Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 1: Luis Castillo

So here we are, Miami Marlins fans. One more jersey to go. Jersey No. 1.

Can you ever guess who it might happen be? The name that closes out the wild ride that has been Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number Series? Or have you been keenly aware from the very start of the series exactly where we'd end up?

Luis Castillo.

No, not that Luis Castillo, the one the Marlins foolishly traded for Dan Straily when they needed immediate pitching help back in 2017. The Luis Castillo...the one the Marlins supremely ineffectively traded for Scott Tyler and Travis Bowyer back in 2005. Straily at least made it into a Marlins jersey (No. 58!). Not so much for Tyler and Bowyer.

Anyway, like I said, the Luis Castillo.

Miami's all-time leader in games played (1128), hits (1273), and stolen bases (281).

Also, a three-time Gold Glove winner. And a three-time All-Star. Oh, and a World Series champion.

Castillo's perpetual, unrelenting ability just puts him in rare air among Marlins greats. Despite being the all-time games played leader...he has more hits than games played. Pretty impressive stuff there. He led the majors in stolen bases twice. He also holds the Marlins franchise record for longest hit streak in 2002, a 35-game masterclass of batting that ended heartbreakingly with him looking on from the on-deck circle. Only one MLB hitter has topped that this century.

Miami's best defensive player ever? That gets tricky. Ivan Rodriguez and Ichiro Suzuki did play here, so that kind of ends that argument. Charles Johnson also won three Gold Gloves and was here long enough to claim tenure. Plus, if you just go by the defensive WAR rankings, he's actually 5th behind Johnson, Miguel Rojas, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Alfredo Amezaga. That's some real "The More You Know" energy on some of those names beating him out, good as their gloves were.

But I'm also confident most Marlins fans would forgive elevating Castillo here. He's one of one.

Honorable mentions? Perfect timing to ask actually, seeing as how the answer here was the driving force behind what has to be the most exciting Opening Day in franchise history.

That'd be Emilio Bonifacio, who went 4 for 5 with 1 HR, 2 RBI, and 3 SB against the Nationals team that traded him to kick off the 2009 season. As it turned out, 2009 was easily Bonifacio's worst season with the Marlins- especially compared to what the player they traded for him, Josh Willingham, did for Washington that year. For that day though, and really that whole first week where he racked up 16 hits, it was looking like a masterstroke.

Afterwards, solid and streaky became the watchwords for Boni. Speedy too, naturally- he stole 40 bases in 2011, and swiped 30 bags for Miami in just sixty-four games the next year. That 2011 season was easily his best work though- somehow he hit .296 with a .360 OBP while putting up career bests across the board. He even homered five times. Some even left the yard- unlike that 2009 Opening Day inside-the-parker.

Beyond that? Connor Norby is the current owner of the No. 1 jersey, and already has 0.7 WAR in it. Only 21.8 WAR points to go to surpass Luis and move into third place on Miami's all-time hitter WAR list!

At any rate, provided you have done so (and if not, still time), thank you so much for following along with this Marlin Maniac Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number series. I've enjoyed writing it immensely, have remembered the existence of one or two players while doing the research, and have been occasionally staggered by how valuable some Marlins players either were or weren't over the years. Hopefully that's been true for some of you as well.

Let's go Marlins.