Five Marlins players who have stood out to Skip Schumaker
JUPITER
The Miami Marlins are at the halfway point of spring training and three weeks away from starting the 2024 season against the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 28.
There are still plenty of decisions to be made in terms of the roster — primarily who will join Jesus Luzardo and Eury Perez in the rotation, who gets the final bullpen spots and how the Marlins will round out their bench.
While there is still time for those decisions to be made, a few players have made early impressions on Marlins manager Skip Schumaker.
Here are five of those players:
LEFT-HANDED PITCHER RYAN WEATHERS
The Marlins acquired Weathers at the trade deadline last August knowing he would likely be a reclamation project. His pure stuff was good but he hadn’t necessarily figured out how to utilize it.
After an offseason of working on his mechanics and diving into analytics, Weathers reported to camp ready to compete for a spot in Miami’s rotation.
And he’s making his case. Through three spring starts, Weathers has pitched 8 2⁄3 innings, giving up just two earned runs while striking out 10.
More important than the stats, though, is how his pitches have looked.
“I know it’s 97 miles an hour
[with the fastball] that everybody sees,” Schumaker said, “but the characteristics on his slider and his offspeed stuff were well above average of a major league pitch, which is really good to see. He didn’t have that, so that means he has swingand-miss in the strike zone and can expand from there, which now opens up a lot of things for him.”
RIGHT-HANDED PITCHER GEORGE SORIANO
Soriano made his MLB debut last
season, and the Marlins used him in a variety of roles on the big-league club.
At different points, he was a long reliever, a highleverage reliever and a spot starter.
Schumaker believes long-term Soriano has the potential to be a starting pitcher, but Soriano worked effectively out of the bullpen in 2023 and will likely be a key, if underrated, reliever for Miami in 2024.
Over 52 innings in 26 appearances for Miami last season, Soriano pitched to a 3.81 ERA with 52 strikeouts against 23 walks and a .234 batting average against. He pitched at least two innings out of the bullpen 12 times, including seven stints of at least three innings and one four-inning appearance.
Soriano said he has been working to improve his fastball command so that it can help expand the use of his secondary pitches — a slider that induced whiffs on 38 percent of opponents’ swings and a changeup that was his
primary putaway pitch.
“I see him in a number of different roles,” Schumaker said. “I think he’s a future starter. Whether that’s this year or next year, I’m not sure, but he’s going to have a chance to pitch high-leverage innings this year.”
OUTFIELDER DANE MYERS
Myers’ story is an interesting one.
He was a sixth-round pick by the Detroit Tigers in the 2017 MLB Draft as a two-way player out of Rice University but began his minor-league career exclusively as a pitcher. He shifted over to being a position player full-time beginning with the 2021 season, the first season following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Marlins acquired Myers in the minor-league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, and he immediately made his presence known in the minor leagues.
He made his MLB debut on July 4 and ultimately played 22 games for the Marlins, mostly filling in at center field during one of Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s injured-list stints.
“He’s fighting for a roster spot,” Schumaker said. “He’s right in the mix, and he should feel like he’s right in the mix. He can play all three outfield spots. He’s a righthanded power bat with speed . ... You can tell he’s ready. He’s gonna fight. He competes at the plate.”
CATCHER CHRISTIAN BETHANCOURT
The Marlins acquired Bethancourt in a minor trade with the Cleveland Guardians in December, and he is expected to split catching duties with returnee Nick Fortes in 2024.
Bethancourt, 32, has quickly gotten acclimated with the Marlins’ pitchers.
“Hearing him talk in between innings, that’s what you’re looking for: A guy that is all-in on every single pitch of your pitcher,” Schumaker said. “The care factor is there . ... There are just a lot of pluses so far. Our whole staff is really, really encouraged by the stuff that he brings — not only the catching part, but the communication with the pitching staff.”
OUTFIELDER GRIFFIN CONINE
Of the five, Conine is the only one here who all but certainly isn’t cracking the MLB roster to begin the season.
But he is certainly leaving
a good impression on the coaching staff.
He has three extra-base hits so far in spring training, including a two-run home run to center off Washington Nationals veteran Patrick Corbin on Wednesday.
Conine, the son of “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine, reached Triple A last season and defensively profiles best as a right fielder.
“Griffin has been showing some real tools in this camp,” Schumaker said. “I know the strikeouts earlier in his career are up and I think he’s made some healthy swing changes. He’s becoming more of a complete hitter. Do I think he should cut down the strikeouts a little bit more? Yeah, of course. I think you can say that about a lot of players, but he’s handling himself really well up here. [He’s hitting] lefties and righties. He’s playing a good defense. He has the arm to play right field, there’s no doubt about it. It’s an interesting profile, there’s no doubt. And as a left-handed bat, we don’t really have too much power in this organization, and I think he definitely provides that.”