1:45 p.m: The Marlins have now officially announced that they have recalled Fulton and selected Kempner.
11:32 am: The Marlins are set to memorialize the left-hander Dax Fulton from Triple-A Jacksonville, Isaac Azout of Fish on First reports. That’s right William Kempnerwho made his major league debut last night, will be selected to go to Jacksonville instead. Fulton has been a starter for most of his professional career but will make his debut in the Miami bullpen, Azout adds. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports the left Robby Snelling is in line to make his major league debut Friday in place of the DFA’ed veteran Chris Paddack.
Kempner only threw eight pitches in last night’s start, so it’s not a case of him being unavailable. Maybe the Marlins are just looking for another lefty in the bullpen Andrew Nardi they threw 22 pitches yesterday, or maybe they prefer to add more length after using five shortstops on Tuesday. Whatever the reason, Fulton will head to Miami for his first call to the majors. He started five games and two in relief this season in Jacksonville but was hit hard: 20 innings, 17 earned runs, 23 hits, 11 walks, three batters and 24 strikeouts.
It’s been a shaky start to his year, obviously, but Fulton is a former second-rounder and well-regarded prospect whose path to the majors has been set back by injury. Most notably, he underwent an internal brace procedure on his left UCL in June 2023. (Fulton also had Tommy John surgery as a freshman.) That 2023 surgery sidelined his entire ’24 campaign. Fulton returned in 2025 with 103 2/3 innings, posting an unimpressive 5.38 ERA with encouraging underdog marks (3.55 FIP, 23.8% strikeout rate, 47.3% slugging rate).
Fulton is a 6’7″ southpaw listed at 245 pounds. He sits at 93.6 mph in his heater and can get up to 96-97 at times. The big lefty’s other offerings are a low-80s curveball and an upper-80s changeup, though he sometimes sprinkles in the sink.
Whether the move to a relief role will last remains to be seen. The Marlins have good rotation depth even after Paddack’s DFA and offseason trade. Edward Cabrera again Ryan Weathers. Current employees include Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Max Meyer again Janson Junk. Snelling, ranked 26th in Baseball America’s just-released update of their top 100 prospects, appears to have been ticketed to start Friday.
Left Thomas Whiteranked as high as No. 11 overall, will likely make his first appearance this season. Fish is also a talented lefty Braxton Garrett in Triple-A – started last night and isn’t expected to return to the big leagues on Friday – with the pitchers. Ryan Gusto again Bradley Blalock. Jacob Miller again Carson Milbrandtthe team’s second- and third-round picks in 2022, both of whom are in second place at the Double-A level (also their best pitchers yet).
That arsenal would make bullpen Fulton the clearest path to carving out a permanent spot on the big league roster, but he’ll likely need to return to his pre-surgery form with another Triple-A either way. If he’s ready to provide some length in the bullpen over the next few days, he’ll be a candidate to be sent back to Triple-A on Friday — assuming Snelling is actually promoted that day.
