Marlins right-hander Max Meyer held the Cardinals to two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings on Monday. One of those calculations came with a Calvin Faucher an unruly pitch, tying up the game and ruining Meyer’s chance to win, but it was another solid one for the young player. Meyer has allowed three earned runs or fewer in all five games. He flashed the best swings and misses of his career.
Meyer, 27, was a big leaguer. It’s still his most used pitch in 2026, but he’s also increased his use of the sweeper. Meyer relied on his breaking balls more than half the time (52.3%). Arsenal’s tweak resulted in his four players throwing at a career-low 19.8%. It’s a reasonable adjustment given the performance of the pitch. Meyer’s heater had a -7 Run Value in 2024, back when he was throwing almost as often as his slider. He cut his usage to 22.2% last season, but still posted a -6 Run Value.
The strikes ended up against St. Meyer took out eight Cardinals, the sweeper did the most damage (five Ks). He entered the outing with an excellent 13.3% strikeout rate, but an average strikeout rate of 22.7%. Considering that his most used pitch has a strikeout rate of over 50%, a better than league average is to be expected. Meyer now ranks ninth among professional starters with a 14.4% swing rate. Only two pitchers were above 15% in 2025 (Tarik Skubal, Dylan Cease).
An increased reliance on his breaking balls increased Meyer’s strikeout rate to 25.2%. He has a sub-4.00 ERA supported by a 3.77 xFIP and 3.78 SIERA. Walking was a big mistake. Meyer threw free passes at a 9.9% clip, more than 2% above his career mark heading into the season. He walked two Cardinals on Monday, giving him multiple BBs without one walk. He also struck out two Cardinals and uncorked a wild pitch.
Meyer has gotten nothing in the strikeout department. He also took a step forward in terms of communication quality. The righty has a career-low 38.6% strikeout rate. That number has never been below 44% in any of his past three major league seasons. Meyer allowed a barrel rate of 8.6%, which is still above the league average but represents a significant improvement from 11.2%.
Miami selected Meyer with the third overall pick in the 2020 draft. He was among the organization’s top prospects as recently as 2024. Injuries have prevented him from contributing regularly with the big league club. Meyer sprained his elbow just two weeks into MLB’s 2022 stint. He had Tommy John surgery and missed all of 2023. Meyer returned to the first team for 11 games in 2024. A shoulder injury ended his season prematurely in September. Meyer broke camp with the team last season, but a hip injury sidelined him for the final three months of the campaign.
A healthy and productive Meyer would be a huge boost to a Marlins rotation that has some minor firepower along the way. High hopes Thomas White has a reasonable 45.0% strikeout rate in three Triple-A starts. Robby Snelling it’s been great, with a sub-2.00 ERA and 31 strikeouts over 19 innings in Jacksonville. It’s easy to forget Eury Perez he is only 23 years old. Miami has the makings of an impressive rotation, regardless of whether they trade an ace Sandy Alcantara.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
