Miami Marlins: The 3 Biggest Takeaways from the Marlins first 40 games

1. Miami Marlins Starting Rotation Has Been Dominant

We knew the Miami Marlins came into the 2021 season with a strong starting rotation, but did we honestly expect this at this point in the season? Be honest, did you really expect this?

The Marlins starting rotation has been absolutely outstanding, and is the no-doubt strength of this team currently. Sitting at a 3.55 combined team ERA ranking 7th in all of baseball, the Marlins starting rotation is a massive part of that success through the first 40 games of the season.

While Miami has pieced together the 4-5 spots in the rotation using bullpen games, debut call-ups, and more to make-up for injuries to projected starters, the 1-2-3 in the rotation is 100% the strength currently of this team.

Despite his latest rough outing in Los Angeles, Sandy Alcantara has been good posting a 1-3 record with a 4.06 ERA through nine starts. The ERA may look high for Alcantara, partly because of his last showing, but he has actually been pretty good.

Pablo Lopez on the other hand is having the best year of his career so far posting a 1-3 record with a 3.12 ERA. The walks and WHIP may still be a bit too-high for Lopez, but he is on pace to have his best season yet.

Trevor Rogers has arguably been the best of them all. The April NL Rookie of the Month, Rogers has been dominant going 5-2 with a 1.84 ERA, while also leading the Marlins in K’s with 57, and 5th in all of baseball in ERA.

This trio has been dominant, and has helped Miami withstand injuries and more with the rest of the starting rotation.

Even as good as this trio has been this season, the Marlins starting rotation will still get even better in the near future. With top prospect Sixto Sanchez and Elieser Hernandez set to return from injury at some point, will this group of five be among the best in baseball?

2. Is Miami Marlins 1B Jesus Aguilar a dark-horse MVP Candidate?

If you had to ask a random person to pick an offensive MVP for the Miami Marlins up to this point in the season, odds are that the answer you’d hear back is Jesus Aguilar.

Aguilar has been outstanding so far this season for the Marlins, and has been arguably the piece holding the Marlins offense together. Now yes, other players such as Miguel Rojas and Corey Dickerson have been phenomenal at the top of Miami’s everyday lineup, but have they necessarily had the same impact as Aguilar?

If you have any question as to how good Aguilar has been at first base for the Marlins during the first 40 games of the season, simply look at his eye-popping stats.

Jesus Aguilar 2021 stats so far:

• 38 games – .282 AVG, 18 R, 9 HR, 32 RBI, .366 OBP, .550 SLG%, .916 OPS

Aguilar currently ranks 4th in baseball in RBIs, as well as also leading the Marlins in HRs, RBIs, Total Bases, Walks Drawn, OBP, SLG, and OPS.

If you need any evidence as to how good Aguilar was at times during the first 40 games, simply look at what he did just recently during the Diamondbacks series. If that wasn’t total domination from one singular player in a series, then I don’t know what is.

Can Aguilar maintain this current production? Maybe.

Will he? That remains to be seen.

I do know one thing however. If he does keep this up, the Marlins will have a legit NL MVP candidate in their lineup one again.

3. Miami Marlins 2B Jazz Chisholm is “As Good as Advertised”

The NL East has it’s fair share of must-see young positional players including Braves OF Ronald Acuna Jr and Nationals OF Juan Soto. It also appears however that the Miami Marlins now have a member of that group in star 2B Jazz Chisholm.

Now no, Chisholm is not on the same level as Acuna and Soto, but it’s evident on how good the young star can be for Miami for years to come.

Despite just returning from an injury on Sunday, we’ve already seen through 21 games this season all we need to know about Chisholm.

Jazz started the year going 3/17 at the plate over the first six games of the season, but completely flipped the switch on April 10th against the Mets. Between the 10 games he played in between April 10th and April 23rd, Chisholm got a hit in nine of those ten games. This also included four multi-hit games during that span.

Chisholm has truly done it all for the Marlins when he has been on the field. While not only playing elite defense at second base, Jazz has hit for power with 4 HRs, and also stole 8 bases where he is arguably showing his most value.

Chisholm is as good as advertised so far during the 2021 season. Going forward, Chisholm may end up being the Marlins “MVP” this season. If he continues to get on base at this rate, and then continues to cause havoc on the base-paths, is a Rookie of the Year, or potentially more, in store for the Marlins 23-year old second baseman?

The Miami Marlins are currently right there in terms of the top of the NL East, with the team arguably set to get even better in the near future. These three takeaways have been extremely evident through the first 40 games, but will they continue going forward? Based on how each of these players have looked so far, I wouldn’t bet against them slowing down anytime soon.