<\/p>\n
Miami Marlins outfielder Austin Slater speaks to reporters after officially signing with the club on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at loanDepot park.<\/p>\n
Jordan McPherson<\/p>\n
jmcpherson@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a hectic past few days for Austin Slater.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n
He returned home to Jacksonville on Monday to see his family and \u201cget regrounded.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then the Miami Marlins called. He agreed to a one-year deal on Tuesday. It became finalized Wednesday.<\/p>\n
And now, he\u2019s already with his new club for their finals workouts at loanDepot park, getting acclimated to his new home ballpark and meeting his new teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow,\u201d Slater said, \u201cit\u2019s time to go. Kind of a quick reset. And luckily it wasn\u2019t too long [of a layoff], so still feel like I\u2019m in baseball shape and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
And expect Slater to get into the lineup early, according to manager Clayton McCullough \u2014 perhaps as early as Opening Day on Friday when the Marlins host the Colorado Rockies (7:10 p.m., MarlinsTV).<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to need to ease him in,\u201d McCullough said.<\/p>\n
Slater, entering his 10th MLB season, was in spring training with the Tigers on a minor-league deal but didn\u2019t make their Opening Day roster. He was released Saturday to give him a chance to land with another team.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally excited to have Austin join our club,\u201d McCullough said. \u201cI saw him for a number of years as an opponent and competitor. He\u2019ll bring a real high-quality at-bat versus left, something that historically he\u2019s done. He gives us some nice options there.\u201d<\/p>\n
His right-handed bat provides balance to the Marlins\u2019 lineup. Miami\u2019s primary outfielders \u2014 the Jakob Marsee, Owen Caissie and the now-injured Stowers \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of practice,\u201d Slater said of being a productive bat off the bench. \u201cIt\u2019s 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 \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marlins\u2019 Opening Day roster for the 2026 season will be as follows:<\/p>\n
Starting pitchers (5): Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Max Meyer, Chris Paddack, Janson Junk<\/p>\n
Relief pitchers (8): Pete Fairbanks, Anthony Bender, Calvin Faucher, Tyler Phillips, John King, Andrew Nardi, Lake Bachar, Michael Petersen<\/p>\n
Catchers (2): Agustin Ramirez, Liam Hicks<\/p>\n
Infielders (5): Christopher Morel, Xavier Edwards, Otto Lopez, Connor Norby, Graham Pauley<\/p>\n
Outfielders (5): Jakob Marsee, Owen Caissie, Austin Slater, Griffin Conine, Heriberto Hernandez<\/p>\n
Utility (1): Javier Sanoja<\/p>\n
Final workouts<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo 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 \u2014 how particular bounces might come \u2014 yeah, it is important,\u201d McCullough said. \u201cWe 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\u2019t played at loanDepot, either ever or as often.\u201d<\/p>\n