Miami Marlins MUST do this in Spring Training...

The Atlanta Braves may have some issues, but they figured out how to keep a winning core going by giving early extensions to the likes of Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Ronald Acuna Jr. It's time for the Miami Marlins to join them in this endeavor by extending Jazz Chisholm Jr.. The superstar is a team player who volunteered to move to CF. Spring Training is when teams usually sign players to extensions, so with it around the corner, the Miami Marlins need to make this happen.

The Miami Marlins need to extend Jazz Chisholm Jr.

The Miami Marlins control Jazz Chisholm Jr. through the 2026 season. That's four more seasons with rising arbitration salaries. Why not lock him up for longer? Jazz debuted in the shortened 2020 season with a .161/.242/.321 batting line, 2 home runs and 6 RBI in 21 games and 56 AB. In 2021, he batted .248/.303/.425 with 18 home runs and 53 RBI in 124 games and 464 AB. The batting average improved, so did OBP and slugging, there was also obvious power there as well.

In 2022, Jazz batted .254/.325/.535 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI in 60 games and 213 AB. He was on pace for the highest WAR among second basemen as well (he's now a CF of course). Jazz has lowered his strikeout rate annually from 30.7% in 2020 to 28.6% in 2021 and 27.4% in 2022. He also raised his EV from 84.7 in 2020 to 89.3 in 2021 and 89.6 in 2022. He also improved his hard hit % from 29.7% in 2020 to 42.0% in 2021and 46.7% in 2022.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. has hit more fly balls annually (21.6% in 2020 to 24.4% in 2021 and 34.7% in 2022) and will likely continue to do that, which should allow him to hit for more power going forward. I believe that if he finally has a fully healthy season, he will be a MVP candidate. So why should the Miami Marlins extend the MLB The Show 2023 cover athlete now? If The Fish don't lock him up now, before what I think will be an MVP level season, he might become too expensive to extend later.