Projection Sees Marlins Infielder Making Strides After Breakout 2025
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The Miami Marlins have some work to do this winter to continue to build off of a pretty strong 2025 campaign. With that said, they certainly exceeded expectations last year, putting together a promising season with a core of young talent that was predominantly developed by their own farm system, with a few exceptions.
Now, it is their responsibility to put more pieces around that core to give them a chance at competing for a postseason spot.
One of the names who has been continuing to improve each year is middle infielder Xavier Edwards. In three seasons at the MLB level, he has rapidly begun to showcase his capabilities and ceiling as a player. At only 26 years old, he is going to be one of the most critical members of the future for this franchise, as he keeps developing new skills each season.
FanGraphs recently put out their 2026 projections, and with that, they had Edwards putting together another extremely flashy season. He was included among the team's best in the vast majority of offensive statistics, which bodes well for his fourth year in the league. After already projecting a huge year for Eury Pérez, now they think Edwards will also continue to break out.
How Does FanGraphs Believe Edwards is Going to Do in 2026?
According to FanGraphs' Steamer projections for 2026, Edwards is going to perform not only well by team standards but also by MLB standards.
According to their metrics, he will play in 122 games, slashing .285/.351/.375 with 67 runs, 45 RBI, 25 stolen bases, a 104 wRC+ and 2.7 fWAR. While the isolated power is still a concern, as they only project five home runs, the rest of his numbers are highly effective for a middle infielder.
Xavier Edwards on switching to second base from shortstop mid-season:
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) December 1, 2025
“I feel like that's kind of when my season took off... I just felt like I was a more productive player.” pic.twitter.com/sUezU43nVt
Compared to 2025, that's a slight bump up in batting average, OBP, SLG and RBI. It is also worth noting that they have him sitting at a 13.9% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate, both of which are improvements from last year.
So, while they don't exactly believe he is going to fix the power concerns, he will be able to continue to build off his success and find some incremental positive trends in a few key metrics.
Kyle Stowers is also projected to do quite well, but his fWAR is set lower at 1.5 due to less effective defense. With that said, they believe Edwards will be the frontrunner in that statistic and will have another high-quality season in 2026.
