The Miami Marlins Need Dee Gordon to Get on Base More

The Miami Marlins need to take more walks. Their lead off hitter doing so would be a good start.

Back in late 2014 the Miami Marlins traded for Dee Gordon to be their starting second basemen. With that, they also got the prototype lead off hitter. A guy that’ll get on base and create havoc with his speed.

With the likes of Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, Justin Bour, and Marcell Ozuna in the middle of the lineup, it puts that much more of an importance for him to get on base.

Gordon sets the stage for everyone else behind him. With Gordon on base, hitters know that all they need is to put the ball in play and he can make something happen.

The problem though, has been Gordon getting on base. In the lead off spot, the Marlins want him to see some pitches and get on base. Setting the stage for the bats behind him.

Gordon needs to see more pitches.

His current slash line this year is only a couple points down from his career line of .289/.324/.364. The average and slugging percentage are not the problem here. It’s the on base percentage that needs to improve.

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Typically you’d like to see the OBP be about 50 to 80 percentage points higher than the average. Gordon’s though, is noticeably close to his average.

You would prefer the middling number to be his average not OBP. So far in two and a half seasons with the Fish, the most walks Gordon has drawn in a season is 25. His career high is 31.

At the plate, Gordon is very relate-able to former Fish, and world champion, Juan Pierre. Except, Pierre’s career OBP was .343 and a tick shy of 50 percentage points higher than his average.

This is around where the Marlins would love for Gordon’s stats to be. Gordon is in the bottom 15 of all qualified players in the Major Leagues in pitches seen per plate appearance at 3.42.

A couple years ago when Gordon won the batting title this was not an issue. However, if he is going to be a career .289 hitter, he needs to draw more walks. Baseball people call the lead off man the “tone setter” a lot of times because he can decide how a game will go in the first at bat.

Unfortunately, when the “tone setter” is striking out three times as much as he’s walking it can be an issue. Nothing is more deflating than when Gordon leads off a game or inning with a strikeout.

Next: What the Future May Hold for the Fish

It sets the stage for a down inning more times than not. A major component to the Marlins lineup being dangerous and scoring runs this year will be the ability of Gordon to get on base and see more pitches.

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