With Marlins rookie catchers bringing the heat, Fortes is keeping up

MIAMI – It would’ve been easy to mail it in when looking at Tuesday night’s loanDepot park scoreboard, but not for Marlins catcher Nick Fortes.

Even in a lopsided 14-1 defeat to the Cubs, and after two foul tips off his left wrist, Fortes was still blocking pitches in the dirt in the eighth inning. The effort was noteworthy enough for manager Clayton McCullough and left-hander Ryan Weathers to highlight it after the game.

“He's a dog,” said Weathers, who tossed five innings of one-run ball in his second start of the year. “He got worn out by a lot of foul balls. But he's going to war every night for us. So every time I'm with him, I'm going to go to war with him.”

Fortes not only put his body on the line but also produced Miami’s lone run when he ambushed righty Jameson Taillon’s first-pitch cutter for a homer over the left-center-field wall in the third. It was his first tater of the season.

“I'm just trying to get back to my roots a little bit and sticking to what I'm good at,” Fortes said. “Like I said, taking a little bit of the pressure off myself and just swinging freely, not trying to be perfect out there, which I've definitely tried to do in the past, which never works. So just trying to be a little bit more free and get back to what I'm good at.”

At the time of Fortes’ left oblique strain in mid-April, he was batting .300/.333/.500 with one double, one triple and three RBIs in 22 plate appearances. Miami’s Opening Day catcher for the second consecutive season, Fortes had started four of Miami’s first six games, with Rule 5 Draft pick Liam Hicks serving as his backup, before getting banged up.

When Fortes returned from the injured list on May 4, things had changed. Rookie Agustín Ramírez’s production had forced the Marlins to keep him at the big-league level and Hicks had begun to find his power stroke.

According to FanGraphs, Ramírez and Hicks entered Tuesday tied for the second-highest WAR (0.7) among National League rookies. Ramírez and Hicks ranked second and third, respectively, in OPS among NL rookies (minimum 20 games). Hicks paced NL rookies in RBIs (21), while Ramírez was tied for fifth (12).

In 15 games since Fortes’ return, here is the breakdown of starts among the backstops:
At catcher: Ramírez (6), Fortes (6), Hicks (3)
At DH: Ramírez (7), Hicks (3), Fortes (0)

Though Fortes started back-to-back games following his reinstatement from the IL, he has had sporadic playing time behind the rookies. He entered Tuesday 2-for-19 with no extra-base hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

Pregame, McCullough acknowledged it’s a “good problem” to have three capable catchers on the roster and trying to find playing time for all of them. It’s a balance of developing Ramírez and Hicks but also utilizing Fortes, who has been getting live at-bats in the club’s pitch design sessions to stay ready for chances like Tuesday’s.

“Nick, whenever he's back there, you know what you're going to get, as far as being able to work with whoever we throw out there,” McCullough said. “We've just seen a string of a lot of right-handed starters here recently as well, kind of factor in some of that. I think it'll continue to shake itself out where [we] try to keep all of them involved in getting behind the plate, because they do bring something that helps us win in various capacities.”

Last season, Fortes developed into one of the better defensive catchers in the Majors. He ranked in the 89th percentile in blocks above average (8) and the 75th percentile in caught stealing above average (2). He was in the 40th percentile for framing (-1).

Entering Tuesday, Fortes’ hard-hit percentage (48.5), squared-up percentage (28.6), whiff percentage (20.3) and strikeout percentage (16.7) would be around league average -- if he qualified.

“It's not easy, and I've definitely fallen victim to that quite a bit,” Fortes said of trying to do too much in his opportunities. “It's self-inflicted, but just continuing to just tell myself that I'm good no matter what happens. So taking a little bit of that pressure off today, specifically, definitely helped me feel a little bit better at the plate. So, it's just about just taking my hands off the wheel and just trusting whatever happens, happens.”