ATLANTA -- Dealing Liam Hicks ahead of Monday's Trade Deadline ushered in the return of Opening Day catcher Agustín Ramírez from Triple-A Jacksonville ahead of Tuesday’s series opener against the Braves at Truist Park.
President of baseball operations Peter Bendix revealed on Tuesday that the Marlins plan on practicing Ramírez, whom Miami optioned to the Minors on May 4 (the same day rookie Joe Mack received his big league callup), at first base to go along with catching and designated hitter duties -- similar to the role Hicks played.
Before being moved, Hicks had been backing up Mack at catcher and Kyle Stowers at first while primarily serving as the club’s DH. Miami elected to promote Ramírez and continue to carry three catchers, with Ramírez joining Mack and Minor League journeyman Brian Navarreto (18 career MLB games from 2020, 2025-26).
"We're not taking away the catching," Bendix said. "We're trying to add versatility, really put him into a similar type of role that Liam held, except as a right-handed bat, maybe somebody that complements the rest of our lineup. Having the presence of Gus in addition to Joe Mack was another important fact we considered when trading away Liam. To be able to bring up Gus from Triple-A, slide him into a similar type of role as Liam. We need right-handed hitters. We know Gus is somebody that can hit. We know that the catching has gotten better."
In 31 games prior to his demotion, Ramírez slashed .230/.318/.345 with five doubles, one triple and two homers in 129 plate appearances while splitting time with Hicks. Behind the dish, he committed four errors and three passed balls while throwing out just two of 21 basestealers.
Entering 2026, the Marlins had been optimistic that Ramírez, who led the Majors with 10 errors and 19 passed balls but also finished sixth in 2025 National League Rookie of the Year voting by slugging 21 homers, would show enough improvement to stick around. There were marginal gains, though not enough to justify his staying in the big leagues, especially with his bat not producing (.663 OPS).
"It was tough," Ramírez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. "It was difficult for me, but I think it was just a learning process. This is going to be part of the history of my career, but it was just a process that is going to help me to improve, and I'm happy just to be back and being able to help."
While at Triple-A, Ramírez made 15 errors and allowed nine passed balls in 49 games (47 starts). At the plate, he was slashing .254/.332/.427 with 14 doubles, one triple and seven homers for a 101 wRC+. Despite not going deep since June 28, Ramírez had nine extra-base hits and a .787 OPS in 85 plate appearances during that stretch.
The 24-year-old Ramírez’s walk (9.5% vs. 10.1%) and strikeout (21.6% vs. 21.7%) rates were nearly identical in the Minors and Majors, respectively, and his ground-ball rate (53.4%) was the second highest of his pro career. Digging deeper, however, his average exit velocity (91.7 mph), barrel rate (7.4%) and hard-hit rate (52.1%) were higher than this season’s MLB stint.
Ramírez provides another right-handed-hitting option on a left-handed-heavy roster that could use help against southpaw starters (.722 OPS, 12-17 record). Ramírez is slashing .320/.378/.570 with 14 extra-base hits in 162 combined plate appearances against lefties between the Minors and Majors.
Manager Clayton McCullough foresees Ramírez seeing time at catcher, first base and designated hitter, with pinch-hitting opportunities sprinkled in.
"What that looks like and when he may play, we're not sure," McCullough said of first base. "Or even if he will. We've come to that point now where we think it'll be a good time to go explore that for him and for us. So he's up for that, and we'll see how the transition goes. There won't be any type of an artificial timeline on if and when Gus gets into a game at first base. I think we'll let it organically just happen, and until then, he is certainly someone who will help strengthen our bench on days he's not starting as left-handed pitchers come in.
"And on the days that he does start, we've seen Gus perform here. There's still a good player in there. The good thing is we have a lot of guys right now that are doing a lot of really good things and performing, so he's going to have to earn his at-bats and have to earn the chance to play more. But I think that's just kind of how life is in the Major Leagues."