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Marlins To Select Heriberto Hernandez

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The Marlins are planning to select the contract of outfielder Heriberto Hernandez from Triple-A Jacksonville, as first reported by Jeremiah Geiger of the Locked On Marlins podcast. He’ll be added to the roster today, Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base adds. Miami has a full 40-man roster, so they’ll need to free a spot to add Hernandez, although that could be accomplished by simply transferring injured reliever Declan Cronin from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Cronin has been out all season so far due to a hip injury and has thus already spent more than 60 days on the IL.

Hernandez, 25, will be making his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game. The former catcher was originally signed by the Rangers as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic and was traded to the Rays in the 2020 swap that shipped first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to Texas. That swap didn’t pan out for Tampa Bay, as none of Hernandez, Osleivis Basabe or Alexander Ovalles made a significant impact on their roster. Lowe, of course, broke out as the Rangers’ everyday first baseman and held that role for four years before being flipped to the Nationals this past offseason in a trade for reliever Robert Garcia.

The Rays and Hernandez parted ways this offseason when he became a minor league free agent. Hernandez didn’t go far, signing with Florida’s other club on a minor league pact and heading to Jacksonville to open his season. He’s hitting .220/.319/.454 on the season (109 wRC+), though he enjoyed a torrid 11-game stretch in the middle of this month before falling into a hitless slump over his past four contests.

Hernandez boasts big raw power and draws plenty of walks, but his offensive ceiling is capped by a questionable hit tool. He’s fanned in 35% of his 163 plate appearances this season and in nearly 28% of his total minor league turns at the dish dating back to 2018. He’s limited to the outfield corners, defensively, and has played left field exclusively this season. Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix is plenty familiar with Hernandez’s strengths and shortcomings, having served as the Rays’ GM prior to being hired away and elevated to his current president title in Miami.

The Marlins optioned infielder Graham Pauley to Triple-A last night and didn’t announce a corresponding roster move. Hernandez will step into that roster spot, providing manager Clayton McCullough with some right-handed thump on a bench that previously skewed quite right-handed. The Fish are slated to face left-handed starters Kyle Harrison and Robbie Ray today and tomorrow, so Hernandez could slot right into the starting lineup on either or both days. He’s posted middling numbers against southpaws in a tiny sample of 25 plate appearances this year but turned in a .247/.397/.527 performance against left-handers in the Rays’ system last year.

Marlins Plan To Move Xavier Edwards To Second Base

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The Marlins are planning a position shift for one of their most promising young talents. Infielder Xavier Edwards, currently on the injured list due to back strain, will move from shortstop to second base once he returns from the 10-day IL, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Otto Lopez, who’s been filling in at short in Edwards’ absence, will continue to be Miami’s primary shortstop. Edwards begins a rehab assignment today and will play second base for Triple-A Jacksonville.

It’s a sensible change for the Marlins to make. Edwards was the brightest spot in last year’s lineup, hitting .328/.397/.423 in 303 plate appearances as a rookie, but defensive metrics have panned his glovework at short since he first logged an inning at the position last year. Edwards has tallied 949 2/3 innings at shortstop in his young career and been dinged for minus-12 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-17 Outs Above Average and a minus-5.8 Ultimate Zone Rating. Statcast has him at the very bottom of the barrel in terms of infield range, and his arm strength ranks in the 11th percentile of MLB infielders.

The 26-year-old Lopez has seen the lion’s share of playing time at second base dating back to 2024, and he’s ranked as one of the best defensive players not just at second base but in the entire sport during that time. He grades out right alongside second basemen like Andres Gimenez, Brice Turang and Marcus Semien in the eyes of Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. Lopez is tied for the 22nd-best DRS total at any position in MLB since 2024, while Statcast is even more bullish and credits his second base wizardry as a top-three performance in all of baseball, by measure of OAA.

Lopez’s numbers at shortstop haven’t been so gaudy in a tiny sample, but he’s looked comfortable enough and been so good at second base that the Fish understandably are seeing how a flip of their two middle infielders would look. If they can go from the combination of one elite defender and one liability to one good defender and one even average defender up the middle, that might be a preferable arrangement.

