One of the very few positive takeaways from the dismantling of the Miami Marlins in Atlanta was that Xavier Edwards (10-23 with 4 SB during the series) continues to be perfectly suited for the leadoff spot. That’s been the case for most of the season at this point, ever since he returned from the injured list in late May and moved from shortstop to second base. He now finds himself exactly where many folks anticipated he’d be entering 2025: in the mix for the National League batting title.
Entering Monday, you need five decimal places to split hairs between the batting averages of Edwards (.30528) and future Hall of Famer Freddie Freeman (.30534). Freeman leads all NL qualifiers in that category. Fellow Los Angeles Dodger Will Smith (.310) is only a few plate appearances shy of qualification. Considering Smith’s unremarkable track record (career .258 BA prior to this season) and the uncertainty about him reaching the magic threshold of 502 PA, Freeman is the more serious threat to Edwards.
Of course, it would be naive to count out the Senior Circuit’s two-time defending batting title winner, Luis Arraez (.295). His San Diego Padres teammate, Manny Machado (.297), is wedged between Edwards and Arraez.
Simply replicating what he had been doing in 2024 wasn’t going to be enough for Edwards to produce like this in his first full Marlins season. According to Baseball Savant, the speedy switch-hitter was among the league’s luckiest players in terms of the 76-point discrepancy between his actual and expected batting average. This year, he has trimmed his whiff rate against all pitch groups—fastball, breaking ball and offspeed—while putting balls in the air more often.
I’m not quite ready to declare Edwards the favorite for the 2025 title, but he should remain in contention deep into September.
Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 2-1. The Jumbo Shrimp (71-42) continue to own the best record in Triple-A this season. Double-A Pensacola lost, 3-2. Starting on his birthday, Jacob Miller (4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 82 pitches/46 strikes) had his best outing since mid-June. High-A Beloit won, 6-2. Every Sky Carp position player had at least one hit. Marlins top draft pick Aiva Arquette has begun his professional baseball career on a five-game hitting streak, though with an underwhelming .227/.292/.273 slash line. Low-A Jupiter lost, 12-5. Rough day at the office for Dameivi Tineo (2.1 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 65 pitches/40 strikes). PJ Morlando was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Andrew Salas became the youngest player in Marlins minor league history to steal 30 bases in a season.
Our final 2025 in-season update of the Fish On First Top 30 list is now live. Unsurprisingly, Jakob Marsee was the biggest riser from the previous update in June, while Jared Serna, Dax Fulton, Carter Johnson and Victor Mesa Jr. (who’s no longer ranked at all) fell significantly.
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🔷 YouTuber “And That’s Baseball” detailed the Marlins’ turnaround during Peter Bendix’s tenure as president of baseball operations.
🔷 Happy 17th birthday to Kevin Defrank. The Dominican right-hander ranks sixth on the FOF Top 30. Defrank has a triple-digit fastball and the potential for a plus changeup. Through nine starts in the DSL, he’s posted a 2.89 ERA and 4.27 FIP in 28 innings pitched with an extreme 59.7% ground ball rate.
🔷 It’s already linked at the top of the page, but I wanted to give a more explicit shoutout to @ForeverMarlins regarding this blog post on the Braves series. As a reminder, anybody who registers for an FOF account can set up their own blog!
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🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers stormed back from a 5-0 deficit to walk off against the New York Mets. The Brewers have now won nine straight games, while the Mets have dropped seven in a row. The Colorado Rockies also endured a winless week, allowing nearly 12 runs per game. Jason Alexander, who flummoxed the Marlins in his previous start, was even better against the New York Yankees, carrying a no-hitter through 5 ⅓ innings. Jose Altuve joined José Ramírez as the only active MLB players with at least 250 home runs and 250 stolen bases in their careers.
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