Marlins using final stretch to give younger players chance to shine

MIAMI -- With their seventh loss in eight games in Friday night’s 6-2 defeat to the Dodgers at loanDepot park, the Marlins’ postseason chances are all but done.

With 14 games remaining in the regular season, the focus will soon shift to playing spoiler and seeing how younger players fare in auditions for 2027.

“They wouldn't be here if we didn't believe they couldn't help us win games right now, so you just go out there and play your part, and in some ways just do your job,” manager Clayton McCullough said pregame.

Here are three players in particular that factored into the series opener.

RHP Ryan Gusto
Gusto allowed just two runs over six innings against the two-time reigning World Series champions to collect his second quality start of the season.

In a 1-0 ballgame in the sixth, McCullough allowed Gusto to face the heart of the order for the third time. Kyle Tucker tripled when Esteury Ruiz misplayed a carom off the right-field wall and scored on Will Smith’s softly hit single in front of Ruiz.

Barring subtractions and/or injuries, Gusto will vie for a 2027 rotation spot amongst the likes of Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Max Meyer, Tyler Phillips and Janson Junk. Adam Mazur and Robby Snelling should return from elbow surgery at some point, while top prospect Thomas White will be knocking on the door.

“I definitely want to establish myself as a starter,” said Gusto, who has a 2.97 ERA over his last eight starts. “You want to be in the rotation. You want them to have confidence in you, and you want to bring competitiveness and doing your job to the table and let them know that you can do that. So it's really cool for me to have had a good stretch of starts here, to have been doing well and seizing that opportunity. I think that we just have to keep capitalizing on the opportunities that I get.”

C/DH Agustín Ramírez
Demoted on May 4 and recalled on Aug. 4, the Marlins’ 2026 Opening Day catcher has been back in the Majors for a little more than a month.

Since his recall, Ramírez is 15-for-72 (.208) with four doubles, one homer, five RBIs, 11 walks and 22 strikeouts in 28 games. He has gone hitless in 10 of his starts.

Ramírez is adjusting to his new workload -- just three starts at catcher (Friday was his first since Aug. 13) and another 16 at designated hitter. He also continues to get pregame work at first base, though he has yet to appear there.

On Friday, Ramírez went 1-for-2 on ABS challenges and threw out Josue De Paula in his first Major League steal attempt to end the third.

“I thought Gus did a really nice job,” McCullough said. “He hadn't had very many starts here, especially recently behind the plate since he's been called back up, but he and [catching coach Craig Driver] have been out there working really hard on all parts of his catching game.”

In the sixth, Javier Sanoja singled with two outs to chase lefty Blake Snell, then he stole second. The right-handed-hitting Ramirez remained in the game to face righty Evan Phillips and capped a 10-pitch at-bat with an RBI double to the right-center gap.

Rookie Joe Mack is cementing himself as the club’s catcher for the foreseeable future, so Ramírez could back him up a couple times a week while also serving as the DH if his bat regains its 2025 form (21 homers as a rookie).

“I just want to show that I can play at this level,” Ramírez said via interpreter Luis Dorante. “That’s what I want.”

LHP Dax Fulton
After newcomer Victor Vodnik loaded the bases and lefty Cade Gibson surrendered a grand slam to Kyle Tucker with two outs in the seventh, Fulton took over and tossed two scoreless frames. He allowed just a ground-ball single and struck out two batters.

On Tuesday, Fulton kept the Mets scoreless over three innings while striking out four and walking just one in an impressive 42-pitch outing. A starter coming up through the Minors, the 2020 second-round pick has a 3.04 ERA in 12 Major League relief outings.

With veteran Andrew Nardi having undergone elbow surgery, Gibson, Fulton and Patrick Monteverde are the only southpaw relievers on the 40-man roster.

“That's kind of how I'm taking it is like an audition for next year with the opportunities I'm given,” Fulton said pregame. “Trying to put my best product out there on the field, try to give myself more of a chance next year to make the team at a camp and just kind of go from there.”