Nick

Fortes

Fortes’ second-inning single off Royals starter Brady Singer accounted for their lone tally on Wednesday afternoon in a low-scoring showdown at Kauffman Stadium. The 27-year-old backstop boasts a .419 OPS with two homers in 157 plate appearances over 58 games this season.

The home run was just Fortes’ second in what’s been a disastrous start to the season. He’s had some intriguing batted ball metrics in the past, but this was just his second barrel of the season. He’s hard to trust even in two-catcher formats.

Fortes drove in one of four runs for the Marlins in their blowout loss on Saturday. He took Paul Blackburn deep for a solo homer in the sixth inning, his first of the season. The 27-year-old backstop is slashing an abysmal .141/.179/.219 with five RBI across 68 plate appearances.

The Marlins will have start the season with Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes as the primary backstops. Casali, 35, is a career .220 AVG hitter across 1,454 plate appearances so it’s not a shock the Marlins decided to cut ties before Opening Day.

The 27-year-old backstop drew a walk in the second inning, but was ultimately caught attempting to steal home to end the inning. He then smacked a two-run single off of Richard Bleier in the fourth inning that extended the Marlins’ lead to 3-0. It has been a rough spring at the dish for Fortes, who is hitting just .182 (2-for-11) with a run scored and two RBI.

Back-to-back days with Marlins catcher blurbs could be a sign of the apocalypse. Jacob Stallings has been pretty good lately, and Fortes stepped it up today, hitting his sixth homer of the year and raising his average from .199 to .210. He had as many hits today as he did in his previous 43 at-bats since Aug. 14. He totaled as many runs scored as he did in the entire months of April and July.

The Cardinals outhit the Marlins 11-6 and had the game’s lone homer. Both teams had the same number of walks. Still, it was the Fish who prevailed. They’re now 49-37 on the season. Incredibly, when they’re not playing the Braves, they’re 48-28.

He was the only Marlin with multiple hits against the Jays tonight, and also added a warning-track flyout to center. Fortes is heating up, with a .412/.421/.706 line over his past seven games, but his .250/.296/.351 seasonal line spells an unproductive fantasy player.

Fortes extended the Marlins lead in the eighth inning with a run-scoring double off Justin Topa. The 26-year-old backstop is hitting .232/.279/.333 with four homers, 14 RBI, and three steals across 147 plate appearances.

Fortes tagged Mariners’ right-hander Bryce Miller for his 409-foot (102.4 mph EV) solo shot in the fifth inning -- trimming the Marlins’ deficit to five runs at 6-1. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the night. For the season, the 26-year-old catcher is now slashing .231/.280/.328 with four homers and 13 RBI.