Tuesday, April 01

JUPITER, Fla. -- Miami will field one of the youngest and least experienced ballclubs in the Majors in 2025. In the behemoth National League East, the Marlins will try to compete while stressing long-term success.

How do they plan on doing that? By being at the forefront of the industry in terms of innovation and player development, as evidenced by some of the practices seen at Spring Training.

“Year One was a lot about assessing the entire organization, the entire baseball operations department, from top to bottom, on field, off field, understanding what we have, what we don't have, what we need, and how to get to that point as quickly as we possibly can,” president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said. “I think Year Two is about starting to actually go in that direction. And that's really exciting. I can't think of a better word than exciting. But it's also just going to be very gratifying to see as these improvements come to fruition.”

What needs to go right?

Since this season is about development, the Marlins would love to finish 2025 having found a handful of position players to build around. Shortstop Xavier Edwards and third baseman Connor Norby come to mind on the Opening Day roster. By midseason, prospects like catcher Agustin Ramírez and corner infielder Deyvison De Los Santos could get their shot. Both have considerable potential but plenty of room to grow. Ramírez is making progress at a premium defensive position, while '24 Minor League home run champion De Los Santos must show better plate discipline.

Great unknown

Edwards proved to be the ideal leadoff batter with a slash line of .328/.397/.423 in 70 games last season, but advanced metrics considered him to be one of the Majors' worst defensive shortstops. So Edwards, who sustained a shoulder impingement in 2022 during his time with the Rays' organization, followed a detailed offseason throwing program to regain some arm strength.  

Team MVP will be ...

The Marlins have been promoting Norby in their marketing material, so now's the time for the 24-year-old to back it up while continuing to play with a chip on his shoulder. Acquired in the Trevor Rogers trade, Norby showed his offensive upside by hitting seven home runs and producing a .760 OPS in 36 games. Already the owner of opposite-field power, the next step is for him to rocket pitches to left if he wants to reach his goal of 30 homers. A hard worker, the gritty Norby must also show improvement defensively at third base. 

Team Cy Young will be ...

This one is a no-brainer. The Marlins sorely missed Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner, last season when they used 20 starting pitchers and lost 100 games. He is an ace, the type of arm that can halt skids. As one of the Majors' top workhorses, the 29-year-old Alcantara will be called upon again to eat up innings. Outside of veteran Cal Quantrill, none of the other starters have thrown at least 100 frames in a MLB season. 

Bold prediction

Edwards will capture the NL stolen base crown. Think about it: Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz did so in 2024 by nabbing 67 bases in 160 games. Edwards stole 31 in just 70 games. De La Cruz's success rate (81%) was worse than Edwards' (89%), and his on-base percentage (.339) was lower (.397). If Edwards can replicate that OBP rate -- or come even remotely close to it -- that bodes well for his chances. A Marlin has led the NL in steals eight times, most recently Jon Berti in '22.

• How do the injuries to right-hander Edward Cabrera and left-hander Ryan Weathers affect the Opening Day pitching staff?

• Righty Valente Bellozo will travel with the club to Miami, where the organization still needs to finalize the 26-player roster.

• A Marlin made the list of 15 spring stat lines that matter.

As a Rule 5 Draft pick, Liam Hicks needed to make the Opening Day roster or else be offered back to his original club (Tigers).

“That was my goal from the get-go,” said Hicks, who has not played above the Double-A level. “I obviously have a lot of confidence in myself, so I thought, ‘I'm going to do everything I can in my power to make it a tough decision or make it hopefully an easy decision.’”

In a video posted to the Marlins’ social media pages, manager Clayton McCullough brings Hicks and catching coach Joe Singley into his office to tell the young backstop he would break camp with the team.

Shortly after, the Canadian-born Hicks called his parents with the news to start looking for flights from Toronto to Miami. Hicks now needs to search for housing; he didn’t want to jinx things by doing so before.

“I was surprised,” Hicks said. “Obviously, going into it, as we're getting deeper in camp, playing time kind of might give you a little idea, but still, I'm never going to expect anything. I think it's totally up to me to earn it, and so I never want to get my hopes up for anything like that.”

Hicks made a great first impression by showing up early to camp to improve behind the plate. He did so thanks to work with director of catching Maxx Garrett and Singley as well as game planning with the pitching staff.

Both McCullough and veteran right-hander Quantrill, who pitched to Hicks on Friday, lauded the 25-year-old backstop.

“As we got through camp, he continued to get better and better,” McCullough said. “We were high initially, just on the at-bat quality and the bat-to-ball skills, and very pleased with how the defensive side, in particular, on the receiving has come along. And the more games that he's caught and been back there and familiarized himself with our pitchers, I've seen the game slow down some for him. So very happy for Liam to get this opportunity with us. Good for him.”

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