The Miami Marlins Chronicles: A Brave New Outfield

The dearth of depth in the Miami Marlins major league-level outfield corps was never more evident than in August of this season.

When the 2018 Miami Marlins season began, the outfield was comprised of rookie Lewis Brinson in center, infielder Derek Dietrich in left, and first baseman Garrett Cooper in right. They had Cameron Maybin listed as a fourth, although he started more often than not.

Since then, Cooper has played a total of 14 games for the Marlins, with two very long DL stints. Brinson went on an epic slump to start his Miami Marlins career, punctuated by a National League leading nine errors in the outfield. Dietrich performed better than an infielder should out in left, but has still looked lost at times.

Braxton Lee appeared in a few games, but wasn’t quite ready, and was sent back down before too long. Brian Anderson, lauded as the third baseman of the future, has started 91 times in right field, and only 56 at the hot corner.

Brinson was injured, joining Cooper on the DL, and Maybin was traded away. That left just Dietrich and Anderson from the season-opening roster. This led to a few well-deserved callups from the New Orleans Baby Cakes.

Magneuris Sierra

First one up was Sierra, on July 24th, and aside from his spectacular speed, he has looked outmatched at the plate. A .160/.176/.179 slashline puts a spotlight on Sierra’s most glaring deficiency – pitch recognition. He has shown an inability to lay off anything, swinging at pitches that miss by a foot or more. Sure, he’s flashy with the speed, but his four errors in 79 chances in the outfield add up to a .949 fielding percentage. Of his two walks in 106 plate appearances, one of them was of the intentional variety. Even his highly touted speed has amounted to only a one-for-two success rate at stealing bases. To be blunt, there is nothing in Sierra’s game that merit a major league roster spot at this time.

Isaac Galloway

Galloway had a different path to the majors. He was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2008, in the eighth round. Although he’s not setting the world on fire, he’s also not embarrassing himself by any means. Perfect in 26 outfield chances, he’s had the biggest sample of field-time in center.

So over 10 years after his initial selection, Galloway made his major league debut, and got an infield hit in his first game, on July 31st. Since then, he’s slashed .238/.347/.429 over 49 plate appearances. Although never considered a “top prospect,” Galloway may have the juice to stick around.

Rafael Ortega

Ortega has been solid in his 25 games for the Miami Marlins in right and left field. He’s slashing .265/.312/.314 and has made two errors in 65 chances in the field. Probably the least expected of Miami’s late-season additions to excel, Ortega is arguably having the best impact out of all the new faces.

Austin Dean

Dean’s callup from New Orleans was overdue, to understate a fact. He began the season with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in the double-A Southern League slashing .420/.466/.654 in 22 games, and didn’t slow down after a promotion to triple-A. After joining the Baby Cakes in the triple-A Pacific Coast League, he slashed .326/.397/.475 in 87 games.

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Since Dean’s debut, he has put up a .206/.250/.382 slashline with three homers and nine RBI. Although a grand total of three walks in 72 plate appearances doesn’t hint at a patient hitter, he’s been selective enough to strike out only 14 times, or just under 18 percent of the time.

The Resurgence of Lewis Brinson

With those four firmly in place after the roster was expanded to 40 men on September 1st, Brinson completed a rehab assignment and rejoined the Fish. After bottoming out his slashline on June 10th at .163/.210/.302, Brinson’s figures were steadily creeping up. Since rejoining the club, Brinson has gone 12-for-29 with a homer and six RBI.

Christopher Bostick

Bostick has very little Miami Marlins experience from which to make any assumptions, but is two-for-three with a double and an RBI in a very small sample size.

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