injury, The Marlins’ Catchers, Eldridge Called Up, And Volpe Sent Down
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Tigers ace Tarik Skubal requiring elbow surgery (1:25)
- The Marlins calling up Joe Mack, optioning Agustín Ramírez and designating Chris Paddack for assignment (8:35)
- The Giants calling up Bryce Eldridge (21:50)
- The Yankees optioning Anthony Volpe (33:15)
- The Red Sox dealing with injuries to Garrett Crochet and others (41:55)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- What kind of package could the Rockies get if they traded Chase Dollander? (46:20)
- What can the Brewers do to address the left side of the infield? (56:50)
- Instead of using guys like Scott Kingery or Nicky Lopez on the bench, shouldn’t the Cubs call up a better player from the minors? (59:35)
Check out our past episodes!
- The Alex Cora Situation, Lucas Giolito Signs, And The Phillies Fire Rob Thomson – listen here
- Kevin McGonigle, The Padres’ Franchise Valuation, And Edwin Díaz To Miss Time – listen here
- Lenyn Sosa Traded, And Injury Concerns For The Astros, Cubs And Orioles – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Evan Petzold, Imagn Images
Marlins Notes: Alcantara, Rotation, Ramirez
Sandy Alcantara‘s name is all but perpetually ingrained on the rumor mill. The Marlins are always in a state of needing to keep an open mind to trade offers regarding their stars, and he’s currently one of two members of the roster earning more than $4MM. (Closer Pete Fairbanks is earning $13MM on a one-year deal.)
Alcantara is earning $17MM in the final season of his contract, though the team holds a $21MM club option (or $2MM buyout) on the 30-year-old for the 2027 season. After a shaky 2025 campaign — his first season back from Tommy John surgery — Alcantara looks a bit more like his old self. His 3.04 ERA is quite strong, but his rate stats are less encouraging.
Alcantara’s 16.1% strikeout rate is about six points shy of average. His 7.8% walk rate is better than average but still up a ways from his 5.6% peak. Ditto his 47.2% grounder rate — it’s about five points higher than par but about six points shy of his previous top levels. On the plus side, Alcantara’s 97.3 mph average four-seamer remains strong, he’s getting good results on a new 90.1 mph cutter, and his overall 11.2% swinging-strike rate is right in line with the league average, thereby suggesting his strikeout rate could climb up in the weeks ahead.
It’s still been a strong start overall, and other clubs would surely love to get their hands on Alcantara in hopes of restoring some whiffs and adding a former Cy Young winner to their playoff rotations. However, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic cautions that Alcantara isn’t a lock to be traded. Beyond being a leader in the clubhouse, he’s a personal favorite of owner Bruce Sherman.
It’s not as though the Marlins, who opened the season with a comically low payroll in the $73-74MM range, feel financial pressure to trade Alcantara. If anything, the opposite might hold true. The Major League Baseball Players Association has filed grievances against the Marlins and a few other bottom-of-the-barrel payroll clubs in recent years, arguing that said teams aren’t sufficiently spending the money they receive from larger clubs via MLB’s revenue-sharing system.
In all likelihood, Alcantara will again command plenty of headlines this summer as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches. Miami is currently in second place in the NL East, but that’s a nominal feat in a generally disappointing division. The Fish are 8.5 games behind the Braves for first place. They’re technically only four games out in the Wild Card chase, but at 16-19 overall with a -28 run differential, the outlook isn’t especially rosy.
Rosenthal suggests that the Marlins could instead listen on righties Janson Junk and Max Meyer this summer, but Junk is a journeyman with a similarly low strikeout rate (17.4%) and a swinging-strike rate (8.4%) that sits considerably shy of league average. It’s doubtful another team’s going to part with much to acquire him, although given that he was a minor league free agent pickup in the 2024-25 offseason, any return would be considered found money. Meyer would make a far more compelling trade target (37 innings, 2.68 ERA/3.60 SIERA, 26 K%, 8.4 BB%), but the Marlins control the former No. 3 overall pick for three more years beyond the current season. If he’s pitching like this in July/August, the Marlins should have an even higher ask for him than they would Alcantara.
