The Future of Baseball: Will Marlins Pitch-calling System Become the Norm?
A month into the season, the Miami Marlins polarizing pitch-calling system has received both commendation and criticism. But it has gone mostly to plan. From the dugout, assistant pitching coach Rob Marcello uses his fingers to relay his desired pitch type and location to the catcher, who checks his wristband for the corresponding number before transmitting the selection to the pitcher via PitchCom. The premise is simple: Pitching coaches do most of the preparation leading into a series and have more information at their disposal than the players on the field literally on a card in their hands in the dugout. So, why shouldn't they be the ones suggesting the pitches, too? "I dont think youre ever going to solve pitch calling thats not what this is about," Marlins pitching coach Daniel Moskos told me. "We just decided there was a way we felt like we could make it better." Its an innovative idea that bucks tradition, and one that most veteran catchers accustomed to calling games are sure to despise, but its hard to argue with the results so far. A year ago, the youthful Marlins ranked 25th in ERA and 20th in opponents batting average; they currently rank ninth and fourth, respectively, in those categories. Their pitchers have also gone from the seventh-lowest whiff rate in MLB last year to the eighth highest early in 2026. Its hard to know with any certainty how much credit their new system deserves, but its not changing anytime soon. "Im committed to us running this play out," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough told me. "Well never know if we had continued the other way how much different it would have been, but I do have a belief that doing this is going to yield the results that we want giving up the fewest amount of runs that we can." The Marlins tested their dugout pitch-calling apparatus in the minor leagues last year, when Marcello was calling pitches as the teams Triple-A pitching coach, before bringing the trailblazing concept to the big leagues for the final nine games of the 2025 season. Alon Leichman, the Marlins assistant pitching coach last season, was calling the pitches over those nine games during which Miami had a 3.11 ERA and believed enough in the process that he took it to Colorado as the Rockies new pitching coach this year. Colorado's unsightly 5.97 ERA last year, by far the worst mark in MLB, has dropped to 4.19 early this season. Other teams have experimented with the idea in spring training and in the minor leagues. Soon, many Marlins players and coaches believe, more clubs will start to adopt the practice. "Its the future of baseball," Moskos said, "until theres a better way to do it. I envision a future where theres someone in the dugout with a pitcher transmitter PitchCom relaying it that way, and youll see the numbers system go away." For now, though, this is what the Marlins believe works best. Over the offseason, they informed every free agent they spoke with about their intentions, laying out their reasoning for calling pitches from the dugout. They were willing to live with the result if a player decided it wasnt for him. "We knew we were going to get a lot of questions about it, and theres going to be a lot of noise surrounding it," McCullough said. "And I felt that for us, to try to get a competitive advantage, if it helps us win two more games this year, then its worth it. You get two or three more wins over the course of a season by doing some different things, that might be the difference in us continuing to play beyond the regular season or going home." Last year, an inexperienced Marlins group far outpaced projections by winning 79 games. Miami finished just four games out of a playoff spot. A better first half could have changed the outcome. The Marlins ended April 2025 on a five-game losing streak after getting swept at Dodger Stadium and surrendering 34 runs over their three games in Los Angeles. This season, the Marlins ended April with a series win at Dodger Stadium, during which they held the high-powered Dodgers lineup to eight runs over three games. Was their new pitch-calling system responsible? And how will they judge its success? Those are questions theyre still discussing. Once or twice a series, theyre holding pitch-usage feedback calls with front office staff and analysts to discuss trends and what others might be seeing from a distance that coaches on the field might be missing. "You want to track numbers, metrics, key performance indicators that we value internally as an organization," Moskos said. "Were using a usage model, were evaluating how much were adhering to that usage model, and then grading out how the games go and making adjustments and little tweaks along the way." For the process to operate efficiently in the pitch-clock era, swiftness is essential. "You do it enough times, Rob knows how much time he has to give me a pitch, and I know how quick I need to be," said catcher Liam Hicks. "Sometimes I get it with more time on the clock, and Ill really take my time and check. But as Ive gotten familiar with the card, its pretty easy." As the pitching coaches discuss strategy and look over reports throughout the game, Moskos is careful not to distract Marcello when its time to relay pitch calls. "I know that I have a window