Miami Marlins pick up team option on hitter

The Miami Marlins have been busy with option decisions lately. First Baseman Josh Bell picked up his player option, Designated Hitter Jorge Soler declined his a few days earlier. The Fish already declined some team options and now it was time to pick up one. Jon Berti saw his $3.625 million team option picked up. Is that the right call?

The Miami Marlins picked up a team option on Jon Berti for the 2024 season.

Jon Berti has done a great job as a utility hitter for the Miami Marlins. Berti is capable of playing multiple positions, which gives him very useful positional versatility. He can play second base, short stop, third base and in the OF. He's also very fast and has led the Major Leagues in stolen bases before. He did so with 41 in 2022 by the way.

Jon Berti debuted with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2018. He batted .267/.267/.467, with 0 home runs and 2 RBI in 4 games and 15 AB. Moving on the the Miami Marlins for the 2019 season as a late-blooming 29 year old. He batted .273/.348/.406, with 6 home runs and 24 RBI in 73 games and 256 AB. The power wasn't there, but his OBP was very impressive and his positional versatility was showcased at this point as well.

In the shortened 2020 season, Jon Berti batted .258/.388/.350 in 39 games and 120 AB. He followed that up in 2021 with a disappointing .210/.311/.313 batting line, in 85 games and 233 AB. Berti bounced back in 2022, when he batted .240/.324/.338 in 102 games and 358 AB. This was the season when he ld the Major Leagues in stolen bases. It's also the season where you could say that he embraced his role as a utility bench bat.

In 2023, Jon Berti batted .294/.344/.405 in 133 games and 388 AB. He "only" stole 16 bases that season, but he was still worth n above average 2.5 WAR. The fact that he's getting less than $4 million is amazing. He's well worth the money and the Miami Marlins were right to pick up a team option on him.