Photo: Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire

Part of a series of articles previewing the defensive performance of all 30 MLB teams by asking the question … are they good?

To see the full series, click here.

2024 Defensive Runs Saved Rank: 27th

Team Strengths

Second baseman Otto Lopez had 9 Runs Saved in 103 games at second base. He’s the best defensive player in the starting lineup.

Catcher Nick Fortes has tallied 5 Runs Saved in each of the last two years as the primary starter. Pitch blocking is his area of expertise. Likely backup Liam Hicks has 5 Runs Saved from the 106 games we tracked of his in the minors.

Leaders In Runs Saved Via Good Fielding Plays – Catchers

Last 2 Seasons 

* Primary good fielding play for catcher = blocking a potential wild pitch

Team Weaknesses

The Marlins don’t have any other starting position players who you can say with confidence are going to have a positive Runs Saved at season’s end.

And they’ve got some weaknesses, among them the left side of the infield with shortstop Xavier Edwards (-8 Runs Saved last season) and third baseman Connor Norby (-5 Runs Saved in 30 games). FanGraphs has Norby as a 30 fielder on the 20-80 scouting scale.

Other Things To Know

In some ways this is a hard team to get a read on. They have only one position player with at least three years of service time on the FanGraphs version of their projected roster. 

Are the Marlins A Good Defensive Team?

No. There just isn’t a lot to get excited about here at the moment.