Will Garrett Cooper be the Miami Marlins 1B?

Garrett Cooper is currently penciled in to be the Miami Marlins first baseman in 2023. The Fish need a CF and Kim Ng is currently not doing much of.. well anything, but at least we have an All-Star first baseman right? Does the All-Star Game selection for Cooper in 2022 qualify him to be our first baseman next season or not? Let's take a look at whether that's true or not...

Garrett Cooper is likely the Miami Marlins first baseman in 2023.

Garrett Cooper is not a young kid just starting out, he is actually already 32 years old (as of a few days ago so happy birthday Garrett!). He debuted in 2017 for the New York Yankees and batted .326/.333/.488 in 13 games and 43 AB as a 26 year old. The Fish traded for him after the season, but he barely played in 2018, batting .212/.316/.242 in 14 games and 33 AB.

In 2019 Garrett Cooper finally got some playing time and batted .281/.344/.446 in 107 games and 381 AB, with 15 home runs and 50 RBI. This looked very promising, so he got more of an opportunity in 2020. Unfortunately, 2020 was a shortened season and so Cooper was only able to get 34 games and 120 AB. He batted .283/.353/.500 with 6 home runs and 20 RBI during that time. In 2021, Cooper batted .284/.380/.465 with 9 home runs and 33 RBI in 71 games and 215 AB due to injury.

In 2022, the oft-injured Garrett Cooper batted .261/.337/.415 with 9 home runs and 50 RBI in 119 games and 414 AB. He also received the aforememntioned All-Star Game nod. So, what do you think? Cooper has a serious issue staying healthy and that's a major concern for the Miami Marlins going forward. He also never had a season where he put everything together, which is an issue when he's already 32 years old.

Should the Miami Marlins go with Garrett Cooper as our first baseman in 2023? I don't trust him to stay healthy, but who else will it be at this point? We can only hope that he stays healthy and finally puts everything together.