One of my Miami Marlins midpoint on-pace-for stats is in serious jeopardy. There are still two games to play at Great American Ball Park and Xavier Edwards has been tantalizingly close to his first home run of the season on multiple occasions during this series alone.

Edwards’ ceiling as a player is limited by his inability to drive the ball in the air, but there’s been a noticeable improvement from him in that department recently. Three of the leadoff man’s top 10 batted ball distances of the year were recorded over the past week. That does not even include a 337-foot foul ball from the first inning on Tuesday night which had home run distance. It does include his next plate appearance, a 363-foot liner off the right field that plated two runs during the highest-scoring inning of this Marlins season.

A fascinating wrinkle: each of those four deep shots (the three balls in play plus the foul ball) occurred in two-strike counts. If Edwards can get off these kind of swings in vulnerable situations, it stands to reason that they’re possible anytime.

The 25-year-old switch-hitter began 2025 with the goal of establishing himself as Miami’s long-term starting shortstop. Due to defensive issues, that bar has been lowered to long-term second baseman. Since the position switch, Edwards has thrived with the glove and surged into eighth place in the National League batting title race. To solidify himself as a good everyday player, there just needs to be a bit more pop to capitalize on opportunities with runners on base.

Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 9-5. Matt Mervis homered in his return from an oblique injury. Jakob Marsee stole his 40th base of the season, joining some special company. Double-A Pensacola lost, 7-5. Michael Snyder (1-2, 3 BB) is up to a .455 OBP through his first 12 Blue Wahoos games. He has walked in more than 20% of his plate appearances this season! High-A Beloit lost, 8-5. Somewhat deceptive final line for Nick Brink (6.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 82 pitches/52 strikes), who allowed only two of those runs prior to the seventh inning and didn’t surrender any extra-base hits. Low-A Jupiter lost, 7-6. Dillon Head snapped out of a two-month homerless drought. DSL Marlins won, 8-6. Anthony Abreu extended his on-base streak to 13 games. DSL Miami lost, 4-2.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Agustín Ramírez will be sad when the Fish leave Cincinnati because he has thoroughly dominated Reds pitching this season.

🔷 I embedded the full episode at the bottom, but in this segment from Él Big League Show, former Marlins executive Adrian Lorenzo brings up Miguel Andujar as a cautionary tale in regards to Ramírez. Andujar was the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up, but he’s been well below average as a hitter since then mainly due to poor swing decisions.

🔷 Sean McCormack checked in on the outfielders that the Marlins passed on during the 2024 MLB Draft to select PJ Morlando with their first-round pick.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, World Baseball Classic Pool D ticket strips have gone on sale exclusively for Marlins Members. With their teams facing each other, MLB home run leaders Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge both went yard for the 36th time and 34th time, respectively. The San Francisco Giants walked off against the Philadelphia Phillies on a three-run, inside-the-park homer. Jacob Misiorowski bounced back from his worst major league outing by striking out 12 in a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to the Reds, the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels resorted to position player pitchers in the midst of blowout losses.

🔷 Today’s MLB game: the Marlins continue their four-game series against the Reds (probable starters RHP Sandy Alcantara and LHP Andrew Abbott). The Marlins have a 48.4% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:10 p.m. ET. Full organizational schedule below.

 

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