Down on the farm, I have to take a few paragraphs to give Robby Snelling his flowers before recapping the rest of Thursday’s Miami Marlins minor league action. This performance against the Nashville Sounds (6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K, 95 pitches/65 strikes) might have been his best since being promoted to Triple-A Jacksonville, and that’s saying a lot.
When Snelling previously struck out 11 batters on July 26, he leaned heavily on an explosive fastball. His velocity was less extraordinary this time around (averaging 94.1 mph), so his curveball was just as important as a putaway pitch. As you can see below, the 21-year-old lefty was repeatedly enticing guys to chase outside the strike zone thanks to its luscious shape.
Moving up a level has done nothing to rattle Snelling. He had a 2.92 FIP in 14 starts with Double-A Pensacola and he has a 2.99 FIP in five starts with the Jumbo Shrimp.
Snelling is certain to make at least one more minor league start. As discussed last month in relation to Joe Mack, the Marlins are incentivized to preserve Snelling’s rookie eligibility for 2026—delaying his call-up until August 15 would satisfy that. Also, Snelling does not have any professional experience pitching on four days’ rest. That box almost always gets checked before a prospect is plugged into a regular MLB rotation spot, so if his next outing comes on Tuesday, we’re officially on call-up watch.
Ultimately, I believe the timing of Snelling’s debut is closely connected to the status of Cal Quantrill. A spot opens up if another team claims Quantrill off waivers or if he has a couple more ineffective starts similar to what he did against the Houston Astros on Tuesday. There is still a scenario in which the rising star finishes out the season in the minors.
Also for Jacksonville in their 7-2 win, Maximo Acosta homered and Nathan Martorella went 3-for-5. Martorella is 6-for-14 with a 1.071 OPS since arriving at AAA. Double-A Pensacola lost both ends of their doubleheader, 2-1 and 7-0. Dax Fulton carried a shutout into the sixth inning before a regrettable hanging breaking ball. High-A Beloit won, 8-1. Four different Sky Carp had multi-hit games, including 2025 draftee Wilson Weber. Low-A Jupiter won, 4-1. Esmil Valencia hit his first home run with the Marlins organization. DSL Marlins won, 13-12. DSL Colorado rallied for eight runs with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. The home team ultimately prevailed in 11 innings. With no pitch clock in the Dominican Summer League, it took a not-so-tidy five hours and 41 minutes. DSL Miami lost, 4-0.
More Marlins news and content below:
🔷 Thursday’s loss in Atlanta was arguably the worst for the Marlins this season. We even did an instant reaction Twitter space about it.Â
🔷 Odd to see none of the Braves batters swing-and-miss against Eury Pérez‘s fastball. That has been a consistently dominant pitch for Pérez this season, generating at least three whiffs in each of his previous 10 starts with an average of 6.2 per start.
🔷 In an MLB Now interview, Kyle Stowers attributes his breakout season to a change in mindset and prioritizing be on time for fastballs.
🔷 July was the most-watched month for the Marlins on cable since September 2023, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. Also, the streaming audience in the FanDuel Sports Network app was up 62% over last July.
🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Paul Skenes held his opponent scoreless for the fifth time in his last seven starts. His 1.94 ERA this season is best among all MLB qualifiers. Athletics rookie Jacob Lopez had an even more dominant performance (7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K). The Seattle Mariners swept the Chicago White Sox and improved to a season-high 10 games over .500.
🔷 Today’s MLB game: it’s the second of five contests between the Marlins and Braves (probable starters RHP Edward Cabrera and RHP Bryce Elder). Cabrera has strangely only faced Atlanta once over the last two seasons combined when he went five scoreless innings at Truist Park last August. The Marlins have a 42.8% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:15 p.m. ET.
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