A position switch for Edwards shouldn’t come as a major shock when looking at his minor league track record. Originally drafted by the Padres with the No. 38 overall pick in 2018, he played more shortstop than second base in ’18 following that draft but has been used far more frequently at second base in every season since. The Rays, who acquired Edwards and Hunter Renfroe in the 2019 trade sending Jake Cronenworth and Tommy Pham to San Diego, didn’t play Edwards at shortstop at all in 2021 and only gave him 178 innings there in 2022. The Marlins played him at short for all of 34 innings in the minors in 2023, his first full season after being traded over from Tampa Bay.

In many ways, this is a move back to a more natural position for Edwards. He’s always going to be more of a hit-first player anyhow, so his future hinges far more on his offensive output than whatever he’s doing with the glove. Last year’s terrific output never looked fully sustainable, as that batting line was propped up by a .398 average on balls in play despite very poor batted-ball data; Edwards was tied for 352nd among 405 hitters (min. 100 batted ball events) with an 86.1 mph average exit velocity. His EV50 (the average exit velo on the top half of his hardest-hit balls) clocked in at just 95.1 mph — 393rd in that same subset.

Even still, Edwards’ bat has slipped more in 2025 than would have been reasonably expected. He’s batting .263/.337/.292 and has just four extra-base hits in 194 plate appearances. No one should’ve forecast a prospect who hit one home run in the majors last year to clear the fences much, but Edwards ripped a dozen doubles and hustled out five triples in last year’s 303 plate appearances. This type of power outage is still a surprise. He’s maintained a nice walk rate (9.8%) and a 17.5% strikeout rate that’s right in line with last year’s 17.2% mark, but Edwards hasn’t found the gaps in the outfield often enough to eke extra bags out of his elite speed.

There’s still plenty of time to right the ship. Edwards reached one full year of service time in 2024. The Marlins control him for four additional years beyond the current season, and he’ll reach arbitration for the first time in the 2026-27 offseason. He still has a minor league option remaining, if Miami eventually decides that further Triple-A seasoning is required. Lopez is on the same trajectory with regard to arbitration and free agency, but he’s out of minor league options.

Can The Marlins’ Top Slugger Keep This Up?

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Marlins fans don’t have much to root for this year, especially given the disastrous results Sandy Alcantara has gotten in his first ten starts back from Tommy John surgery. Miami’s 21-31 record is already enough to put them nine games out of a Wild Card spot and 12.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East. Given the fact that the Fish are already buried in the standings and Alcantara is struggling, it would be easy to expect this season to be little more than waiting for Eury Perez to get healthy and watching Max Meyer develop at the big league level.

Kyle Stowers has changed that with a phenomenal start to the season. Acquired from the Orioles alongside infielder Connor Norby at the trade deadline last year in exchange for lefty Trevor Rogers, Stowers showed very little in his first 50 games with the Marlins. In 172 plate appearances with Miami last year, he hit a paltry .186/.262/.295 (56 wRC+) with minimal power and a massive 35.5% strikeout rate. That left him with a lot to prove headed into 2025, especially given that he celebrated his 27th birthday back in January.

Fortunately for both Stowers and the Marlins, he’s gone well beyond looking like an everyday player in the majors in the early part of the year. In 204 plate appearances, Stowers has recorded a terrific .300/.369/.528 slash with ten home runs and a wRC+ of 145. That’s a top-25 offensive performance in the majors this year, on par with stars like Corbin Carroll and Jose Ramirez. That sort of offensive firepower would provide a much-needed boost to the Marlins’ lineup as they try to push through this latest rebuild — if Stowers can sustain it.

When looking at Stowers’ underlying metrics, the results are a mixed bag with some surface level peripherals telling different stories than others. The slugger’s .396 xwOBA is actually better than his .387 wOBA, which typically suggests that a player is more than earning his production. On the other hand, Stowers has undeniably benefited from a .379 BABIP, the seventh-highest figure in the majors so far this year and nine points higher than Seiya Suzuki’s 2024 performance, which led all qualified hitters. Stowers has tended toward high BABIP figures throughout his young MLB career, but that figure is almost certain to come down. That means he’s unlikely to remain a .300 hitter, particularly given his improved but still elevated 27.5% strikeout rate.

