2016’s Biggest Sleeper is Miami Marlins coach Barry Bonds
Will the Miami Marlins new hitting coach be the biggest X-factor in MLB this year, or will club have yet another unimpressive year? If Barry Bonds has anything to say about it, this club will be in line for a re-birth of sorts at the dish.
The Miami Marlins made a lot of fantastic moves this offseason and got nearly no publicity for it. Well, except for new manager Don Mattingly‘s no facial hair policy. But the biggest move they may have made came back in December of 2015. Mattingly hired Barry Bonds to become the Marlins’ new hitting coach. Whether you like this man or not, there is no questioning whether he is one of the best hitters in MLB history or not.
A quick side bar here, but let’s address the elephant in the room. Yes, Bonds took steroids to give him more muscle and power in his swing. Yes, he was found guilty of perjury in regards to his steroids trials. But, regardless of this, steroids do not enhance the mechanics of a player’s swing. Nor do they allow a player more natural skill in baseball. They simply make the player stronger, which turns a deep fly ball to center into a home run.
Bonds was always an amazing athlete as witnessed by his time with the Pirates early his career. What cannot be taken away from this man are his raw baseball abilities, skill, and overall baseball IQ. You do not have to like him to acknowledge that much. However, because his own personal stats may have been tainted due to his steroid usage, we will ignore them for the sole purpose of this article.
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Bonds has a unique gift in the sense that he has the ability to do what many could not do as hitters by simply drawing walks and being patient at the plate. Although Miami was one of the best teams in MLB in 2015 with regards to strikeouts, they were dead last at drawing walks. A lot of that had to do with Giancarlo Stanton not being around for half the season to protect other hitters in the lineup.
The Marlins were one of the worst clubs at simply being patient at the plate. Many starters were able to go deep in games against Miami last year because they are a contact-based team. They swing as soon as they see a good pitch and, generally, do not do too much with that pitch. They were second to last in home runs per at bat, at 45.5 with only 120 total home runs. They were also second worst in the league with only 613 runs scored.
Yet, despite all of this, they had the 8th best batting average as a team in 2015. Miami ended the year with a combined .260 average and an underwhelming 71-91 record. Certainly not the best record around, it was still impressive to have that many wins on only 613 runs scored.
Many of the Marlins’ losses were in close games, as they only lost by one or two runs. As well, in many of these games, the Marlins had many opportunities to strike, but instead, simply swung out of their shoes at a garbage pitch on a hitter’s count, allowing the pitcher to get an easy contact out and get out of a jam.
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The Marlins have a young baseball team. They had the third youngest team in MLB in 2015, with an average age of 27.8 years. This inexperience has led the Marlins to make a plethora of rookie mistakes that the more seasoned players would not even dream of. The club is very close to being a contender, but they need to end these rookie mistakes. This is where Bonds comes into play. With all of his experience and his keen ability to draw walks and earn respect in the clubhouse, he can teach the Marlins how to be more patient at the plate.
Remember last year when Alex Rodriguez made his return to the bigs and had a very impressive campaign? You might not remember the part about A-Rod spending a lot of time with Bonds in Florida training before the season started, though. Bonds can have a very similar impact on the Marlins as a whole this year, possibly propelling them into a position they have not been in since 2003… the World Series.
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Do not expect the Miami Marlins to be favorites just yet. It will take a little while for them to adjust and approach a new way of handling their own at-bats in 2016. But if barry Bond’s methods can rub off on these young guys, expect to see yet another scary team coming out of baseball’s NL East.