The Miami Marlins Matt Mervis: Another free first baseman

Some of the best players in Miami Marlins history played first base.

Jeff Conine. Derrek Lee. Carlos Delgado. Miguel Cabrera actually never played a game at first base during his Marlins tenure despite playing four different positions in a Marlins uniform, but I'll throw him in here considering that he's one of the greatest baseball players ever and spent most of his career at the position.

Matthew Jared Mervis...also plays first base.

That will likely be where the similarities with the above names end. Not a Hall of Famer, be it the franchise hall of the Marlins or that slightly bigger one in Cooperstown. Not a player that will be immortalized.

But right now, midway through April of 2025? Matt Mervis is among the league leaders in home runs. After hitting his sixth of the young season last Wednesday night, on his birthday no less, he looks to be doing everything he can to make the Chicago Cubs look like idiots for giving up on him.

Which is actually super familiar territory for the Miami Marlins when it comes to first base reclamation projects. Because for all the bonafide first base studs that have been associated with Miami, they have had just as many success stories at that position essentially come out of nowhere.

So, is Matt Mervis poised to continue in that tradition of found gold at first base?

Or, is he just going to end up being like the last former Cub first baseman who had a really good first month with the Marlins?

Earlier this month, I flashed back to the illustrious first thirty days of Hee-Seop Choi's Marlins tenure while discussing past April fakeouts in franchise history. Choi hit a stupefying nine homers over Miami's first 30 games...which seemed super cool until it ended up being 56% of his Marlins career home run total, and nearly 25% of his career total overall. Bottom-line, a fairly massive bust, especially given the fact that Miami traded the Gold Glove winning Lee to acquire him. No one ever thought Chicago was crazy for accepting that deal, and with the exception of that glorious first month of the season, Miami never looked anything other than cheap for making it.

Cards on the table, the original title of this article was going to be something along the lines of "Matt Mervis: Cantu or Choi?". Basically trying to make my own "Bonafide or Bonifacio" turn of phrase for what is happening at first base for the Marlins in 2025. Is Mervis going to be a one month flash in the pan like Choi was, or is thing going to last all summer like it did with Jorge Cantu? The thing is it quickly became obvious that would be an extreme case of trying to make fetch happen, as the more accurate expression would involve Choi and at least three other Marlins first basemen.

With a horrifying career high strikeout rate of over 40% entering Monday, Mervis following the Choi path seems like a distinct possibility. But when you combine the career best hard hit rate and exit velocity with the fact that the Marlins can more than afford to keep feeding him at bats? Mervis ending the season as Miami's home run leader really doesn't feel all that far fetched.

Which moves Mervis out of Choi territory, and puts him squarely among Marlins notables such as Cantu, Wes Helms, Justin Bour, Logan Morrison, Gaby Sanchez, and Mike Jacobs. Household names amongst Marlins fans, but little known outside of Florida (yep, two of these guys played for Tampa). In short, players who never had massively successful careers, but more than made their mark over at least one full season in a Marlins uniform.

Of course, counting a couple of these is a bit disingenuous if the goal is to focus on the "found gold" aspect of Marlins first base production. Sanchez was a fourth round draft pick, representing a significant amount of belief and investment on the Marlins part from the jump. As for the -2.4 career WAR Jacobs, the Marlins actually traded the 44.4 WAR Delgado to acquire him. So he obviously cost a ton, even if he might actually be the best player comp for Mervis of the group.

The others though? Cantu, Helms, Morrison, Bour?

All absurd bargains that ended up turning in at least one season of near elite production. Cantu and Helms signed minimum deals in free agency. Cantu blasted 29 HRs in 2008, a home run shy of being part of an entire infield of 30 HR hitters, and followed that up with 100 RBIs and a .289 average the next year. Yes, Cantu did play mostly third base in 2008, but he took over at first in 2009. Helms was the secret weapon of the 2006 club, boasting a .329/.390/.575 slash line along with solid defense (something Jacobs did not do). Morrison was a 22nd round draft pick that became a reliable big league regular and a social media darling. Bour was a Rule 5 pick, and all he did was slug his way into the 2017 Home Run Derby.

Seeing as how all that Matt Mervis cost the Miami Marlins was the services of Vidal Brujan? The trade is already a resounding win. The only question is whether it's all down hill from here, or if Miami can extract value the rest of the way.

He might not tally many hits that aren't homers, but I'd put my money on Mervis hitting home runs for the Marlins deep into September.