Sunday, April 13

ATLANTA -- The Marlins’ Minor League affiliates -- outside of Triple-A Jacksonville, which began its season on March 28 -- got their seasons underway this weekend.

Here are a few standout performances among Miami’s MLB Pipeline Top 30 prospects list:

LHP Thomas White (Marlins No. 1 prospect, No. 39 overall)
The 20-year-old struck out seven batters, allowed one hit and walked three across four scoreless innings in High-A Beloit’s opening win. White, who again impressed at Spring Breakout, ended his 2024 campaign with the Sky Carp.

INF Andrew Salas (Marlins No. 5)
In his official professional debut, the 17-year-old collected his first hit, walk and steal in Single-A Jupiter’s opening victory.

LHP Robby Snelling (Marlins No. 8)
Snelling, 21, permitted two hits and fanned five over five scoreless innings in Double-A Pensacola’s opening win. Though Snelling finished his 2024 with a start at Triple-A Jacksonville and participated at big league camp, Miami has him beginning ’25 with the Blue Wahoos.

INF Carter Johnson (Marlins No. 10)
Jupiter’s roster is stacked with talented young infielders like Johnson, Starlyn Caba (Miami’s No. 2, No. 78 overall) and Salas. The 19-year-old Johnson went 1-for-3 with two RBIs while playing second base and shortstop in the Hammerheads’ opening win.

OF Kemp Alderman (Marlins No. 11)
After missing significant time in 2024 with a hamate injury, the 22-year-old put together a strong showing at the Arizona Fall League and a nice running catch at Spring Breakout. Alderman picked up where he left off -- a three-hit, two-run game in Pensacola’s opener. He added a grand slam on Saturday. 

OF Andres Valor (Marlins No. 19)
The 19-year-old Venezuelan finished 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs and a stolen base in Jupiter’s opener.

SS Maximo Acosta (Marlins No. 20)
Entering Saturday, the 22-year-old Acosta was batting .333 with one double, one home run, four runs and six RBIs in seven games for Jacksonville.

• Where are the Marlins’ Top 30 prospects beginning their season?

• What does MLB Pipeline predict for the Marlins’ farm system?

• Right-hander Max Meyer tossed the first quality start for a Marlins pitcher this season.

• Matt Mervis recorded his first career multihomer game in Saturday’s win. 

Who could forget Liam Hicks’ first Major League at-bat?

With a pair of runners on base in the second inning of a scoreless ballgame on March 28, Hicks scorched a comebacker (105.4 mph exit velocity) that Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller snagged to rob him of a base hit and RBI. The Rule 5 Draft pick went hitless over his next seven at-bats during a three-game stretch to open his big league career.

“I think the at-bats were all right,” Hicks said. “There were a couple situations where it was more productive outs, get a runner over to third, get the bunt down, kind of stuff like that. So I wasn't too concerned with it. I knew it was going to come --hitting the ball hard, just bad spots. But there were some things that I definitely wanted to kind of do better.”

Hicks’ milestone knock finally came Wednesday against Mets righty Clay Holmes in the Marlins’ homestand finale. Hicks fell behind 0-2 by fouling off a pair of cutters before taking two balls. He then got a 95.1 mph sinker over the heart of the plate and sent it to left field for a line-drive single.

“It's easy to say you're not thinking about it,” the 25-year-old Hicks said, “but I definitely didn't really feel like a big leaguer ’til I got it. And it's like, ‘OK, it's all right.’ A little bit of a weight off the shoulders to get it.”

While Hicks’ teammates worried about tracking down the ball, he was more concerned with making sure to touch first base. Hicks’ parents visited from Toronto for the opening weekend series but had already flown home. He intends to give them the souvenir when he sees them next.

“They weren't there for it, but I'm sure they were watching on TV,” Hicks said.

Hicks collected his first extra-base hit, RBI and caught stealing behind the dish on Saturday.

After opening the season with seven straight game days, the Marlins traveled to Atlanta following their  getaway contest Wednesday in Miami. That meant having an off-day on the road.

“I think it was something we just discussed in the offseason, and our plan now is, for the vast majority of the time, it will be like it was, travel after the final game at home to start a road trip and have the off-day in the road city to start things,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “I know people do it a lot of different ways. It was nice to be here [Thursday] and have an actual off-day and not be traveling.”

So what did some of the guys get up to?

On his “off” day, McCullough still got a lot done: He window-shopped at a nearby mall, worked out, ate dinner with the staff and did pre-series homework on the Braves.

Connor Norby, who is rehabbing his left oblique strain, came to the ballpark for a little over an hour to train, then watched baseball on TV and played video games at the hotel.

Hicks, Nick Fortes, catching coach Joe Singley and a couple others went to the Georgia Aquarium. Hicks later grabbed dinner with Calvin Faucher, Kyle Stowers and Rob Brantly.

Arguably the coolest day belonged to Connor Gillispie, whose sister has worked on the marketing team for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks since January.

“We went to the aquarium, the Coke factory, and then my sister got done with work early, and the Hawks’ arena is just up the road,” Gillispie said. “So she's like, ‘You guys want to come pop in?’ So we popped in. It was good time. Got to shoot a couple, and then they stole the ball from us.”

But not before Anthony Veneziano, who stands 6-foot-5, dunked a few times on the main court.

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