An explanation for Stowers’ impressive numbers can be found, to some extent, in one simple fact: he hits the ball hard very frequently. The outfielder’s 53.5% hard-hit rate this year is good for 16th in the majors among qualified hitters. His 91.5 mph average exit velocity is within the top 50, and perhaps most impressively, his 20.5% barrel rate is topped by just four players in baseball this year: Oneil Cruz, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Cal Raleigh. You can’t keep much better company than that in the power department, and as long as Stowers is barreling up one out of every five batted balls, he should be a productive player.

A comparison to Ohtani and Judge might make it seem as though Stowers is a guaranteed budding All-Star, but the reality isn’t quite that simple. That’s because the 27-year-old’s plate discipline is nearly as weak as his batted-ball profile is strong. Stowers swings at virtually everything, with the 12th-highest swing rate (55.7%) in the majors. Most of the players ahead of him on that leaderboard hit the ball incredibly hard, which Stowers does as well, but they also make contact at a solid rate, which Stowers does not. In fact, Stowers’ 69.4% contact rate is the tenth-lowest in baseball this year; only Guardians infielder Gabriel Arias swings more frequently while making contact less often, and his 91 wRC+ isn’t exactly something Stowers should be looking to emulate.

Between his high swing rate and low contact rate, Stowers is left tied for second in baseball behind Arias in swinging-strike rate this year. There’s some room for optimism, as the player he’s tied with is Bryce Harper. Harper has made his high swinging-strike rate work by mostly whiffing at pitches outside of he zone while still laying off those pitches often enough to draw a healthy number of walks. Stowers makes less contact on pitches in the zone than Harper, swings more often, and has a walk rate five percentage points lower than that of the star Phillies slugger.

Taking Stowers’ poor discipline and elite power potential together, it’s easy to see how he could have struggled so badly in his first 50 games with the Marlins while excelling so impressively through his next 50 games. When Stowers is getting his bat on the ball often enough for his power potential to carry his profile, like he is this season, he will likely excel. When that’s not happening and his strikeout rate is closer to the 35.5% clip he posted with the Fish last year, he’s likely to face some serious struggles without the discipline to lay off bad pitches and draw more walks.

How do MLBTR readers think Stowers will fare going forward? Have your say in the poll below:

Marlins To Place Derek Hill On 10-Day IL, Promote Victor Mesa Jr.

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The Marlins are calling up outfielder Victor Mesa Jr., according to reporter Francys Romero.  Mesa is already on the 40-man roster, and he’ll take the 26-man roster spot of outfielder Derek Hill, as MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola reports that Hill is being placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left wrist sprain.

This is the second time Hill has hit the IL with a wrist-related injury this season, as another sprain in that same left wrist cost him about four weeks of action from mid-April to mid-May.  While these injuries have certainly had some impact on Hill’s production, his .233/.300/.370 slash line over 82 plate appearances is pretty close to his career numbers over 558 PA across parts of the last six Major League seasons.

Known more for his speed and ability to play all three outfield positions, Hill has primarily played center field in Miami since the Marlins claimed him off waivers from the Giants last August.  With Hill and Dane Myers now both on the IL, the Fish are thin on center fielders, so Mesa could be in line for a good chunk of playing time as he nears his MLB debut.

The 23-year-old Mesa was a highly-regarded international signing back in 2018, as he landed a $1MM bonus while older brother Victor Victor Mesa received an even heftier $5.25MM bonus.  While the elder Mesa brother was considered an elite prospect at the time, Victor Victor hasn’t played in organized baseball since 2023, and the younger (and somewhat less-regarded) Victor Jr. has slowly climbed up the ladder of the Marlins’ farm system.

