Miami Marlins outfielder Austin Slater speaks to reporters after officially signing with the club on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at loanDepot park.
Jordan McPherson
jmcpherson@miamiherald.com
It’s been a hectic past few days for Austin Slater.
The veteran outfielder finished spring training without a job, getting released by the Detroit Tigers from his minor-league deal on Saturday after not making the club’s Opening Day roster.
He returned home to Jacksonville on Monday to see his family and “get regrounded.”
And then the Miami Marlins called. He agreed to a one-year deal on Tuesday. It became finalized Wednesday.
And now, he’s already with his new club for their finals workouts at loanDepot park, getting acclimated to his new home ballpark and meeting his new teammates.
“Now,” Slater said, “it’s time to go. Kind of a quick reset. And luckily it wasn’t too long [of a layoff], so still feel like I’m in baseball shape and ready to go.”
And expect Slater to get into the lineup early, according to manager Clayton McCullough — perhaps as early as Opening Day on Friday when the Marlins host the Colorado Rockies (7:10 p.m., MarlinsTV).
“I don’t think we’re going to need to ease him in,” McCullough said.
Slater, entering his 10th MLB season, was in spring training with the Tigers on a minor-league deal but didn’t make their Opening Day roster. He was released Saturday to give him a chance to land with another team.
The Marlins, who had a pair of outfielders in Kyle Stowers and Esteury Ruiz injured late in spring training, took advantage and offered him a deal to round out their Opening Day roster.
The Marlins placed Adam Mazur (right elbow surgery) on the 60-day injured list to make room for Slater on the 40-man roster. Miami on Wednesday also put infielder Maximo Acosta (left oblique strain), Stowers (right hamstring strain) and Ruiz (left oblique strain) on the 10-day injured list.
Slater, 33, played his first 7 1/2 seasons with the San Francisco Giants before spending the past 2 1/2 seasons with Cincinnati, Baltimore, the White Sox and Yankees. Last season, he played 51 games for the White Sox and then 14 for the Yankees, hitting .216 with a .270 on-base percentage, five home runs and 13 RBI in 160 plate appearances.
“Really excited to have Austin join our club,” McCullough said. “I saw him for a number of years as an opponent and competitor. He’ll bring a real high-quality at-bat versus left, something that historically he’s done. He gives us some nice options there.”
His right-handed bat provides balance to the Marlins’ lineup. Miami’s primary outfielders — the Jakob Marsee, Owen Caissie and the now-injured Stowers — are all left-handed. So, too, is Griffin Conine, who is primarily an outfielder but will likely also get time at designated hitter and potentially first base. Heriberto Hernandez and super-utility player Javier Sanoja were the only right-handed hitters who could see steady time in the outfield.
Slater is a career .267 hitter (.357 on-base percentage) against left-handers, compared with a .227 average (.311 on-base percentage) against right-handers. He also has 230 career plate appearances as a pinch hitter, posting a .247 batting average and .851 OPS with eight home runs and 38 RBI in those situations.
“I’ve got a lot of practice,” Slater said of being a productive bat off the bench. “It’s been a kind of a career thing for me. So I think experience has played a huge part of that. I tell guys that you have to build your own routine and kind of toy with what works for you on a prep standpoint — when to start locking in mentally, physically, and what kind of training environment is best for you to succeed in those moments. At the end of the day, practice is the only way to really get good at it. So the more experience you have, the better you can hone in those other parts of your game to be ready for that moment.”
The Marlins’ Opening Day roster for the 2026 season will be as follows:
Starting pitchers (5): Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Max Meyer, Chris Paddack, Janson Junk
Relief pitchers (8): Pete Fairbanks, Anthony Bender, Calvin Faucher, Tyler Phillips, John King, Andrew Nardi, Lake Bachar, Michael Petersen
Catchers (2): Agustin Ramirez, Liam Hicks
Infielders (5): Christopher Morel, Xavier Edwards, Otto Lopez, Connor Norby, Graham Pauley
Outfielders (5): Jakob Marsee, Owen Caissie, Austin Slater, Griffin Conine, Heriberto Hernandez
Utility (1): Javier Sanoja
Final workouts
After breaking from camp in Jupiter on Sunday, the Marlins finished their prep ahead of the season with workouts at loanDepot park Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This included batting practice and fielding drills followed by a simulated game each day.
“To have a few days with some on-field hitting and some of these sim games, to just somewhat get familiarized with the dimensions and what the outfield walls like — how particular bounces might come — yeah, it is important,” McCullough said. “We should be very good at home. You should know your home ballpark better than anyone else. So it is nice that we have these couple of days here for those that haven’t played at loanDepot, either ever or as often.”
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Miami Herald
Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.