For those asking how the Marlins will win games, Monte Harrison has an answer for you
Monte Harrison hears the same question far too much for his liking.
“How are the Miami Marlins going to win games?”
On paper, it’s a fair question. Miami hasn’t had a winning record since 2009 and are 120-203 over the past two years since their rebuild under the Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter ownership group began.
But Harrison, one of the Marlins’ top outfielder prospects obtained in the Christian Yelich trade in January 2018, doesn’t want to hear that.
The past is in the past. Why dwell on it? Why sell yourself short?
“I’m not trying to diss any team in the league, but how does any other team win games?” Harrison said Monday night during a Q&A session on the Marlins’ Instagram page. “Any team can have the most talent in the world, but mentally can’t be there. They might be somewhat good individually, but as a team, as a whole, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, they can’t win. I feel like Miami needs to step into a place where we have to step on the field, have the talent and have the mental capability to step on the field, I’m sorry, and kick people’s asses.”
Unfortunately for Harrison individually and the Marlins collectively, they’ll have to wait to show if they have that capability. They haven’t played an organized game since MLB shut down on March 12, two weeks before Opening Day, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It’s still unclear when the 2020 season will begin.
But Harrison sees the talent the Marlins have in their clubhouse. He’s been part of three rounds of big-league spring training with the club and was closing in on his MLB debut when baseball halted.
He also had a confidant in Juan Pierre, the Marlins’ minor-league outfield coordinator who was part of Miami’s 2003 World Series team.
“You have to get over the hump of being the little brother, so to speak,” Pierre said during a back-and-forth with Harrison on the broadcast. “The umpires don’t respect you. Other teams don’t respect you because you’re the Miami Marlins. It’s like an ongoing thing. Us in ‘03, we had to earn our respect. We had to tell the umpire ‘No, that pitch was outside.’ I know it’s Scherzer or Kershaw on the mound, but that’s a ball. We’re not going for that anymore.”
Harrison then asked Pierre what it was like to battle through that and ultimately win a World Series.
“I still can’t believe No. 1 that we did it, but we had that mentality,” Pierre said. We were young. Everyone was like ‘Man, let’s go get it.’”
The Marlins have been trying to instill that mentality this year. And they have shown it in spurts.
The young players, the top prospects, flashed their potential. Harrison, the No. 9 prospect in their system, hit .364 (8-for-22) and stole six bases in 15 spring training games. Nineteen of the team’s top-30 prospects were in camp this season. As many as nine could realistically have made their MLB debut in 2020 under normal circumstances and possibly still can depending on how rosters sizes are adjusted to handle what will likely be an abbreviated season.
“That’s the best part honestly,” Harrison said. “I think people look at our team and they see past it. I understand we lost 100 games last year. But that’s last year. The Nationals won the World Series, but they have to step in this year and they have to play. It’s not a whole different team, but it is a different team. It’s a new year.”
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