With the Miami Marlins pitching staff decimated by injuries, Valente Bellozo pitched 68 ⅔ innings in the major leagues last season. Although the bottomline results were good, Bellozo’s underlying performance was not, hence the chasm between his 1.6 bWAR and -0.1 fWAR. I was pretty confident that the fiery Mexican right-hander would have a reduced workload for the Marlins in 2025.
Well, Bellozo is one more lengthy relief outing away from surpassing his 2024 innings total. There have been some encouraging changes in his new role, like an uptick in fastball velocity and a home run rate that’s been sliced in half. His sweeper has developed into a plus pitch. However, he’s still a control-over-command guy with one of MLB’s lowest strikeout rates. He is a tantalizing matchup for left-handed batters and they have devoured him recently.
The Marlins’ game of the year, a chaotic comeback to topple the New York Yankees on August 1, was made all the more dramatic because Bellozo yielded a three-run home run to Trent Grisham on a fluttering changeup. His two appearances on the ongoing road trip have been mirror images of each other—entering the game with Miami trailing by only a run and allowing the deficit to swell.
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Sandwiched between those struggles, he breezed through 3 ⅔ scoreless frames against the Houston Astros, but that was easily the lowest-leverage situation of the bunch.
The Marlins’ usage of Bellozo is far more problematic than Bellozo himself. Why is he repeatedly being deployed in winnable games against the opposing team’s most dangerous lefties, including José RamÃrez in Thursday’s loss? Every 26-man spot is important, so what is Tyler Zuber still doing here over Freddy Tarnok or Josh White, who are thriving in Triple-A Jacksonville with stuff packages that theoretically should work versus LHBs?
In terms of both in-game maneuvers and roster construction, the Marlins have been questionably managed during their August downturn.
Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 7-2. Nathan Martorella and Deyvison De Los Santos launched back-to-back home runs for the only Jumbo Shrimp offense. Double-A Pensacola lost, 9-0. High-A Beloit lost, 6-2. Brayan Mendoza‘s underwhelming season continues (5.0 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 83 pitches/52 strikes). Low-A Jupiter lost, 6-4. Since being acquired via trade, Esmil Valencia is slashing .419/.444/.631 with only three strikeouts in 36 plate appearances. DSL Marlins lost, 9-6. It’s the first time since early July that they’ve suffered consecutive losses. DSL Miami won, 8-6. Kevin Defrank made his final regular season start (3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K). Great day offensively for Alexander Requena (3-4, 2 RBI, SB).
More Marlins news and content below:
🔷 Myles Lewis is out as the Marlins’ director of data engineering, which adds some context to this job posting that went up earlier in the week. Lewis had been part of the organization’s front office since the ownership change in 2017. His tenure included four years as director of analytics.
🔷 The Marlins are 13th in midseason farm system rankings from both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. Entering this season, they were ranked 21st and 16th by those outlets, respectively.
🔷 The Arizona Fall League revealed their full 2025 schedule. This year, Marlins players will be affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox. Their season opener is October 7.
🔷 Thursday was Eric Wagaman’s 28th birthday. ForeverMarlins explained what potential the Fish still see in him despite his unimpressive outcomes at the plate.
🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first 39 series. Become a SuperSub and we’ll keep track of your predictions all season long!
🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the New York Mets lost their fifth series in a row and hold just a half-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds for the third National League wild-card spot. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached 20 home runs for the fifth straight season. Highly regarded Chicago Cubs outfielder Owen Caissie went 0-for-4 in his major league debut.
🔷 Today’s MLB game: the Marlins enter the final leg of their three-city road trip with the series opener against the Boston Red Sox (probable starters RHP Sandy Alcantara and RHP Lucas Giolito). The Marlins have a lower all-time winning percentage against the Sox (.320) than any other MLB team. They have a 47.6% chance to win Sandy’s start, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:10 p.m. ET.
🔷 Prior to the series opener, Fish On First LIVE will preview it all 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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