Miami Marlins: JJ Bleday Starting to Look Like the Player we Hoped

The Miami Marlins have struggled at times offensively this season. After trading star outfielder Starling Marte at the trade deadline this year, Miami is sporting an outfield combination for the remainder of the season that includes names such as Brinson, De La Cruz, Sierra, and Jesus Sanchez who returned to the lineup on Monday night.

However, Miami continues to be inconsistent offensively. While they have a myriad of pitching prospects with high hopes, their batting prospects are timid to say the least. The Marlins are hoping some of the players they traded for such as Alex Jackson develop to become offensive assets.

In the minors, Griffin Conine became the first Marlins prospect to hit 30 HRs under the age of 25 since Giancarlo Stanton. The issue with Conine is his strikeout rate of 37% which is high, but this just may be the player he becomes – a high home run, high strikeout player.

Miami Marlins prospect JJ Bleday showing improvement in Double-A.

The player that many Marlins fans would have hoped would be farther along in their development is 2019 fourth overall pick, JJ Bleday. For the majority of his minor league career, he has been underwhelming for the caliber of player the Marlins hoped they drafted.

Bleday as of late however has been more of the player the organization needs right now. In the last seven days, Bleday has slashed .250/.385/.700, and includes a season slash line of .199/.315/.370.

The slugging percentage is the most interesting part of this whole thing. Bleday was drafted out of Vanderbilt as the home run king in college, and the production has been thin in that area so far. In Bleday’s first 251 at-bats this season, the 23-year-old outfielder hit 7 HR’s. Across his last 71 at-bats, Bleday has hit 4 HR’s.

This has been a fortuitous development for the Marlins, and they need to start hitting on some of these offensive prospects, especially the ones drafted so high in the draft. Hopefully this becomes a trend for Bleday, and becomes the everyday slugger the Marlins desperately need in the outfield.