Marlins DFA Paddack and Now Have Beautiful Problem on Their Hands
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The Miami Marlins made a series of roster moves Tuesday. Apparently, the team has run out of patience with their veteran placeholder and is ready to give the future a chance.
The Marlins have two of the best pitchers in all of minor league baseball and now it looks like one will get a phone call for a rotation spot.
The End of the Road for Paddack
Chris Paddack was designated for assignment on Tuesday, as reported by Ken Rosenthal on X.
Really, the only surprise to this was that it took this long to make the decision. Paddack signed a one-year, $4 million contract during the offseason to help the team give the prospects some more development time.
He did hold down a spot for seven games, but that’s about the only thing he held down.
In those appearances, he started six times, went 0-5 with a 7.63 ERA, a 1.66 WHIP across 30.2 innings. Batters found success against him, putting up a .308 average against him.
He allowed 41 hits and 6 home runs. In his five starts, he failed to pitch five innings in four of them. The unfortunate part of the stats is that his outlier was his only good performance.
On April 18, he threw 96 pitches against the Detroit Tigers, and 65 of those were strikes. When we talk about outliers, it is hoped that it is the only poor performance, but in Paddack’s case, the opposite was true.
Luckily for the Marlins, the $4 million risk was just that, and they didn’t put a lot into the veteran. Miami gave Paddack plenty of chances to turn it around, and in the end, he didn’t.
Kempner Called Up
To fill the vacant roster spot, Miami chose to recall right-hander William Kempner from Triple-A Jacksonville. The 24-year-old righty has a distinctive sidearm throwing style.
He has been nearly lethal against right-handed hitters this season in the minors. He has posted an incredible 20.0 K/9 rate while holding opponents to a .228 average against.
Kempner does sometimes exhibit a control problem. In his 15.1 innings this season, he has walked 11 batters. Thus, he has a 6.46 ERA at Jacksonville. The Marlins aren’t looking for a heavy inning eater right now.
Some short bursts with a fresh arm and strikeout ability will help Miami right now.
Some #Marlins news this morning:
— Christina De Nicola (@CDeNicola13) May 5, 2026
Chris Paddack designated for assignment. Miami will recall prospect William Kempner (fresh arm for bullpen, first callup).
For Paddack’s rotation spot on Friday, Robby Snelling and Braxton Garrett are options at Triple-A Jacksonville.
Rotation Decision Facing Marlins
With Paddack now gone, the team needs a starter to fill that rotation spot, which will come around as early as Friday.
There are two very capable arms just waiting for the phone to ring in Jacksonville, and both have been putting up numbers worthy of being on the MLB mound.
In his return from Tommy John recovery, Braxton Garrett has been dominant. He’s now 28 years old and has posted a 0-1, 1.76 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, and a 0.73 batting average against.
Garrett threw a no-hitter on April 21 but still had to take the loss as the team lost 2-0 on errors and unearned runs.
Prior to his Tommy John surgery, Garrett had a career 4.03 ERA, including a 3.66 ERA across 159.2 innings in 2023.
What about Robbie Snelling? He is the Marlins’ No. 2 prospect and ranks in the top five of left-handed pitchers in all of MLB prospects.
Snelling has posted impressive stats as well. He is 3-1 with a 1.86 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and a .116 batting average against. He has recorded 44 strikeouts in 29 innings.
He is just 22 years old and has been exciting fans for some time now. He may arguably be one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball.
Likely the smart move is to call up Garrett for the start on Friday, but fans will surely rally to see the young superstar Snelling.
Make no mistake, the Marlins have two of the best young pitchers in the league ready to take the mound when called.
Now we wait for the official announcement.
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