New York Yankees baseball hats and gloves in the dugout out in the eighth inning against the Detroit Tigers. David Reginek-Imagn Images

New York Yankees Poach Yet Another Miami Marlins Player

Originally posted on Miami Marlins on SI
By Matthew Schmidt | Last updated Aug 12, 2025 3:45 PM ET

The New York Yankees have poached a whole lot of players from the Miami Marlins over the years, and now, they have added another one.

The Yankees have signed catcher Rob Brantly to a minor-league contract, which will actually represent Brantly's second stint in New York. He originally played for the Yanks between 2021 and 2022, appearing in a grand total of seven games.

Brantly, who played his collegiate baseball at the University of California-Riverside, was originally selected by the Detroit Tigers in the third round of the 2010 MLB Draft. He was then traded to the Marlins in a deal that sent pitcher Anibal Sanchez and infielder Omar Infante back to the Tigers in July 2012.

The San Diego, Ca. native made his big-league debut with Miami that same season, slashing .290/.372/.460 with three home runs and eight RBI over 113 plate appearances.

At the time, it was looking like the Fish may have nabbed a potential steal from Detroit, but the following year, Brantly regressed considerably, posting a .528 OPS across 243 trips to the dish. That was the last time he ever received legitimate playing time over the course of a season.

Since then, Brantly has bounced around between several major-league squads, also spending time with the Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays.

The 36-year-old signed back with the Marlins over the winter and played in three games with Miami this season. Now, he will be joining a Yankees squad that already has plenty of depth at catcher, so it remains to be seen if he will actually get any playing time.

The Marlins' catchers are certainly interesting

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Marlins possess one of the most intriguing young catcher duos in baseball in the form of Agustin Ramirez and Liam Hicks, both of whom are very impressive hitters but don't offer a whole lot behind the plate.

Miami may need to look for a more defensive-oriented backstop this coming offseason, which would allow the Marlins to move Ramirez to a full-time designated hitter role while finding another catcher to split time with Hicks.

Miami has slowed down recently after a red-hot stretch, but the future is definitely bright in South Beach thanks to an eye-opening core of young hitters and, of course, a loaded pitching staff that will be getting some key arms back from injury.

We'll see if the Marlins can make one more push here down the stretch.

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