The Miami Marlins took a seismic leap from 2024 to 2025, and it wasn’t because they were particularly lucky. The injury bug caused havoc beginning in spring training and continuing through the final week of the season. The organization’s depth was tested and held up surprisingly well.
Five of the players who were present on the 26-man Marlins Opening Day roster remained active through Sunday’s season finale. That understates their continuity a little bit—Sandy Alcantara and Tyler Phillips were both injury-free and only fell short of qualifying for this article due to three-day stints on the paternity list. Regardless, they were away from the team for a period of time, even if it was for the best possible reason.
Ironically, three of the five full-season Marlins this year had less than a month of MLB experience prior to 2025.
I included the number of minor league option years that each of the qualified players has remaining. It will be a factor into how the Marlins front office handles them in 2026 and beyond.
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Calvin Faucher
Minor league options left:Â one
The Marlins did not anoint a traditional closer at any point this season, but Calvin Faucher saved games most frequently for them.
Faucher went through the entire 2024 season without allowing a home run. That awesome streak was snapped during his third outing of 2025. The right-hander’s ability to induce whiffs also slipped from the previous year. Even so, his hold on an active roster spot always felt secure.
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Ronny Henriquez
Minor league options left:Â zero
Across all of Major League Baseball, these are the only pitchers listed at 5’10” and under who stuck on their team’s active roster for the full 2025 season: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Sonny Gray, Yuki Matsui and Ronny Henriquez.
The general belief that short pitchers are more susceptible to injuries makes it difficult for them to even make it to The Show, and it hindered the Minnesota Twins’ efforts to get anything of value in return for Henriquez when they designated him for assignment before the start of spring training. The Marlins acquired him as a waiver claim.
Henriquez wasn’t put in the position to collect as many saves as Faucher, but he emerged as unquestionably Miami’s most valuable reliever. Instead of wearing down as the season progressed, he only got better, yielding one earned run in August and September combined.
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Liam Hicks
Minor league options left:Â three beginning in 2026 (couldn’t be optioned in 2025)
Why would the Marlins use a Rule 5 draft pick on Double-A catcher Liam Hicks when they already had a pair of standout catching prospects in the upper minors? Although extremely talented in the batter’s box, AgustÃn RamÃrez isn’t much of a catcher as it turns out, and they were in no hurry to burn some of Joe Mack’s MLB service time during what was ostensibly a rebuilding year.
Hicks took full advantage of his placeholder role, putting together the best season by a Marlins Rule 5 rookie since Dan Uggla two decades ago. From the get-go, he showed remarkable discipline to lay off pitches outside the strike zone. When given something to hit, he consistently made contact at the right angles. That combination culminated in the team’s third-highest on-base percentage, trailing only Jakob Marsee and Kyle Stowers. The Marlins began utilizing him at first base midway through the season to maximize his reps and he held up fine there defensively.
Hicks’ lack of strength allows baserunners to easily steal against him and limits his home run output. He is highly likely to open 2026 on Miami’s 26-man roster, but he’ll need to continue making elite swing decisions to stick around for another full season.
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Javier Sanoja
Minor league options left:Â three
Among these players who ultimately ran the full marathon, I was most surprised about Javier Sanoja‘s inclusion on the Opening Day roster. It’s very unconventional to roster a 22-year-old unless there’s an opportunity for them to start regularly. Such a player typically gets stationed at Triple-A until a clearly defined role opens up.
Sanoja was put in a challenging situation and fully embraced it. He never had the comfort of starting more than seven games in a row, but he still made himself a major asset to the Fish with his ability to provide solid defense at practically every position.
The low point came early—Sanoja reached base safely only twice in his first 14 plate appearances and had a three-strikeout game on April 2. But from then on, he posted the lowest K% on the entire team.
Sanoja would truly be indispensable if he improved as a baserunner. He posted the worst stolen base success rate on the team in 2025 (min. five attempts).
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Eric Wagaman
Minor league options left:Â three
The Marlins boasted about Eric Wagaman‘s defensive versatility entering his first season with the organization, but he ultimately accrued more than 90% of his playing time at first base and designated hitter. It’s unusual for a 1B/DH with offensive output significantly below the MLB average and no meaningful track record from previous seasons to get such a long leash. That made Wagaman an easy punching bag for frustrated fans throughout the first half of the season.
To be fair, the alternatives on the Marlins 40-man roster were even less desirable. It quickly became apparent that Jonah Bride wouldn’t be able to replicate his 2024 magic. Matt Mervis’ occasional home runs weren’t nearly enough to offset his constant strikeouts. Deyvison De Los Santos never produced a lengthy hot streak in Triple-A to demonstrate his major league readiness.
Six-plus years into his Marlins organizational tenure, Troy Johnston finally received a call-up. Johnston and Wagaman were basically platoon partners for the last two months, and reducing Wagaman’s role may have ironically saved his roster spot. From July 29 (Johnston’s debut) through season’s end, Wagaman’s rate stats closely resembled what he did in the upper minors, elevating his production comfortably above replacement level during that span. He is useful against left-handers.
I would not be utterly shocked if Wagaman was a wire-to-wire major league Marlin in 2026, but you can bet that his plate appearance total will go way down.