Pressed into key role, Jon Berti once again stepping up for Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins’ plan at shortstop to start the season was simple enough. Joey Wendle, a seasoned utility player who impressed enough in limited playing time at the position last season, would get the majority of the playing time.
But when Wendle landed on the injured list with a right intercostal strain after playing just three games, Miami turned the starting shortstop job over to Jon Berti, a right-handed hitter who also spent his career as a utility player and was slated to be the backup and a spot starter at other spots in the infield.
Berti started his 11th consecutive game at shortstop on Saturday in the Marlins’ 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks after starting just 34 games there in his MLB career. He has done more than held his own during this stretch.
“I don’t know where we’d be,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “without Jon Berti.”
It’s the sort of effort and performance that has become commonplace for Berti, who is now in his fifth season with the Marlins. He was a career minor-leaguer before that, playing eight full minor-league seasons before making a brief MLB debut with the Toronto Blue Jays at the end of the 2018 season.
Berti got his first real crack at playing in MLB with the Marlins when they selected his contract from the minor leagues in April 2019.
He has been a mainstay ever since, filling whatever role the Marlins needed from him. Sometimes that meant using his speed and baserunning skills as a pinch-runner. Sometimes that meant being a spot starter at just about any position in the field — Berti has played all three outfield spots as well as second base, third base and shortstop. And sometimes it meant extended stretches as a starter as injuries took their course, like when he spent a month at third base last season and his current run at shortstop with Wendle on the mend.
He’s trusted to get the job done, whatever the job may end up being.
“That’s kind of been what I’ve taken a lot of pride in since getting to ghe big leagues,” Berti said. “Just being whatever the manager needs, so whatever Skip needs of me, I’m just going to go out there and do my best to help this team win.”
Berti, 33, certainly has carved out a respectable MLB career in this role. He has 252 hits, 91 RBI, 163 runs scored and 80 stolen bases over 317 games. He’s coming off a 2022 season in which he led MLB with 41 stolen bases (while being caught just five times) and setting career highs in games played (102), hits (86), doubles (17), triples (3) and RBI (28).
“It’s been a wild journey from the very beginning,” Berti said. “I don’t know what I had pictured for my big-league career, but I’m happy with where I’m at and where I’m continuing to go.”
One of the biggest questions for Berti entering 2023 was how he was going to get consistent playing time. The Marlins revamped their infield with the additions of Luis Arraez and Jean Segura, the team’s everyday starters at second and third base, and committed to Wendle as their primary shortstop.
It didn’t take Berti long to, once again, show he can make an impact when given an extended run in the starting lineup. He has at least one hit in 10 of his first 13 starts, was a perfect 4 for 4 in stolen bases and has not committed an error defensively at shortstop.
“I knew coming in he was going to be a utility guy, a guy playing all different positions. I didn’t know he was going to be our starting shortstop Week 1, but he’s taken a hold of it,” Schumaker said. “He just brings a different dynamic to our lineup. Another grinder-type of at-bat that can change the game on the bases. ... He’s making every play and more. I didn’t know what he would look like at shortstop, I’ll be honest with you. I just hadn’t seen enough on video. I don’t want to say he surprised me because of his work ethic. I knew he would work and he can do anything. That’s just the kind of guy he is, but it’s been great to see. He really has saved us.”
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