These 3 Marlins can seize the spotlight post-Deadline

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The departure of several mainstays on the Marlins’ roster has opened up chances.

Here are three names that will look to capitalize:

1B/3B/DH Jonah Bride
Bride, whom the Marlins acquired from the A’s for cash on Feb. 7, has shuttled back and forth between the Majors and Minors since making his Major League debut in 2022.

The 28-year-old Bride has started seven games in a row, including all five since the Trade Deadline. He has gone 6-for-25 (.240) with one double, two homers and four RBIs.

“It's tough, but it's part of it,” Bride said. “So when I get up here, got to contribute and got to do something to stick here. So, like you said, opportunity, hopefully over the next couple months to really just cement myself as a guy that can stay up here.”

Manager Skip Schumaker envisions Bride, Jake Burger and Emmanuel Rivera rotating at the corner infield spots. Waiting in the wings is Marlins No. 7 prospect Deyvison De Los Santos, who was the headliner of the A.J. Puk trade.

Bride has mostly appeared at the hot corner in his professional career, but he also feels comfortable at first. He continues to get additional reps for picks and footwork.

“Jonah has been great in the spot starts that he's had, he's been producing … playing good defense,” Schumaker said. “He's going to get an opportunity now, and so it's going to be kind of a little rotation going on, but he's going to get a lot more at-bats, and seeing probably almost everyday playing time.”

RHP Anthony Bender
The departures of closer Tanner Scott and setup man Puk leave the Marlins with just one southpaw in the bullpen: Andrew Nardi. What this means is righties like Bender and Calvin Faucher will be called upon to retire both righty and lefty bats.

“It's part of their development,” Schumaker said. “They're not always going to get righty pockets in their career.”

Bender got a head start by adding a cut four-seamer to complement his sinker/slider arsenal, something he had been talking about doing for a while.

“They mimicked my two-seam a little bit, so I'm trying to cut it a little bit but still trying to act like a four-seam,” Bender said. “Something to keep the lefties -- even for the righties -- just to make them not be looking down the whole time. Something to just shoot up, something new, little look for it.”

The 29-year-old Bender went 593 days between Major League outings due to Tommy John surgery, so his Spring Training workload served as rehab outings. As a result, Miami protected him in the early going, sending him out on back-to-back days just once entering June. He has done so six times since. After giving up three runs in 1 1/3 innings on May 19, Bender has a 1.14 ERA over his last 28 appearances. He also recorded a career-high five outs on July 26 and moved into a setup role.

“Definitely got back in the groove with a routine,” Bender said. “In the beginning, my slider was kind of lost. I feel like I'd get ahead of hitters, and then it'd be 0-2 or 1-2, and I'd try and have something break off the plate, and everything seemed like it was going back towards the middle. Now, I'm getting more feel for where I need to start pitches and have them work and where they can land in the zone and land out of the zone for more chase pitches. So I've definitely got more of a feel for that.”

1B/3B/DH Jake Burger
Once the Trade Deadline passed, Burger and hitting coach John Mabry spoke about how the absence of Bryan De La Cruz, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Josh Bell might affect his approach at the plate. He has stepped into De La Cruz’s No. 2 spot in the order and flourished.

Burger, who has gone 8-for-21 (.381) with four homers and seven RBIs since the Deadline, is starting to feel like himself again. He was MLB’s RBI leader until a left intercostal muscle strain sidelined him for three weeks in April-May.

“Just knowing that these next two months are going to be really good development for me, knowing I'm hitting two, and I'm the guy they expect to hit home runs,” Burger said. “It's just being patient and going up there every single day, being convicted in my approach and not getting away from that and being the best version of me over the next two months.”