Garrett has another great Triple-A start

Garrett figured to be in the Marlins’ rotation for the long haul, but that was before he walked eight and allowed seven runs over 4 1/3 innings in two starts. He’ll try to figure things out in Jacksonville, where he had a 2.30 ERA but also a surprisingly high 12.3 percent walk rate in six starts before being called up.

It’s so odd seeing Garrett struggle with his control like this. He walked eight in just 4 1/3 innings over his two starts for the Marlins. Prior to his elbow surgery, he had just a 4.8 percent walk rate from 2022-24. The Marlins will surely give him another try once things improve. In the meantime, they could try Bradley Blalock or Ryan Gusto.

Maybe some nerves here. Garrett actually walked one more batter today than he did in his seven starts and 37 innings before going down in 2024 and requiring Tommy John surgery. He was also unusually wild in Triple-A, walking 15 in 31 1/3 innings prior to his recall today. Still, he’ll get better and probably prove to be a solid enough starter for the Marlins. He’ll face the Braves next time out.

With Robby Snelling (elbow) landing on the 15-day injured list, Braxton Garrett will be called up to fill his rotation spot. The 28-year-old has pitched to a 2.30 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 32/15 K/BB ratio in 31 1/3 Triple-A innings this season. He struggled in 37 innings in 2024 before undergoing elbow surgery and missing the entire 2025 season. He could be worth a stream in deeper formats.

It’s an absolute bombshell development after Snelling made his highly-anticipated major-league debut last Friday against the Nationals, allowing three runs over five innings. The 22-year-old top pitching prospect was slated to start Thursday’s series finale against the Twins. There’s no word yet regarding how much time the 22-year-old top prospect will miss, but elbow injuries tend to lead to significant absences, especially when UCL damage is involved. There should be some clarity on his status at some point in the coming days. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough told reporters it’ll be veteran lefty Braxton Garrett, who has been outstanding at Triple-A Jacksonville this season, coming up to fill Snelling’s rotation spot.

Snelling’s forthcoming major-league debut feels inevitable after lefty Braxton Garrett took the ball for Triple-A Jacksonville on Tuesday night instead of being scratched. It’s not official yet, but all signs point to Snelling arriving in the big leagues later this week after Miami decided to finally move on from Chris Paddack. There are likely to be some growing pains as he acclimates to pitching at the highest level, but the 22-year-old out southpaw offers enough strikeout upside to warrant a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats.

This comes just two days after the Marlins said that Paddack was going to make his next turn in the rotation. Turns out, posting a 7.34 ERA and 1.63 WHIP in 30 2/3 innings is not what Miami had in mind for the final spot in their rotation. In the immediate, they will call up a reliever to give them an extra arm in the bullpen, but another starter will be joining the rotation on Friday. While everybody wants it to be Robbie Snelling, and he is an option, fellow left-hander Braxton Garrett is actually on the 40-man roster and has a 1.71 ERA in five Triple-A starts this year. We would bet that Garrett gets the call on Friday, but it’s undecided for now.

Garrett now has a 0.77 ERA in 23 1/3 innings at Triple-A this season with a 23/8 K/BB ratio. The left-hander is on the 40-man roster, while Robbie Snelling is not, so even though Snelling is an intriguing prospect and a fantasy darling, it will most likely be Garrett that gets the first chance to replace a starter in the Marlins rotation. That could be coming any week now, given his recent performances.

Garrett sat at 92 mph with his four-seam fastball, but that pitch had just two whiffs on 12 swings and just a 50 percent first-pitch strike rate. However, Garrett filled the zone with his cutter and got four whiffs on seven swings with that offering while also showing off a slider that has a bit less drop but more horizontal movement and producing plenty of whiffs as well. The left-hander has a 0.59 ERA in three starts and would likely be up quickly if any Marlins starting pitcher falters.

Garrett was quite surprisingly sent down despite showing the best velocity of his career in averaging 92.6 mph with his fastball in two starts this spring. He wasn’t quite at that level tonight, coming in at 91.8 mph, but that’s still 1.0 mph better than his average as a major leaguer. Even as is, he’s almost certainly one of the Marlins’ five best starters, and it shouldn’t be too long before he gets a chance to show it.