Miami Marlins 2026 Spring Training Storylines to Follow

With so much excitement and anticipation surrounding this Miami Marlins ball club, it gives fans even more reason to keep a close eye on what’s happening daily down in Jupiter, Florida, as the team prepares for Opening Day.

With a record of 6-10, smack dab in the middle of the Grapefruit League standings, we are only a couple of weeks away from teams breaking camp and heading to wherever they are going to begin their 2026 season.

For the Marlins, it’s going to be a short trip down south back to LoanDepot Ballpark.

After a slew of offseason moves to prepare the roster in hopes of improving upon the 79-win season from a year ago, some notable transactions included the departure of Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers and the arrival of Owen Caissie, Pete Fairbanks, Christopher Morel, and Chris Paddack.

There have also been some injury updates on players who recently made their spring debuts. On top of that, there has been plenty of items to monitor, including first looks at some of the exciting prospects looking to debut this year for the big-league club, notable injuries sustained, position battles, and the experimentation of new positions to try and keep names in the lineup as often as possible.

So, let’s dive into the top storylines to follow for the Miami Marlins this spring.

Who’s Locking Down a Spot on the Opening Day Lineup?

Given the volume of young players on Miami’s roster, there were bound to be opportunities in multiple spots for players to have their name written into the starting nine come the end of March.

If you were to look at the aforementioned position battles, the first one that comes to mind would be the competition between Connor Norby and Graham Pauley at third base. Unfortunately for Pauley, his start to spring was slowed down due to a forearm injury, which has limited him to being a DH only so far.

Lucky for him, his defense was never in question, but this was an opportunity to prove that he should be the starting third baseman on day one. Pauley is slashing .313/.421/.500 across 19 plate appearances this spring. Though it’s a small sample, it’s good to see his bat start to come along.

Norby’s numbers come in a slightly bigger sample (26 PA) but his results have been more underwhelming. This remains one of the more fascinating position battles to watch leading up to Opening Day.

At first base, the penciled-in starter as of now looks to be offseason signing Christopher Morel, who has, for the most part, held his own at the position.

Also spending time at the position has been Griffin Conine, who, from the very beginning of the offseason, was rumored to be in the running to get appearances at the position throughout the year because of the logjam in the outfield with Kyle Stowers, Jakob Marsee, and Caissie locked into roles.

While the DH position is obviously still in play for Conine, despite him proving to be a capable defender in the outfield, any opportunity to secure more playing time would be welcomed.

While the Marlins would have loved to see Agustin Ramirez get behind the plate for them after an offseason where defense was going to be a priority, he is currently playing in the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic.

What that does provide us with is more looks at prospect Joe Mack, who has the makings of being a strong MLB catcher. While he will likely start the year in Triple-A Jacksonville, he could force the front office’s hand early in the season to receive the call-up.

The rest of the team looks to be locked down, other than a couple more battles for bench roles. Ramirez will be the Opening Day catcher, Morel will be starting at first, Xavier Edwards turning two with Otto Lopez up the middle, and the outfield will be laid out as I mentioned before.

If Griffin does not start at DH, Heriberto Hernandez will likely get the nod at the DH spot. The rest of the bench will be made up of the one who comes up short at third, Gold Glove utilityman Javier Sanoja, and backup catcher Liam Hicks.

Who Will Be Toeing the Rubber?

The Marlins, as usual, are entering a season with a plethora of options when it comes to arms.

Sandy Alcantara has already gotten the nod to start game No. 1 for the club. Right behind him is the young phenom, Eury Perez. After those two, there is a battle between five arms for the final three spots.

Former first-round pick Max Meyer is coming off a start where he looked just about as sharp as he did last season before going down with a hip injury.

After it was announced that Meyer would throw three innings, around 55 pitches, the young right-hander had his fastball comfortably sitting in the mid-90s, averaging 95.5 mph on the pitch with an induced vertical break touching 18 inches from the very first inning.

After Meyer, we have the return of lefty Braxton Garrett.

It has been quite some time since the Marlins have seen Garrett pitch for them — 2024, in fact.

Before undergoing elbow surgery, Garrett had been seen as a sense of stability in the Marlins’ rotation. He had entered 2024 coming off a career-high 159.2 innings pitched, accumulating 156 Ks, and pitching to a 3.66 ERA. After the trades of Cabrera and Weathers, the return of Garrett is going to be quite the sight for sore eyes.

Paddack then enters the conversation as a contender for a rotation spot after being the latest acquisition for the team around the same time the Marlins signed Janson Junk last offseason, who is also competing for a spot in the rotation.

Then enters the rookie, left-handed starter, Robby Snelling.

While the results haven’t truly shown much, the flashes have been there in his three appearances so far this spring. In fact, he is coming off his best appearance to date against the Astros a couple of days ago. He pitched three innings of shutout baseball, only allowing one hit, one walk, and striking out six in just 45 pitches.

The slow start to spring may have ruled out an Opening Day spot on the roster; if he was able to continue making appearances like his latest, he could be the first call from the minors to fill a spot.

As it currently stands, I would project the starting five to be Sandy, Eury, Meyer, Garrett, and Paddack. Junk would become the long man in a bullpen that seemed to be set from the very start.

Pete Fairbanks was signed to his one-year deal to be the closer for this team. After that, we will see one of the better bridges to the ninth, not only in recent team history, but probably in the National League.

A trio of Calvin Faucher, Tyler Phillips, and Anthony Bender looks to be the three who will primarily set the ninth for Fairbanks. Andrew Nardi, Cade Gibson, and newly signed John King will give manager Clayton McCullough three left-handed options to deploy in-game.

What’s Left to Look For?

Ultimately, I do not see any surprises joining the fold in either of these roster battles come the conclusion of spring.

The Marlins, while not the flashiest, look to have put together a competitive roster that could continue to make some noise this season. As players continue to get back into the lineup and pitchers can get more in-game appearances, the decisions will likely play themselves out.

All in all, this young team looks to be in a prime position to provide the Marlins fanbase with a full season of excitement.