Miami Marlins: The 10 Best Hitters Statistically in Marlins Franchise History

The Miami Marlins have seen some phenomenal hitters throughout the history of their franchise.

Now this list is meant to break down the greatest hitters in Miami Marlins franchise history. Not who had the largest fandom, but cold hard stats!

The first season in franchise history was in 1993 as the Florida Marlins playing in Joe Robbie Stadium. Despite this only being their 29th season, they have already won two World Series titles since that time which is extremely impressive compared to some other MLB franchises.

Now the Miami Marlins, as we know them today, are actually a fairly young franchise, considering they only became known as the Miami Marlins back in 2012.

Regardless of the players being a member of the Florida or Miami Marlins, any true Marlins fan will remember these names. Some for the wrong reasons, other for being their favorite while rocking the Marlin pinstripes, or those terrible all-orange jerseys. What were you thinking David Samson?

The Miami Marlins have an ever-changing, but good franchise history.

The history for this team isn’t long since former, and even current ownership, likes to jettison some of the greatest players the franchise has ever had due to not wanting to pay them their deserved salary. Except for Stanton however, we dodged a bullet there.

You will see stats on this list, with the main ones used to compose this are as follows, but in no particular order:

• OPS, HR, Hits, BA, oWAR.

Games played however may also make an appearance to add more context to the value of the player.

Also, all the rankings you will see on the list are only in reference to the players place in the Marlins organization.

This list however also had a qualifier: The player had to have played at least 550 games for the Marlins. Sorry, Kevin Millar.

With that being said, here are the ten greatest hitters statistically in Marlins history.

HM: Juan Pierre

Notable Marlins Stats: .295 BA ranks 5th / 682 Hits in 599 games played

The speedster leadoff-hitter for the 2003 World Series winning team. Pierre was an iron-man playing three complete seasons for the Marlins organization where he played in all 162 games.

HM: Derrek Lee

Notable Marlins Stats: .822 OPS ranks 9th / 129 HR ranks 6th

Another staple from the 2003 Championship team, Lee even won his first of three Gold Gloves with us at first base.

HM: Christian Yelich

Notable Marlins Stats: 719 Hits ranks 10th / .800 OPS / 16.9 oWAR

Yelich won his first NL MVP the season after the Jeter group dealt him. Always a favorite of Marlins fans, Yelich never hit for power with us, but was always reliable. This is evident by Yelich never batting under .280 in his five years as a member of the Marlins organization.

With the rules and honorable mentions now out of the way, onto the list.

10. Marcell Ozuna

Notable Marlins Stats: 96 HR  / 683 Hits / .786 OPS

Marcell Ozuna has not played well this season for our NL East rival, the Atlanta Braves.

His first Year in Miami, Ozuna did not play much, only appearing in 70 games with 291 PA.

It was evident however that he could be a difference-maker for the Miami offense. His first year in Miami, he batted at a .265 AVG with his best offensive year coming in his last year with the Marlins in 2017 where he slashed for .312 / .376 / .548.

Ozuna had 683 hits in 653 games, while also averaging a HR every seven games with the Marlins.

9. Jeff Conine

Notable Marlins Stats: .290 AVG rank 8th / 120 HR rank 8th / 1,005 Hits rank 3rd

Mr. Marlin himself. Jeff Conine played the second-most games ever by a Marlins player with 1,014, while also winning both World Series titles with the team in 1997 and 2003.

In his best year, Conine batted at .302 AVG, with 25 HR to go along with 105 RBIs in 1995.

Conine also had an OPS of .813 which would rank as eleventh best among all Marlins players. Conine for his entire career is one of 290 players to have at least 1,000 RBIs.

Conine never became a consistent slugger, but was always a reliable hitter while wearing a Marlins uniform.

6. Cliff Floyd

Notable Marlins Stats: .898 OPS ranks 4th / .294 AVG ranks 6th / 110 HR ranks 9th

Cliff Floyd began his big league career before he was old enough to buy a beer at a bar making his MLB debut at 20 years and 287 days old.

Floyd was apart of the club while they won their 1997 World Series, while only making one All-Star team, and that was as part of the Marlins in 2001 slashing .317 / .390 / .578 that year.

Floyd has 661 hits for the team which ranks him 13th. He also has the second fewest games played for the Marlins on this list with 637.

His oWAR is also at 16.8 which ranks at 8th for all-time Marlins players.