MLB Pipeline ranks Mesa Jr. 26th on their list of Miami’s top 30 prospects, and Baseball America has him in the final spot in its top-30 Marlins ranking.  Mesa is considered to be a solid defensive outfielder capable of playing all three positions, including right field thanks to his above-average throwing arm.  Mesa has a career .261/.323/.443 slash line in 379 PA at the Triple-A level, with 14 home runs and 80 strikeouts.  Prone to chasing pitches, Mesa has considerably reduced his strikeout rate this season, though he has appeared in just 16 total minor league games in 2025 due to an injury of his own.

Marlins Select Janson Junk

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The Marlins are selecting the contract of right-hander Janson Junk, according to a team announcement. Right-hander Lake Bachar was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Junk on the active roster, while a 40-man roster spot was opened up by transferring catcher Rob Brantly to the 60-day injured list.

Junk, 29, was a 22nd-round pick by the Yankees back in 2019 who made his big league debut with the Angels back in 2021. Once a fairly well-regarded pitching prospect, Junk pitched to a 4.74 ERA and a 5.22 FIP in 24 2/3 innings spread across seven appearances (six starts) in the majors during the 2021 and ’22 seasons. Following the 2022 campaign, the Angels traded Junk to Milwaukee as part of the package for outfielder Hunter Renfroe. Junk didn’t get much of an opportunity in the majors with the Brewers either, however, pitching just 15 1/3 innings for the club with a 5.87 ERA and 5.22 FIP between the 2023 and ’24 seasons.

Those struggles in Milwaukee culminated in Junk eventually being bounced around the majors in the second half of last year. Junk was designated for assignment by the Brewers in late July and was claimed briefly by the Astros before being DFA’d once again and finding himself in Oakland. Junk appeared in just one game for the club but surrendered seven runs without recording an out and was eventually outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster in September of last year. He then reached minor league free agency during the offseason and signed a minors pact with the Marlins back in February.

Junk’s time with the Marlins organization has seen him pitch extremely well at Triple-A Jacksonville. In nine appearances (eight starts) for Miami’s affiliate, he’s pitched to a 2.48 ERA with a 22.5% strikeout rate in 45 1/3 innings of work. For a pitcher with a 4.03 career ERA across five seasons at the Triple-A level, it’s a noticeable step forward, and those impressive minor league numbers were clearly enough to get the attention of a Marlins club that’s always looking for extra arms who can pitch in flexible roles. He’ll join the Miami bullpen for the time being, where there should be opportunities for advancement into a late-inning role if he performs well given the club’s lackluster 5.09 bullpen ERA.

As for Bachar, the soon-to-be 30-year-old hurler is in his second season with the big league Marlins. He’s posted a 4.50 ERA in 36 innings of work as an up-and-down reliever for the club to this point, and while that league average (101 ERA+) production is hardly exciting, it’s the sort of effectiveness that should keep him in the conversation for appearances with the rebuilding Marlins going forward. Brantly, meanwhile, heads to the 60-day IL after sustaining a lat strain in April. That’ll keep him out of commission for at least another month, though a trio of Liam Hicks, Agustin Ramirez, and Nick Fortes seem perfectly capable of holding down the fort while Brantly is on the shelf.

Marlins Place Xavier Edwards On 10-Day Injured List

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The Marlins announced that shortstop Xavier Edwards has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to May 15) due to a left mid-back strain.  Infielder Otto Lopez will take Edwards’ spot on the active roster, as Lopez was reinstated from his own IL stint after missing just two weeks due to an ankle sprain.  Lopez and Javier Sanoja figure to handle shortstop duties while Edwards is sidelined.

As indicated by the retroactive placement, Edwards has missed Miami’s last couple of games with his bad back.  Manager Clayton McCullough said yesterday that imaging didn’t reveal anything structurally wrong and that Edwards was going to test things out with some baseball activities, but clearly the infielder wasn’t yet good enough to return to action.  It might be that the team decided to simply give Edwards the full 10 days to rest and recover, rather than bring him back in any kind of rushed fashion.

