This Marlins rookie had some major growing pains last year. It won’t happen again.
Center fielder Lewis Brinson will be the first to admit his rookie season with the Marlins involved its share of “growing pains.”
Did it ever.
Brinson hit just .199, becoming only the fourth Major League rookie over the past 60 years to hit below .200 while receiving as many as 380 at bats.
This much is certain: it won’t happen again.
Either Brinson turns a corner and becomes the type of dynamic, multi-tool player the Marlins thought they were getting when they gave up Christian Yelich to nab him from the Brewers, or he’ll be spending time in the minors.
“He’ll have to be more productive,” said Marlins manager Don Mattingly.
In other words, the Marlins won’t be as patient with Brinson this year as they were last season when they allowed him the luxury of remaining in the majors despite his woes. If he doesn’t produce in year two, he’ll be spending at least part of the summer at Triple A New Orleans.
Brinson is confident that won’t be the case.
“I’m going to have a good year this year and so is this whole team,” Brinson declared.
Perhaps too much was expected of Brinson when the Marlins acquired the hometown product and three other prospects from the Brewers for Yelich.
While the other three players were allowed to continue their development in the minors, Brinson was put in the spotlight immediately as an Opening Day starter.
The Marlins felt he was ready.
But the season turned into a long struggle for the 24-year-old Coral Springs product. Brinson spent most of the season struggling to climb over the .200 hump, and a hip injury put him in New Orleans for a bit.
“He showed flashes last year that he could be dynamic,” Mattingly said.
But there were only flashes, never any sustained production.
“I was just trying to figure myself out last year,” said Brinson, whose big-league resume consisted of a small number of games for the Brewers the previous season. “Obviously, I had some growing pains. It’s something I had to go through and everybody’s gone through it at some point in their career. I’m kind of happy it was my rookie year. But now I know how to deal with it, and now I can grow from it and move on.”
It’s impossible to know what type of player Brinson will become. His path could mirror the one of former Marlins first baseman Derrek Lee, who struggled as a young player and was sent to the minors in 1999 while hitting just .206. Lee later became a formidable hitter and a key member of the Marlins’ 2003 World Series team.
Or he could improve, but not to elite levels, like Boston outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr.
Bradley hit just .198 as a rookie for the Red Sox in 2014 but has since turned into a modest but not spectacular performer for Boston.
“Offensively, he just needs to show more consistency, be able to stay on the ball longer,” Mattingly said.
Brinson said he geared part of is off-season regimen on approach and not on hitting mechanics.
“I haven’t made any major, major adjustments,” he said. “It was mostly about just being disciplined about my approach, trusting my plan and trusting what I’ve been working on all season. I worked on (hitting to) all sides of the field and hitting the ball to right more consistently.”
The Marlins just want to see some improvement from him. If none occurs, the Yelich trade — part of a series of high-profile deals made by the Marlins’ new ownership group after it took over last year — could turn out to be a monumental flop.
Yelich in his first season with the Brewers won the N.L. MVP award.
“He’s a tremendous hitter and he deserved it last year,” Brinson said, adding that he felt no pressure because of Yelich’s success.
Brinson is off to a strong start this spring, with three home runs and a double, in his first nine at-bats — including homers in back-to-back at-bats in Wednesday’s 14-6 loss to the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie on Wednesday — but the small sample size leaves a lot more to be desired. After all, Brinson had a good spring last year for the Marlins right after the trade.
It just didn’t carry over into the season.
Brinson is trying to put the 2018 season behind.
“Last year is last year,” he said. “I’m focused on now.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2019 at 3:34 PM.
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