Liam Hicks Is Taking the Next Step for the Marlins
Hicks has been one of the top catchers in MLB to open the 2026 season, and he's emerging as a staple for Miami's lineup for seasons to come.
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Please, go ahead and chalk up another win for Peter Bendix and his scouting team for identifying this player out of the Rule 5 Draft in 2024.
Liam Hicks is doing his best job to prove that at least three other teams made a mistake by dismissing him before giving him the chance to prove himself at the major league level.
The Miami Marlins made Hicks the second-overall selection in the 2024 Rule 5 Draft, the first position player taken, from the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers left him unprotected in the draft shortly after acquiring him from the Texas Rangers at that year’s deadline.
Now, Shane Smith, who was selected first overall, has been good for the White Sox, but lets be honest, Hicks is a starting-caliber MLB catcher — and a good one at that.
At the time of that draft, Hicks was drafted to be the backup to then starting catcher Nick Fortes. Then, he was kept on the 26-man roster out of camp and eventually became the third catcher on the roster behind Agustin Ramirez once he made his debut.
Yet, even when it was evident that the Marlins wanted to, and still do, make Ramirez the starter, they have a hard time keeping Hicks out of the lineup.
A Budding Star Behind the Dish
Entering play on April 22, Hicks is currently hitting .324 with a .527 slugging percentage, four home runs, 21 RBIs, and a minuscule 6.3% strikeout percentage.
The thing is, this isn’t something that should come to a surprise to any of us.
It was just last year that I wrote an article highlighting the impact that the 2024 Rule 5 class as a whole was having on their new teams, but specifically how Hicks was surpassing any expectations that anyone could have had for a player who wasn’t even the backup catcher at the time.
As a matter of fact, each time the Marlins find themselves in a hot stretch of some sort, Hicks appears to be right in the middle of the success that the team is having.
Hicks is entering his second season in the majors. As a rookie, he hit .247/.346/.346 with just six home runs, 45 RBIs, and a 98 wRC+. While the numbers obviously don’t scream productive player, take into account that it was his first time playing above the Double-A level.
Not only that, he was fighting, scratching, and clawing on a daily basis to try and get in the lineup over the other two catchers on the roster.
The Marlins decided that he was worthy of the opportunity, and it gave him the shot to take first base reps for the team down the stretch of the season. That’s how he has been able to get consistent at-bats for the team ever since.
There’s also the fact that Agustin Ramirez has yet to find his footing on the defensive side of the ball, so having Hicks take the primary reps at the catching position and putting Ramirez in the DH spot in the lineup gives the Marlins the best of both worlds in terms of development.
I already mentioned the low strikeout rate that Hicks is currently sporting, but what I find truly fascinating is his ability to maintain such a low rate all while increasing his swing percentage from 37.4% in 2025 to 44.1% so far in 2026.
You combine that with his 99% zone-contact percentage (yes, you read that correctly), and you can start to piece together why he is ranking 97th percentile, or better, in four of the main components that go into Baseball Savant’s MLB Percentile Rankings.
Coming into the season, Hicks wanted to make it a point that he had to produce more power at the plate if he was going to stick in the majors.
Known for his “passive” approach at the plate while he was coming up through the minor leagues, the Marlins’ coaching staff issued a challenge to Hicks: swing more.
Well, now we know where the near-seven-percent jump in swing percentage was derived from.
Among catchers in the National League, here is where Hicks ranks in some of the major offensive categories:
- Average: 1st
- OBP: 3rd
- OPS: 2nd
- HRs: 4th
- Hits: 2nd
- RBIs: 3rd
As each game goes by, Hicks continues to make it more difficult on the Marlins’ coaching staff to keep him out of the lineup.
A Logjam At Catcher
I mentioned earlier about how the Marlins started to give Hicks reps at first base in order to find ways to keep him in the lineup. Well, the Marlins have yet to find themselves an option at the position that they can consistently rely on game in and game out.
So, why not Hicks?
Look, I know having the positional flexibility is what is going to be key for the Marlins as a whole. However, what about the inevitable arrival of their top catching prospect, Joe Mack, who is doing nothing but proving he is ready for his big-league debut?
When he gets up, who gets relegated?
Agustin is going to continue to be in the lineup in some way because that is where his value comes from. Mack is lauded for his defense behind the dish to go along with a well-developed bat at the plate as well. Why not just make Hicks the main option at first base? It would certainly help make the puzzle pieces fit.
Making decisions like this is how you find success stories like the Marlins’ current shortstop, Otto Lopez. Giving him a home at short has unlocked his true potential. Who is to say that doing the same for Hicks at first base, while still spelling Mack behind the dish every so often, is not what’s going to be best for the team going forward?
Either way, Liam Hicks has the makings of becoming a staple for this lineup for seasons to come.
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Written by
Cristian has been at Just Baseball since 2021, when he first started writing about prospects. He spent eight years working in Major League Baseball with the…