Catching target for the Miami Marlins this off-season

Kyle Higashioka
Kyle Higashioka | Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/GettyImages

One of the main priorities for the Miami Marlins is to hire a new manager this off-season. Another off-season concern was to figure out the broadcasting situation for next season. That was luckily already resolved. The catching situation has been as issue for The Fish, this means that it might make sense to look into free agent Kyle Higashioka.

The Miami Marlins may want to upgrade at catcher this off-season.

Nick Fortes has been the starting catcher for the Miami Marlins over the last few seasons. His career batting line is far from ideal. Since 2021, he's batted .227/.259/.318. This makes it pretty clear that an upgrade is needed. That said, he did improve in the second half of the 2024 season. He batted .284/.312/.392 from July through September. This is at least promising going into next season. Of course his batting line for the season is still a disappointing .227/.259/.318, with 4 home runs and 29 RBI in 110 games and 308 AB.

The catching market is pretty weak this off-season, but one intriguing option is Kyle Higashioka. Higashioka played for the San Diego Padres this season. He batted .220/.263/.476, with 17 home runs and 45 RBI in 84 games and 246 AB. That's a great power performance in a small sample size.

Higashioka hasn't been as good throughout his career. For his time between the New York Yankees and San Diego, he's batted .212/.255/.412 for his 8 year career. He will be 35 next season as well, which means that he's close to his decline phase. He would be a stop gap for The Fish. Someone to be a potential upgrade over Nick Fortes until someone younger and better is available for the long-term future.

How much would Kyle Higashioka cost the Miami Marlins? Probably not much. He's looking at a two-year deal I would say at around $5 million a year or so. There's no reason why The Fish can't afford that. I personally prefer giving Nick Fortes a shot, but I'm not opposed to signing Higashioka as Fortes's competition this off-season. I won't predict that but we'll find out.

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