The Early Season Struggles of Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour.

Early on, the two big bats for the Miami Marlins have been quiet.

In a major league lineup, especially for the Miami Marlins, two hitters that need to be swinging a big bat to drive in runs are the cleanup hitter and his protection (4 and 5 in the order). Without these two guys, run are hard to come by and can provide troubles for the ball club as a whole.

Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour have been sub par so far which usually would hurt the Marlins offense. Thanks to Marcell Ozuna it has yet to have much effect. However, Ozuna can’t sustain carrying almost an entire offense by himself for much longer.

Let’s take a look first at Justin Bour.

Justin Bour is in arguably the worst slump of his career since he’s been a Miami Marlin. He has a slash line of .163/.276/.327 as of the game of April 19th. To compare this against the past couple seasons, his career slash line is .259/.331/.458.

Last year, he hit 15 home runs in 90 games which had him on pace for anywhere between 25 and 30 if he stayed healthy.

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So far this year he only has two in 14 games which puts him on pace for 22 this year. Last year he was also on pace for 91 RBI’s, again, if healthy. This year he’s only on pace for a measly 69.

Coming into the year the Marlins put a lot of pressure on Bour to prove himself as the everyday first baseman against both righties and lefties.

His struggles can be a product of this pressure. He knows he has to perform and every game he doesn’t, he can feel it because he’s also a human.

The one trouble Bour has really had though is the change-up low and away. Pitchers are staying away from the inside part of the plate and are letting him chase the off speed to get him out.

Bour will make the needed adjustments though, like all major leaguers make, and break out of this slump. By years end, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Bour gets back to his average numbers.

Now, a look at Giancarlo Stanton.

Giancarlo Stanton is a polarizing figure in Major League Baseball, and when he catches fire, can be argued as the most fun player to watch. The caveat to that is when he is cold and slumping, he can be the most agonizing player to watch.

Stanton’s current slash line before the game on April 19th is .226/.300/.415. He’s in the same boat with Bour, as that is well below his career slash line of .265/.356/.537.

Stanton’s constant struggles come off of understanding how a pitcher is going to attack him. He doesn’t know when he’s going to be busted in with fastballs, or be face with sliders away like we do when we watch him on TV.

This has been known to be able to stranglehold him mentally during an at-bat and frustrate him. Stanton though, hasn’t gotten hot yet this season, nor has he been terribly cold. Which is good news for fish fans.

After seeing him go through a career slump last season, he still managed to almost recover from and be able to put up respectable stats during the season.

Barring another career slump, Stanton catching a burst of fire will have a huge impact on the early season struggles.

Next: Miami Marlins: Dark Horse of the NL East

Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour both have different early season struggles going on, but pose no reason to freak out. Every ballplayer goes through slumps or dry spells, and so far they are both managing them as well as possible. Once both of them catch fire the stats will improve to where everyone would prefer to see them at.

Early on, the two big bats for the Miami Marlins have been quiet.

Let’s take a look first at Justin Bour.

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Now, a look at Giancarlo Stanton.

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