Three Things To Love About 2021 Miami Marlins Season
Despite a rough start to the season, there’s still plenty to be excited about when it comes to the 2021 Miami Marlins.
It’s safe to say the 2021 season hasn’t gotten off to the start the Miami Marlins were hoping for.
Injuries have been prolific, which might be understating it. Two-fifths of the projected starting rotation has combined for less than 3 IP. Their best offensive player has missed a month, and could miss as much as another. There was a fun week where four Opening Day starters were out of the lineup, with additional regulars nursing injuries.
All the same, there has also been a lot for Miami Marlins fans to be excited about this season. Excited for the here and now, and excited for the future of the organization’s rebuild. Contention feels like it could very much be on the horizon. After all, they do sport one heck of a run differential compared to the rest of the division. And don’t even get me started on the starting pitching. Well, the starting pitching from actual starting pitchers anyway.
Three big factors, three loves if you will, clearly stand out above the rest when it comes time to hunt for those 2021 Marlins silver linings. Of course, with loves come hates, and there will be a follow up article later in the week. For right now though, keeping it positive.
Which leaves us with three loves that not only mean this team will be worth watching more often than not this season, but also portend good things to build around in 2022 and beyond. This team has holes, yes. But this team also has hope. Hope that might best be exemplified by…
Miami Marlins Might Have Something Special In Trevor Rogers
…the emergence of Trevor Rogers as a top of the rotation force for the Miami Marlins.
The 2021 season was supposed to be the Sixto Sanchez show, with Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez vying for the right to claim No. 2 status in a deep starting rotation. However, a delayed spring training and injuries once he got there have kept Sanchez from even throwing so much as a pitch so far. Needless to say, that was not the plan.
But neither was Trevor Rogers being better than anything we’ve yet seen on an MLB stage from Sixto. He’s been simply electric, sporting a 1.84 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. Even though Alcantara has done more than enough to prove he deserves the mantle of staff ace, and that there was no short season magic going on with his 2020 breakout…Rogers is still a point ahead of him in terms of WAR on the year. Wins and strikeouts? Not even close. The only thing stopping him at this point is an innings limit.
Which, of course, is great news for Miami.
The Marlins have far and away had the strongest top of the rotation in the division so far in 2021, and their staff ERA has been near the top of the league all season long. You can’t win without pitching, and after a decade of only being able to develop one elite starting pitcher (Jose Fernandez), this organization has started churning them out like crazy. It’s great to see.
Just as important as the on the field results from Rogers though is what it could mean for the upcoming trade deadline, and what it will certainly mean for upcoming offseason.
Big picture wise, Miami felt pretty good about three of their starting pitchers heading into this season. Rogers has now made that number four, and far faster than anyone anticipated. This frees the team up to make one more aggressive move to bolster an offense badly in need of being bolstered. Depending on which evaluator you put your faith in, both Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett entered the season as better prospects than Rogers.
Unless Elon Musk buys the Miami Marlins this summer, there’s almost zero chance every pitcher mentioned on this slide is with the team in 2022. Someone is getting dealt, and Rogers has made that possible.
Speaking of the offense…
Miami Marlins Fans Love Them Some Smooth Jazz
…the Miami Marlins have finally landed on their next true face of the franchise in Jazz Chisholm.
Not a lovable, lunch pail type player like team captain Miguel Rojas. Not simply an obvious best hitter on the roster, like Starlin Castro or Starling Marte. But a truly marketable, dynamic and exciting player that fans will pay money to see just for the joy of watching him play.
That’s something they haven’t had since 2017. Chisholm has brought every bit of that energy back to Little Havana so far in 2021.
Obviously, when it comes to the box scores, he doesn’t have anywhere near the sample size yet to justify being compared to a Fernandez, Giancarlo Stanton, Hanley Ramirez, or Dontrelle Willis. But in some ways, that is besides the point. Because in terms of that infectious just happy to be there, for love of the game buoyancy, he does belong in the conversation. Tools wise, his game changing speed is the most marketable talent the Marlins have been able to display since Stanton’s MVP season.
The Marlins still need to develop at least one more hitter themselves to be have a real chance of contending. And that’s assuming they really have developed Chisholm, and the breakthrough isn’t just a hot streak. That 31% strikeout rate isn’t what you want, but his .397 wOBA means that even if regression does come, he’s still going to get some NL Rookie of the Year votes by season’s end. If he can put together a 20/20 season, you probably have to go back to Preston Wilson for his closest Marlins comp when you factor in the entertainment value discussed above.
On the other hand, you can’t talk about the Miami Marlins offense this season without talking about…..
Looks Like 2019 Was The Fluke For Miami Marlins Jesus Aguilar
Miami Marlins first baseman Jesus Aguilar. Just so long as we’re going back to the Preston Wilson days for comps, how about a poor man’s Cliff Floyd?
Because once you account for the fact that Aguilar will steal as many bases in his career as Cliff Floyd did by the end of his first full month in the majors, that’s kind of what the Marlins are getting right now from their arepa-scarfing slugger.
The nine home runs, which for what it’s worth have already eclipsed his total 2020 tally, are fun enough. But what’s really exciting is just how cheap Aguilar was for the Marlins to acquire, and what it says about their eye for talent. When you have a Christian Yelich for Lewis Brinson trade on your transaction page, it’s plenty encouraging to see some wins their too.
So if Aguilar keeps this pace up, for the price of a simple waiver claim, the Miami Marlins were able to add a hitter that’s going to club the third highest single-season home run total in team history. Plus, he’s controllable until 2023. No one year rental or big free-agent contract necessary.
Which means that with the NL all but certain to adopt a universal DH next season, the Marlins already have a bat under contract that would rank amongst the best DH options in all of baseball. In the NL, the only man clearly ahead of him might just be the player that’s second on that single-season Marlins homer list- Braves “outfielder” Marcell Ozuna.
That’s a good position to be in for a small market team with first base depth in the minors.
Next. Pujols Looking For Curtain Call With Dodgers. dark
Once again, there have been some lumps taken thus far in 2021. But when you take the long view, this Miami Marlins MLB roster has the most talent on it since 2017. Nothing not to love about that.