Kim Ng talks state of the Miami Marlins, the rotation, Jorge Soler, Eury Perez and more

The Miami Marlins have played a little more than one-third of their season and find themselves in a competitive spot.

They enter Sunday’s series finale against the Oakland Athletics with a 31-28 record, putting them in second in the National League East (three games behind the Atlanta Braves) and making them one of seven teams in the National League with a winning record.

The Marlins are still looking for that big breakthrough but overall has managed to tread water through the first months of the season, which has been enough to remain in the playoff hunt in a National League with its share of parity early this year.

And Miami has done in for an extended period, specifically in May, without top players like left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers (left biceps), center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. (turf toe) and left-handed relief pitcher and closer A.J. Puk (left elbow nerve irritation).

How would Marlins general manager Kim Ng describe the season to this point?

“There are always opportunities that you wish you had a do-over on,” Ng said, “but I will say with the injuries that we have had and the players we have been missing, we’ve done a good job without them.”

Ng spoke with a small group of media members for about 15 minutes pregame Friday to discuss a variety of topics about the club.

Here are the highlights:

▪ On the state of the National League and where the Marlins fit in: “There haven’t been a lot of clubs that have really stepped out. We’ve seen a lot of clubs go up and down. I mean, the Cubs when we played them a couple of weeks ago were hot and now they’ve cooled off. We’re seeing that all over the league. There definitely have been several stable clubs. Unfortunately, one of them [the Braves] is in our division, but I can say, when you look at it in general, the clubs that we have faced, how good they are, we’re playing everybody very tough. Between the Arizona Diamondbacks [Miami went 4-2], the Cubs [Miami went 4-2], on and on. That’s really the encouraging thing to me is these guys ... don’t count them out. The other night [the Marlins’ walk-off win over the Padres on Wednesday] was a great example. ... This club has a lot of fight.”

▪ On if Jorge Soler’s production this season (.247 average, .863 on-base-plus-slugging, 17 home runs, 36 RBI, 32 runs scored) is what the Marlins were hoping for when they signed him ahead of the 2022 season: “I think even better, really. I would say the Soler that we saw last year (.207 average, 13 home runs, 13 doubles, 34 RBI, 32 runs in 72 games) was probably the guy that we envisioned, but then he got hurt. The Soler that we’ve seen this year is definitely different and a big tribute to the hitting staff really helping on that end. He’s been tremendous.”

Ng did note that the team has not initiated contract extension talks with either Soler or second baseman Luis Arraez. Soler, making $15 million this season, has a $9 million player option for the 2024 season. Arraez is under team control through the 2025 season.

▪ On the starting rotation, which enters Sunday 13th in MLB with a 4.34 ERA: “Definitely not necessarily the way we had tentatively scripted it out, but I think overall you always have to allow for these guys are humans right? There were definitely games for for all of them that could have gone either way. I wish at certain points here we were throwing a few more strikes, I’ll definitely say that. But when you look at the composition of the rotation, a lot of them are still young guys, right? So I think we’re one of the only staffs — maybe there might be one other one — where the five guys are under 27 or under. So that’s ... we say it out of both sides of our mouths. This is a really good young staff and then you also realize that with youth, they have to gain experience with certain things. That’s what we’re seeing.”

▪ On her impressions of top prospect and 20-year-old right-handed pitcher Eury Perez, who has pitched to a 2.25 ERA over 24 innings through his first five MLB starts, including back-to-back outings of five shutout innings: “He’s really tall. He is as advertised. He’s been really composed. His poise on the mound is really good. He’s been throwing his fair share of strikes. And he’s got four pitches. You see glimpses of the really good stuff every single outing. We very pleased with them. It’s so hard to get over that 20 years old. You know, what were we all doing when we were 20 years old?”

▪ How the additions of Arraez, Yuli Gurriel and Jean Segura have helped the clubhouse: “These guys come from winning organizations. Adding players like this into the mix, veteran leadership — even Jean has obviously had a rough time, but his work off the field and on the field has been really good and I think that’s something that the younger players take note of as well. Adding those guys into the mix has definitely helped and I think it’s taken a little bit of the pressure off some of the younger guys as well, particularly in those big situations.”

▪ On what the team realistically hopes they can get from right-handed pitcher Sixto Sanchez, who continues to deal with injury setbacks: “He’s really going to dictate that. You know, we can sit here and hope and wish, you know, but it’s really, you know, him and where he is that that’s going to be the determining factor.”

Is Sanchez still part of the team’s long-term plans at this point?

“Yeah,” Ng said.