Miami Marlins Legacy Series: Best Ever Third Basemen

The Miami Marlins have seen 17 Opening Day starters at third base, and in total, 73 have manned the hot corner.

We’ve got 27 seasons of major league history with the Florida / Miami Marlins, under one name or another. During that time, 73 players have at one time or another held down the fort at the hottest corner in baseball, third base.

What we’ve gathered here for your reading pleasure today is the 10 most prolific third basemen to have played with the Miami Marlins. There have been a lot of players to have played multiple positions with the team, and some of them appear in this list. What we’re focusing on is the amount of games logged at the position exclusively. So even though Miguel Rojas has played third base in 79 contests, that’s not enough to make this list. The number 10 player has 154 appearances there. Who just barely missed the cut?

Dave Magadan (111 appearances)

Magadan was a seven-year veteran of the New York Mets when he signed a contract with the still-not-yet-debuted Florida Marlins in late-1992. He played half a season with the club, then got traded to the Seattle Mariners for Henry Cotto and Jeff Darwin. Seattle traded him back after the season to get Darwin back for some reason. As a Marlins player, he hit .281/.393/.358 in 140 games.

Kevin Orie (112 appearances)

Orie split his major league career between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins. In 1998 and 1999, he hit .258/.328/.407 for the team, playing mostly at third base with a little time at first.

Emilio Bonifacio (128 appearances)

Bonifacio had an 11-season major league career, spent between eight teams. By far, his biggest impact came with the Florida/Miami Marlins from 2009 through 2012.

More than any other player on this list, including super-utility stud Dietrich, Boni played all over the place, including substantial time at shortstop and center field. He hit .271/.332/.345 in 416 games in total, then joined the Toronto Blue Jays in the mammoth 12 player trade which also saw the exodus of Josh Johnson.

Greg Dobbs (136 appearances)

Dobbs’ time with the Marlins had significant overlap with Bonfacio’s last two seasons with the team. Dobbs remained through 2013. Primarily a third baseman in 2011, he split time evenly between third and the outfield in 2012 and was mostly a first baseman in 2013. He was a .264/.307/.362 hitter in 383 Marlins games.

Derek Dietrich (145 appearances)

Dietrich spent each of his first six major league seasons with the Miami Marlins before being granted his free agency after the 2018 season. Now a power hitter for the Cincinnati Reds, Dietrich is known for his utility, hustle, sporadic power, and the most painful way to get to first base. He’s the Miami Marlins career leader in HBP, with 93.