Miami Marlins: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season
By Sean Basile
Miami Marlins: 2020 Preview and Prediction
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to like about this team. They brought on a slew of veteran outfielders this offseason to round out the roster like Matt Kemp, Corey Dickerson, and Matt Joyce, but at the same time, Isan Diaz is an exciting player who will be the everyday second baseman.
Jonathan Villar was really good for the Orioles last year and now it looks like they’ll move him into center field. Brian Anderson is a versatile player with a high ceiling that the team loves. Jorge Alfaro is quietly becoming a power-house at the dish. And on top of that, we still have some younger guys to look forward to in the outfield such as Monte Harrison, Lewis Brinson, and Victor Victor Mesa.
Is this a great lineup? No. But it has a good mix of younger guys and vets, and I think we’ll see a significant uptick in their power numbers this year with Joyce, Dickerson, and Diaz from the left side of the plate as well as Jesus Aguilar, Garrett Cooper, Anderson, and Alfaro from the right. It’s definitely a better group than last year.
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But what really excites me about this team is their pitching staff, particularly with Sandy Alcantara at the top of the rotation. Alcantara was brought in a couple of years ago from St. Louis for Marcell Ozuna, so even though the Marlins incited their own purging, they landed their future ace.
Alcantara was an All Star last year and this is a guy who is quickly establishing himself as a force in this league. One thing that is holding him back right now is his command and lack of strikeouts he’s getting. But with an upper-90s fastball that will regularly touch triple digits and a put-away slider that can get up into the 90s, there’s no doubt in my mind this is a guy with a tremendously high upside. I would draw comparisons to Lucas Giolito who had similar problems with walks but at the same time, he had number one stuff and we saw the year he had in 2019 when he made his adjustments- two very similar players, Giolito and Alcantara, and Alcantara has the capability to be even better.