The Marlins have accrued the fifth-most WAR of any staff from their catchers this 12 months. Their backstops have a collective 133 wRC+ on the place, third highest in baseball. This has been one of many staff’s greatest strengths to begin this season, so it was a little bit of a shock to see Miami make a reasonably vital change on the place earlier this week. On Monday, the Marlins optioned Agustín Ramírez to Triple-A, calling up high catching prospect Joe Mack to take his place on the massive league roster. The explanation why they felt snug making this swap has been the standout play of Liam Hicks, the a lot less-heralded catcher additionally in his second large league season.
As Miami’s high general prospect a 12 months in the past, Ramírez spent practically all the season within the majors. He put up a .231/.287/.413 slash line (91 wRC+) in 136 video games as a rookie. Regardless of the practically league-average batting line, he accrued precisely 0.0 WAR due to some fairly atrocious defensive numbers. Per Statcast, he had the second-lowest Fielding Run Worth of any catcher with at the least 500 innings on the place. He was really a barely above-average pitch framer, however his throwing and blocking grades have been the worst in baseball.
Via a month of play this 12 months, Ramírez’s bat hasn’t actually taken a step ahead; his 86 wRC+ is a hair under what he completed final season, although the form of his manufacturing seems to be slightly totally different. His stroll charge is almost 4 factors larger than it was in 2025, however his energy output has cratered due to a six-point drop in barrel charge. The protection hasn’t improved both, and so the Marlins despatched him again to Triple-A to work on his expertise behind the plate. Right here’s how supervisor Clayton McCullough put it on Monday:
“It bought to the purpose the place it’s efficiency and felt like, particularly on the defensive aspect of issues, that whereas he put in a number of good work this offseason and had seen some glimpse of issues getting higher, that a part of his recreation must proceed to enhance to have the ability to catch up right here for us.”
Ramírez will nearly actually get one other shot to indicate he could make an influence within the large leagues — he was a extremely regarded prospect and the centerpiece of the Jazz Chisholm Jr. commerce in 2024 — however it is a little bit of a crossroads second for him early in his profession. Can he enhance sufficient behind the plate to stay at catcher, or is a extra everlasting change to first base or designated hitter in his future? The staff is giving him this chance to proceed creating his defensive expertise in a much less pressure-filled setting. We’ll see if he can really make the required changes.
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I’ve buried the lede right here a bit. Clearly, the Marlins have gotten a lot manufacturing from their catchers regardless of Ramírez due to a breakout season from Hicks. He was a Rule 5 choice final 12 months and spent all the season on Miami’s large league roster. He acquitted himself nicely contemplating he had by no means performed above Double-A throughout his minor league profession; he posted a .247/.346/.346 slash line (98 wRC+) in 119 video games, splitting time between backing up Ramírez, and taking part in first base and DH.
Throughout the offseason, Michael Baumann recognized Hicks as considered one of a handful of batters who exhibited a number of the abilities that undergirded the breakouts of Maikel Garcia and Geraldo Perdomo. His skillset featured a sophisticated understanding of the strike zone and glorious bat-to-ball expertise, however he was largely let down by a extreme lack of contact high quality. Final 12 months, amongst batters with at the least 300 plate appearances, Hicks ran the seventh-lowest chase charge (17.6%) and the Twelfth-highest zone contact charge (93.1%), however his hard-hit charge was simply 27.7%, sixteenth lowest in baseball.
The Marlins acknowledged Hicks’ sturdy basis and set him up with an offseason program to assist him improve his bat velocity. It’s a well-recognized tradeoff: A hitter with sturdy bat-to-ball expertise sacrifices a few of that skill to place the ball in play with a bit extra authority. Right here’s what he needed to say about his offseason work in an interview with Christina De Nicola of MLB.com again on March 31:
“I feel that’s what I’ve been coaching the entire offseason is simply getting that ‘A swing’ off just about each time, as a result of I do know that my bat to ball is sweet, and it’s been good, so not being afraid to strike out as a lot prior to now, simply because I do know that even once I’m taking these swings, I nonetheless have a excessive chance of placing the ball in play.”
