Miami Marlins claim defensive specialist CF

The Miami Marlins upgraded the farm during a busy Trade Deadline. A Deadline that saw The Fish making some surprisingly good trades. The Fish are not done making moves and this latest one is pretty good. The Fish claimed CF Cristian Pache off of waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. Is this move going to hold any relevance to the team?

Cristian Pache is the newest addition to the Miami Marlins.

Cristian Pache debuted for the Atlanta Braves as a top prospect in the shortened 2020 season. From 020-2021, he batted a disappointing .119/.157/.209, with a home run and 4 RBI in 24 games and 72 AB. Moving on via trade to the Oakland Athletics for the 2022 season, Pache batted .166/.218/.241, with 3 home runs and 18 RBI in 91 games and 241 AB.

Moving on to the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2023 season, Pache batted an improved .238/.319/.417, with 2 home runs and 11 RBI in 48 games and 84 AB. Pache split this season between Philadelphia and the Baltimore Orioles. He batted .210/.294/.276, with 0 home runs and 9 RBI in 53 games and 105 AB.

It's pretty obvious that Cristian Pache isn't much of a hitter. Bizarrely, his Exit Velocity i 91.4 this season, which is pretty good. I'm not sure what to say about that, as nothing in his track record indicates that he's going to take massive steps forward with bat. Indeed "massive" ones when it comes to Pache's production over the years.

The reason why Pache keeps getting opportunities however, is his elite work with the glove in CF. It seems pretty clear to me that Peter Bendix values good defense and perhaps that is the main reason that he was brought to the team. He is also better than the out of position Nick Gordon, who has been playing CF lately.

I don't have high expectations for Cristian Pache, but I'm curious to see what he can bring to the table, even if it's just as a defensive fill-in late in games. There's that Exit Velocity and his age (he's 25) too...