Four key developments to watch at Marlins camp

JUPITER, Fla. ¨C Let the games (and competition) begin.

The Marlins open Grapefruit League play against the Cardinals at 1:10 p.m. ET on Saturday at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. The game will be available on MLB.TV with both an English (FOX940AM) and Spanish radio (WAQI) broadcast or to At Bat subscribers on the MLB App.

¡°We have a lot of opportunity here, and we have a lot of talent,¡± president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said. ¡°We've got a lot of guys who are young, who are hungry and young and want to step up and to seize this opportunity. It's going to be fun to see, over spring, which guys are able to do that.¡±

Here are four developments to follow throughout the spring:

1. Who will be the club¡¯s fifth starter?
Injuries to Sandy Alcantara, Eury P¨¦rez, Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett ravaged the rotation, changing the complexion of the unit entering Opening Day last year. Miami hopes that won¡¯t be the case this season.

Barring any injuries this time around, Alcantara, Cabrera, Ryan Weathers and Cal Quantrill should earn starting jobs. That leaves righties Max Meyer, Valente Bellozo and Adam Mazur vying for the final spot.

Meyer has looked sharp early on after undergoing Lasik eye surgery and adding two new pitches. Bellozo, who will kick off the competition in Saturday¡¯s opener, was the club¡¯s most reliable starter in the back half of 2024 following his Major League debut. Mazur, acquired via the Tanner Scott trade from San Diego, is another promising arm with MLB experience.

¡°We feel like we're in a good spot, that we have optionality there, and we'll let the spring play out,¡± manager Clayton McCullough said. ¡°Certainly health plays a big part in that. We'll keep our fingers crossed, and where we're at, we're in good shape, and then just continue to let guys get built up.

¡°[We¡¯ll] go on some performance, but how guys are looking in comparison to how they look last year is a big part of [the decision-making], too. Guys can change in the offseason, as we've seen already this spring with some of the pitches that they're throwing and velocity. There's a lot of factors going into when the determination is made at the end.¡±

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2. How will the bullpen roles be divvied up?
Since Miami doesn¡¯t have an Emmanuel Clase-type closer, it will likely mix and match late-inning arms in 2025. Returning righties Calvin Faucher, Jesus Tinoco, Anthony Bender and Declan Cronin will factor into those high-leverage situations.

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The biggest issue thus far has been the health of lefty Andrew Nardi, who is nursing lower back inflammation. Should he not be ready to go by Opening Day, that would leave Anthony Veneziano (14 career MLB outings) as the lone southpaw reliever on the 40-man roster.

This could create chances for non-roster arms like Justin King, John Rooney, Josh Simpson and Dale Stanavich. McCullough also hinted that the club could rely on right-handers with arsenals that defy typical platoon splits.

3. Will the Marlins depend on platoons?
This could apply all over ¨C outside of shortstop Xavier Edwards and third baseman Connor Norby.

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Nick Fortes (right-handed hitter) and Liam Hicks (lefty) project as the catchers. At first base, Miami features Matt Mervis (lefty) and Jonah Bride and Eric Wagaman (righties). In the outfield, the lefty bats are Jes¨²s S¨¢nchez, Kyle Stowers and Griffin Conine. The righties are Dane Myers and Derek Hill.

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¡°We're going to put these guys in a position to succeed, and one of the easiest ways to do that is making sure they get as many at-bats as possible against the opposite hand, and then they're going to demonstrate whether and when they're ready for more playing time,¡± Bendix said.

4. How will the designated hitter be used?
S¨¢nchez, who is dealing with right elbow inflammation, will get at-bats at DH early on. Once he is full-go to throw, others will slot in. During the season, the DH could be a rotation of the odd man out at first base or in the outfield.

¡°We'll look at what the composition of the roster is at any given time and how to best deploy handiness we have on a given night against an opponent's starting pitcher, maybe what they have in the bullpen that night,¡± McCullough said. ¡°I think we'll have some optionality with those that we have here in camp into the season. Right now with the DH, it's a way for us to get someone plate appearances, to stay on a regular turn.¡±