Marlins promote power arm Josh Ekness for big-league debut against Phillies

That opportunity came after Cade Gibson threw 50 pitches in Friday night’s 6-5 loss to Philadelphia, leaving Miami short in a bullpen that was already navigating a stretch of 10 straight games and 26 games in 27 days. Ekness stepped into that opening with the kind of raw stuff the organization has been tracking since it drafted him in the 12th round in 2023, 353rd overall, out of the University of Houston. He wears No. 95, stands 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, and works from a low-three-quarters arm slot with a cross-body delivery that helps the fastball play up.

The stuff is loud. MLB Pipeline gave Ekness a 70 grade on his fastball and a 60 on his slider, with 45-grade control, and his heater has been clocked as high as 100 mph with armside run. The slider has drawn attention as a possible high-leverage pitch if the strike throwing keeps trending the right way. That has been the main question on his profile, but he arrived in Miami having tightened things up at Triple-A, where he had issued just two walks over his previous six outings and had already trimmed his walk rate from his college days.

Overall, Ekness finished his Jacksonville run with 21 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings, allowing nine runs, eight earned, on 13 hits and six walks. The line reflects both why the Marlins wanted him and why his first assignment matters: the arm is real, but his long-term value depends on whether that velocity and slider can keep landing in the zone against major league hitters. Miami had an open 40-man roster spot after designating Austin Slater for assignment on April 23, and Pete Fairbanks was on the 15-day injured list with nerve irritation in his throwing hand, so the path was there when the need hit.