The Marlins’ Up-the-Middle Combo Is the Best It’s Been in Years
Otto Lopez and Xaiver Edwards have taken off to begin the 2026 season, emerging as one of the best up-the-middle duos in MLB.
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You have to go decently far back when you try to think about the last time the Miami Marlins had one, let alone two position players up the middle who have been as successful as the current Marlins double-play tandem.
It is only fitting that it comes in the season where the Marlins are featuring the beloved teal jerseys back in rotation.
While there have been quite a few high-profile names patrolling those positions, you have to think all the way back to the up-the-middle duo of Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla when you go to compare what Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards have been able to accomplish so far this season.
Before that, you had the World Series champion duo in Alex Gonzalez and Luis Castillo. Even then, both of those duos were more known for their offense, specifically with Uggla, and the other for their defense with timely hitting.
What Otto and X are doing is notable on both sides of the baseball, and it’s been one of the best stories in baseball to open the 2026 season.
It isn’t just what each player has been able to accomplish on their own, but the chemistry they have been able to build in such a short period of time is special. Especially when you consider the extended routes each has taken to reach the point where they are now.
Coming into the season, you would be hard-pressed to find any individual who would have placed the combination of Otto and X amongst the best in baseball. And yet, here we are.
The combinations of Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner, Francisco Lindor and Marcus Semien, Jeremy Pena and Jose Altuve, and Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday are just a handful off the top of my head that would quickly be named before you even consider thinking about the Marlins as a team.
You likely would have even heard Masyn Winn and JJ Wetherholt named quite a few times before the Fish duo came up in conversation.
Yet, here we sit entering April 24, and these two have already combined for a 2.1 fWAR. I would say that is a pretty good number to be at considering we haven’t even entered the month of May. Oh, not to mention that both of them are top 14 in MLB in batting average — top eight if you just take into account the National League.
There’s also the fun little nugget that these two were actually the starting second baseman and shortstop last year, only flipped. It wasn’t until later in the season that the two switched positions on the diamond. The rest, as they say, is history.
All stats were taken prior to play on April 24.
Otto Lopez
You can go back to last season and find quite a few articles where I reference the impact that Otto Lopez has had on the Marlins since being claimed by Peter Bendix back in April of 2024 from the Giants.
In three seasons with the Marlins, Otto Lopez has a .262/.313/.384 slash line with 24 home runs, 127 RBIs, 39 stolen bases, and a 127 wRC+ in 284 games played. Even when you consider that he wasn’t an “established” everyday regular in the majors in his first two years, accumulating 2.5 fWAR in 2024 (117 games) and 2.3 fWAR last season (143 games) is nothing to scoff at.
I just referenced the impact Lopez has had on the Marlins just last year alone. In an article I wrote back in October, I even mentioned how even though the Marlins had three Gold Glove finalists last year, arguably their best defender, Otto, wasn’t even a nominee when the finalists were named. Lopez even beat out some of the finalists in defensive WAR.
Per Fangraphs’ total WAR metric, Lopez is currently tied for the most total WAR in the National League with 1.3 fWAR.
Now, on the offensive side of the ball, Lopez is definitely being ignored far too much.
I already mentioned where both he and Edwards rank amongst batting average leaders in the league, but I did not reference how he is tied for seventh in the National League in hits (29), leading all NL shortstops in that category. He’s also tied for third in OPS and runs scored and sixth in RBIs.
In a recent swing breakdown made on Demo Den by the Marlins TV Broadcast team, they referenced how Otto has made a change to his stance that has allowed him to close up a bit and help him stay back on the baseball, truly being able to utilize the power from his backside to hit the ball hard to all parts of the field.
He is also keeping pace with his speed output from over the past couple of seasons, having just recently stolen his fourth base of the season.
Xavier Edwards
Now we move over to the other side of the second base bag to talk about Otto Lopez’s double-play partner, Xavier Edwards.
Since being acquired by the Marlins, Edwards has always been a player that Marlins fans have seemed to be increasingly attached to. Well, X is doing his part in not only thanking them for their loyalty but also proving them right.
I already did all the talking about how great Otto has been on the offensive side of the ball. Well, believe it or not, Xavier Edwards has been better.
Edwards is currently fifth in all of baseball with his .330 batting average, and his .411 OBP also ranks 11th in the sport. That last stat is what has made this year that much more significant in the development of the young second baseman.
Coming into this season, Edwards had only eclipsed a double-digit walk rate (10.9%) once since becoming a full-time player. That was back in 2024, when he was limited to only 70 games due to injury. Before that, he was walking at an okay clip, with a strikeout rate averaging around 16%.
This year, Edwards is walking and striking out at the same 12.0% mark. His wRC+ is also obliterating his previous highs, currently sitting at 146.
What I have come to appreciate most about Edwards’ development has been his overall improvement in his approach at the plate. When the Marlins entered last offseason stressing the importance of being more selective at the plate and working counts, they meant it.
While X has always maintained a chase rate below league average, this year it has taken a life of its own — in a good way!
The MLB average for chase percentage, according to Baseball Savant, is 28.5%. Edwards has a chase rate sitting at 20.3%, which has much to do with his swing percentage dropping nearly 10 total percentage points from 49.0% to 40.7%.
A high hard-hit rate has never been something that the second baseman has been able to truly tap into, but his 41.5% squared-up rate, which is in the 100th percentile of MLB, is something that helps supplement that number.
There is a possibility that Edwards actually takes home the National League batting title come the end of the 2026 season with how he has been performing. The advanced metrics seem to be supporting it as well.
Best Duo in Baseball?
I have referenced fWAR quite a bit throughout this article, but the stat is just so telling of just how good these two have been this year for the Marlins.
As a duo, the two are the best up-the-middle combination in all of Major League Baseball. The only duo that comes close is Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, accumulating 1.3 fWAR, which is actually funny considering Correa has only been playing as much shortstop as he has because of the early-season injury to Jeremy Pena.
Look, I get it. The old, “He plays for the Marlins,” narrative is brought up in these situations, but sometimes that needs to go out the window. These two are special, and it’s been an incredible start to the 2026 season for the duo in Miami.
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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…