Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 5: Jon Berti

Here at the No. 5 jersey, there wasn't exactly a big list of Miami Marlins to choose from.

Big heart though? Hard to find a better example of that anywhere in Marlins franchise history than Jon Berti.

What else would you expect from a player that earned every second of MLB playing time he received? Originally drafted in the 36th round, he went to college for a few years and doubled his appeal, going to the Blue Jays in the 18th round of the 2011MLB draft. Seven years later, he made his big league debut. That lasted four games, and Toronto released him shortly after the season ended.

That December, Miami pounced...and all they ended up with was a player that tied Juan Pierre for the 20th best career WAR by a hitter in Marlins history.

Berti's personal best work came in 2022, when he led the majors with 41 stolen bases. Yet he only had two seasons with a WAR under 1.0, and one of those was the 2020 Covid year. He's also one of only two players on the that Top 20 Marlins hitter WAR list who made the playoffs twice with the Fish, with Jeff Conine being the other. When you land in the same sentence as Conine when it comes to Marlins milestones, you know you're in good company.

All in all, good for a 7.6 WAR stint in Miami.

To say that stands apart from the rest of the list here at No. 5 would be an understatement

As mentioned earlier, this is not an oft-used jersey in Miami Marlins lore. In fact, it wasn't worn at all until 2012. Prior to that point it had actually been retired in honor of Carl Barger, one of the franchise's founding executives. That makes it one of just two jersey numbers under sixty to see such little use, the other being the still retired No. 42, a decision made by all thirty MLB teams in honor of Jackie Robinson back in 1997. Only three Marlins have worn that one.

Yet for this series of the Top 34 Miami Marlins jersey numbers, No. 5 is the clear leader in not being worn with just six names. Logan Morrison got the ball rolling by specially requesting it prior to the start of 2012 to honor his father, and no one has worn it since Berti was traded just before the start of the 2024 campaign.

And of those six...Berti is the only player who had a positive career WAR in a Marlins uniform.

He's also by far the longest tenured, with only Morrison appearing for longer than a single season. Reed Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, Rosell Herrera, and the bad season of Casey McGehee? Not so much.

So like so many times sliding into second base, it's Berti by a mile. Catch you next time at No. 4.