Miami Marlins Spring Training: The Outfield Picture

The Miami Marlins have precious few players “locked in.” As we outlined yesterday, the only starting pitchers to have a more-or-less guaranteed spot in the rotation are José Ureña and Dan Straily. There are 12 other pitchers who are vying for the other three spots.

The outfield is no different. There’s only two outfielders who are considered “locked in” for Opening Day.

Lewis Brinson

It surprised nobody that Lewis Brinson started the 2018 season as the Miami Marlins centerfielder and leadoff hitter. By May 31st, Brinson had slashed .152/.198/.257, hardly a passable slash line. Despite later missing all of July and August with an injury, he rebounded to slash .246/.281/.419 through his final 55 appearances.

Although Brinson underperformed, to a 62 OPS+ and an MLB worst .248 wOBA, his potential remains unchanged. He needs to do a better job at laying off bad pitches, as evidenced by his rock-bottom 4.2 percent walk rate and his strikeout rate of 29.6 percent. He drew only 17 walks and struck out 120 times in only 382 plate appearances. Brinson also led the National League with nine outfield errors, but was at times spectacular in the field.

Despite all of that, Brinson’s 11 home runs tied for fifth on the team. He slashed .199/.240/.338 overall, with 42 RBI, and he enters 2019 Spring Training as one of two players guaranteed to start in the outfield.

Brian Anderson

Brian Anderson was one of few bright spots for the 2018 Miami Marlins, as they struggled to a 63-98 record. Although technically a third baseman, for our purposes we’re going to count him as a right fielder. There are several good reasons for that.

Anderson fielded at a broken looking .942 rate while stationed at the hot corner, but took in a .994 fielding percentage in right field. He also turned in eight outfield assists while making only one error through 91 contests at the nine. The Miami Marlins, who already struggle for hits both big and small, need his bat in the lineup.

Anderson was touted as a possible 20 home run guy last Spring Training. Despite not living up to that potential, he still did enough to finish third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. He led the Miami Marlins with 156 games while slashing a better than respectable .273/.357/.400 line. His 65 RBI ranked second on the team, as did his 62 free passes drawn through bases-on-balls through 670 plate appearances. The resultant 9.3 percent walk rate was the fourth best on the club, and his 19.3 percent strikeout rate was in line with his career minor league figures.

With Anderson in right and Brinson probably in center, who starts in left?

Austin Dean

Austin Dean has the inside track for a roster spot, either as a starter in left field or as a bench player. Dean absolutely demolished high-level minor league pitching through the first four months of the season, slashing .345/.410/.511 in 109 games between the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in the double-A Southern League and the triple-A New Orleans Baby Cakes in the Pacific Coast League.

In 34 games for the Miami Marlins, Dean hit just .221 with four home runs and 14 RBI. Despite that slight loss of sheen to his star, he’s got nothing left to prove in the minors, and can, at a minimum, produce at or above replacement level.

Monte Harrison

Monte Harrison is certainly exciting. Coming to the Miami Marlins along with Brinson, Isan Diaz, and Jordan Yamamoto for Christian Yelich, he showed us why.

Harrison led the Jumbo Shrimp by appearing in 136 games last season, and hit 19 homers while stealing 28 bases. He hit .240/.316/.399 with some truly tape-measure shots, but ended up leading the SL with 215 strikeouts in just 583 plate appearances.

The resultant 36.9 percent whiff rate was a truly frightening number. Maybe Harrison can fix the hole in his swing with another year of minor-league seasoning. For now, though, we can watch him get a shot against major league-hopeful pitching over the next several weeks.

Rosell Herrera

Rosell Herrera has hit .234 in 86 major league games through his career, all last season between the Cincinnati Reds and the Kansas City Royals.

Although he hasn’t shown a lot of power lately, he clubbed 16 round-trippers in 2013 with the full-season Asheville Tourists in the South Atlantic League. He’s also quite the modular player, and has appeared at every position on the diamond excepting catcher and first base over the past two seasons.

Magneuris Sierra

Magneuris Sierra is very fast. StatCast has clocked him going from home to first at a 30.2 ft/s sprint speed, the fastest time in the National League. Aside from that, there are a few questions.

Sierra hit just .190/.222/.211 for the Miami Marlins in 54 contests last season, drawing just six walks in 156 PA for a 3.85 percent walk rate. Not ideal for a speed guy you want at the top of the lineup. He also struck out 39 times, a full quarter of his plate appearances. Defensively, he fielded at a .962 percentage with four errors and four assists in 98 total chances.

Sierra has been touted as a high-floor guy, but landed below that in his short look in 2018. His 1.7 wins below replacement level was the lowest mark on the Miami Marlins, but he can do better. He’s going to need to if he wants to continue getting reps at the top level.

Curtis Granderson

The Grandy Man is well respected across baseball due to his excellent track record in engaging his surrounding communities. He’s also equally well respected on the ballfield.

Curtis Granderson‘s now 15-season major league career has seen him club 332 homers and collect 903 RBI. Now at the age of 37 (38 by the time the season starts), it may surprise some that his metrics have yet to fall off with his advancing age. His OPS+ hasn’t been below 100 since 2013, and it was only 99 that season. That was his lowest mark since 2006, when he scored a 98. His career mark is 114 in that metric, and he topped that in 2018 with a mark of 115.

Grandson has accomplished this despite losing the edge off of his power stroke by being more selective at the plate. As his slugging percentage has trended slowly downward, his OBP is climbing correspondingly. Still, he smacked 13 home runs last season in 403 plate appearances, so we know he can still get it done.

Gabriel Guerrero

Gabriel Guerrero‘s major league career consists of a three-for-18 line, with no walks, eight strikeouts, and a solo home run for the Cincinnati Reds last season. That’s not really very much to go on.

Guerrero has 80 home runs in eight minor league seasons, since signing with the Seattle Mariners as a free agent in 2011. He’s hit .273 across all levels, and defensively he’s turned in a .973 mark in over seven thousand innings of work.

Victor Victor Mesa

You probably already know that Victor Victor Mesa was the crown jewel of the international signing period, and that the Miami Marlins got him (and his brother Victor Jr.) for around $6 million.

Mesa’s defense has earned a lot of praise. At the plate, he’s hit .275 in six seasons with the Cuban National Series. Keep in mind that those statistics include his plate appearances all the way back to 2012, when he was just 15-years-old competing against grown men. Don’t expect a lot of home runs, but Mesa can be counted on to get to first base at a decent clip.

Brian Miller

Brian Miller, pictured left in the above photo, has stolen 71 bases since the 2017 draft. The lefty has hit .304/.353/.374 in 185 career contests.

Miller was expected to compete for a roster spot with the Miami Marlins during 2020 Spring Training, but he may be ready to make a case right now. Just 23-years-old, he may spend the season either with the Shrimp or the Cakes if he doesn’t make the parent club.

Harold Ramirez

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A seven-year minor league veteran, Harold Ramirez has yet to log a major league plate appearance. In 579 games, he has collected a .301 batting average and stolen 94 bases.

Ramirez needs a strong spring to stick around. He’s never appeared above double-A, appearing exclusively at the level for the past three seasons. It’s likely a strong showing this spring training would result in an option to the Baby Cakes, where he will remain one step away until needed.

Thanks for reading today. Check back throughout the week as we continue to break down the Miami Marlins Spring Training picture.