Marlins Brian Anderson Held Out of Sunday’s Finale

Miami Marlins third baseman Brian Anderson was held out of the lineup Sunday in the finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Miami Marlins may have gotten the win on Sunday in the series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies, but rookie third baseman Brian Anderson was not in the lineup.

Veteran Miguel Rojas replaced Anderson in the No. 2 spot in the batting order. He had one hit during the game. It is not known what the reason was for the scratch from the lineup. Anderson has been in a hitting slump of late after starting the season in a groove.

Anderson had 102 hits at the All-Star Break but has managed just 47 in the second half of the 2018 season. He is currently batting .270 for the season.

Per CBS Sports, “Anderson has just a .469 OPS with a 41.9 percent strikeout rate in the month of September, so he’ll get a day off Sunday. Miguel Rojas will man the hot corner in his stead.”

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It’s a situation manager Don Mattingly has addressed in the past few weeks and has let the rookie work through it on his own. Anderson joined the Marlins this season on a full-time basis after a late-season call-up last year.

He figures to be the team’s everyday third baseman next season after sharing the hot corner with Martin Prado and Rojas. He has also played a number of games in right field once Prado returned from the disabled list.

Prado is back on the disabled list and will not play again this season.

As Wells Dusenbury of sun-sentinel.com wrote on Sept. 5, Mattingly said his rookie starter looked, “tired” and if the slump continued, he may need to talk with him to see what can be done to help the youngster.

“Guys get mentally tired,” Mattingly said. “Having to get ready to play every day. [But] players on the other teams are tired that are having big months. It’s just an excuse in my mind. You have to be stronger than that mentally to compete because everybody’s in the same boat.“You have to say, ‘Hey I want to be there. I’m not tired.’ Those are the kind of things you have to do mentally to get you over the hump and get an advantage on the field.”

The Marlins get set to take on the Washington Nationals in a two-game series which begins tonight before closing out the final season series at home against the Cincinnati Reds. That will be a four-game tilt.

Anderson was originally a third-round draft pick of the Marlins in 2014. He quickly moved through the team’s minor league system. excelling at both Double-A Jacksonville and Triple-A New Orleans last season.