Miami Marlins’ Yelich ready to compete for NL batting crown
The Miami Marlins have 2x batting champ Ichiro Suzuki on their roster, but it’s their starting left fielder who has the best chance of becoming one now.
While it has long been thought that Miami Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton will win at least a couple of National League home run titles in his career, the club has another pretty damn good outfielder in their ranks not named Ichiro Suzuki who is ready to compete for an NL batting title. His name is Christian Yelich.
Heading into last night’s action, Yelich sported a .371/.489/.514 slash line. His longest hit streak of the season lasted eight games, however he already has seven multi-hit games in the month of April. A career .295 hitter entering the 2016, a 24-year-old Yelich is already seasoned at the MLB level with 1298 at-bats registered from 2013-15. He was a career .311 hitter in the minors.
To put things plainly, Yelich is a pure contact hitter. He does have some pop to clear the fence in his bat and that will continue to develop, but this guy is a bona fide No. 3 hitter in a lineup. In fact, for every lineup manager Don Mattingly has rolled out in 2016 so far, Yelich has hit No. 3 right in front of Stanton.
Marlins upper management is well aware of his raw talent, abilities and massive potential. It’s a rare occasion when players in their rookie and arbitration contract years get awarded a different deal. Like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper before him, you can group Yelich into the same category. Miami signed Yelich to a seven-year, $49.57MM deal during the 2015 offseason — the same one in which they offered Stanton his record breaking deal. That in itself proves the organization views Yelich as being a vital cog to the organization winning ball games.
As you’ll see here, in Yelich’s first two seasons, he had a knack for hitting pitchers who threw down and away at him. Normally, this is something a hitter works on as his career progresses. So in that regard, Yelich is miles ahead of many young, fellow Major Leaguers. He covers the outside of the dish very well with his swing. That is difficult to do.
When we filter the results for just 2016, you will notice Yelich has done a better job of covering the inside of the plate as a left-handed hitter. So while’s he’s still killing offerings down and away, he is slowly becoming a more complete hitter. You’ll also see in the graphic below that when it comes to finding holes in the defense, Yelich thrives.
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As a left-handed hitter who covers the plate so well and has the ability to drive the ball hard to the opposite field for average, Yelich’s approach draws comparisons to Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.Playing entirely in the National League for the Padres, Gwynn won eight batting titles on the strength of being able to punch and push the ball into the opposite left field.
By the time Gwynn was 24, he had collected 189 career hits. Before Yelich celebrated his 24th, he had 377 hits in his Major League career. With a plate discipline and experience beyond where Gwynn was at his age, Yelich has a bright future ahead of him. That’s not to say he will be in Cooperstown one day alongside Mr. Padre or even that he will tally 3,000-plus hits in his career, but it would be disappointing to not see this kid lead his respective league in batting average one day.
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The Miami Marlins need to keep Dee Gordon, Christian Yelich and Stanton together for as long as possible. They’re a bright group of core players to build a franchise around. Though much hype surrounds Gordon’s speed and Stanton’s power, Yelich’s rate of solid contact should not be discounted. He’s ready to channel his inner-Gwynn and win a batting title in the near future.