Joe

Mack

Mack continues to show glimpses of his power since being promoted to the majors, and that’s his seventh homer of the campaign since being promoted near the beginning of May. He’s also done a solid job behind the plate, and the 23-year-old has given no reason to believe he won’t be the long-term answer behind the plate for the Marlins, with all due respect to Agustin Ramirez.

Mack took John Brebbia deep for a two-run blast in the seventh inning, capping off a red-hot June in which he slugged all five of his homers while hitting .294. The 23-year-old backstop is hitting .250/.308/.402 with 21 runs scored and 21 RBI across 145 plate appearances.

Mack’s home run was his fourth of the season. He hit a solo shot off Jose Corniell in the fourth inning. Mack is 17-for-52 (.327) with four home runs and 12 RBI in 17 games so far in June. The former 2021 first-round pick is running with the opportunity after a midseason call up.

Mack has been on fire in June, entering Wednesday with an OBP over .400. All three of his big-league homers have come this month. His defense has been as advertised too, significantly reducing the number of stolen bases the team was giving up with Agustín Ramírez behind the plate. Mack looks like the Marlins’ catcher of the present and future. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him move up from the bottom third of the order against righties soon.

Mack was ready for a 1-1 changeup from Paul Skenes in the second inning and blasted it for a 424-foot (102.3-mph EV) solo shot to center that increased the Marlins’ early lead to 2-0. The 23-year-old catcher also drew a walk in the ninth inning. His offensive production has picked up over the past couple of weeks, but he’s still slashing just .240/.291/.344 with two homers and 14 RBI over 105 plate appearances with the Marlins this season.

For the most part, Mack’s contributions offensively will come in the form of the occasional home run. Tonight, though, he raised his average from .217 to .253. He has 13 RBI and 11 runs scored through 28 big-league games, but he remains a weak option in two-catcher mixed leagues at this point.

It’s Mack’s first multihit game since May 9 in the Marlins’ previous series against the Nationals. This one rates his best series to date, as he went 4-for-9 with a homer in the three-game sweep. It raised his OPS from .500 to .597.

Mack’s home run was the first of his MLB career. He hit a two-run shot off Miles Mikolas in the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie. Mack is now hitting .214 with a .557 OPS in his first 70 at-bats at the MLB level. He has a 31 percent strikeout percentage and his power isn’t quite there yet. Mack is best left on the waiver wire for now, even in two-catcher formats.

Mack tripled his career RBI total in the rout tonight. He’s hitting .225/.262/.300 with 15 strikeouts through 42 plate appearances. He’ll start contributing with the occasional homer soon, but the average and OBP probably aren’t going to improve by a whole lot.

Mack is the 54th-ranked prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. A lot of that value comes from his defense, which is stellar. He’s hitting .244/.388/.378 in Triple-A with three home runs, one steal, and a 22/20 K/BB ratio. Mack hit 21 home runs and stole 9 bases in 112 minor league games last year, while hitting .257, so maybe he profiles as a .240 with 10-15 home runs and 3-4 steals the rest of the way? That’s likely more of a two-catcher league target.