Top 50 Miami Marlins
Along with the Colorado Rockies, the Florida Marlins came into existence in 1993, although they have been far more successful than their expansion counterparts.
The Marlins won the Pennant in only their fourth year of existence, but surely, they could not beat the New York Yankees for the World Series! Florida did precisely that, shocking the world, and then they surprised everyone by conducting a fire sale, dismantling the team, and starting from scratch.
Florida again built a good team in 2003 and once again befuddled the baseball world by winning their second World Series. True to form, they repeated what they did after 1997 by cost-cutting and getting rid of the parts that won it for them.
Since that time, the Marlins changed their team name to the Miami Marlins but have remained to operate as a small market team.
This list is up to the end of the 2024 regular season.
Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
Tanner Scott had five nondescript seasons with the Baltimore Orioles before he was traded to the Marlins where he had the best run of his career. Scott was a serviceable hurler in his first year in Miami (2023), but in 2023, he exploded with a 9-5/2.31 year where he appeared in 74 Games and led the NL in Win Probability Added and Championship Win Probability Added. Scott was an All-Star the following season, where he posted an 1.18 ERA, but the always-rebuilding Marlins sent him to San Diego. Scott had an overall 19-15 record with a 2.70 ERA and 50…
The ninth player taken in the 1996 Baseball Amateur Draft, Mark Kotsay, appeared in 14 Games the year after, but he was not on the roster that won the 1997 World Series. As the Marlins conducted a fire sale after the title, Kotsay was elevated to one of Florida’s starting Outfielders, and he held his own for the next three years. Kotsay batted over .270 in all three of his full campaigns as a Marlin, which was decent, but he did not draw enough walks and had only 31 Hone Runs in this stretch, a number that was low for his…
A First Round Pick and former High School Player of the Year, Preston Wilson made the Mets in 1998, only for him to be traded two weeks later to Florida. Wilson only played 14 Games the rest of the year for the Marlins, going back to the Minors, but the year after, he was a starting Outfielder, and was second in Rookie of the Year voting (26 HR, .280). In 2000, Wilson was a 30/30 player (31 HR, 36 SB) and led the NL in Strikeouts with 187. He had back-to-back 23 Home Run years in 2001 and 2002 but would be…
Alex Gonzalez is an interesting player to rank, as the traditional stats, an All-Star (1999) and 788 Hits should place him much higher on a team like the Marlins. Playing at Shortstop for the Marlins from 1998 to 2005, Gonzalez did have a decent hit count, but his ability to draw walks was non-existent, and he only had a .291 OBP. Defensively, Gonzalez was inconsistent and had only one season as a Marlin where his Defensive bWAR was over one, which is not what you need for a Shortstop. His overall Marlins bWAR is under two, reflecting his deficiencies, though he had…
We are very aware that Luis Arraez has only been with Miami for one year, but as we have said before:The Marlins have not been around long.They don’t keep good players when it is time for them to get paid.As such, Arraez is here after a season where he eclipsed what he did in his last year in Minnesota, where he also won a Batting Title but did so after flirting with .400 (he finished with .354). He also had an OPS of .861, which was impressive for a man with only 10 Home Runs. Arraez also went to his…
Redmond was one of the rare Americans in the modern era to make the Majors without being drafted, a feat he accomplished five years after the Florida Marlins signed him in their inaugural year. The Catcher cracked the Marlins roster in 1998 and found a role as a backup and defensive specialist. Although Redmond would never qualify for a Batting Title, he could get on base, batting over .300 three times as a Marlin, though his Hits were rarely more than a single. He had 380 Hits over seven seasons with Florida, ending his Marlins run when he signed with the Twins…
Henderson Alvarez was one of the many players that the Miami Marlins acquired from Toronto in the 12-player transaction after the 2012 Season, and for a brief time, it looked like Alvarez was going to be the best player they netted. In his first year as a Marlin, a shoulder injury kept Alvarez to only 17 Starts, but he was decent with a 3.59 ERA over 102.2 Innings, which was bolstered by a no-hitter in the season finale. Alvarez had his best season in Baseball in 2013 with a 12-7 Record with a 2.65 ERA. The Venezuelan went to the All-Star Game…
Winning the starting Shortstop job as a rookie in 1996, Edgar Renteria was second in Rookie of the Year voting, losing to Los Angeles’s Todd Hollandsworth. Renteria, who batted .309 as a rookie, followed it with years of .277 and .282, and though he had no power, he was quick and stole a combined 73 Bases in 1997 1998. An All-Star in 1998, Renteria was part of the 1997 World Series Championship team, scoring eight runs in the playoffs. Renteria was traded to St. Louis after his third season, where he made three more All-Star Teams. With Florida, Renteria batted .290 with…
One of the most fascinating people to rank on a list of all-time Marlins is Livan Hernandez, the star of the 1997 Playoffs. Hernandez began his career with Florida, signed by the Marlins after the Cuban defected to the United States in 1995. He appeared in one Game in 1996 and made it to the starting rotation during the 1997 season, finishing the year with a 9-3 Record and a 3.18 ERA. Florida made the playoffs, and Hernandez was incredible, winning the NLCS MVP and the World Series MVP, going 4-0 overall. Hernandez struggled the year after and was traded to San Francisco…
Josh Willingham did what few 17th Round Selection did by making it to the Majors. Playing a combined 28 Games in 2004 and 2005, Willingham entered 2006 as the Marlins starting Leftfielder, and offensively he proved to be decent, although he never developed his skills defensively. Willingham was ninth in Rookie of the Year voting, hitting 26 Home Runs with a .852 OPS, and had similar numbers the year after (21 HR, .827 OPS). Willingham missed 50 Games to injury in 2008, costing him a third 20-HR year, but he would obtain that in 2009, albeit in a Washington Nationals uniform, as Florida…
Jesus Luzardo began his pro career with the Oakland Athletics in 2019, and during the 2021 season, the Venezuelan southpaw was traded to the Marlins; going from one perpetually cash-strapped team to another. The starter dis not have a good 2021 (4-5, 6.44 ERA), but showed significant improvement in 2022 (4-7, 3.32 ERA) and the season after started 32 Games going 10-10 with a 3.58 ERA and 208 Strikeouts. In 2024, Luzardo battled with injuries, and it would turn out to be his Swanson for the Marlins, as the perpetually rebuilding club traded him to Philadelphia in the offseason.
Oft-injured with the Toronto Blue Jays, Al Leiter bolted from the Jays as a Free Agent in 1996 for the sunnier skies of Florida. It was there where he was finally healthy and showed what he was capable of all along. Leiter posted a 16-12 Record with an ERA of 2.93 in his first Marlins year, and he was an All-Star for the first time in his career. The year after, Leiter was not as good (11-9 4.324 ERA), but he was part of a rotation that took Florida all the way to the World Series, which they won by beating the…