Miami Marlins don't need Liam Hicks to be Uggla- McGehee Or Cantu would be just fine

One week into the 2026 MLB season, no player has more RBIs than Liam Hicks of the Miami Marlins.

Just like we all drew it up in the offseason, right?

Of course not. Now, the fact that fellow Team Canada teammate Owen Caissie is tied for second place on that list with 8 RBI has been a surprise as well, but there was at least some buzz around him entering 2026. Sandy Alcantara doing Sandy Alcantara things, Xavier Edwards being a hitting machine, Pete Fairbanks being a reliable closer...all welcome developments for the Miami Marlins, but also all expected.

Hicks though...Hicks has been a revelation. Leading the majors with 12 RBIs. Leading the majors in slugging percentage at 1.133, along with a .467 BA and .526 OBP. Tied for the NL lead in home runs at 3. Even in a very small sample size against some very dubious pitching, those are eye-popping numbers.

Especially when you look underneath the hood and see that he hasn't exactly been doing this with smoke and mirrors either. His average exit velocity has been 93.5 mph, with a max of 106.5. He's 11th overall in barrels per Baseball Savant. Hicks has been absolutely mashing, up there with the best of them. Sure, there's been some BABIP luck and his wOBA is a ridiculously unsustainable .660 at the moment. Yet he's also swinging faster than ever before and his xwOBA is still nearly .500 on the year.

Bottom-line, Liam Hicks probably isn't the NL MVP shoe-in that his current pace would make him. However, there's also very little reason to believe this won't be a career year for the Miami Marlins 26-year old Rule 5 pick.

Which is exactly how old another Marlins Rule 5 pick was when he made his own MLB debut back in 2006. And all that guy did was represent Miami in two All-Star games and set a new franchise career home run record.

Obviously, Dan Uggla remains the king of Marlins Rule 5 picks, provided you follow the appropriate Marlins Fan Mental Health step of not counting a certain 1999 selection that never played a game for the Fish. When it comes to Rule 5 selections that did suit up for a time in teal however, it would be hard to argue that Hicks isn't already firmly in command of second place. Technically, he's in a tie with Matt Mantei, and I wouldn't be unsympathetic if you wanted to still give Mantei the nod for fetching the Marlins Brad Penny in a trade.

At least until Hick's next moonshot, that is. Once that happens, his chase of Uggla is on.

Yet it's also way too early to say that Hicks even doing that much is on the menu for the Marlins here. Uggla had four straight seasons of 30 HRs, making near historic things for his position (2B) look easy. Hicks...has been great for a week, on the heels of being solid for a year. Again, there's been a lot to like, but the smart money would remain on Hicks not becoming a perennial All-Star.

Fortunately for the Marlins, they don't really need him to do that.

No, a slightly above-average big league regular would be just fine. For years, the Marlins had a knack for unearthing susprising sources of offense. Players like Cody Ross. Players like Jorge Cantu. Players like...the one whose record Hicks just broke, Casey McGehee.

Back in 2014, McGehee earned NL Comeback Player of the Year honors spending a lot of his time alongside Giancarlo Stanton in the Marlins lineup, and ended up chipping in 76 RBI. The first 10 of those RBI came in his first five games, a feat that was a Marlins best until Hicks blew past it Wednesday afternoon against the White Sox. McGehee had nowhere near Hicks' pop, but he was invaluable to a lineup full of inexperienced bats. Cantu and Ross of course were 20-plus HR threats, adding major power on the cheap to provide some dangerous length to Miami's lineups.

And that's all Hicks needs to be have a breakout impact on the 2026 version of the Marlins, even if he doesn't continue to rank among the league's offensive leaders. Just a solid bat Miami could rely upon to make the most of every opportunity.

Which is something that the early numbers indicate is well within reach for Hicks and the Marlins.