The Marlins know they ‘have to get better.’ June provided a step in the right direction
Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly, at the midway point of Year 2 of the team’s latest rebuild, has acknowledged the growth.
The Marlins, he said, are coming into their own after a 10-31 start cast doubts about what they would be able to do in 2019.
“When you have a young club that’s building, you just want to see them get better all the time,” Mattingly said. “I’m not sure where our records are in April, May, and June, but I just feel like we’re getting better.”
In March and April, the Marlins went 8-21, a .276 winning percentage.
They went 11-15 in May, a .423 mark.
And then came June, when the Marlins went 13-14, a .481 winning rate. If they had one more win in the month, which included a pair of series wins over the Philadelphia Phillies and road series victories over the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres, June would have been the Marlins’ first winning calendar month since August 2017.
The Marlins still have a lot of ground to make up. Their record sits at 32-50 — worst in the National League and fifth-worst overall — with six games left before the All-Star break, starting Tuesday with a three-game series at the Washington Nationals and then closing with a three-game weekend series at the Atlanta Braves.
“Guys are getting better, but is it good enough? Is it going to be good enough?” Mattingly asked. “We’re not trying to build a team that’s kind of competitive. ... We have to be consistent, day in and day out. We’re happy that we’re getting better, but we’re still sitting here with the record that we have, and we have to get better.”
June was a positive step, especially looking at how the offense started to click.
The Marlins posting a .258 batting average in their 27 games last month, the 12th-best mark in MLB and seventh-best in the National League in that span. They had double-digit hits in 10 games last month after having 16 total through their first 55 games.
Garrett Cooper (.372) and Miguel Rojas (.347) both finished the month among the top-15 players in the league in batting average among those with at least 50 at-bats. Brian Anderson (.301) also had a strong month, a needed resurgence after a slow start to his second full MLB season.
What’s more: The Marlins were one of the top teams in the league when it came to situational hitting.
Miami hit .311 with runners in scoring position in June, the third-highest mark in the league. Only the Colorado Rockies (.363) and New York Yankees (.354) did better.
“You’re seeing them start to understand how we need to play in order to win,” Mattingly said.
This is key for the Marlins considering how their roster is constructed. They can’t rely on home runs — the Marlins still rank last in the league in homers (64) and slugging (.358).
But they found ways ways to string together hits, scratch a few runs across the board, and find a big inning or two to stay competitive. Despite the losing record, the Marlins outscored opponents by seven runs (128-121) in June.
“It’s really good to see the fight,” Rojas said. “This is how we should be playing.”
Now comes the challenge of maintaining that recent surge over the final three months of the season.
“If the guys in here don’t understand how talented we really are, it’s very obvious to me as a veteran player,” infielder Neil Walker said. “You learn as time goes along, especially as young players, how to soften the big innings and how to push the envelope when you need to. That happens naturally.”
Injury updates
Marlins starting pitcher Caleb Smith allowed four earned runs on five hits and a walk in five innings of work during his second rehab assignment on Sunday with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. All four runs came on a pair of home runs. Smith struck out eight while throwing 83 pitches. Smith has been on the 10-day injured list since June 7 with left-hip inflammation.
Also, starting pitcher Pablo Lopez, placed on the 10-day IL on June 19 with a right-shoulder strain, began his throwing progression on Monday. Mattingly said Sunday he expects Lopez to return this season.
“It’s a matter of getting him built back up,” Mattingly said. “However long that takes is how long it takes.”
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
This story was originally published July 1, 2019 at 1:32 PM.
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