Early Returns: Evaluating Marlins Players After 11 Games

Let's check in on who's hot and who's not through the first 11 games of the 2025 season.

📈 Nick Fortes

One of the biggest surprises in this young season has been Nick Fortes' offensive breakout. Before this season, Fortes was in the conversation for the least productive hitter in MLB. In 658 plate appearances from 2023-2024, Fortes recorded a horrendous 54 wRC+, the second-worst mark in the majors among hitters with at least 650 plate appearances in those 2 years. The only player with a worse wRC+ than Fortes over that span? Former Marlin Tim Anderson.

What’s clicked for Nick Fortes as of late is the quality of contact. His barrel rate has drastically improved from last year to this year, from 1.4% to 20%. Fortes has also consistently displayed his ability to put the ball in play over his MLB career, so it would be a massive step in the right direction if he continues hitting the ball hard.

All things considered, Fortes has a very high ceiling as a catcher, with him being one of the premier defensive catchers in MLB. If he can put up offensive numbers at a rate even close to league-average, he’ll be a 2.0+ WAR player.

Nick Fortes drills a triple to centerfield (video courtesy of Baseball Savant)

📉 Xavier Edwards

In 2024, Xavier Edwards set such a high standard for himself that it would inevitably be hard to live up to it. Edwards has a 92 OPS+ in 11 games this year, going 12-43 with 3 doubles and 3 stolen bases.

The primary concern regarding Edwards is his strikeout rate, which has increased from 17.2% to 24.4%. This increase in strikeouts can be attributed to the decrease in fastballs thrown to him by opposing pitchers. Last season, Edwards saw a fastball 61.9% of the time, and he responded by recording a .354 batting average against the pitch. On the other hand, he’s seeing fastballs at a rate of just 54.5% this year, while facing about 6% more offspeed pitches, which he tends to struggle with. Furthermore, he’s yet to record a base hit against an offspeed pitch this season, despite seeing 36 of them.

All in all, the 25-year-old switch-hitter remains one of the best contact hitters in the game, but he’ll need to make adjustments against offspeed and breaking pitches if he wants to live up to the standard he set in 2024.

Xavier Edwards hits a clutch RBI single to cut the lead in half (video courtesy of Baseball Savant)

📈 Lake Bachar

The Marlins bullpen has struggled through the first 11 games, but one of the few bright spots has been Lake Bachar, a September 2024 waiver claim from the Padres. Bachar, drafted out of D3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2016, ranks 44th in xERA among relievers with at least 5 innings pitched, with a 2.44 mark. Additionally, he’s allowed just 1 hit in 7 innings of work.

Bachar’s sweeper, his primary pitch, has been extremely effective. He’s thrown it 39 times (41.1%) in 2025 and has yet to allow a hit with it. It has helped him achieve a 64.3% ground ball rate, the 12th highest among right-handed relievers with at least 5 innings pitched—furthermore, Bachar’s 113 Stuff+ grades out in the 85th percentile.

Lake Bachar strikes out Tommy Pham in the 11th (video courtesy of Baseball Savant)