How the Miami Marlins approach facing Mets Cy Young Award-winning starter Jacob deGrom
Only one team in MLB faced Jacob deGrom more throughout the starting pitcher’s Cy Young Award-winning 2018 season than the Miami Marlins and no one managed to ding deGrom more than the Marlins.
Miami faced the right-handed starting pitcher four times in 2018 — more than any team other than the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins hit .208 against him with a .280 on-base percentage, both of which were good for fourth best of any team, and put up an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .562, the sixth best mark of anyone in the Major Leagues. The nine runs Miami scored against deGrom were three more than anyone else.
The Marlins (2-4) get their first crack of 2019 at deGrom on Wednesday in Miami, when they conclude a three-game series with the New York Mets at 6:10 p.m. at Marlins Park.
For Miami, maybe familiarity is helpful. Don Mattingly said the Marlins’ relative success against the All-Star stems mostly from a lack of fear.
“He’s good, but he’s human,” the manager said. It’s the attitude Miami had against deGrom throughout 2018.
DeGrom’s worst game of his historic season came in just his third start when the Mets came down to South Florida for the first time. The ace went six innings, but surrendered a season-worst four earned runs. It laid the foundation for the other three times the Marlins faced him.
“I think you fight him. That’s what you have to do. No. 1, you’ve got to take him on,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, his numbers are good, he’s a great pitcher, he’s been a really good pitcher for a few years now. ... If Trevor [Richards] will throw the ball and keep us in the game, you’ve got to fight him. You can’t give him easy outs. You’ve got to take him on.”
Anderson still slumping
After a surprising rookie season, Brian Anderson’s follow-up hasn’t started the way he hoped. The slugging third baseman, who has been either Miami’s No. 2 or 3 hitter in every game so far in 2019, is batting just .167 entering the series finale against New York (4-1) on Wednesday.
The slow start isn’t concerning yet, though. There are positive signs for Anderson, including a barrel percentage of 23.5, which puts him in the top 7 percent of the Majors.
“It’s the talent,” Mattingly said. “You can tell a guy that can play or not play. He’s got the kind of swing that he’s going to get his hits and he’s going to be fine. He’s not one of those guys that you think he’s got a bunch of stuff going on with his swing, that it’s a mess, anything like that. He’s got a good swing, he uses the whole field, he sees the ball good and he’ll end up getting his walks. He hits good pitching, so he’s in a position to — as long as he’ll continue to grow and get better, he’s going to be a good player for a long time.”
Here are the full lineups:
Miami Marlins
Curtis Granderson, LF
Brian Anderson, 3B
Neil Walker, 1B
Starlin Castro, 2B
JT Riddle, SS
Lewis Brinson, CF
Chad Wallach, C
Rosell Herrera, RF
New York Mets
Brandon Nimmo, LF
Pete Alonso, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Michael Conforto, RF
J.D. Davis, 3B
Keon Broxton, CF
Amed Rosario, SS
Tomas Nido, C
Jacob deGrom, SP
This story was originally published April 3, 2019 at 4:45 PM.