Blue Wahoos Have Overcome Injuries With Strong Pitching To Stay In Playoff Hunt

The Blue Wahoos endured a sideswipe from a tropical storm, a long day with a midweek doubleheader, then stifling hot weather during their past homestand.

But it became a blissful experience.

After finishing their best week of the season on July 26, winning five of six games in the series against the Columbus Clingstones, the next quest is staying the course.

“I like our team,” said Blue Wahoos manager Nelson Prada, prior to his team’s 3-2 win Tuesday against the Knoxville Smokies that began a road trip and extended good vibes. “We have the right people.”

The Blue Wahoos (52-44 overall, 16-11 second half) are vying for the second-half playoff spot in the Southern League’s South Division. First half winner Biloxi currently has the lead in the second half standings. If the Shuckers should win the second half as well, the team with the second-best winning percentage in the second half gets the divisional playoff spot.

Entering Wednesday’s game against Knoxville, the Blue Wahoos have a 1.5 game lead for that spot over Columbus and the Montgomery Biscuits, who visit Blue Wahoos Stadium for the next homestand on August 4-9.

They are doing this without three of their best hitters, outfielders Dillon Lewis and Fenwick Trimple, along with infielder Aiva Arquette, all expected back sometime in August off the injured list.

“We are going to get Arquette back at some point, Lewis back, we’re going to get Trimble so we have some really good hitters that might be here in two or three weeks,” Prada said. “If we can go play these two tough teams these next two weeks at least .500 or better and keep ourselves close, it’s going to be good.”

The common thread in the recent surge has been pitching. Both starters and relievers. The Blue Wahoos allowed just 10 runs in six games against Columbus, which carried into the road series opener Tuesday.

Prada points to a simple factor. The pitchers have thrown first pitches for strikes and gotten ahead of hitters in counts, which has led to more outs, quicker innings.

“We always talk to the pitchers about work ahead. That is something we’ve worked on all season,” he said. “We faced 29 batters (Sunday against Columbus) and got ahead in 21 or 22 of those hitters. That was pretty much our goal all week.

“When you can throw that first pitch for a strike, you’ve got a 50-percent chance of staying ahead in the count, because now you’ve got (next) two pitches to throw one strike. That first pitch for a strike is key.

“We also made only two errors the entire week (against Columbus). If we want pitchers to throw strikes, then we need to be back there catching the ball, right? We got some clutch hits, too.”

At the plate, the guy with a bulk of clutch hits has been outfielder Brandon Compton. He’s batting .347 (prior to Wednesday’s game) with a whopping 1.237 OPS (on-base, plus slugging percentage).

He was elevated to Pensacola on June 30 from the Beloit Sky Carp, the Miami Marlins’ High-A affiliate in the Midwest League. Compton, the Marlins’ second round draft pick in 2025 from Arizona State, was hitting .223 in Beloit with 12 homers and 48 RBI in 60 games.

Since joining the Blue Wahoos, Compton has 11 homers and 25 RBI in 22 games.

Prada has worked with Compton to use his strength and bat skills to spray the ball to all fields more often. He had a brief stretch of struggle during the Columbus series that he corrected.

“Brandon can get pull happy,” Prada said. “He struck out in a span of 10 at-bats, I think six or seven times, swinging at bad pitches, because he was trying to pull the ball.

“And we told him, you’ve got to know you can hit the ball from the left field line to the right field line. “When he got back to that approach he was great. When he just adjusts to the pitch he is really, really good.”

The Marlins signed all 21 of their draft picks chosen in the recent 2026 draft. The next key date is the trade deadline on August 3.

From now until then, more player movement is possible and there will be a need to place the draft selections in one of the lower levels of the Marlins minor league affiliates.

“On our team, I see a lot of young guys who just joined us and maybe it won’t affect us, but if somebody gets moved up that’s what we want,” Prada said. “That’s part of the job. We want these guys to continue going up the ladder and make it to the big leagues.

“I think we have the right people. If we can put it together in the last month with guys we’ve got now and guys we are getting back, it will be really fun.”