Miami Marlins: Six Players to Watch

Justin Bour

Bour is a 6’3″, 265 lb. left-handed batting first baseman from Washington, D.C. Turning 30-years-old later this season, he’s now in his fifth season with the Miami Marlins. Initially a 25th round pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2009, the Marlins picked him up in the 2013 rule 5 draft.

Bour is a solid defensive first baseman. He’s made only 10 errors in 2,405 chances thus far in his career. His .996 fielding percentage was even better last season. He flubbed just one ball in 809 chances, for a mark of .999.

On the offensive side of the ball, Bour has a career OPS of .835. That figure has risen in each season of his career. He picked up a .726 mark in 2014, improved to .800 in his official rookie season, 2015, bumped it up to .824 in 2016, and exploded to .902 last year.

Unfortunately, injuries have been an issue for Bour. He’s averaged 109 contests through his first three seasons with a variety of ailments. In the midst of that, however, he’s dropped his SO/W ratio from 2.97 in 2015 to 2.02 last year. In addition, his 5.0% average home run rate improved to 5.8% last season.

Bour will never be a speedy, base-stealing guy, but he is crafty enough to not get picked off napping on first. He is one-for-one in his career at stealing bases. Power hitting is what you see and what you will get from Bour. A full injury-free season could see him join the 40-homer club.