Jakob Marsee's skillset is generational
Marlins OF Jakob Marsee has already made a huge impact in just six big league games.
This deadline, the Marlins dealt Jesus Sanchez to the Astros to open the door for Jakob Marsee, who had been tearing it up with the Triple-A Jumbo Shrimp.
Marsee, 24, was acquired alongside Nathan Martorella, Dillon Head, and Woo-Suk Go from the Luis Arraez trade in May 2024. While his prospect stock actually went down from when he was acquired to the start of this season, a massive June and July helped him earn the call-up.
In June, he enjoyed one of the best months of his career, posting a 1.045 OPS while hitting 14 extra-base hits (seven homers, four doubles, three triples) in 108 plate appearances. He followed up on that by posting a .896 OPS in July, walking more than he struck out (17 BB/14 SO) and swiping 8 bags on 11 attempts.
Image courtesy of Rebecca Blackwell-AP
While it’s only been six games, I don’t think you could imagine a better start to a career than what Jakob Marsee has done thus far. He has a video game-esque 1.529 OPS across 22 plate appearances, accumulating a staggering 15 total bases on one home run, one triple, three doubles, and two singles. Not to mention, he has walked a staggering six (!) times.
Jeremy Tache of FanDuel Sports Network Florida pointed out that the 6’0, 180 lb outfielder became one of just five players in Marlins history to record a hit of every kind in their first five games — joining an exclusive list that features Griffin Conine, Miguel Cabrera, Kevin Millar, and Todd Dunwoody.
His current Baseball Savant page displays one of the most insane otherworldly profiles I’ve ever seen: a 29.4% walk rate, 7.7% chase rate, 95.4 mph avg exit velo, and a 28.6% barrel rate. While that’s obviously nowhere near sustainable, it gives fans like myself a ton of promise that Marsee can be very good for a very long time.
Screenshot via Baseball Savant
What sets Marsee apart from the other top young hitters is his plate discipline. Over a 414-plate appearance sample size in Triple-A this year, he posted an astounding 17.18% chase rate, ranking in the 94th percentile among Triple-A hitters. For some perspective, Marlins Catcher Liam Hicks — who places in the 100th percentile among qualifiers in chase rate — chases at a 16.6% clip.
Marlins fan @mpicardi on X pointed out that Marsee already has the same fWAR as Luis Arraez — the player he was traded for — despite playing in over 100 fewer games. In fact, Marsee is already ninth in fWAR among NL outfielders aged 24 or younger, ahead of Michael Harris, Dylan Crews, and 11 others. Not only does that speak to how good of a hitter he’s been, but also his defense, which is already worth 1 OAA.