Miami Marlins: Who is fit to lead this baseball team?

Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas will be counted on to lead this baseball team, not only on the diamond but in the clubhouse as well.

The Miami Marlins are off to a streaking start during the start of the Grapefruit League. Young stars are emerging. Younger pitchers are making a statement on the mound. And there is a real sense that the plan Derek Jeter and the front office envisioned even before the team was sold by Jeffrey Loria at the end of 2017 season is finally coming together.

There may not be a better time to become a Marlins fan than right now.

As the players arrived in Jupiter, Florida earlier this month, everybody was about smiles and handshakes and getting to know each other. But there was something missing. Martin Prado wasn’t there. A staple of this organization and one of the most respected men to ever sit in a Marlins clubhouse walked away from the game. The Marlins did not offer him a contract after the 2019 season, making him a free agent.

But there was still hope from fans like myself and others that may be, the captain of this team would make an appearance. We now know that hasn’t happened.

The Marlins have plenty of younger stars to build with, and have added veterans to provide pop at the plate and stability in the bullpen. But it is still a question as to who will fill Prado’s shoes as the undeniable leader in Miami.

For this reason, Miguel Rojas will need to take an even bigger role than he has in the past. He is without question the local hero who can provide continuity between the players who have been part of this organization on the major-league level, the players who will be rising to join the major-league team, and the veterans who have been sprinkled in this off-season to provide a winning formula.

It’s not an easy task, and with such responsibility comes a certain degree of pressure. Jeter, manager Don Mattingly, and Michael Hill, the team’s president of baseball operations, expect the Marlins to be better in 2020. Not by a small amount, rather making a significant leap based on what the team did this off-season.

While there has been much reported about Jazz Chisholm‘s infectious smile and his potential in the field and Monte Harrison’s ascension toward trying to win the centerfield spot in the outfield, not much has been made about Rojas and where he fits on this roster.