Joe Mack has wasted no time turning his defensive reputation into something real for the Marlins.
In just his first half-season in Miami, the catcher has already looked like a problem for opposing runners and a weapon for the pitching staff. The throws are crisp, the exchange is quick, and the glove work has matched the billing that followed him to the majors.
The numbers are loud. Mack has plus-6 fielding runs, with three of those coming from framing, according to Baseball Savant. He sits in the 99th percentile in caught stealing above average and owns a 1.89 second pop time.
His framing work has been especially sharp at the top shadow of the zone, where he has posted the highest strike rate in baseball at 52.6%. Mack is also tied with veteran catcher Victor Caratini for the most shadow strikes overall.
That ability has consistently turned borderline pitches into called strikes, and even with ABS challenges in the mix, plenty of those calls have stood untouched while helping Marlins pitchers.
Mack enters Friday with a 36% caught stealing rate, good for ninth in baseball. He pairs that accuracy with a 0.60 second exchange time, which helps explain why runners have to think twice before breaking.
That’s a major shift from the early-season approach teams took against Miami when Agustin Ramirez and Liam Hicks were behind the plate.
There is one area where the results have been less flattering. On balls in the dirt, Mack ranks 39th among qualified catchers with minus-1 BAA. But he has also been handed the fourth-most “tough blocks,” defined as balls with an 85% or less chance of being blocked, so there may be some bad luck baked into that number.
Even with that wrinkle, the overall profile is hard to ignore. The case can be made that Mack already belongs among the five best defensive catchers in MLB, alongside Patrick Bailey, Adley Rutschman and Dillon Dingler.
And the Marlins have felt the difference. Miami is 29-17 in games Mack has started, a record that fits the way he has controlled the game behind the plate. With room to grow as his career moves forward, he already looks like a core piece for the Marlins.
In Other News...
Marlins May Have Landed The Power Bat Fans Have Been Waiting For
Rintaro Sasakis path to the Marlins is already unusual enough to turn heads, and now the organization has a better sense of what it might be getting. The Japanese slugger, who owns Japans all-time high school home run record, announced during a press conference in Japan that he will sign with Miami after the club took him in the eighth round of the recent MLB Draft. For a team that has spent plenty of time searching for more impact in the lineup, the appeal is obvious.
Sasaki was also a coveted name in Japan, where the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks previously drafted him in the NPB Draft, so his next step has drawn attention on both sides of the Pacific. He is expected to take part in the Marlins draft camp soon, and from there the focus shifts to how quickly his bat can translate once he gets into minor league games. [Read more 🡒]
Marlins Suddenly Face A New Otto Lopez Concern
Otto Lopez was out of the Marlins' lineup after taking a ball off his right ring finger, a setback that arrived just as he had been settling into a regular role on the infield. The play left him with soreness and swelling, and Miami had to adjust quickly, turning to Javier Sanoja at shortstop while the club reshuffled its bench to keep the defense intact.
The timing matters because Lopez has become part of the everyday conversation for a Miami team that cannot afford many more moving pieces in the middle of the diamond. The Marlins recalled Graham Pauley and optioned Rece Hinds to give themselves more infield coverage, but the bigger question is how long they will have to manage without Lopez and whether this latest issue lingers beyond a short-term absence. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Fairbanks Wastes Another Eury Prez Gem As Marlins Spiral
Eury Prez did his part again, giving the Marlins six scoreless innings and continuing a stretch that has quietly kept Miami from slipping completely out of the race. Even with the club in the middle of a rough skid, the young right-hander has been one of the few constants, and his latest outing was another reminder that the rotation still gives this team a chance most nights.
The problem is everything around him has started to unravel. Miami has now dropped six straight, and the offense has been too quiet to support strong pitching, leaving little margin for error late in games. The Marlins are still hanging around the NL wild-card picture, but with the way these losses keep stacking up, they need someone besides Prez to stop the slide before the standings start to look a lot less forgiving. [Read more 🡒]