{"id":663410,"date":"2026-04-04T21:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T21:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/663410\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T21:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T21:05:26","slug":"xavier-edwards-hot-start-could-lead-to-multiple-career-firsts-with-marlins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/663410\/","title":{"rendered":"Xavier Edwards\u2019 Hot Start Could Lead to Multiple Career Firsts with Marlins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">It&#8217;s been quite some time since the Miami Marlins had that MVP season from Giancarlo Stanton or the Batting Title from Luis Arraez. While they don&#8217;t have someone who stands out as an MVP candidate, they do have someone who could haul in some league-leading statistics by year&#8217;s end. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">That player? Xavier Edwards. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Edwards has been on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwarxa01.shtml\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a tear to begin 2026<\/a>, hitting every ball in sight and making plays in the field. His fourth season in the league could be the breakout season that Miami has been banking on when originally trading him, especially with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/marlins\/onsi\/news\/these-two-miami-marlins-players-just-made-team-history\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">how things have gone thus far<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">But if Edwards continues this stretch, what could be the ceiling for him and the Marlins? Here are a few firsts that Edwards could realistically be in competition for. <\/p>\n<p>1. NL Batting Title<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kncp7dgqatr5vd4p6m.jpg\" alt=\"Xavier Edwards gets a hit. \" title=\"Xavier Edwards gets a hit. \" width=\"3957\" height=\"2225\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"72\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Miami Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards (9) gets a base hit.  | Mady Mertens-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">A few seasons ago, Edwards hit .328 in 70 games and was a real problem at the plate. Last season, in over 100 games, Edwards hit .283, which wouldn&#8217;t put him in contention for a batting title, but is strong for a player&#8217;s first time surpassing the century mark in games played. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">He has shown he has a tremendous eye at the plate, and hitting over .400 to begin the season is a great start to a campaign that could lead him to a batting title. He would have to be a contact machine for the remainder of the year, but this doesn&#8217;t seem so outlandish to predict. <\/p>\n<p>2. First-time All-Star Nod<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kncpf2tqr8eqwkysvh.jpg\" alt=\"Xavier Edwards gets a base hit. \" title=\"Xavier Edwards gets a base hit. \" width=\"3351\" height=\"1884\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7m\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Miami Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards (9) hits.  | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7q\">If Edwards stays healthy and plays in more games this year than he did last year, he could easily find his way to Philadelphia to play in the All-Star Game. Last season, the Marlins only sent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/marlins\/onsi\/news\/marlins-rising-star-outfielder-wants-to-control-what-he-can-control\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kyle Stowers<\/a> to be their All-Star representative, but Edwards&#8217; plate presence is enough to have him considered. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7t\">He&#8217;s not going to hit a lot of home runs, but he&#8217;s going to work counts, find holes, and get on base, each of which helps the team. The Marlins haven&#8217;t sent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/marlins\/onsi\/news\/xavier-edwards-solidifies-role-marlins-second-baseman-2025\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">two or more players<\/a> to the All-Star Game since Arraez and Jorge Soler were sent in 2023. <\/p>\n<p>Base Stealing Numbers<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kncprfcawqxatcvqwd.jpg\" alt=\"Xavier Edwards sliding. \" title=\"Xavier Edwards sliding. \" width=\"4596\" height=\"2585\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"86\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Miami Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards (9) attempts to steal third base.  | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8a\">Edwards stole 31 bases in 2024 and 27 in 2025. Already with one stolen base this year, Edwards could set a new career-high by surpassing 31 stolen bases in 2026. His strength resides in his speed on the base paths, which he\u2019ll take full advantage of considering how often he gets on base. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s been quite some time since the Miami Marlins had that MVP season from Giancarlo Stanton or the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2395],"tags":[5,1816,778,58,4171,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-663410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-marlins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-marlins","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-marlins","12":"tag-miamimarlins","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116348475785629415","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}