WASHINGTON -- The Marlins have turned speed into a calling card, and it’s pushing them into a late-season chase.
When Xavier Edwards swiped second base early in Friday night’s loss to the Nationals, Miami became the first team in Major League Baseball this season with four players who have stolen at least 20 bases. It’s just the second time that has happened in Marlins history.
Manager Clayton McCullough said the club spent the spring building toward this exact identity.
“[First-base coach] Craig Driver deserves a lot of credit, as well as the players,” McCullough said. “This is something in Spring Training, we put a lot of work in the mornings in preparation for this season, that we were going to weaponize this, and not only have guys that from a speed standpoint that can do this, but also from a technical standpoint.”
Otto Lopez and utility outfielder Esteury Ruiz lead the way with 29 steals apiece. Edwards hit the 20-steal mark for the third time in his career, and Jakob Marsee reached 20 earlier this week in his first full MLB season.
That running game could matter even more if Miami keeps climbing in the NL Wild Card race. The Marlins entered Saturday four games back of the Padres for the final spot, with the D-backs three and a half games ahead of them.
McCullough believes the approach should carry straight into October if Miami gets there.
“You get to October, and the margins become even smaller than they are in the regular season,” McCullough said. “I would just hope that our group plays in a very similar fashion.
You go try to play those games as aggressively [as possible] and use whatever your skills and what best may be that day give you the chance to beat an opponent. And if it's using the running game and trying to create opportunities to steal, I want our guys to feel that that's something that we've been relying on during the regular season.
And that shouldn’t change when the stakes are higher.”
Ruiz stands out as the most explosive base stealer in the group. He had 67 steals in 2023, when he was a full-time starter with the Athletics, the most in the Majors that season. The question around him has always been whether the bat would hold up enough to keep him in a role with a contender, but he entered the second game of the four-game set in Washington on Saturday hitting .236/.361/.422 across 196 plate appearances.
Ruiz said his value goes beyond raw speed.
“I consider myself elite in the mental side of base stealing,” Ruiz said through an interpreter. “It’s not just being able to run really fast; it’s understanding the situation and when to go.
Lopez, Ruiz and Edwards are each running at an 80% success rate or better. Marsee’s production slowed after a 4-for-11 May, and opposing pitchers have since been more aware of the threat he brings. Even so, he remains a problem on the bases, along with several other Marlins who have helped Miami rank second in the Majors with 141 steals, behind the Nationals' 146, and first with 183 attempts.
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Prez was tagged for five runs in three innings, with the command issues and the long ball combining to make this feel more like a detour than a trend. He has generally looked more like himself since coming back from the injured list, which is why the bigger question for Miami is whether this was just an off night or the start of another stretch where the margin for error gets too thin. [Read more 🡒]