Whereas his common bat velocity is up half a tick, the most important change to his swing has been the addition of a giant leg kick. You possibly can see how dramatically totally different his load seems to be on this pair of clips, the primary exhibiting a house run from 2025 and the second a homer from this 12 months:
His revamped swing simply seems to be prefer it’s geared for more durable contact, even when his common swing velocity isn’t all that improved. The outcomes again this up:
Liam Hicks, Batted Ball Peripherals
| 12 months | BatSpd | EV90 | Laborious Hit% | Barrel% | Pull AIR% | xwOBACON | wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 67.4 | 100.6 | 27.7% | 3.5% | 14.9% | .308 | .313 |
| 2026 | 67.9 | 102.6 | 41.2% | 7.8% | 21.6% | .388 | .403 |
His hard-hit charge has elevated by 13.5 proportion factors, the fifth-largest soar of any certified batter this 12 months. He’s barreling the ball much more usually, he’s pulling the ball within the air extra, his ninetieth percentile exit velocity is up two ticks, and his anticipated wOBA on contact is a whopping 80 factors larger. By each vital batted ball metric, he’s impacting the ball with far more authority, and that’s resulted in a .319/.372/.584 slash line, good for a 158 wRC+. He blasted his ninth residence run of the season on Thursday, already surpassing his whole of six from final 12 months.
Right here’s the unimaginable factor about Hicks’ transformation: He’s really lowered his strikeout charge by slightly over 5 proportion factors, the Twenty second-largest drop amongst certified batters this 12 months. Together with his newfound energy, he’s swinging much more usually at pitches each out and in of the zone. Regardless of his barely larger chase charge, although, his whiff charge has fallen barely, and his contact charge is all the best way up at 92.1%. He’s not solely making higher contact, he has additionally managed to make much more of it — he has found out a solution to have his cake and eat it, too.
Defensively, Hicks doesn’t stand out all that a lot, grading out barely under common per FRV and barely above common per DRS. However that’s the place Mack enters the image. Ranked 56th on our 2026 Prime 100 Prospects listing, he’s drawn excellent scouting studies for his defensive work behind the plate, notably for his throwing arm. Due to his lengthy swing, Mack comes with some threat as a hitter, however he has made some progress on the plate within the minor leagues, dropping his Triple-A strikeout charge from 27.9% in 2025 to 21.4% this season. Fewer punchouts is unquestionably a superb factor, however that small minor league pattern isn’t essentially proof that he has solved his contact points. Listed below are Eric Longenhagen’s notes about how Mack’s method has modified early this 12 months:
“Nothing dramatically totally different in Mack’s splits. He’s, nevertheless, swinging much less: He’s dropped his swing charge from 50% final 12 months to 44% this 12 months, and his chase charge from 33% to 31%. He’s lacking secondary pitches lots (59% contact charge versus non-fastballs in 2025, 62% to this point in 2026), and there are not any mechanical tweaks I can see. Identical man, hit device threat and volatility, however athletic and highly effective sufficient to slug and clear the offensive bar at catcher.”
The Marlins don’t want Mack to hold the load at catcher since Hicks has been hitting so nicely, nevertheless it might be attention-grabbing to see how they combine and match on the place. The staff had been fairly strictly defending Hicks from left-handed pitching this 12 months; his begin at catcher on Thursday was simply his second begin towards a southpaw in 2026. Sadly, as a result of Mack can also be a left-handed batter, a straight platoon most likely isn’t within the playing cards. As an alternative, the Marlins will most likely proceed utilizing Hicks at first base and designated hitter to maintain his bat within the lineup whereas Mack will get the vast majority of taking part in time behind the plate.
With Hicks mashing on the plate and Mack offering a big defensive improve behind it, there doesn’t appear to be room on the massive league roster for Ramírez for the foreseeable future. But when Ramírez’s protection finally takes sufficient of a step ahead for him to get at the least part-time reps within the majors, the Marlins might have a little bit of a logjam at catcher. That wouldn’t be as a lot of a problem for them as it might be for different groups, although, contemplating Hicks additionally performs first base and Ramírez bats right-handed. Nevertheless this performs out, with two backstops or three, Miami is shaping as much as have one of many higher catching teams in baseball.