Miami probably hoped that free-agent pickup Chris Paddack would pitch well enough to make himself a deadline candidate as well, but that didn’t happen. The Fish designated him for assignment this morning, cutting bait on a $4MM contract and opening a spot in the rotation in the process. Reliever William Kempner is up from Triple-A Jacksonville to give the bullpen a fresh arm, but the Marlins will need a starting pitcher this Friday.
Braxton Garrett and top prospect Robby Snelling have been mentioned as candidates, but Fish On First reports that Garrett is still slated to make his scheduled start for Jacksonville tonight. If Garrett indeed takes the mound, he won’t be an option to start Friday. That’d be Snelling’s natural turn in the rotation. He’s been starting once every seven days in Triple-A, and his last start came on Friday, May 1.
Snelling, 22, is a former No. 39 overall pick who came to Miami from the Padres as part of the Tanner Scott trade. His stock was down a bit at the time of the swap, but he’s rebounded nicely and now ranks among the sport’s 100 best prospects. So far in six Triple-A starts, he’s posted a 1.86 ERA, a mammoth 40% strikeout rate and a concerning 13.6% walk rate. He has kept 57% of batted balls against him on the ground. He looks to have little left to prove in Triple-A after also posting a 1.27 ERA there in 11 starts last year (2.51 ERA overall in 25 starts between Double-A and Triple-A). He’s not on the 40-man roster, but the Fish have an open spot after Paddack’s DFA.
While the Marlins’ ability to develop young pitching always makes their rotation a point of focus, their catching situation has been a long-running point of focus for the opposite reasons. Miami has struggled to find a solution behind the plate since trading J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies nearly a decade ago. They’ve cycled through Jorge Alfaro, Jacob Stallings, Nick Fortes with cameos from veteran backups like Sandy Leon, Chad Wallach and Bryan Holaday.
There’s more hope on the Marlins’ catcher horizon than at any point in recent memory. Liam Hicks is enjoying a breakout showing at the plate, and Miami just called up top prospect Joe Mack for his major league debut. If Mack hits the ground running, Miami could shift from that revolving-door setup to suddenly having a pair of solid catchers on the roster — a luxury they haven’t enjoyed at any point in recent history.
Mack’s promotion coincided with a demotion for former top prospect Agustin Ramirez, but despite Ramirez’s immense defensive struggles behind the dish, the Marlins aren’t giving up on him as a catcher. Manager Clayton McCullough told the Marlins beat this week that his message to Ramirez was simple (link via MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola): “You’re going to go down to Triple-A, and you’re going to continue to catch. You’re not the first young player that has come up and had bouts of struggle and had to get optioned.”
Ramirez caught only 605 innings last year but was still dinged for a remarkable -14 Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast pegged him as the game’s least-effective catcher in terms of both throwing out would-be base thieves and even more so at blocking balls in the dirt. His minus-28 “blocks above average” was nearly double the second-worst player on the list (a 35-year-old Salvador Perez). Things haven’t improved in 2026, and Ramirez’s bat wilted as well; he hit just .230/.318/.345 in 129 plate appearances.
Ramirez was always a bat-first catcher, and the Marlins don’t have clear long-term options at first base or designated hitter. If he can get his swing back on track, there could yet be a path to seeing semi-regular time between first base, designated hitter (where he’d presumably share times with Hicks) and perhaps some occasional starts behind the plate. It’ll be Mack and Hicks getting the major league opportunities right now, but Mack is just getting his feet wet and Hicks has already cooled a bit after a blistering start to the season.
Marlins Designate Chris Paddack For Assignment
1:08pm: The Marlins have now officially announced the Paddack and Kempner moves.
