Agustín

Ramírez

This move was reported yesterday and is now official. Ramírez has really struggled as a catcher, but he has a 10 percent barrel rate over his career and makes a good amount of contact. He needs to learn to take a few more walks, but his bat could play at another position if the Marlins wanted to give him a shot at first base while he’s in the minors. He likely does not have a future as an MLB catcher.

Doing this but sticking with Chris Paddack is a choice. Ramírez, though, isn’t doing enough offensively to justify putting up with his defense, even if he has shown some improvement there this year. Mack is a weaker bet than Ramírez on offense, but he’s an excellent defensive catcher who takes walks and hits the occasional homer. He’s batting .244/.388/.378 in Triple-A. Liam Hicks and Mack figure to split time behind the plate, with Hicks also serving as a DH. Mack won’t get Ramírez’s DH at-bats, so that could open some playing time for Christopher Morel.

Hicks was a late scratch on Tuesday with an illness, but he will just miss one game and be back in the lineup. Agustin Ramirez is out of the lineup with Kyle Stowers at DH and Esteury Ruiz starting in left field and batting ninth.

Hicks was replaced by Agustín Ramírez behind the plate with Connor Norby taking over at DH. He’s presumably day-to-day heading into Wednesday’s series finale.

It’s a bizarre-looking lineup from manager Clayton McCullough with Ramírez entering the leadoff spot while Jakob Marsee draws out of the lineup for the first time this season. Esteury Ruiz is making his first start of the year in center field. The 24-year-old power/speed combo backstop is off to a frosty start at the dish, hitting .226/.298/.366 with two homers, 12 RBI and one steal through 25 games.

Sure, why not. It’s probably been a few years since Edwards hit cleanup at any sort of level, but he went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and an RBI in his first shot there on Monday evening with Kyle Stowers hitting second. The 26-year-old speedster isn’t long for the heart of the order, but the Marlins don’t exactly have a ton of alternatives unless someone like Agustín Ramírez is going to heat up.

Hopefully, this will snap his streak of consecutive days being dropped in the lineup at two. Ramírez hit second or third in his first 19 starts, but he was lowered to fifth with Kyle Stowers back on Sunday and then he hit sixth tonight. Ramírez is batting .222/.297/.370 with 11 runs scored and 11 RBI in 22 games. Of course, those solid run+RBI numbers are a product of hitting second and third and probably won’t continue now unless he steps it up.

Ramírez draws a well-deserved day off after making 12 consecutive starts between catcher and DH since April 3. The 24-year-old power/speed combo backstop has been hot of late, batting .286 (8-for-28) with one homer and eight RBI over his last seven games.

Ramírez’s first big fly of the season came off Atlanta reliever Aaron Bummer and traveled 418 feet into the left-field seats at Truist Park. The 24-year-old power/speed combo backstop spearheaded Miami’s offensive onslaught in this one with a three-hit performance that also included a run-scoring single in the sixth inning. It’s taken a little while to get going, but Ramírez is hitting .267 (8-for-30) over his last seven games.

Ramírez hasn’t looked all that bad at the plate, but with no homers and one steal through 15 games, he’s an early fantasy disappointment. Last year, he had 21 homers and 16 steals in 136 games. At least his improved defense will help him stay in the lineup while he slumps. He should still be viewed as a top-10 fantasy catcher.