Sports media attention is usually focused on the superstars who earn the biggest contracts, produce at the highest level, and take home the sport top awards. The only difference in Major League Baseball is that the stars are compressed on a handful of teams, which makes the spotlight on them even brighter.

As the focus remains fixed on the biggest names, three players on the Miami Marlins have been flying under the radar despite emerging as one of the more productive offensive trios in the Major Leagues.

Having played past the 40-game mark, Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards and Liam Hicks have emerged as legitimate offensive threats in Miami’s everyday lineup. The 40-game mark is significant, according to Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, who said “You can’t tell anything about a team until they’ve played 40 games.” A benchmark that many people still use to judge a team or its players.

The philosophy behind it is simple, by the 40-game mark in the season, early hot streaks and slumps begin to level out, making performances and standings more meaningful.

Lopez, Edwards and Hicks each had their way with the bat in the Marlins’ 9-5 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday. Edwards went 2-for-4 with a double, triple and two runs scored to improve his batting average to .318 and his OPS to .890 on the season. Lopez’s (.335/.367/.497) lone hit was an RBI and Hicks drove in three runs to add to his lead league at 38 RBI.  

Miami manager Clayton McCullough acknowledged during his press conference on May 10 the challenge of relying so heavily on the trio and how difficult it will be to sustain what they are doing.

“The guys have been going so good, [but] they can't do this forever, and they'll still be good,” McCullough said, “but some other guys are going to have to contribute.”

Despite their offensive productivity to this point, they continue to receive limited national attention. So much so that when Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report released his MLB power rankings this week, he posed the question: “Is there a more unheralded trio in baseball right now than Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards and Liam Hicks?”

What makes the trio’s performance newsworthy is both their individual production and the fact that they have largely carried the Miami offense. Their success is a key reason the Marlins are only five games out of a Wild Card spot.

Together, the three have accounted for 42 percent of the hits and runs the team has scored this season. Yet despite that level of impact, the trio has gone without the recognition typically given to high-performing offensive groups.

In MLB, it’s the top teams with star-heavy lineups are the ones that usually get national attention. It's the Los Angeles Dodgers with stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy and Freddie Freeman. The New York Yankees marquee trio of Aaron Judge, Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger or the Braves Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson and Austin Riley, that continually receive attention.

All three teams have top-10 payrolls: Dodgers ($390.5M), Yankees ($325.4M) and Braves ($233.0M), and have rosters expected to produce. They dominate media coverage because of their massive payrolls, star-studded rosters and postseason expectations.

Miami’s trio plays in a completely different playground, on a team with one of the lowest payroll in baseball, surrounded by players who are not household names.

Lopez, Edwards and Hicks came into the season unknown, with very few expectations and no national discussion. Yet their production has matched the game’s top players, and they are now beginning to get the recognition they deserve.  

Lopez has entered the conversation as one of the best shortstops in baseball, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald: “MLB’s best shortstop a month into the season? Marlins’ Otto Lopez is making a case.”

The Good Phight said, “Xavier Edwards is emerging as a top-of-the-order catalyst with elite on-base ability.”

In a league often driven by star power and payroll comparisons, the Marlins may have found something just as valuable: production from overlooked contributors. And while they may not command the same spotlight as baseball’s biggest names, Lopez, Edwards and Hicks are beginning to force their way into the conversation.

Despite being unknowns entering the season, Lopez, Edwards and Hicks are posting OPS numbers that stack up against the biggest names in the game. OPS combines on-base percentage and slugging percentage, its gives an indication of overall offensive production because it measures a hitter’s ability to reach base and produce power.

Lopez, through 40 games, has posted an .886 OPS, with a .373 on-base percentage and .513 slugging percentage.  Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald described Lopez’s offensive breakout as “He just looks very hitter-ish right now.”

Edwards, after 41 games, posted a .886 mark, and when asked about what allows him to have the power this year, opposed to last season, Edwards states, “I think it's just my swing, I have been trying to get my A-swing as much as I can. I kind of try to make a lot of the at-bats end on my terms.”  

Hicks leads the team with 9 home runs this season and has a .958 OPS thanks to a .370 on-base percentage and .588 slugging percentage.

Those numbers put Miami’s trio on the same playing field as some of the biggest names in the game. Lopez, Edwards and Hicks' OPS at this point in the season is higher than Ohtani (.767 OPS), Acuna Jr. (.740 OPS), and Freeman (.772 OPS), while Cody Bellinger (.895 OPS) sits just above Lopez and Edwards.

“Is there a more unheralded trio in baseball right now than Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards and Liam Hicks?”

There very well could be other trios in MLB that are flying under the radar right now. But very few have combined for the level of production with the lack of recognition that the trio from Miami have.

Are they Unheralded, yes, but if they continue producing at this level, it is only a matter of time before they find themselves in the same spotlight as the others.

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