Edwards was a well-regarded prospect during his time in the Padres’ and Rays’ farm systems, but he didn’t make his MLB debut until he joined the Marlins in 2023.  He got a good run of regular shortstop playing time in 2024 and responded by hitting .328/.397/.423 over 303 plate appearances and stealing 31 bases (in 35 attempts), but Edwards’ numbers have dipped to a .263/.337/.292 slash line in 194 PA this year.  The dropoff in slugging percentage is eye-opening, yet since Edwards has never been a big power hitter, the reduced average and OBP may be bigger obstacles to his game.

Xavier Edwards Undergoes Imaging Due To Back Soreness

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  • The Marlins, meanwhile, have been without shortstop Xavier Edwards in the lineup for two days now due to back soreness. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald relayed today that, according to manager Clayton McCullough, Edwards underwent imaging that “came out OK” and that Edwards was slated to resume baseball activities today. It’s unclear if Edwards is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow, but if a trip to the injured list is being considered that would be an ideal time to make a decision seeing as a hypothetical IL stint could be backdated due May 16 if it began tomorrow. Edwards was one of the club’s better hitters in 70 games last year but has hit just .263/.337/.292 to this point in the 2025 campaign. Javier Sanoja is filling in at shortstop while Edwards is out of commission.

The Marlins Could Face Another Rotation Dilemma

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Last winter's offseason trade market featured mostly "baseball trades," swaps of big leaguers at positions of need between contenders. The handful of rebuilders had torn the roster so far down that they didn't have much to offer in the more common type of deal -- a quality player being dealt from a bad team to a good one in exchange for prospects.

The Jesús Luzardo trade was probably the biggest exception. The Marlins dealt him to the Phillies in the middle of December for a pair of low minors prospects, shortstop Starlyn Caba and center fielder Emaarion Boyd. A talented player down to his final two seasons of arbitration control on a team that lost 100 games is generally an obvious trade chip. Luzardo's candidacy was made more complicated by his injury history, most notably a back problem that ended his '24 season in June.

Miami's front office faced a risk-reward calculus. Should they hold Luzardo until the deadline? A strong first half could make him the best controllable starting pitcher available. Another injury would sap most of his remaining value. An offseason trade was the safer play, but it also came with lower upside as a bit of a sell-low move. For slightly different reasons, they may be faced with a similar decision two months from now on Sandy Alcantara.

It's too soon to render definitive judgments on the Luzardo trade. The southpaw's first eight starts with the Phillies couldn't have gone much better, though. He took a 2.11 ERA into this afternoon's start against the Cardinals, in which he fired another seven innings of one-run ball. Luzardo has struck out 26.6% of opposing hitters. His stuff looks as sharp as it did before last year's elbow and back issues. He's performing at a top-of-the-rotation level.

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Marlins Place Otto Lopez On Injured List, Activate Nick Fortes

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The Marlins announced a pair of roster moves today as they placed infielder Otto Lopez on the 10-day injured list due to a Grade 2 sprain of his right ankle. Replacing Lopez on the active roster is catcher Nick Fortes, who was activated from his own stint on the shelf.

Lopez, 26, exited Miami’s game on Friday due to what was termed at the time right ankle discomfort, was unavailable Saturday after undergoing an MRI that revealed the sprain as noted by Christina de Nicola of MLB.com. A specific timeline for Lopez’s return is not yet known, though it’s worth noting that de Nicola suggests a typical timetable for this sort of injury is in the three-to-six week range. That would leave the club without Lopez at second until at least the end of May, creating a void at the keystone.

After bouncing between the Blue Jays and Giants organizations earlier in his professional career, Lopez joined the Marlins last season and settled in as the club’s everyday second baseman. In 147 games with Miami since he joined the organization last year, Lopez hasn’t hit much with a slash line of just .262/.309/.367 across 553 plate appearances. With that being said, he offers solid defense and the versatility to play anywhere on the infield if needed and has also contributed on the basepaths with 23 steals in 28 attempts.

