MIAMI -- For a minute or so Tuesday night, Jakob Marsee's first at-bat perfectly epitomized how his 2026 season has gone so far.
Marsee fouled off the third pitch he saw -- a 96.9 mph sinker from Cardinals right-hander Dustin May -- only to lose his bat into the protective netting above the visiting dugout down the first-base line.
A young St. Louis fan jumped onto the dugout to take down the bat, eventually doing so to the cheers of the loanDepot park crowd. As the kid was going about his task, Marsee went back to the Marlins’ dugout for new lumber.
"They asked if I wanted it back,” Marsee recalled following Miami’s 5-3 loss. “I just told him to keep it. I didn't have any hits in it. Just keep it.”
With a twist of fate, Marsee lined the next offering, a 96.5 mph four-seamer, to right field, where it bounced above the wall and back into play.
Right fielder Jordan Walker retrieved the ball and threw to third, where Marsee was called out. After the umpires convened, however, they ruled it a home run. A replay review upheld the call, giving Marsee his first career leadoff homer and tying the game at 1-1.
Marsee’s first homer of 2026 also sparked his first three-hit game, which included reaching base a season-high four times.
"It's not like we've been waiting on it, but we expected Marsee's going to string together a good run,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He's just too talented offensively. He does too many things well with how he controls the strike zone, so it was a matter of time. Hope he can take a night like tonight where you get three knocks and be able to build a little steam and move forward.”
The 24-year-old Marsee, who said he often starts seasons off slow offensively, had been scuffling. Though the solo shot extended his career-high on-base streak to 10 games, he entered Tuesday with a .149/.279/.207 slash line and just three extra-base hits in 23 contests. His average tied for fourth lowest among qualifying Major Leaguers, and his fWAR (-0.3) tied for 11th lowest.
Making things even more frustrating is the fact Marsee’s name had come up in extension rumors over the offseason after an impressive 55-game stretch to begin his MLB career.
Despite the lack of early offensive production, Miami has continued to run Marsee out there, starting all but one of the club’s 24 games in center field. He also has been the primary leadoff batter, only dropping in the order seven times when McCullough put the right-handed-hitting Austin Slater there to face southpaws.
"I just want to play every day,” said Marsee, whose eight steals are tied for fourth most in MLB. “I know I do a lot of things well in this game whether I'm hitting or not. I know I can get on base and play good defense and just make an impact on the basepaths. I'm not really worried about sitting or my numbers. I just want to help the team win any way I can, and I know that me being out there is probably better than me being benched in some aspects.”
Everyone from McCullough to the front office hasn’t been concerned with the even-keeled Marsee because of the small sample.
The metrics show his bat speed has been the same and his line-drive rate has increased -- both of which are positives. He has been walking at a better rate, though his zone swing percentage ranked 176 of 186 qualifiers -- something that could be affecting his production.
"Maybe not so much him being overly passive as much as the ones you need to move forward, [the ones] you need to do more with, the ones that are in the zone that you're swinging at,” McCullough said. “His approach is solid. You see that with the counts he gets into, for the most part, his ability to walk. So I think it's more getting his timing going and doing more with the ones that you fire at.”
Marsee believes it stems from overthinking. It helped reading a Bible excerpt on Tuesday morning about how worrying doesn’t add to one’s life.
Instead, he decided to play freely.
"I think it really just comes back to the reasons I play this game aren't for numbers or anything other than just trying to win games,” Marsee said. “I really love to play. So just remember that and just try to enjoy every moment. This could get taken away so quick. So if I'm going to keep stressing them, [it’s] probably not going to go well.”