The Marlins have spent the last few years trying to close the gap in player development, and 20-year-old left-hander Elier Morillo is one of the early signs that the work is starting to show up on the field.
Morillo signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2023 for $100,000, and his path to Miami wasn’t exactly straightforward. He grew up idolizing Clayton Kershaw for the way he played, then later started studying Cristopher Sánchez and trying to mirror the Phillies starter. He was expected to sign with the Baltimore Orioles at first, but conversations involving the agency at his training academy eventually pushed him to the Marlins instead.
His first three professional years have all been spent in the Dominican. He pitched in 2023 and 2025, and missed all of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Life at the Marlins’ academy comes with structure. Morillo said the day starts at 7:00 a.m., and the routine changes depending on the time of year. When games aren’t being played, the players head to training after waking up, go through defensive work, then hit the gym before finishing with English class around 4:00 p.m.
"It helped me be a better person, better professional and a better player," Morillo told Fish On First in Spanish. "I went into the academy with little experience compared to what I walked out with. I walked out of there as a new person with tons of experience."
The adjustment to life in the United States wasn’t easy at first. Morillo said the food was a challenge, and there were times he skipped meals because he couldn’t find anything he wanted to eat.
On the mound, though, the results have been loud. In his latest run in the Dominican Summer League, Morillo posted a 3.23 ERA, 2.96 FIP, 15.85 K/9 and 4.70 BB/9 across 30 ⅔ innings in 2025. He came into 2026 hoping for a strong spring and a chance to start as high as possible.
When the rosters were announced, Morillo noticed he wasn’t on the Jupiter list. He said he didn’t let that bother him and kept working in extended spring training, expecting to get a few outings in the FCL before moving up to Low-A. Then, after throwing back-to-back bullpen sessions, he ran into the pitching coordinator on the way out of the gym and learned he had been promoted to Jupiter.
That jump has only sharpened the attention around him. In 13 appearances, including one start, he has a 4.30 ERA and 4.20 FIP, but the eye-catching number is the strikeout rate: 42.2% of the batters he has faced, the highest mark in the Marlins organization among pitchers with at least 20 innings. He has 57 strikeouts and wants to get to 100.
The walks remain the biggest problem, and Morillo knows it.
He works with a four-pitch mix: a four-seam fastball that he throws 63.7% of the time, a sweeper at 20.3%, a changeup at 9.2% and a gyro slider he recently added at 6.8%.
"When there is a left-handed hitter, I know he has no chance because the pitching coach will signal three straight fastballs and I will throw them with confidence, if he hits it or not," Morillo said. "I am also very confident in my defense, but I like to get outs on my own, striking guys out."
His fastball has ride and sits at 93.8 mph on average, while reaching 96.0 mph in his most recent appearance on Thursday. The sweeper is his best pitch, and it has become the weapon he leans on most after the fastball.
It carries a 109 plus stuff grade and has produced a 42.9% whiff rate. Morillo said he trusts it enough to use it behind in counts and still get back into at-bats.
The changeup is his answer against right-handers. The gyro slider is the newest piece of the puzzle, and while it has earned a 102 stuff plus rating and averages 83.1 mph, Morillo said it still isn’t where he wants it. He has allowed a 75% hard-hit rate on the pitch so far.
"They told me that for me to be a starter with a good arsenal, I needed to add a pitch that I can play off between the sweeper and fastball," Morillo said. "I can throw the gyro at about 87-88 mph.
Little by little, I am getting the hang of it. I don't have a lot of confidence in it right now because I don't dominate with that pitch.
I have allowed hits with it because I leave it hanging in the zone, but little by little I am going to begin getting the hang of that pitch."
Morillo is also part of the Marlins’ broader pitching overhaul under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. The organization uses pitch design sessions instead of bullpen sessions and calls pitches from the dugout in games, with those methods running from the Dominican Republic all the way to the majors.
"The first time I saw the pitch design was 2024 in the Dominican Republic before I underwent my surgery," Morillo said. "I personally thought it was a good idea because you have the same system in a bullpen as in a game.
What you do in the bullpen, you take to the game. You don't throw the pitch design with the same intensity, but you try to locate your pitches better, work on a specific pitch better, see the weakness of an opposing hitter and find the strike zone more."
He said the dugout pitch-calling has been an easy adjustment because of the relationship he built with his pitching coach in the DSL, and his 2025 numbers fit what the Marlins are trying to build.
A major-league call-up is still far off, but Morillo said the idea crosses his mind and would be "the best news that I can receive."
"It's a dream I've had since I was a kid," Morillo said. "Right now, what I hope is that I can stay healthy so I can continue to do my job on the field and just have fun."
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