5. Luis Castillo

Notable Marlins Stats: 1,273 Hits ranks 1st / 21.4 oWAR ranks 4th / .293 AVG ranks 7th

Luis Castillo would probably be the best hitter the Marlins had, if not for his lack of HR production. For his career with the Marlins, he only had 20 HR.

Castillo is the all-time Marlins leader in games played with 1,128. He also had an OPS of .726.

A three-time All-Star for the Fish, he is considered the best second baseman in Marlins history. The only other 2nd baseman that comes close was ranked previously in Dan Uggla.

Castillo was also apart of the 2003 Championship team. Imagine being a pitcher having to leadoff against Juan Pierre, and right after your done with that, you had to face Luis Castillo.

His best statistical year was in 2000 when he slashed .334 / .418 / .388, while also leading the league in stolen bases with 62.

4. Gary Sheffield

Notable Marlins Stats: .970 OPS ranks 1st / 122 HR ranks 7th / 20.3 oWAR ranks 5th

The fastest wrists in MLB history! Gary Sheffield was traded to the Marlins in 1993, just in time for him to win his only World Series in ’97.

Sheffield is a legend strictly for what he would do in the batter box. Moving his wrist, whipping the bat back and forth just before he would crush a ball into the stands.

In the 1996 season, Sheffield won the Silver Slugger and led the league in both OPS (1.090) and OBP (.465). He also had a .314 AVG to pair with 42 HR that season.

Sheffield played 558 games with the Marlins, the fewest amount for anyone on this list.

His batting AVG is .288 ranking him 10th on the all-time Marlins list. He averaged a HR in every 5 games with the Marlins.

3. Hanley Ramirez

Notable Marlins Stats: 34.6 oWAR ranks 1st / 1,103 hits ranks 2nd / 148 HR ranks 3rd

The splitting of hairs had to be done to make this list, and any of the next three players could be considered the best hitter in Marlins history with no argument from me.

Hanley Ramirez has a solid case to be the best hitter the Marlins have ever had. He won the batting title in 2009, while also coming in second place in MVP voting. He also won the Silver Slugger the very next season going back-to-back in 2008-2009.

This next tidbit has nothing to do with hitting, but Jeffery Loria bought Ramirez a 10-karat diamond encrusted white gold pendant, that spelled out .342 which was Ramirez’s batting average when he won the batting title. A .342 batting average for the season, that’s how good of a hitter Ramirez was with the Marlins.

Ramirez also won the Rookie of the Year in 2006 when he slashed for .292 / .353 / .480.

Ramirez ranks 3rd on the Marlins with a batting AVG of .300, and 5th in OPS at .873.

2. Giancarlo Stanton

Notable Marlins Stats: 267 HR ranks 1st / 30.6 oWAR ranks 2nd / 960 Hits ranks 5th

Giancarlo Stanton is easily the best slugger the Marlins have had, but this list is broader than only going yard.

He has an OPS of .914 which ranks 3rd in Marlins history.

Stanton won the Silver Slugger twice, once in 2014, and his second came in 2017. 2017 was also the same year where Stanton became the first and only Marlins player to win the NL MVP award slashing a line of .281 / .376 / .631, and hitting a league-leading 59 HRs. Stanton joined some elite company in 2017 as the only other players to pass 55 HR in a season joining the likes of Griffey Jr., Ruth, and Bonds.

With such an impressive feat, Jeffery Loria gave Stanton the richest contract in American Sports History of $325 million at the time.

1. Miguel Cabrera

Notable Marlins Stats: .313 AVG ranks 1st / .929 OPS ranks 2nd / 22.2 oWAR ranks 3rd

Miguel Cabrera is not only the best hitter the Marlins have had, but he may be one of the best pure hitters in baseball history.

Cabrera only played 720 games for the Marlins, but had 842 hits. He also won the Silver Slugger twice while with the Marlins.

In his 2007 campaign, he slashed for .320 / .401 / .565, and he also hit 34 HR and 119 RBIs.

Cabrera came into the league already making an impact by placing 5th in the Rookie of the Year award race, losing to his teammate Dontrelle Willis.

Cabrera could hit for power and contact making him a true all-around hitter. Even though his best years came with the Detroit Tigers, he captured his only World Series title with us.

You’ve seen our list of the ten greatest hitters statistical in Marlins history. If you had to pick though, who would you say is #1?