Miami Marlins: Disappointing season marked by individual successes

The 2017 Miami Marlins season is an overall disappointment, but it’s not marked with several superlative individual performances.

Coming into the last week of the regular season, the Miami Marlins will once again have a disappointing end to their season. Another year not making the playoffs since the 2003 World Championship team.

Although the team success wasn’t what was expected coming into this year’s campaign, the Fish have had a handful of player success that the organization should be proud of.

Lets highlight those players down below:

Giancarlo Stanton

Giancarlo Stanton was a man among boys this season, especially after the All Star break. He made his 4th All Star team, and has been one of the top 5 players in baseball all year. Coming into the final week, Stanton leads the major leagues in homeruns with 57, and is tied with the Colorado Rockies Nolan Arenado for the MLB RBI lead with 126.

He has a solid batting average of .280 as he’s become a more patient and all around better hitter. His slugging percentage of .635 is the MLB’s best, and his Wins Above Replace (WAR) is 7.4 leads the National League as well. With a week left, Stanton has a chance of reaching the 60 homer mark, and maybe even surpassing the 61 homer mark of Roger Maris.

He’s likely going to win his second career Silver Slugger Award. He should also be the NL MVP, but that may be tough because of his team’s record. With all that being said, Stanton has been nothing short of spectacular, and it has been the greatest single season performance by any Marlins player in franchise history.

Marcell Ozuna

Coming into the 2017 season, everyone knew that Marcell Ozuna was a good player on the rise. Through the 2017 season, they’ve realized he is a star.

He made his second career All Star team, in which he was voted in by the fans to start the game. He enters the final week of the season with a .308 batting average, a career high 36 homeruns, and a career high 118 RBI; good for 4th in the MLB.

His amazing season has been overshadowed by Stanton’s historic achievements, but Ozuna has proven that he’s one of the top outfielders in all of baseball and he still has room for improvement. He’s been a pleasure to watch play all season long.

Jose Urena

By far the biggest surprise for the Marlins in 2017 has been Jose Urena. Urena was close to not even making the opening day roster, but became a stabilizing force in the rotation. Urena has made 26 starts, and has been the Miami Marlins most reliable starter.

Coming into the final week of the season he has a chance to be a 15 game winner.

His current record of 14-6 is best among the team’s starting pitchers. His 3.55 ERA is best for the rotation as well. He’s pitched a career high 159.2 innings, and struck out 107 batters while only walking 56.

Urena has been a pleasant surprise for the organization, and he’s earned the right to be in the team’s starting rotation heading into 2018.

Dee Gordon

Dee Gordon has had a strong bounce back 2017 season after having the worst season of his career last year. With 7 games left in the 2017 campaign, Gordon has 191 hits. That puts him at 4th in the MLB, and has a .307 batting average.

He’s second in the MLB with 56 stolen bases, only two behind Cincinnati Red’s speedster Billy Hamilton. He’s done a great job of getting on base for the big bats in the lineup as he’s scored 107 runs; second on the team.

If he can finish the season with a .300 batting average, he would be the 4th second baseman ever to have multiple seasons with a .300 batting average and over 50 stolen bases.

Next: Dillon Peters can help Miami Marlins in 2018

Honorable mention

Christian Yelich – .285 batting average, 18 homeruns, 79 RBI.

Justin Bour – .297 batting average, 25 homeruns, 78 RBI. Bour was on the disabled list multiple times.

J.T. Realmuto – .276 batting average, 17 homeruns, 63 RBI, 8 stolen bases.