'A lot of confidence': Marsee finishing gritty '26 season on high note

MIAMI – It would’ve been easy for the Marlins to quit on Jakob Marsee. It also would’ve been easy for Marsee to give up on himself.

But Marsee was never one of baseball’s top prospects, so he’s a fighter. He grew up playing football with a mentality to do whatever it takes to win.

Despite Marsee flirting with the Mendoza Line for much of the 2026 season, Miami stuck with its center fielder. The organization had seen what he was capable of during a two-month stretch to open his big league career in 2025 (.841 OPS).

There were no discussions about optioning Marsee to Triple-A Jacksonville to work on his swing, according to manager Clayton McCullough. Following the All-Star break, there were conversations about decreased playing time since other guys were performing at the time. That never materialized, because soon after, Marsee began returning to form.

“Jakob's tough,” McCullough said recently. “This is a difficult place to struggle. [Between] the expectations that he and we had for him coming into the year and how much we were going to count on him, and to not get off to the greatest start, to really struggle for the first half of the season, but to still hang in there -- continue to try to find ways to get out of that, make adjustments, continue to play good defense, take high-quality at-bats -- and then for things to turn and for him to perform like this speaks to a lot of his grit and toughness.”

From Aug. 7, when Marsee brought his average over .200 for the first time since June 22, through Saturday’s 8-3 loss to the Braves at loanDepot park, he has hit .309/.418/.497. His on-base percentage ranks fourth in the Majors (min. 150 plate appearances). Over this 44-game stretch, Marsee has five doubles, four triples and five homers. He has nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (29).

As a result, Marsee’s season statistics are respectable albeit not where he nor the Marlins hoped they would be in Spring Training: .231/.348/.359 with a .707 OPS, 19 doubles, seven triples and 11 homers in 155 games.

“I feel really good right now,” Marsee recently said. “Just feel in a good place, using the whole field, and have a lot of confidence right now.”

When the results weren’t showing up, the Marlins were confident in things turning around because of the metrics and Marsee’s plate discipline. According to Baseball Savant, Marsee ranked as the following entering play on Saturday:

91st percentile for chase rate (22.3%)
89th percentile for walk rate (12.7%)
83rd percentile for whiff rate (18.1%)

“For a guy that has that good of discipline and can actually take pitches at 100 [mph] that are almost strikes and they're not, and have the confidence to go up there,” hitting coach Pedro Guerrero said, “that discipline is definitely commendable and gives you success in stretches when you are not being good, like the first half.”

Marsee found other ways to contribute. Entering Saturday, he ranked in the 94th percentile with nine outs above average. Although he is just 23-for-35 in stolen-base attempts, his baserunning run value (one) is above average because of his overall ability.

“What made me so confident to continue to run Jacob out there again was he was going to go play great defense,” McCullough said. “We're going to have someone in center field who can go track it down. … When you can't defend and you're a one-trick pony, and you don't hit, you're not real good for a team.”

Marsee’s recent success at the plate coincides with collecting hits to all parts of the field, including damage to the pull side like his mammoth homer to right on Sept. 16 in Arizona. During the rough patch, his swing decisions remained elite, but the swings he was getting off didn’t align with the approach, per Guerrero. When pitchers went up and in, for example, Marsee got too upright and was trying to go the other way.

With the 2026 season coming to a close, Marsee and the Marlins hope he can carry this momentum into ’27 and be the key piece they expected to rely on.

“It sucks not helping the team,” Marsee said. “It sucks playing bad. I don't think my confidence ever changed. I think even when I went up to at-bats, I had a lot of confidence and trust in my abilities at the plate. It just sometimes gets confusing while you're missing pitches or rolling some over. But I know I'm a good player, and I really trust that. And I also know everything happens for a reason. I just trust God through everything, and I just want to win games no matter what.”