Soler shows power potential early. And Marlins ring New York Stock Exchange opening bell

This is the Jorge Soler the Miami Marlins were hoping they had when they signed him last offseason, the slugger who can come up with big hits in big moments.

He didn’t do much of that in 2022, as injuries and underperformance marred his first season with the club.

But through the Marlins’ first week of games, Soler has shown in a small sample size a glimpse of what might come this season.

No game was bigger in this stretch than his performance in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins. He socked two home runs — a 409-foot solo shot to left-center against former Marlins pitcher Pablo Lopez in the first inning and a crucial three-run home run to left in the eighth against reliever Caleb Thielbar.

“I feel great,” Soler said Wednesday. “Thank goodness the results are starting to come through.”

Soler entered Thursday as one of 14 players in the league with at least three home runs. His six RBI are tied for 19th in the league. Of his seven hits, six have gone for extra bases — he also has three doubles in addition to the three home runs.

Overall, Soler has a .990 on-base-plus-slugging percentage through seven games that’s fueled heavily by a .704 slugging mark.

“Obviously a big, strong guy that can hit homers,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “but what I love is he’s been going the other way, too, and becoming a hitter and not just a power hitter. Do I love homers? Of course I love the home run, but I think that he’s just a complete hitter and buying into ‘you’re a good hitter, too, not just a power hitter.’”

He was mostly the latter last season in his limited playing time.

Soler hit just .207 over 306 plate appearances in 2022, his first year with the Marlins after signing a $12 million deal that included player options for 2023 ($15 million) and 2024 ($9 million). He did, however, hit 13 home runs in 72 games — which put him on pace for about 30 home runs across a full season — before back injuries sidelined him for the rest of the season.

“He’s a middle-of-the-order bat,” Schumaker said. “We need him to go. There’s no sugarcoating or anything. That’s just real.”

Marlins executives ring stock exchange opening bell

The Marlins’ series-opener against the New York Mets at Citi Field to begin their first road trip of the season was delayed a day — from Thursday to Friday — due to forecasted rain.

But several members of the front office were in action early Thursday as the Marlins and new sponsor ADT rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

General manager Kim Ng and president of business operations Caroline O’Connor, who together have the Marlins as the first team across the United States’ top four sports leagues to have women operating the entirety of the team’s day-to-day operations, along with ADT chief marketing officer DeLu Jackson headlined the group.

“This was great,” Ng said. “I came here when I was young. We took a tour with my elementary school of the stock exchange, so to be up there, ringing the bell at 9:30 was just awesome.”

The Marlins last month announced a partnership with ADT that included having the security company serve as the Marlins first ever jersey patch partner. ADT’s blue octagon logo appears on the sleeve of all Marlins jerseys.

“The Marlins have arrived,” O’Connor said. “We’re up here to celebrate our partnership with ADT, but also we’re showcasing. the diversity that our organization has. ... We’re really excited about that and proud to have the opportunity to ring the bell and show it all to the world.”

This and that

▪ The average time of game for the first seven Marlins games was two hours and 26 minutes, and no game eclipsed three hours. Coincidentally, the Marlins have fared better in quicker games. They have won all three of their games that have been played in two hours and 10 minutes or quicker — including Sandy Alcantara’s shutout that took just one hour and 57 minutes on Tuesday — and are 0-4 in games that took longer than two hours and 30 minutes.

▪ Projected starting pitchers for the Marlins-Mets series at Citi Field: Edward Cabrera (0-0, 4.50 ERA) against Tylor Megill (1-0, 3.60) on Friday, Trevor Rogers (0-1, 6.23) against Kodai Senga (1-0, 1.69) on Saturday and a to-be-determined starter for the Marlins (likely Braxton Garrett) against Carlos Carrasco (0-1, 11.25) on Sunday.