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I thought the Marlins would be the worst team in baseball, ranking every one of their units 22nd or below. I saved particular scorn for their offense:
All this decent pitching is in support of an offense that might struggle in the Sun Belt Conference. Losing Jesus Sanchez, the team’s best hitter and a breakout pick of mine, isn’t helping. Sanchez could be back in a week or two from a strain in his left side. Squint and you can project Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers, acquired from the Orioles last summer, for good years. Maybe Xavier Edwards keeps some of his crazy .398 BABIP. The team is neither old nor young, with a lot of mid-twenties fliers like Griffin Conine and Matt Mervis hoping to finally get established.
Instead, the Marlins are 19th in runs scored, 18th in wRC+. It’s not just All-Star Kyle Stowers, either. Five Marlins have at least 100 PA and a 100 wRC+, and that excludes August sensation Jakob Marsee, with a .329/.398/.671 line in his first taste of the majors. This is their best offense since 2017. On the mound, Sandy Alcantara’s miserable return to play has been offset by the comebacks of Eury Perez and Edward Cabrera, elevating the group into the game’s top 20. The defense has been much, much better than I expected, ranking fourth in Defensive Runs Saved, eighth in Outs Above Average, and is better at almost every spot, per OAA.
All this decent pitching is in support of an offense that might struggle in the Sun Belt Conference. Losing Jesus Sanchez, the team’s best hitter and a breakout pick of mine, isn’t helping. Sanchez could be back in a week or two from a strain in his left side. Squint and you can project Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers, acquired from the Orioles last summer, for good years. Maybe Xavier Edwards keeps some of his crazy .398 BABIP. The team is neither old nor young, with a lot of mid-twenties fliers like Griffin Conine and Matt Mervis hoping to finally get established.
Instead, the Marlins are 19th in runs scored, 18th in wRC+. It’s not just All-Star Kyle Stowers, either. Five Marlins have at least 100 PA and a 100 wRC+, and that excludes August sensation Jakob Marsee, with a .329/.398/.671 line in his first taste of the majors. This is their best offense since 2017. On the mound, Sandy Alcantara’s miserable return to play has been offset by the comebacks of Eury Perez and Edward Cabrera, elevating the group into the game’s top 20. The defense has been much, much better than I expected, ranking fourth in Defensive Runs Saved, eighth in Outs Above Average, and is better at almost every spot, per OAA.