after he puts up his fingers," Moskos explained. "I know that Ive got 10 seconds to be able to get a conversation in or ask a question. And then if theres a new batter, Ive got 30 seconds to potentially talk about what we feel like we want to deploy. But at the end of the day, hes done a phenomenal job and cares deeply about this. I couldnt be happier with how its gone so far." On Tuesday night, Marlins starter Janson Junk held the Dodgers scoreless over six innings. Last September, he was on the mound when the Marlins first took the new pitch-calling operation into a big-league game. Miami won that game 6-4, and Junk threw seven innings of one-run ball. "I feel like people overanalyze it a little bit, just because its a very up-and-coming thing," Junk told me. "I know personally a lot of teams either are starting to implement it or want to do it." For Junk, it doesnt matter to him whether the catcher or the pitching coach calls the pitch. "The only thing is in-game stuff," Junk said. "A catcher might be able to see if you missed arm-side, and you cant really see from the dugout where the miss is." Thats where communication between innings becomes vital. "But you can see a decent amount of stuff from the sideline if a guys late, if a guys early, if it looks like theyre diving out over breaking stuff or sitting on a certain pitch," Junk said. "At the end of the day, its up to the pitcher to execute the game plan that we go in talking about. Overall, I think its been a pretty smooth process, and I think the catchers here dont mind it, either." Between innings, the pitching coaches often check in with the catcher to receive input and discuss strategy for the upcoming stretch of hitters. Hicks said the process has gotten easier and more efficient over time, and he still believes his opinion is valued, even though hes no longer the one calling pitches. "I dont feel like Im someone sitting back there having no effect on the game," Hicks told me. "I think theres a lot that I have during the game to say about the pitcher that they take into account, so thats really good." Hicks no longer has to scout opposing hitters the way he did coming up through the minors. While some question whether that might hinder the development of the Marlins young catchers Hicks, 26, and Agustn Ramrez, 24, are both in their second big-league seasons the team views it as taking something off their plates. For what its worth, Hicks now sports a .941 OPS that ranks second among all qualified catchers. "Whether its receiving, throwing, blocking, hitting, its freed up some bandwidth for them to go use that in other areas to help them become a better player," McCullough said. "Theyre involved in every pregame meeting. Theyre involved in the between-innings meetings. Theyre very much involved in this." The Marlins coaches have also tried to make the new concept as palatable as possible for Miami pitchers by explaining the benefits. "We cant read their minds," Moskos said. "Thats the one layer of complexity that we didnt really have a solve for when rolling this out. We cant tap into the pitchers mind and what hes feeling out there. We cant see through the catchers eyes whats happening as the balls coming to home plate or maybe what the hitters doing. "Well get that in-between innings, but we might not get it in the middle of an at-bat. So were trying to figure out a way to glean as much of that as possible, ultimately knowing theres going to be some things that slip through the cracks." Junk said the pitching coaches dont mind if he shakes off a selection, and he feels like he has enough time to do that if he wants, though he rarely does. Other pitchers are more wary. "Its been done another way for a very long time, so we knew there were still going to be challenges even with the members of our group who were here last year and knew we were going to be rolling this out," McCullough said. "I think thats OK. We continue to take those on, and in a lot of ways its forced us to communicate more." So far, the Marlins have three pitch-clock violations, which puts them in the top half of MLB teams. The Angels have the most at six, followed by the Astros and Orioles with five apiece. The only Miami starter who has been penalized is Eury Perez. In early April, Perez hit Yankees star Aaron Judge with a pitch to bring in a run and then immediately got called for a pitch-clock violation as a frustrating inning began to unravel. Perez told me he has since stopped shaking off pitches out of concern for time. "Sometimes, I think you have to obey the signals and whatever theyre giving you," Perez said through an interpreter. "But sometimes you get upset because they give you a pitch that you might not want to pitch. Its hard because theyre not in your mind, so its difficult sometimes to be on the same page." The Marlins' coaches, however, are steadfast about sticking with the concept. They know its on them to create the buy-in, and they know its not perfect. But the operation has gotten cleaner with time, and they believe its the best way to win games. "Were still working through the kinks," Moskos said. "Were a month into the season. No ones got anything solved, but I do like the trend that were on."
Czech
English
Arabic
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Turkish
Dutch
Italiano
Russian
Romaian
Portuguese (Brazil)
Greek