Liam

Hicks

Hernández gets a look atop Miami’s lineup after homering during Monday’s series opener. The 26-year-old has homered twice in his last seven games and has three round-trippers and five steals through 36 games this season. It’ll be interesting to see if the Marlins continue to give him opportunities near the top of the order. Liam Hicks, who has typically hit first or second recently, is batting sixth with Washington utilizing lefty opener Richard Lovelady ahead of veteran righty Miles Mikolas on Tuesday night.

Hicks extended Miami’s lead with a solo shot to right field off Nats reliever Cole Henry in the ninth inning. It was his 12th round-tripper of the season. The 26-year-old backstop reached base safely in two of his five plate appearances out of the leadoff spot and scored a pair of runs in this one. He’s had an outstanding season so far, slashing .268/.345/.479 with 29 runs scored, 12 homers, 46 RBI and one steal in 58 games.

Miami has moved Hicks around between several spots in their lineup, but he’s mostly hit second for the last month. The 26-year-old slugging backstop figures to continue hitting near the top of the order, which should drive enough volume to make him one of the more impactful catchers in the fantasy landscape. He’s off to a phenomenal start, slashing .268/.344/.468 with 27 runs scored, 11 homers, 45 RBI and one steal through 57 games this season.

Hicks had cooled down significantly in May, coming into Saturday’s game hitting .211 in the month after hitting .315 through April. He’s ending the month on a good note, collecting three hits against the Mets while driving in the team’s only run. The 26-year-old is hitting an excellent .274/.347/.478 with 11 homers, 27 runs scored, and 45 RBI across 213 plate appearances.

Hicks snapped a 14-game home run drought with a solo blast off Freddy Peralta in the third inning. He did it again in the fifth, leading off with his second homer off Peralta. The 26-year-old backstop continues to be one of the most valuable catchers, slashing .279/.339/.503 with 11 homers, 24 runs scored, and 44 RBI across 186 plate appearances.

Edwards, who slugged his third round-tripper of the season during Friday’s series opener, seems to be Miami’s preferred top-of-the-order option with Otto Lopez, Liam Hicks and Kyle Stowers rounding out the heart of the order. The 26-year-old’s speed makes him an interesting leadoff option and should translate into a few extra stolen base opportunities moving forward.

Hicks now has nine home runs and 34 RBI in 35 games this season. Last year, he hit six home runs and knocked in 45 runs in 119 games. What the 26-year-old is doing this year is tremendous. By opening up his batting stance and looking to get the ball out in front more, Hicks has taken an elite contact approach and made it an elite contact approach with league-average hard contact and barrel rates. Given his ability to make high-level swing decisions, he is consistently in good positions to make meaningful contact. This breakout looks very real.

Hicks drilled a two-run single to right-center field against Orioles starter Chris Bassitt with two outs in the second inning before taking reliever Grant Wolfram deep for his eighth round-tripper of the season. The unheralded 26-year-old backstop should be able to find enough at-bats between first base and catcher to be a fantasy-relevant option in all leagues the rest of the way. He’s off to a really strong start this season, hitting .321 through 33 games. He’s currently tied with Matt Olson with a major-league leading 32 RBI during that span.

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.