To the surprise of many—myself included—Heriberto Hernandez‘s first month in the major leagues was excellent. Since then, he has not slowed down whatsoever. The Miami Marlins were hoping Hernandez would match up well against left-handed pitching, but even his most ardent supporters could not have envisioned a near-1.000 OPS against righties, boosted by a home run off of Brandon Woodruff on Sunday. In 36 games since his call-up, the 25-year-old is slashing .323/.377/.531. You don’t have to fully buy into the results to be impressed—his expected weighted on-base average (.375) is second-best on the club behind only Kyle Stowers.
As Kevin Barral noted in his bold Yandy DÃaz trade proposal, the Marlins are getting negative value from their first basemen this season. The majority of playing time at that position has gone to Eric Wagaman, who already entered July as a sub-replacement-level player and has followed that up with one of the worst months ever by a Marlins hitter. The team has been consistently winning series in spite of Wagaman and their patience with him is baffling considering his lack of MLB track record or prospect pedigree.
So far, Hernandez has only been used as a corner outfielder and designated hitter. However, he’s quietly been taking grounders at first base for a while now. The last time he received games reps there was at High-A in 2022.
Assuming that the Marlins don’t swing a deal for an accomplished veteran first baseman prior to the MLB trade deadline, try Hernandez there on a semi-regular basis. Use August and September to get a clearer picture of who he is from both an offensive and defensive perspective. This would be mainly to determine how to construct the 2026 roster, but maximizing Hernandez’s plate appearances and subtracting Wagaman’s should help keep the Fish afloat in the 2025 National League wild-card race, too.
The deadline is three days away.
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Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 12-6. Six different Jumbo Shrimp hit home runs, the longest of which was Jakob Marsee‘s 460-footer. Double-A Pensacola lost, 6-5. Jacob Miller continues to slump. He has surrendered 24 earned runs over his last 23 ⅓ innings pitched. Ryan Ignoffo landed on the injured list with hamstring tightness. Ignoffo leads all Blue Wahoos players this season with a .779 OPS (min. 100 PA). High-A Beloit won, 3-0. Only one baserunner reached against Brandon White (7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 81 pitches/56 strikes). Low-A Jupiter lost, 6-1. Dub Gleed had to step in as an emergency catcher for nearly half of the game after both Victor Ortega and Carlos Sánchez exited with injuries. Unsurprisingly, Gleed struggled defensively, allowing a passed ball and six stolen bases and committing a throwing error. Cam Clayton went 4-for-4.
More Marlins news and content below:
🔷 Competitive Balance Round A draft pick Cam Cannarella will sign his contract with the Marlins prior to today’s 5:00 p.m. ET deadline, per Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline. That would make this the first time since the abbreviated 2020 draft that the Marlins have reached agreements with all of their draftees.
🔷 As corresponding moves to create room for the rest of the 2025 draft class, the Marlins have released Melvin Cuevas, José Fernández (no relation to the late JDF), Leandro Hernández, Cherif Neymour and Luifer Romero. Each of them were former international free agent signings who played in the Florida Complex League this season.
🔷 Lake Bachar missed the Brewers series because he was on the paternity list. Expect him to be reinstated today. Freddy Tarnok, who was called up in his place, should be going back to Jacksonville.
🔷 Ichiro Suzuki was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He delivered plenty of jokes, including one that came at the Marlins’ expense. Watch the full speech here.
🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first 34 series. Become a SuperSub and we’ll keep track of your predictions all season long!
🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Seth Lugo and the Kansas City Royals agreed to a two-year, $46 million contract extension. In trade news, the Royals added Randal Grichuk and the New York Yankees added Amed Rosario. Aaron Judge suffered a right flexor strain. That will sideline him this weekend when the Yankees come to Miami. The Texas Rangers have won nine of their last 10 games to move into a tie with the Seattle Mariners for the final American League wild-card spot.
🔷 Today’s MLB game: the Marlins’ road trip continues in St. Louis (probable starters RHP Edward Cabrera and RHP Andre Pallante). Dating back to 2021, the Fish are 2-10 at Busch Stadium. They have a 45.8% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:45 p.m. ET.
🔷 Prior to the game, Fish On First LIVE will preview the Cardinals series beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. FOF LIVE is presented by About The Fans. Check out our new merchandise collection (coupon code fof10 for 10% off).
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