Braxton

Garrett

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.

Garrett, 28, was expected to have one of the final spots in the Miami rotation, but he didn’t show enough in the Grapefruit League for that to become official. Janson Junk will instead be the fifth starter for the Marlins, and it’s likely Garrett will be up with the Fish at some point this spring.

Zack Littell was scheduled to take the hill opposite Braxton Garrett, who is vying for the final spot in Miami’s rotation along with Janson Junk. Littell worked three innings last Friday in his spring debut. He’ll presumably get his work in during a bullpen session to stay on schedule for the start of the year.

Snelling’s path to a spot in Miami’s season-opening rotation spot evaporated following the addition of Chris Paddack earlier this spring but he still looked sharp in a handful of Grapefruit League outings. It’ll come down to either Braxton Garrett or Janson Junk for the final spot in the rotation. The 22-year-old southpaw is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball and should be fantasy relevant once he arrives in the big leagues given his strikeout upside and pitcher-friendly home ballpark. He’s a name to keep on early-season watch lists, especially in deeper mixed leagues.

It had been thought that Garrett was a shoo-in for a rotation spot after missing last year with an injury, but the left-hander has not looked crisp this spring, allowing three runs on two hits in four innings while walking three and striking out three. Meanwhile, the Marlins have kept Junk stretched out, and he pitched well for the team in 2025, posting a 4.17 ERA in 21 total appearances.

Garrett averaged 92.3 mph with his fastball for the second outing in a row after coming in at 93.0 mph in his one-inning spring debut. The number might decline more as his outings grow longer, but for now, it’s a nice improvement on the 90.8 mph he averaged in his one full big-league season in 2023. It’s reason to think he could be a fringy mixed-league starting option this season.

Garrett pitched two innings in his spring debut last week, so it was a little surprising he exited after just 26 pitches today. He again pitched well, although his velocity wasn’t quite as good as last week; his fastball averaged 92.3 mph, which was down from 93.0 on Thursday but still up 1.2 mph from when he was last seen in 2024.

The good news is that Garrett, who is coming off elbow surgery, averaged 93.0 mph with his fastball today. That’s 2.8 mph better than when he was last seen in 2024 and 1.8 mph ahead of his career-best average from 2022. He was unfortunately wild in his 23-pitch inning, but he’d be quite a bit more interesting for fantasy purposes if that velocity sticks around.