First Base has been a strong position for the Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins entered this season with a seemingly shaky first base situation... Garrett Cooper was set to start at first base and Yuli Gurriel was brought in on a Minor League deal. It was seemingly done to improve the team's historically bad hitting from last season. I'm very optimistic on the first base situation now...

The Miami Marlins first base situation is actually looking pretty good right now.

Garrett Cooper has had a streaky career for the Miami Marlins so far. He actually debuted for the New York Yankees in 2017 with a .326/.333/.488 batting line with 0 home runs and 6 RBI in 13 games and 43 AB. He was traded to the Miami Marlins for the 2018 season, and batted .212/.316/.242 with 0 home runs and 2 RBI in 14 games and 33 AB this season. Considering he debuted at 26 years old, there weren't that many high expectations for him at the time.

In 2019, Cooper batted .281/.344/.446 with 15 home runs and 50 RBI in 107 games and 381 AB. This was his breakout season at the time. In 2020-2021 he batted .269/.352/.432 with 18 home runs and 83 RBI in 190 games and 629 AB. In 2022, Cooper was an All-Star after the first half, but finished the season with a .261/.337/.415 batting line with 9 home runs and 50 RBI in 119 games and 414 AB. So far he's batting .333/.378/.619 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI in 11 games and 42 AB. Phew, that was a lot of stats! I hope you can see how his career has been pretty streaky so far.

Yuli Gurriel was a risky signing at 38 years old. He debuted in 2016 with the Houston Astros, and until this season played his entire career with that team. He batted .284/.328/.448 with 94 home runs and 435 RBI in 801 games and 3046 AB from 2016-2022 for them. His best seasons were in 2019: .298/.343/.541 with 31 home runs and 104 RBI in 144 games and 564 AB; and 2021 when he batted .319/.383/.462 with 15 home runs and 81 RBI in 143 games and 530 AB. He batted a disappointing .242/.288/.360 with 8 home runs and 53 RBI in 146 games and 545 AB last season. He's currently batting .381/.409/.571 with a home run and 2 RBI in 6 games and 21 AB.