What’s going on with Bryan De La Cruz? Marlins manager Skip Schumaker gives his thoughts
Miami Marlins outfielder Bryan De La Cruz squared up Bryce Elder’s low changeup and sent it flying. The ball bounced off the wall in center field as De La Cruz rounded toward second base for what seemed like a surefire double.
Only De La Cruz slid past the base just as Michael Harris II threw the ball into the infield. Ozzie Albies applied the tag on De La Cruz’s extended left arm trying to get back to second base.
Out.
“Of course he gets thrown out there,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “It’s just kind of what happens when you’re scuffling.”
At one point not too long ago — as in just a week-and-a-half ago — De La Cruz was one of the hottest hitters in baseball. The outfielder was riding a nine-game hitting streak entering the Marlins’ series finale against the Cleveland Guardians and had a .328 batting average overall a little more than three weeks into the season.
Since then? De La Cruz’s production at the plate has been nonexistent.
After going 1 for 4 with three strikeouts in the Marlins’ 6-0 loss to the Braves on Tuesday, with the one hit being the play where he was thrown out at second, De La Cruz is just 2 for his last 28 with a staggering 17 strikeouts through his past seven games.
The 17 strikeouts are tied with Giancarlo Stanton for the most in Marlins history through a seven-game span. Thirteen of the 17 strikeouts were swinging strikeouts and he had 27 overall swings and misses in that span, tied for the sixth most in baseball since his cold spell began on April 23.
So... what happened? Schumaker has a theory.
“I think he’s trying to figure out exactly how he’s being attacked,” Schumaker said. “It almost feels like he’s just in between and kind of guessing. He’s just kind of getting ping-ponged back and forth. He’s just not really seeing the ball well. He’s racking up a bunch of strikeouts the last few games.”
Normally, a manager would be able to substitute a player out of the starting lineup when he’s in a funk to give him a chance to reset.
The team placed regular right fielder Avisail Garcia on the 10-day injured list Tuesday with left back tightness. With Garcia sidelined, De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez are the Marlins’ primary corner outfielders, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. manning center field. Jorge Soler, who has been Miami’s main designated hitter, can also make spot starts in the outfield but has only played five total games in right field so far this season.
Garrett Hampson is an option in right field as well, as is Peyton Burdick, who the team recalled prior to Wednesday’s game. Hampson is starting in right field Wednesday.
“We obviously need him to hit,” Schumaker said. “He’s one of our guys that we’re going to depend on. Sometimes, you try to swing your way out of funks instead of seeing the ball and backing things up. I think we’ve got a couple guys trying to do that right now. I feel like that’s where he’s at.”
No Player of Month for Arraez
Despite leading the league in batting average and on-base percentage, Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez was not named the National League Player of the Month for April.
That honor went to the Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr., as announced Wednesday morning by MLB.
Arraez finished April (plus two games in March) with a .438 batting average (39 for 89) over 25 games played. It’s the highest batting average in Marlins history through April, breaking Dee Strange-Gordon’s mark of .409 set in 2015.
Even more, only nine players have had a batting average higher than that through April while having at least 80 plate appearances: Barry Bonds (.472, 2004), Pete Rose (.466, 1976), Larry Walker (.456, 1997), Tony Perez (.455, 1970), John Olerud (.450, 1993), Rod Carew (.449, 1983), Darin Erstad (.449, 2000), Paul O’Neill (.448, 1994) and Ivan Rodriguez (.442, 1998).
Arraez, the reigning American League batting champion, also led MLB a .500 on-base percentage and hit for the first cycle in franchise history on April 11 against the Philadelphia Phillies. He had multiple hits in 12 of his 23 starts.
Acuna had a .352 batting average, .440 on-base percentage and .546 slugging mark through 27 games at the end of April along with four home runs, 14 RBI, nine doubles, 23 runs scored and 13 stolen bases.
This story was originally published May 3, 2023 at 11:06 AM.
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