8:22am: The Marlins are designating veteran righty Chris Paddack for assignment, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The team has yet to formally announce the move or a corresponding transaction, but Christina DeNicola of MLB.com reports that reliever William Kempner will be recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville. It’s Kempner’s first big league promotion. He’ll be making his MLB debut when he gets into a game.
It’s a hook on the 30-year-old Paddack, who signed a one-year, $4MM deal to return to the organization that originally drafted him (but traded him to the Padres in a 2016 swap for reliever Fernando Rodney). The hope had been that Paddack could provide some stable innings following offseason trades of Ryan Weathers (to the Yankees) and Edward Cabrera (to the Cubs). He looked great this spring (two runs, 13 innings pitched) but was shelled in seven regular season appearances with Miami (six of them starts).
Paddack only completed five frames once in his return to the Marlins organization: a quality start against his former Tigers teammates in Detroit (six innings, two runs). He allowed at least two runs in fewer than five innings each other time he took the mount, including a trio of appearances that saw him tagged for five, seven and eight runs apiece. His time with the Fish will draw to a close with a 7.63 ERA, an 18.5% strikeout rate and a 6.8% walk rate in 30 2/3 innings.
A former top prospect, Paddack debuted with a 3.33 ERA in 140 2/3 innings for the 2019 Padres. He’d have been a Rookie of the Year finalist, if not winner, in most seasons, but he happened to be up against Pete Alonso‘s 53-homer debut, Michael Soroka‘s 174 2/3 innings of 2.68 ERA ball, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bryan Reynolds; excellent as Paddack’s debut was, he didn’t even receive a down-ballot vote.
Injuries have held Paddack back in the years since. He missed time with a UCL sprain in 2021 and then underwent his second career Tommy John surgery — his first came as a prospect — with the Twins in 2022. His 2024 season was cut short by a forearm strain.
In 471 2/3 innings since his terrific debut campaign, Paddack has posted a 5.23 ERA. He regularly shows strong command but has never missed bats at the same level he did as a rookie. He’s also been far too homer-prone, serving up an average of 1.55 round-trippers per nine frames from 2020-26.
It’s fair to wonder how many more rotation opportunities Paddack will get. He struggled out of the rotation more often than not in Minnesota, and the Tigers dropped him to the bullpen after just seven starts last summer following a trade to acquire him. The Marlins, obviously, are moving on in quick fashion.
Perhaps another club with a pile of rotation injuries will plug Paddack into its starting five when he’s inevitably released, but other clubs will surely be interested in what he might look like as a reliever. When Paddack returned from his second Tommy John procedure with the Twins late in the 2023 season, he pitched 8 2/3 innings between the regular season and postseason, allowing three runs with a 14-to-1 K/BB ratio. He looked particularly dominant in the postseason, and his typically 93 mph four-seamer was averaging 95.5 mph. He was hit hard out of the Detroit ‘pen last year, but they were using him as a long man, and not the short-relief role in which he excelled during that brief, post-surgery run with the Twins.
For the time being, the Marlins will have five days to trade Paddack or release him. (They could also place him on outright waivers, but he’d surely clear due to his salary and struggles, and Paddack has enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining his remaining guaranteed salary.) It’s possible they’ll find a taker who’s willing to pay a nominal portion of that guarantee, but the most common outcome in these scenarios is a simple release. The Marlins will remain on the hook for that $4MM salary. A new team would owe Paddack just the pro-rated league minimum for any time spent on the major league roster.
As for the 24-year-old Kempner, he came to the Marlins in a Jan. 2025 swap that sent international bonus pool space back to the Giants. The 2022 third-round pick had a big season in the minors last year between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, combining for a 2.26 ERA with a 33.6% strikeout rate in 67 2/3 frames of relief. Command is a clear flaw, as Kempner walked 14.1% of his opponents along the way.