Overall, Lopez is a fairly average regular which makes him a key piece for a Marlins team that has gotten bottom-ten contributions from its lineup in the majors by measure of both wRC+ and fWAR. Without Lopez at second base everyday, a hole alongside Connor Norby and Xavier Edwards opens in the club’s infield mix. Javier Sanoja has hit .305/.333/.407 in a part-time role with the Fish this year and figures to get the first crack at playing time at the position, though infielder Graham Pauley is also on the roster as a potential option to mix in for starts at the keystone while Lopez is out of commission.

Replacing Lopez on the roster is Fortes, who started the season in a tandem with Rule 5 draft addition Liam Hicks behind the plate but was sidelined early in the year by an oblique strain. Fortes was hitting .300/.333/.500 in seven games at the time of his injury but is generally considered a glove-first catcher, offering strong value defensively that’s somewhat held back by his lackluster .216/.261/.309 slash line at the plate across 218 games in 2023 and ’24. Still, rostering a quality defender like Fortes makes plenty of sense given that Hicks is generally considered a bat-first catcher and well-regarded prospect Agustin Ramirez faces questions regarding whether or not he can stick behind the plate at all long-term.

While Fortes figures to rejoin Hicks as one of the club’s primary catchers going forward, Ramirez has earned his roster spot to this point with a strong .256/.293/.615 slash line in his first 41 plate appearances since making his big league debut last month. With eight extra-base hits in just ten games, Ramirez now appears likely to be an occasional catcher for the Marlins but mostly serve as the club’s primary DH. That could eat into the playing time afforded to Matt Mervis, who has played in a first base/DH role since starting the season as the club’s everyday first baseman, as well was Eric Wagaman, who has spelled Mervis at first base on occasion while also being part of the Miami outfield mix.

Griffin Conine Expected To Miss Remainder Of 2025 Season

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Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine underwent left shoulder surgery yesterday, as previously reported, but the team announced this morning that Conine is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 season. A firm timetable for his absence hadn’t been previously established. He’s expected to be ready for spring training 2026, the Marlins added.

Conine, 27, made his big league debut with Miami late last season and hasn’t stopped hitting since he arrived in the majors. He’s appeared in only 50 games and tallied just 160 plate appearances but has impressed with a .274/.338/.445 slash (116 wRC+) in that time. He’s benefited from a .379 average on balls in play and punched out too often (29.4%), but it’s still an encouraging start to his career — one that’s been backed up by solid batted ball metrics.

Conine, of course, is the son of “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine — a two-time MLB All-Star who won the World Series both with the 1997 Marlins and 2003 Marlins. Griffin was originally a second-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2018 (one of many second-generation talents drafted/signed by Toronto in that time) but made his way to the Fish as the player to be named later in a trade sending infielder Jonathan Villar from Miami to Toronto.

The younger Conine’s big league batting line closely mirrors the .260/.341/.454 line he’s logged in parts of two Triple-A seasons (135 games, 528 plate appearances). With Miami’s outfield — really, its entire roster — in a general state of flux, Conine appeared to have a runway for regular playing time as he sought to establish himself as a viable everyday big leaguer. That endeavor will now be put on hold until next season. In the meantime, Conine will accumulate major league service time and pay.

The Marlins are currently deploying longtime corner outfielder Jesus Sanchez in center field on most days, although Derek Hill and Dane Myers have both played there this season as well (particularly when Sanchez was injured to begin the year). Hill is currently out with a wrist injury, leaving Sanchez, Myers, Eric Wagaman, Kyle Stowers and Javier Sanoja in the mix for outfield playing time.

Outside of Sanchez and Stowers, it’s a group composed primarily of journeymen and/or utility players. Sanchez, controlled through the 2027 season, could very well be a summer trade chip if he’s performing well later this season. The 27-year-old Stowers came to Miami alongside Connor Norby in the deal sending Trevor Rogers to Baltimore last July. He’s hitting well to begin the season (.293/.374/.413) but has been aided by a massive .410 average on balls in play and has fanned at a 29% clip. Prospects Jakob Marsee, Andrew Pintar or Victor Mesa Jr. could get looks later this season, but given the lack of long-term solidity in the group, Conine should still have a path to playing time if he returns next spring and continues hitting.

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