Marlins’ Lewis Brinson is trusting himself. The result: confidence and production
Lewis Brinson saw Heath Hembree’s 1-1 fastball leak up just enough in the strike zone to turn on it. With his legs closed together, his bat motionless and his hands up near his head, Brinson lifts up his left heel and keeps his legs as still as possible as he swings. His bat glides through the strike zone, cracking as it sends the ball flying toward left field. Brinson admires his work for a moment, just a moment, as he starts rounding the bases.
The ball lands beyond the wall.
Home run.
Brinson’s 395-foot solo shot, with a 100.6 mph exit velocity and 26 degree launch angle according to Statcast, put momentum on the Marlins’ side in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies. Miami went on to win that game 5-3 after dropping the first game of the day 11-0.
“That was big,” Brinson said. “Tied the game up against a good lineup, obviously. Got momentum on our side a little bit. Obviously after that, we took off a little bit.”
Brinson could say the same about himself individually.
After two long, trying seasons that saw more failure than success after being sent to the Marlins as part of the Christian Yelich trade, Brinson looks like he might be turning the corner.
It’s coming at the right time, too. The Marlins have 19 games left in the regular season and are in the thick of the playoff race. They enter Saturday a half-game behind the Phillies for second place in the NL East and three games behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the division. This year, the top two teams in each division and the next best two teams in each league overall make the playoffs.
“We’re in a playoff race,” Brinson said. “I want to win the World Series. Whether it’s 60 games or 162 games, I just look at it as, I want to win at all costs.”
Just what does this recent run look like for Brinson?
Since Aug. 25, the 26-year-old outfielder and Coral Springs High alumnus is hitting .343 (12/35) with two doubles, three home runs, six RBI, seven runs scored and a stolen base over 17 games (including 10 starts). His OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) is 1.108 in that span, which his raised his season batting average from .107 to .238.
But something to note: Even when the hits weren’t falling to start the season, Brinson was still putting up quality plate appearances.
The numbers to support that, per Statcast:
▪ A career high 26.7 percent of balls Brinson has put in play this year are line drives, which typically have higher rates of turning into hits. The league average is 20 percent.
▪ His overall whiff rate down to 29.6 percent this year. It was 32.9 percent in 2019 and 34.3 percent in 2018.
▪ Brinson is making contact on 83.3 percent of swings inside the zone and chasing just 32.2 percent of the time on pitches outside of the zone, both career-best marks.
“He’s coming along,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “We’ll keep going with him. He’s getting better. We’ll mix and match him a lot of different ways.”
Mattingly has primarily been using Brinson in a platoon role, starting him against left-handed pitching and sitting him against righties. The hope was that playing the matchups would allow Brinson to get results
It’s worked out. Brinson is hitting .313 against left-handed pitching. His home run on Friday though? That was against a righty.
“Against lefties, the at-bats were getting pretty good,” Mattingly said. “A lot of times, that leads to confidence. We’re starting to see it against a righty.”
The Marlins hope they keep seeing production as the season progresses.
“A lot of blood, sweat and tears over the past couple of years,” Brinson said. “This offseason has been big for me, mentally and physically, being able to trust myself and know that I’m here for a reason. It’s not a fluke that I’m here and living out my dream.”
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