Marlins OF Lewis Brinson improving at AAA New Orleans

Although his return to the Majors may be delayed, the Miami Marlins see improvement in outfielder Lewis Brinson as he works at Triple-A New Orleans.

There is a chance Lewis Brinson, the Miami Marlins Opening Day centerfielder may have to wait a while before he sees the Major League roster once again.

While Brinson has worked on his time at the plate and continues to show promise while getting more at-bats at Triple-A New Orleans, there is no timetable how soon a return to Miami will come. The key component of the deal that sent Christian Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers last offseason is a solid defensive player – which is a bonus in the cavernous outfield of Marlins Park. But in terms of hitting, he has not shown enough consistency at the Major League level to remain a vital part of the Marlins plans right now.

Hopefully, that changes after the All-Star break. Brinson has spent time in center and right field while playing for the Baby Cakes. This might lead to a shift in where he plays once the Marlins bring him back to South Florida. That is the big question.

More from Marlins News

• Miami Marlins news: Another target gone
• Why didn’t the Miami Marlins sign JDM?
• Miami Marlins rejected Boston‘s trade offer
• Miami Marlins are pursuing Michael Conforto
• Miami Marlins need to spend to win

At New Orleans, he’s hitting .277 with five home runs and 26 RBIs.

“He’s been more consistent,” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said.“When I talked about his demotion and what we wanted to get accomplished, there was some mechanical work that we wanted to see with his swing to allow him to repeat his swing, to allow him to take the ball on the outer third of the plate and drive it into the right-center-field gap, stay on that fastball, stay on that breaking ball, things that we saw him having trouble with here in the big leagues.”

In Spring Training, the organization thought they had what would be a 25-30 home run hitter from potentially the lead-off position. But as it turns out, he was a better hitter farther down in the batting order. Brinson has the ability to be a five-tool player – if he can figure out how to hit Major League pitching.

The South Florida native still has plenty of work to do before he can get to that kind of production.

“There was a little bit of an adjustment,” Hill said. “He had to get over the demotion and get his head in the right place to get back to work and take care of getting yourself back. That’s what we’re starting to see.“A lot more hard-hit balls into the right-center-field gap. A lot of doubles, hard singles. That’s what we’re looking to get accomplished with him.”