Top 20 Miami Marlins No. 14: Dan Uggla

As our list of the Top 20 All-Time Miami Marlins counts down, we continue our way around the horn to second base, and the man that hit the second most home runs in franchise history.

His name is DAN UGGLA.  

Daniel Cooley Uggla came to the Marlins in 2006 as a Rule 5 draft pick, which means that the Arizona Diamondbacks decided he wasn’t good enough to be considered one of the top forty players in their organization that season.

Okay, to be fair, Orlando Hudson was blocking him at the position, and posted a better WAR (3.5 to 3.06) over the first three years of their career.

But being fair is difficult, as Daniel Cooley Uggla happens to be one of my favorite Marlins ever. Plus, over their Diamondbacks v. Marlins careers, Hudson trails Uggla 10 to 15 in respective Top 20 WAR.  So there, Arizona.  Mistake made.

One of six Marlins to receive Rookie of the Year votes for that 2006 squad that, despite a losing record, warrants consideration for the title of third most talented in club history, Uggla hit 27 home runs and made the All-Star team in his first season in the bigs.  That would be good enough to lead a team that included Miguel Cabrera, and to break the record for a rookie at his position.

Those 27 HRs would also be the fewest he’d hit in a season until 2012.

Uggla set the new standard in league history at his position when it came to power, as the first second baseman ever to hit 30 or more homers in four consecutive seasons; he’d pad that total to five with a career best 36 in 2011.  He would play in two more All-Star Games following that sensation 2006 campaign, in 2008 and 2012.  And while he did fail to make it out of the first round of the 2008 MLB Home Run Derby, he did hit more than NL starting second baseman Chase Utley, which was important as Utley seemed to me exist solely to deny Uggla All-Star appearances in 2007, 2009, and 2010.

Uggla’s career is a unique one in the severe disparity between his Marlins/not Marlins splits .  After hitting a career best .287 in 2010, his last year with the club, he’s failed to do better than .233 since. Lampooned at the time as a failure, the decision to not meet Uggla’s contract demands following the 2010 season probably stands as one of the better roster decisions during Loria’s tenure.

In that sense, his case is similar to that of fellow Top 20 member Ricky Nolasco.  Both left Miami as the team leader in a major category – wins, home runs- but both also began to face pronounced difficulties after departing.

But none of that matters with Dan.  He was a feast or famine slugger, driving the ball with such force that he was Stanton before Stanton. He was the consummate grinder, playing in less than 154 games just once in his Marlins career.  His play never let you forget that Rule 5 status, mostly due to the work ethic, but occasionally the defense.

Last season, Stanton eclipsed Uggla with his first homer of the year.  But while that gap will only grow over the years, Miami fans will never forget their first long-tenured masher.  Or hopefully, how to pronounce his name.