3 Marlins Takes for the 2025 Season
1. Sandy Alcantara returns to Cy Young form almost immediately
While some would argue this isn’t a hot take, immediately being a Cy Young contender after losing an entire season to UCL surgery is one of the hardest things to do in baseball. Still, if anyone can do it, it’s Sandy Alcantara.
The 2022 Cy Young award winner has been sitting 98-99 mph and topping out at 100 mph on his fastball this spring. He’s also been working on a new slider grip with pitching coaches Daniel Moskos and Alon Leichman, in an effort to make that his second “put-away” pitch, in addition to his elite changeup.
Despite conflicting reports, Clayton McCullough verified that Alcantara won’t be on an innings limit. McCullough said on behalf of the Marlins that they expect Sandy to be able to go deep into games, like he has in previous seasons.
In case Sandy missing over a year has made you forget how dominant he is, I’ll remind you that over his last 100 starts (2020-2023), Sandy owns a 3.13 ERA and 14.1 fWAR. He’s one of just two pitchers to throw at least 660 innings from 2020-2023, only behind Gerrit Cole by 3 innings.
Even though Sandy is likely to be traded by the deadline, he should still provide enough value to the Marlins rotation in the first half alone.
Sandy Alcantara strikes out Ha-Seong Kim (video courtesy of Baseball Savant)
2. Xavier Edwards easily wins the NL batting title
We’ve reached the point where we have more than enough of a sample size to distinguish that Xavier Edwards is one of the best contact hitters and base runners in baseball. In just over 300 plate appearances last season, Edwards posted a .328 batting average and 124 OPS+, helping him reach the 2.0 bWAR mark in just 70 games.
Regarding his base running, Edwards stole 31 bases, which tied him for 7th in steals among National League players.
The biggest question mark surrounding Xavier Edwards’ profile is his defense. Despite being a much better fit at second base, the Marlins played him at shortstop for 69 of his 70 games, where he posted a -10 OAA. The good news is that Edwards is only 25 years old and still has more than enough time to improve his defense.
One improvement that I’m confident Xavier Edwards can make is his gap-to-gap power. This spring, Edwards had 16 hits in 49 at-bats, with 6 of those hits being doubles. If that translates to the regular season, it’s a huge step up from his 2024 doubles total of 12 in 265 at-bats.
Xavier Edwards’ triple from his cycle in Milwaukee (video courtesy of Baseball Savant)
3. Max Meyer breaks out and posts a sub-3.25 ERA
Outside of Sandy Alcantara, Max Meyer is the Marlins pitcher I’m most excited to watch this year. The 3rd overall pick in the 2020 draft finally looks like the pitcher the Marlins envisioned when they drafted him over Garrett Crochet.
Meyer added a sweeper and sinker to his arsenal and reshaped his fastball and changeup. His fastball velocity has suddenly increased nearly two ticks, from 94.0 to 95.8.
Meyer has fully reinvented himself, and I think it’ll solidify him as a trustworthy starting pitcher.
Max Meyer strikes out Ha-Seong Kim (video courtesy of Baseball Savant)