As momentum turns, Marlins ‘made a statement to ourselves’ — and are having fun doing it
Watch Jesus Aguilar as he takes the field, as he waves to the opposing crowd as they boo him, as he chats with the opposing dugout at first base, as he dances and weaves and bops before quickly getting into his stance, as he throws his glove at a ball near the first-base bag when he knows he’s in the rare position that’s he not able to make a play but still wants to make some sort of effort and keep the atmosphere light. Now watch as he makes you pay with his bat.
Watch as Jazz Chisholm Jr., blue hair and all, reacts in the dugout and on the field and with the opposition when he or his teammates make a play, no matter how small it might look in the moment. Now watch as he makes those plays himself, hitting towering home runs off Cy Young winners and wreaking havoc on the basepaths.
Watch as Adam Duvall and Garrett Cooper and Brian Anderson take a sigh of relief, smiling as their season-starting slumps begin to fade away.
Watch as Sandy Alcantara continues to establish himself as one of the sport’s top young starting pitchers.
Watch as relief pitcher Yimi Garcia shows almost no nerves as he steps onto the mound in the biggest situations of his career, mows down some of the leagues top hitters, and shows off a braces-filled smile after sealing the latest big win for the Miami Marlins early in this season.
“It’s a child’s game,” Chisholm said. “That’s what we’ve got to remember out there. Yeah, you’re competing in a very professional sport and a very hard sport, but at the same time, it’s a child’s game. You’ve gotta go out there and have fun every day.”
The Marlins are having fun. That was the case even after a 1-6 start to the season.
But now that they’re stringing wins together, too? Yeah. It’s safe to say the excitement level has picked up another notch.
Miami won four of its final five games during its first road trip of the season, a stretch that included three straight over the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park before dropping the series finale in walk-off fashion.
It’s normally the type of momentum swing that should serve as a boost of confidence, especially for a team that externally is once again being doubted despite making a playoff run just a season ago.
But this team, internally, already had confidence. That never wavered. Energy from up-and-coming prospects mixed with wisdom from savvy yet undervalued veterans and heightened expectations that a few rising players would take the next step gave the Marlins the belief that they could once again shock Major League Baseball and contend in the NL East.
It’s early, just half a month into the season, but the Marlins have shown in a small sample size how dangerous they can be when all aspects of the game are working for them.
“I don’t know if we’ve made a statement to them as much as we’ve made a statement to ourselves,” relief pitcher John Curtiss said, “which is the same thing that Donnie said in camp. We should expect to win every single day. It’s not always going to work out that way and it’s not always going to be that easy but every day you show up to the ballpark, regardless of if you’re facing a Jacob deGrom or Charlie Morton or anybody else. I mean, we’re talking extremely high quality pitchers on extremely quality teams. We should expect to give it our all and have a chance to compete and live pitch to pitch, out to out, inning to inning. It’s easier when you think kind of in the micro moment instead of the macro of ‘Who are we facing?’ or ‘What have they done?’ or ‘Who are we?’ or ‘Who are they?’ Just kind of attacking your job.”
The goal now: Find a way to keep this momentum intact when they return home to loanDepot park. The Marlins host the San Francisco Giants for three games Friday through Sunday and then play two against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The momentum started tilting in their favor with a win against arguably the game’s best active pitcher in the New York Mets’ deGrom, a 3-0 victory at Citi Field two days after a controversial walk-off hit-by-pitch call extended the Marlins’ early season woes.
They then followed up with three consecutive road wins over the Braves — two in extra innings, a third with a 17-hit outburst — and had a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth in the finale before the Braves finished the comeback. It’s the first time Miami has won three straight against the Braves since Sept. 28-30, 2017, and won its first four-game series in Atlanta since 2014.
They recorded 51 hits and scored 34 runs in those past five games to complement their young-but-talented starting pitching and improving bullpen.
The Marlins enter Friday with a .286 batting average with runners in scoring position, the third-best mark in baseball.
They’ve scored 23 of their 55 runs — 41.8 percent — with two outs.
“We’ve got a lot of good hitters on this team,” Duvall said. “Hopefully we can grow from this and just keep putting together good ABs up and down the lineup. That’s what gives other teams fits is that everyone’s a tough out.”
Like Aguilar, whose .333 batting average ranks fifth among qualified first basemen. He has reached base safely in all 11 games he has played this season and is tied for second across MLB with four hits in late and close situations, defined as a plate appearance in the seventh inning or later when the batting team is either leading by one run, tied, or has the potential tying run on base, at bat, or on deck.
That included his go-ahead double in the 10th inning of the Marlins’ 6-5 series-clinching win over the Braves on Wednesday.
“I look at him as a big guy with a small swing,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He can put a ball in play when he needs to, use the whole field.”
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Like Chisholm, who ranks fourth among rookies with at least 25 at-bats with a .998 on-base-plus-slugging mark and is one of two rookies with multiple stolen bases. He hit a solo home run on a 100.4 mph fastball above the strike zone against deGrom on Saturday and a three-run home run to center field against Morton on Wednesday. He has the drive to be one of the best in baseball, the swagger to be a generational player and the mentality that he can compete against the best the opposition has to offer.
And like Duvall, Anderson and Cooper, a trio regularly in the heart of the Marlins’ lineup that has six of the team’s eight home runs and has 21 of the team’s 52 RBI.
Six Marlins regulars overall are hitting at least .250.
“We have all the confidence in the world,” shortstop Miguel Rojas said, “that this lineup is going to be a force.”
And it’s coupled with a starting pitching staff that ranks among the top-10 in baseball in ERA (3.43, ninth), batting average against (.197, fourth) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.29, eighth). Remember: None of the Marlins’ starting pitchers are older than 25. The talent is still reaching its potential.
There’s still work to do, but the signs of progress are showing.
“The clubhouse is good. The dugout is good,” Aguilar said. “We’re staying positive. ... We’re doing good.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 9:36 AM.
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