Ronny Henriquez Was Breakout Star For Improved Miami Marlins Bullpen
In this story:
A year after the Miami Marlins lost 100 games, they improved in a big way, winning 17 more games in year one under Clayton McCullough. But it didn't happen in the way most would have expected. Despite being projected to have one of the more exciting young pitching staffs, they finished 26th in team ERA at 4.84.
It was actually the bullpen that led the way on the mound for Miami in 2025. After they traded Tanner Scott at the deadline last season, the Marlins didn't really have a bullpen arm that they could trust. A year later and that's already a different story.
Although they didn't have a bonafide closer like they did with Scott, the Marlins were able to piece together a nice closer by committee, with five different players getting three or more saves. Calvin Faucher was the leader in saves, but it was Ronny Henriquez who made his presence felt during his first year in Miami.
Miami Marlins 2025 Bullpen in Review
Closer By Committee: RHP Calvin Faucher (4-4, 3.28 ERA, 65 G, 15 SV, 60.1 IP, 59 K, 24 BB, 1.276 WHIP, 135 ERA+, 0.8 bWAR), RHP Tyler Phillips (2-1, 2.78 ERA, 54 G, 4 SV, 77.2 IP, 52 K, 24 BB, 1.146 WHIP, 159 ERA+, 1.8 bWAR), RHP Ronny Henriquez (7-1, 2.22 ERA, 69 G, 7 SV, 73 IP, 98 K, 27 BB, 1.096 WHIP, 199 ERA+, 2.3 bWAR), RHP Lake Bachar (8-2, 3.93 ERA, 53 G, 3 SV, 71 IP, 75 K, 30 BB, 1.197 WHIP, 112 ERA+, 0.7 bWAR), RHP Anthony Bender (3-5, 2.16 ERA, 51 G, 4 SV, 50 IP, 42 K, 21 BB, 1.060 WHIP, 205 ERA+, 1.9 bWAR).
Other Significant Contributors (min. 20 G): LHP Cade Gibson (4-5, 2.63 ERA, 44 G, 54.2 IP, 43 K, 21 BB, 1.189 WHIP, 168 ERA+, 1.4 bWAR), RHP Valente Belloza (1-4, 4.65 ERA, 32 G, 6 GS, 81.1 IP, 54 K, 23 BB, 1.328 WHIP, 168 ERA+, 0.3 bWAR), LHP Josh Simpson (4-2, 7.34 ERA, 31 G, 30.2 IP, 36 K, 22 BB, 1.826 WHIP, 61 ERA+, -1.2 bWAR), RHP George Soriano (2-0, 8.35 ERA, 24 G, 1 SV, 36.2 IP, 36 K, 19 BB, 1.773 WHIP, 53 ERA+, -1.0 bWAR), LHP Anthony Veneziano (0-0, 4.71 ERA, 24 G, 1 GS, 21 IP, 20 K, 10 BB, 1.667 WHIP, 95 ERA+, 0.1 bWAR), RHP Jesus Tinoco (2-1, 5.12 ERA, 20 G, 4 SV, 19.1 IP, 10 K, 8 BB, 1.293 WHIP, 87 ERA+, -0.1 bWAR).
Season Notes
Faucher led the team in saves with 15 and was second with 65 games pitched. Of the five Marlins pitchers with 50 or more games, he had the highest WHIP, hits per nine and second highest ERA. It was a new career high in saves and innings, but the right-hander's strikeout rate dropped nearly two per nine innings.
Phillips led the bullpen in innings pitched with 77.2. He threw more than one inning in 23 of his 53 relief outings, 16 of which were two innings or more. Phillips was one of the best long relievers in baseball in 2025. His 0.9 HR/9 was the second lowest in the bullpen. Although he was their best long relief pitcher, he did not strike a lot of batters out, posting a 6.0 K/9.
Henriquez was the Marlins best reliever and an emerging star out of the bullpen. He led the team in outings (69), strikeouts (98) and was second in ERA (2.22) and innings (73). His 12.1 K/9 led the team and was top 15 in baseball among relievers with at least 40 innings pitched.
Bachar had the highest ERA of the closer committee with a 3.93. However, he was third in innings and had the second best strikeout rate at 9.5 K/9. Bachar had the least amount of bWAR and saves of the bunch, but was still as reliable as anyone in the bullpen.
Bender was second in bWAR and tied for third with four saves. Although he threw the least amount of innings by 10, he had the lowest ERA, HR/9 and WHIP of the closers for the Mralins. He struggled with walks, but was very good at limiting hits.
Gibson was the best left-hander in the Marlins bullpen as a rookie. His 1.4 bWAR put him at number four in the bullpen and his 54.2 innings were even higher than Bender. Gibson didn't strike many batters out (7.1 K/9), but he didn't allow many homers and his WHIP was better than both Bachar and Faucher.
Bellozo had a 5.11 ERA as a reliever in 56.1 innings. He had trouble limiting runners as shown by his 1.331 WHIP in relief, but he wasn't a strikeout pitcher (5.8 per nine), so he struggled. His 12 home runs allowed were the most by any reliever on the team, as well.
Soriano and Simpson were the worst Marlins' relievers by bWAR with -1.0 and -1.2, respectively. Both pitchers threw at least 30 innings and had a BB/9 over 4.0, with Simpson's being up at 6.5. Neither pitcher was good at keeping runners off base and Soriano allowed 2.5 HR/9.
Tinoco missed the second half of the season with an injury, last pitching on June 2. Veneziano did not finish the year with the team after being selected off waivers by St. Louis in August.
Closer Role
The closer role might be one of the most interesting battles during Spring Training on the entire roster. Faucher has arguably been the Marlins' most reliable reliever over the past two seasons, posting a 3.24 ERA and 21 games in 118 games. He served as the primary closer in 2025 with 15 saves, though five different pitchers had three or more saves.
Faucher could be the leader for the job heading into the spring, but Henriquez is closing in on him, and might surpass him pretty quickly.
The 25-year-old was the breakout star for Miami, posing a 2.22 ERA and 12.1 K/9 in 73 innings. He was second on the team in saves with seven and has the second lowest WHIP with a 1.096 mark.
Henriquez is more of a prototypical closer with a high-90s fastball and elite swing and miss stuff. According to Baseball Savant, the right-hander had a 35.3 percent chase rate (98th percentile), 36 percent whiff rate (97th) and 32.2 strikeout percentage (94th). His sweeper was a whipeout pitch, getting whiffs 46.6 percent of the time.
It may be close to start camp, but if Henriquez continues to build on his great season, Miami won't have much of a choice.
An Early 2026 Bullpen
Other than possibly having a new closer, the Marlins' bullpen was solid enough that it should pretty much stay as it was in 2025. There might be some regression from players like Phillips or Bender, but for the most part the bullpen appears set.
One notable change that could be made is getting Gibson even more work. The entire rotation is right-handed, as is most of the bullpen. Being the lefty that threw the most innings, don't be surprised to see him take time from another pitcher.
That could be Bachar, who struggled the most out of any of the pitchers with more than 50 innings. But Miami can't continue to be strictly right-handed and will need a lefty to play the matchups. Gibson could be that guy.
There is also a possibility of someone from the rotation having to pitch out of the bullpen. With more young studs than rotation spots available, the overflow might hit the bullpen, which could make them even better.
Meyer, Junk and Weathers could be the pitchers more on the outs than others. There was also reliever risk when they took Meyer at the top of the draft and he would add another electric arm in the back end.
Miami is loaded with pitching in all areas, which is a good problem to have. McCullough and GM Peter Bendix will have to figure out how to slot all of those relievers.
