Offishial News: Marlins searching for new director of fan experience

It’s a vicious cycle—the Miami Marlins put a mediocre product on the field, fans don’t attend the games, ownership spends minimally on the roster due to low gate revenue, and with the exception of occasional lucky breaks, the product continues to be mediocre. As encouraging as the 2025 season was in certain aspects, the Marlins once again sold a lower percentage of their ballpark’s seats than any other MLB franchise. That will in all likelihood dissuade ownership from setting payroll high enough to pursue true needle-moving free agents this offseason.

As deflating as that is, at least the Marlins are trying something with their latest job posting. They’re now accepting applications for a new director of fan experience position. The job’s responsibilities include “identifying creative, data-driven improvements” for loanDepot park visitors and ensuring “product offerings enhance gameday and reflect fan culture” with the objective of “driving deeper engagement, loyalty, and return rates.”

To make my stance on this clear, the Marlins don’t need your donations. Like any for-profit business, they should have to earn money by satisfying their customers. Independent of wins and losses, they seem to recognize that more can be done to make game attendance a better proposition for fans. I’m eager to see what the new executive comes up with.

On Thursday in fall/winter ball, Starlyn Caba went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run, PJ Morlando went 1-for-3 with a walk and Fenwick Trimble went 1-for-4. Karson Milbrandt pitched well in relief (2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 59 pitches/33 strikes) and leads the entire Arizona Fall League with 18 strikeouts. The Mesa Solar Sox lost, 7-5. Jared Serna (Mexico) again started in center field—something he had never done professionally prior to this week.

Only 153 days away from Marlins Opening Day.

🔷 Following a scouting trip to the AFL, Keith Law of The Athletic described Caba as the “best defensive shortstop prospect I’ve seen since Jose Iglesias in 2009-10. Caba makes every play look routine, with plus range in both directions and outstanding instincts. He barely has to hit to be a big leaguer…but that’s still a question.”

🔷 Kyle Stowers is hoping to become the first Marlins outfielder since 2017 to win a Silver Slugger Award. No other Marlins are Silver Slugger finalists this year. The award winners will be announced on November 6. 

🔷 Locked On Marlins interviewed Marlins minor league pitching strategist Mitchell McIntyre. “The outs definitely matter and we certainly care about performance, but at the lower levels, we’re straight up trying to maximize guys’ stuff,” McIntyre explained. “Our slogan is very clear about what we want to do, and for us, it’s simply ‘throw nasty strikes.'”

🔷 Miguel Beltre, who’s a member of the Marlins’ international scouting department, will work for Team Dominican Republic during the upcoming World Baseball Classic as part of their advance scouting staff.

🔷 There is a Bullpen Mafia meet-up at The Tank Brewing Co. tonight. Marlins broadcaster Kelly Saco is one of the special guests. You can RSVP here.

🔷 Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium gave us a glimpse of their ongoing renovations via TikTok (I have muted the Sabrina Carpenter song that was originally included with this video because it was giving me a headache).

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🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the San Francisco Giants hired Tony Vitello and the Los Angeles Angels hired Kurt Suzuki to be their new managers. That still leaves the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals with managerial vacancies. The Milwaukee Brewers promoted Matt Arnold to president of baseball operations. On the eve of the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced that Alex Vesia is away from the team due to a personal family matter. Fish On First sends positive thoughts to the former Marlins reliever.

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