MIAMI – Liam Hicks wants to be an everyday player. Through the first five games of the season, Miami’s second-year catcher is making a strong case.
Hicks took over the Major League RBI lead with a two-run double in the Marlins’ 9-2 victory over the White Sox on Tuesday night at loanDepot park.
In a lineup stacked with lefty bats against right-hander Erick Fedde, the Marlins started Hicks at first base, with Agustín Ramírez behind the dish, and batted him in the cleanup spot.
The 26-year-old Hicks, who served as Canada’s backup catcher at the World Baseball Classic, is in a near-even time share with Ramírez at backstop. Three factors have played into that: pitcher handedness, quick turnarounds and his Hicks' production.
“They know that I want to be someone that can play every day, and that was definitely my goal in the offseason,” said Hicks, who has eight RBIs in four games. “They gave me a good outline on what I need to improve on, so I took that to heart and really tried.”
If there was one glaring element missing from Hicks’ offensive game, it was his ability to impact the ball. It took him six games to collect his first extra-base hit and 16 to pick up his first homer as a rookie in 2025.
Miami already had taken a risk by selecting Hicks – a catcher with no experience above the Double-A level – in the 2024 Rule 5 Draft. But the organization bought into his advanced approach at the plate, a skill that transferred to the Majors. Hicks ranked in the 98th percentile in chase rate (17.6%) and 91st percentile in whiff rate (15.1%) in ‘25.
In order to take that next step, the Marlins’ offseason plan called for Hicks to add more pop to his bat. It started with the 5-foot-9 Hicks adding 5-10 pounds of better weight to get up to 185.
The Marlins also sent Hicks a lifting program and a weighted bat program. Each day, he worked off machines feeding him everything from breaking balls to angled fastballs. Hicks took cuts with the different bats to build strength.
“I think that's what I've been training the whole offseason is just getting that ‘A swing’ off pretty much every time, because I know that my bat to ball is good, and it's been good, so not being afraid to strike out as much in the past, just because I know that even when I'm taking those swings, I still have a high likelihood of putting the ball in play,” Hicks said.
The very early returns are in, and it seems as though the work is paying off. Here’s a look at how Hicks’ metrics compare last season to this season’s small sample.
2025 figures:
– 84.6 mph average exit velocity (1st percentile)
– 27.7% hard-hit rate (5th percentile)
– 67.4 mph average bat speed
– 16.2% pull in the air
– 10.6 degree launch angle
2026 figures (entering Tuesday):
– 96.8 mph average exit velocity (95th percentile, team leader)
– 75% hard-hit rate (98th percentile)
– 70 mph average bat speed
– 62.5% pull in the air
– 19.2 degree launch angle
Of note: A line drive ranges from 10-25 degrees and comes with an average batting average of .628 and a slugging percentage of .870.
“He's always controlled the strike zone, he makes a ton of contact, and he moves the ball all around the field,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We've seen him make a real commitment to moving faster, getting stronger, moving faster, building a bigger engine. So now that the type of contact he's making, you can get a little bit more output, like pulling the ball in the air, trying to get into some power.
"[I] don't think that's going to take away from his ability to hit. So I think that there's a lot more untapped in Liam from an offensive perspective, and it starts with some really good ingredients under the hood.”
Three of Hicks’ four hits have gone for extra bases, including a pair of homers. He is the poster child for improvement, but he isn’t alone with the flashy numbers.
Griffin Conine went deep and recorded multiple 105-plus mph knocks on Tuesday. Six Marlins tallied hard-hit balls (95-plus mph exit velocity).
“He's a really good hitter, but mostly he's just a good ballplayer,” said Owen Caissie, who played on Team Canada with Hicks. “He's a great hitter and puts in a lot of work, and everyone sees that. And on top of all that, he's a great human.”