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3 Miami Marlins players that will shatter your expectations
The Miami Marlins are surprising us in Spring Training but as we look towards the upcoming season, what are some expectations that we have? We have high expectations for some players and low expectations for some others. It makes sense to take a look at the three players that don't seem to have high expectations surrounding them. I think that it's a mistake as those three players are going to have big years. The first player on the list is a potential second ace...
I saw some tweets lately talking about how the Miami Marlins LOST the trade for him!! Yes, the trade where The Fish sent declining free agent to be Starling Marte for Jesús Luzardo. Yes Starling had a 3.8 WAR in 2022, but he's 34 years old and is not seen as good enough for CF defensively anymore. His EV, batting average and stolen bases all declined in 2022 and will likely continue to do so as he ages further.
Jesus Luzardo is a future Miami Marlins ace.
Jesus Luzardo gets little hype and that is just bizarre to me. Yes, he's had an injury history, but he's a 25 year old who just had a 3.32 ERA/3.12 FIP with 10.8 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 18 games and 100.1 innings pitched. These are excellent numbers. If he continued this for another 60-70 innings he would've been a legitimate NL Cy Young award contender!
It's not too unrealistic to expect Luzardo to pitch more innings this season, and if he does there's no reason to believe that he can't put up these numbers again. He has a 96.4 mph fastball and even his xERA was 3.39 (which makes sense as he only had a .254 BABIP against him). Let's say his ERA rises to 3.30 or so due to his BABIP rising to average levels. He would still be a top of the rotation arm. What if he improves though? What if he limits walks even further?
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Jesus Luzardo is a legitimate Cy Young award contender in 2023, or is at least a top of the rotation arm.
NEXT: A HOME RUN MACHINE?!
2. JORGE SOLER
Jorge Soler is not the most popular player on the Miami Marlins to say the least. He batted .207/.295/.400 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI in 72 games and 270 AB in 2022. He showed some promising signs between a slow start and an injury... He was batting .292 for a stretch. The fact that he's also a terrible defender wasn't exactly endearing to Miami Marlins fans either. So what exactly makes him so promising for 2023?
Jorge Soler may have a big year in him for 2023.
Well to start with with he's going to be a DH this upcoming season. This should limit his chances of getting injured and keep him on the field more. That's not the main reason for optimism however. He's actually in his contract year and players have a tendency to play better in those years. Technically he's under contract for 2024 too, but on a $9 million player option. He's getting $15 million this year and would have to take a pay cut to trigger it. I suspect that he's not particularly happy about taking a pay cut on a 1 year deal.
Jorge Soler has an incentive to have a big year and go for a larger and longer guarantee, even if only to match his 2022 salary. The next obvious question is if he's even capable of having a big year? Soler spent 2014-2016 with the Chicago Cubs as a top prospect who peaked at 101 games in 2015 due to injuries. He batted .258/.328/.434 with 27 home runs and 98 RBI in 211 games and 682 AB during that time. He was traded to the Kansas City Royals after Chicago's 2016 World Series winning season, and batted .249/.340/.501 with 67 home runs and 175 RBI in 301 games and 1058 AB in 2017-2020.
Soler peaked in 2019 with a .265/.354/.569 batting line, 48 home runs and 117 RBI. The season had a juiced ball but he probably would've hit over 35 home runs anyway. He split 2021 between the Kansas City Royals and the Atlanta Braves and batted .223/.316/.432 with 27 home runs and 70 RBI in 149 games and 516 AB. He batted .269/.358/.524 in 55 games and 208 AB with Atlanta and won the World Series MVP award.
I think that if Jorge Soler stays healthy and is motivated we can expect a big year from him in 2023.
NEXT: A BREAK-OUT MIDDLE OF THE ORDER BAT...
I don't hear or see much hype for Bryan De La Cruz in 2023. It appears that the LF is just completely ignored and overlooked. I can't imagine how that's even possible, other than people are stuck on the Miami Marlins not having a good offense in 2022. This likely allowed Bryan to basically break out under the radar and not be noticed as a break-out star that he was in the latter half of the 2022 season.
Bryan De la Cruz broke out in 2022 and he was legit. There's no question about that. He batted .310/.342/.535 in that second half of 2022 and ended up moving up to batting third in the batting order. He also improved his Exit Velocity in general from 88.4 in 2021 to 90.8 in 2022. It was a big improvement for De La Cruz and he might take further steps forward in 2023. He is only 26 years old, so there's no reason to think that he can't improve further.
Does he have any track record at all to show that he can? Yes! He batted .289/.367/.375 in 2018 with the Houston Astros A and A+ Minor League teams in 119 games and 419 AB. In 2019 he followed that up with a .280/.340/.428 batting line with the Houston Astros A+ and AA Minor League teams in 105 games and 432 AB. After missing the 2020 season as all Minor Leaguers did due to the pandemic, he batted .324/.362/.518 in 66 games and 272 AB with the Houston Astros AAA Minor League team.
He was great for the Miami Marlins AAA Minor League team in 2021 as well. He batted .320/.370/.620 13 games and 50 AB. It's obvious that he was great in the Minor Leagues and it's finally carrying over to the Major Leagues. So what's with this lack of belief in him? Fangraphs doesn't rate him highly and neither do many analysts. What does Bryan De La Cruz have to do to prove them wrong? Well, he's been batting high up in the batting order so far in Spring Training, and he hasn't been struggling.
Bryan De La Cruz deserves more hype and he will prove a lot of people wrong with a big 2023 season.
Next. The Miami Marlins' backup plan for CF is.... dark