Marlins make this organizational change. News on Caissie, Hernandez, first base

A six-pack of Marlins notes on a Friday:

▪ Much was made recently about the Marlins’ slashing of their pro scouting personnel staff. But while it’s fair to criticize the team for not spending enough on player payroll, it’s important to note that finances did not fuel this decision.

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The Marlins ultimately kept six of their 12 pro scouts, a team source indicated.

The cuts were made because the Marlins are joining a growing number of teams who believe pro scouting generally can be best accomplished from video and data analytics on a computer screen, rather than in person.

The development of “TrackMan” technology has changed how many teams scout. TrackMan uses Doppler radar and high-speed cameras to track every movement and measurement of a pitched or batted baseball in real time.

Trackman essentially has replaced older radar guns and cameras by following the complete flight of the ball.

MLB teams access TrackMan using computers and tablets and digital interfaces instead of gathering the information sitting in stadiums or watching on standard TV broadcasts.

While the hardware (radar and high-speed optical cameras) physically operates in-person at the stadium during the game, the people processing it access the data entirely via digital interfaces.

The Marlins believe scouting the big leagues mostly through TrackMan is generally more efficient and effective than doing it in person. The Marlins still will send scouts to some games, but fewer than previously.

The Braves, Nationals, Astros and Twins have eliminated their pro scouting departments as they also move to more data-driven big-league scouting.

▪ Perhaps no Marlin in recent years has outperformed his minor-league numbers more than Heriberto Hernandez. He was hardly a top prospect after hitting .249 (13 homers, 60 RBI) in 118 games in Double A in 2023, or .220 with nine homers in 41 games at Triple A in Jacksonville in 2025.

But his 24 homers this season not only easily led the team, but rank 40th in baseball.

In 669 at-bats in 208 games over two seasons, Hernandez has 34 homers, 109 RBI and 28 doubles to go with a .245 batting average and .328 on-base percentage.

“He’s maybe someone that doesn’t get talked about a lot outside of here,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “Basically, a little over a full season in plate appearances, he’s got over 30 homers. That’s real power.

“What he does really well is he pulls the ball in the air. He hit right and left, can hit velocity, can hit mistakes in the zone. He is not an egregious chaser.”

▪ Owen Caissie’s rookie season — which ended last week with a lower-back stress fracture — offered promising signs that his power will translate to the majors but left a bunch of other questions unresolved.

Including: Can he get on base enough? Not yet; his .288 on-base average would rank 73rd of 75 National League regulars if he had enough at-bats to qualify. He closed with a .220 average, 14 homers and 58 RBI in 108 games.

Can he make good enough contract to be an above-average starter on a good team? There’s still far too much swing and miss in his game. He had 123 strikeouts in 330 plate appearances — a 37% rate that ranks in the bottom 1% in baseball. The league average typically is in the 23% range.

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“You saw him come out of the gates, amazing things those first couple weeks,” McCullough said. “The big walk-off [grand slam against the Pirates on opening weekend] and then he scuffled. I’m really not surprised by that.

“A lot of young players are going to go through that. Then started to put some things together, started to show us the power he has. His at-bat quality got better, had a little stint on the IL. Hasn’t really caught fire again. [But] we’re still very in on Owen and what his potential is.”

McCullough noted that “Owen’s defense has gotten markedly better. It needed to get better, and we expressed that to him. He’s worked very hard on that.”

▪ The Marlins’ organizational preference for often lifting starting pitchers (other than Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez) after their second time through an order worked out well when the bullpen was mostly healthy. Results have been uneven recently.

But McCullough, who’s in lockstep with that organizational philosophy on this issue, said even though “I look at what I have available,” injuries in the bullpen generally do not incline him to change his approach.

“Every third time, the hitter is going to be better,” he said. “That doesn’t mean individual [starting] pitchers can’t get out [hitters] a third time. It’s not personal feelings toward an individual. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m going to not do what I’m doing because we had a snafu [in a game]. If I think we would be better off moving on to someone else, I will make that decision on third time through the order… We have a very talented group in the bullpen that can come in and finish games.”

Janson Junk, Tyler Phillips and Ryan Gusto generally have had good attitudes about getting early hooks, though Phillips reacted angrily after being lifted with a lead in the fourth inning against the Dodgers last weekend.

Gusto said friends and associates ask him “all the time” about being removed early in games: “Every single person is wondering what that’s about. I explain that’s how we do things here, and that’s the best position to let the team win.”

Has Gusto pushed McCullough to allow him to pitch deeper into games? “Every single time,” Gusto said, smiling. “I have yet to win that argument. That’s his job to put us in the best position to win the game. It’s my job to do the best I can.”

▪ The Marlins ended up giving first base reps to five players who had never played there (Kyle Stowers, Griffin Conine and long since jettisoned Chris Morel, Connor Norby and Leo JImenez.

Who looked the best at first?

“Kyle really took to this,” McCullough said. “He has looked every comfortable there, handled himself well around the bag. I give Griff a lot of credit too.”

Stowers, a natural outfielder who played primarily first base over the final three months, declined to answer when I asked him where he prefers to play long-term; he said he wanted to focus on this season.

▪ McCullough said catcher Joe Mack, who began the season in the minors, already is “the best defensive catcher in the National League right now.”

Mack has thrown out 24 runners on attempted stolen bases (which ranks second in the National League) and has been successful at a 29% clip.

And “his receiving has improved; he’s above average there,” McCullough said. “His blocking is getting better. You would be hard-pressed to find a better defender at his position.”

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