Three Bold Predictions For 2021 Miami Marlins Season
Now that Opening Day is in the books, it’s time to make some bold predictions about the 2021 Miami Marlins.
Just like that, another Miami Marlins baseball season is underway.
Miami certainly turned some heads last season, posting a winning record and securing the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2003. That effort came despite playing in baseball’s toughest division, being projected by nearly everyone to finish last, and having to overcome a massive Covid-19 outbreak once the delayed season finally started. From top to bottom, it was a team effort, marked more by continued resilience than any true star performances.
Consequently, fan expectations are as high they have been in years. The Marlins themselves are certainly anxious to prove that last year was no fluke, no quirky byproduct of the shortened schedule. They’re not having any of that one year away noise…even if that is the most likely timeline for contention with this group.
However, that doesn’t mean that this season doesn’t promise to feature plenty of standout individual performances. Getting to look at things through a 162-game prism once again is really exciting. Even if it doesn’t end up showing to the same degree in the win-loss column as last year did, the 2022 Miami Marlins should easily be a more talented team than the 2021 club.
Which obviously means we need to make some shoot for the stars predictions on how great some this year’s Fish will be. Cy Young for Sandy? Batting title for Miguel? Gold Gloves all the way around the horn?
Okay, maybe that’s aiming a little high. Though I wouldn’t sleep on the prospect of a couple of those ending up being a lot closer to reality than you might think. Still, what follows are three bold predictions for what fans can expect to see from the Miami Marlins this year. Three bold predictions that, with a little luck, could start looking like foregone conclusions by August. Starting with…
No Miami Marlins Are Clearing 20 HRs, But At Least Ten Will Hit 10 HRs
Told you these were gonna be bold Miami Marlins takes.
Once you throw out 2020, there has never been a season where a Marlin has failed to reach the twenty homer mark. They came really close in 2018, but J.T. Realmuto went and ruined it with his 21 HR effort. Even the strike shortened1994 and 1995 seasons saw someone do it. And if I’m really being honest, as recently as a week ago, it wouldn’t have taken a lot to convince me to predict all five members of the infield hitting over 20 HRs. So why make this prediction then?
Because through three days of the 2021 MLB season, it is readily apparent that Don Mattingly will be putting the manage in management when it comes to his players workload this season.
Miami’s roster is an extremely flexible one, with Jon Berti and Garrett Cooper affording Mattingly the ability to routinely rest players this year. Indeed, in Cooper’s case, the team basically has four starters filling three roster spots. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if Cooper, Jesus Aguilar, Corey Dickerson, and Adam Duvall all end up playing less than 120 games this season- even if they’re healthy all year long. Which they won’t be. As for Berti, the man can play four positions. He’ll shave away enough at bats to chip into the final homer tally of many a teammate.
This prediction also bakes in the likelihood that a couple clubhouse leaders in home runs come July won’t be finishing the season as Miami Marlins. Miami could easily enter 2022 with three different starting outfielders than they sent out there last Thursday, and that’s true no matter how this season plays out. Young outfielders J.J. Bleday and Peyton Burdick will make an appearance at some point, so that too puts a ceiling on homers for most of Miami’s power bats.
Throw in a new baseball that’s supposed to reduce home runs, and the fact that only two Miami Marlins players have ever hit 30 HRs, and capping everyone at 20 sounds much less crazy.
Now, as for the ten players hitting 10 HRs, everyone in the lineup has at least some pop. It’s just that no one has a crazy amount of it. A healthy mix of players having their innings managed and a couple midseason promotions, and this one becomes more likely than anything else on this list.
Speaking of midseason promotions, a couple of those could feature prominently in our next prediction.
Two Miami Marlins Will Finish Top 5 In NL ROY Voting
This Miami Marlins roster just features too many young and old veterans to give the 2006 team a run for their money when it comes to rookie praise. That club had three Marlins finish in the top five for the NL Rookie of the Year, with Hanley Ramirez bringing home the award. Six Marlins earned a point in final voting.
However, this 2021 team will have no problem seeing two Marlins battle for top rookie honors.
Jazz Chisholm entered the year hyped as having 20/20 upside. While the power hasn’t appeared yet, he’s running away with the personality award and has shown that a 30-steal season could easily be in reach. Between that dynamic mix of speed and charisma, 10 HRs and a decent batting average should be more than enough to keep him in the mix as long as Miami remains competitive.
On the pitching front, Sixto Sanchez and Trevor Rogers would seem the most likely candidates to produce a hardware worthy season. However, some early injuries are already opening the door to the next tier of Miami pitching prospects- more on that shortly. Suffice it to say fans shouldn’t be at all surprised if a Marlins rookie pitcher turns some heads this year- they only need one of about four options to hit. That’s definitely doable.
And as discussed on the previous slide, it’s far from inconceivable that one of Miami’s young outfield prospects ends up getting significant run in 2021. A hot start and a June promotion for Bleday or Burdick should do the trick.
Certainly, it helps that all the prospect star power in 2021 seems to be coming from the American League. Also, this prediction is about vote getters, not necessarily award winners. That being said, the Rookie of the Year award is often about accumulation over outright accomplishment. It’s definitely well within the realm of possibility the Marlins give one of their rookies enough run to beat out Pittsburgh’s Ke’Bryan Hayes and Atlanta’s Ian Anderson for the award.
Smart money would be on Chisholm to win, but any of the players above would be fine bets to place or show. Speaking of bets, time for our boldest prediction…
Six Miami Marlins Pitchers Will Post Double Digit Wins
A bold prediction in which the 2006 Miami Marlins are given a run for their money, when it comes to what is their most notable accomplishment- having five pitchers post double-digit wins.
Because in 2021, no less than six Marlins will be achieving that feat.
That’s right: be prepared to forget that Dontrelle Willis led rotation that featured Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, and Anibal Sanchez. Although, my fingers are crossed the Marlins decide to bring Sanchez back for another ride…he’d only need six wins to move into the franchise’s top five on the all-time wins list. The top three, by the way, were all in that 2006 rotation.
All five of those names won at least ten games. That should be no problem for Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez, who would make it only the second time since 2014 that two Marlins cleared the ten win mark by doing so. However, it also should be an easy feat for the rest of the starting staff that will see names like Sixto Sanchez, Elieser Hernandez, Trevor Rogers, Nick Neidert, Braxton Garrett, and perhaps even Edward Cabrera comprising it by season’s end.
And that list doesn’t even include the very real possibility Miami adds a veteran starting pitcher in the next week.
Workload management plays just as big a role here as talent. Thanks to the short season, the team is going to particularly cautious even if the team is competing. Ridiculously so if they’re not. Fifteen Marlins might make at least five starts in 2022 by the time all is said and done. Expect bullpen days and piggybacked starts. Mike Dunn‘s club mark of wins by a reliever (10) could easily fall in a season like this- one more reason I like the odds of this prediction coming true.
Next. Marlins Need To Bring Back Anibal Sanchez. dark
The Miami Marlins might be 1-3 right now. But by the end of the season, count on at least one of these three predictions coming true.