Kempner was selected to the 40-man roster back in November, thus shielding him from December’s Rule 5 Draft. He’s out to a tough start in ’26, with a 6.46 ERA in his first 15 1/3 frames at Triple-A. However, he’s fanned a preposterous 47.9% of opponents and allowed only a 63.8% contact rate. Kempner sits 95.5 mph with his heater and pairs it with a low-80s slider. He has a seldom-used cutter for a third offering but is primarily a two-pitch righty.
Kempner gives Miami a fresh arm for the next few days. Paddack’s spot in the rotation would be up this weekend. De Nicola lists Braxton Garrett and top prospect Robby Snelling as options to step into the rotation. Both pitchers have sub-2.00 ERAs with strong strikeout rates (Snelling in particular) but poor walk rates through their first handful of starts in Jacksonville.
Marlins Recall Joe Mack For MLB Debut, Option Agustin Ramirez
May 4: Miami has formally announced both moves. Mack has been recalled from Jacksonville, and Ramirez has been optioned there in his place.
May 3: The Marlins will promote top catching prospect Joe Mack prior to tomorrow’s game with the Phillies, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish reports. Agustin Ramirez will be optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding 26-man roster move, and Mack is already on Miami’s 40-man roster.
Mack was the 31st overall pick of the 2021 draft, and after steadily working his way up the Marlins’ minor league ladder, the 23-year-old is now on the cusp of his Major League debut. Baseball America ranks Mack as the 50th-best prospect in the sport, and pundits like The Athletic’s Keith Law (52nd), MLB Pipeline (54th) and ESPN.com (61st) also have Mack listed within their top-100 rankings.
The consensus is that Mack is ready for the big leagues on defense alone, as he has received praise for his framing, blocking, and strong throwing arm. There have been fewer questions about his ability to hit since Mack bounced back from a poor 2023 season to post much better numbers across the last three minor league campaigns, and he has hit .249/.334/.444 with 21 home runs over 515 plate appearances with Triple-A Jacksonville.
Mack’s approach is a little all-or-nothing since he is primarily looking to pull the ball in the air, but even if this leads to his share of strikeouts, Mack has enough power to capitalize when he does make contact. Over 103 PA in Jacksonville this season, Mack’s walk rate has shot up to 19.4% (from 8.5% in 412 Triple-A PA in 2025) and he has reduced his strikeout rate from 27.9% to 21.4%.
It was seen as just a matter of time before Mack got the call to the Show, even if the Marlins opted against including Mack on their Opening Day roster. Miami continued with the catching tandem of Ramirez and Liam Hicks, and Hicks has broken out to hit .309/.366/.557 with seven homers over 112 PA while splitting time between catcher, first base, and DH.
Ramirez, however, is hitting .230/.318/.345 with two home runs over 129 PA, making him the odd man out of the catching picture. Ramirez went yard 21 times in 2025 while batting .231/.287/.413 in 585 PA, but his dropoff in power has taken away his most potent offensive weapon. Since Ramirez is also arguably the worst defensive catcher in baseball, there wasn’t much of a case to continue giving him at-bats while Mack was ready to go at Triple-A, as MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald argued earlier this week.
Since Hicks is also nothing special in terms of glovework, putting Mack behind the plate should have an immediate impact on the Marlins from a defensive standpoint. While obviously the hope is that Mack can adjust quickly as a big league hitter, producing even average offense in his first looks at MLB pitching would be a bonus along with the ripple effect that Mack’s defense brings to Miami’s run-prevention efforts.
Because Mack is only coming up to the majors now, the Marlins wouldn’t earn a bonus draft pick via the Prospect Promotion Incentive if he wins NL Rookie of the Year (or has a top-three MVP finish before he is eligible for arbitration). However, Mack himself would earn a full year of big league service time if he does manage a top-two ROY finish, and he is currently on pace to achieve Super Two status and an extra year of salary arbitration eligibility if he remains on Miami’s active roster.