Mr. Marlin’s son, Griffin Conine, gets called up to Marlins ahead of series against Rockies
The Miami Marlins have called up outfielder Griffin Conine ahead of the team’s game against the Colorado Rockies on Monday. Griffin is the son of “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine, who made two All-Star appearances in 1994 and 1995 as part of the team and was also part of the 1997 and 2003 World Series championships.
The Conines are the second father-son duo to play for the Marlins in franchise history– with the first being David and Ryan Weathers.
The younger Conine has hit 19 home runs and tallied 68 RBI, to go along with an .825 OPS, as part of the Triple A Jacksonville \this season. According to MLB.com, Conine will not play every day, but it’s likely that the left-handed outfielder will be a part of the lineup against right-handed pitching.
“[There are] a lot of emotions obviously. I felt like it kind of came suddenly,” the younger Conine said before the game. “I don’t think I was necessarily expecting [to be called up] for any reason. I was just trying to control my at-bats in Jacksonville, and obviously I’ve been rolling the past couple of weeks. The opportunity came and I was just trying to deal with as many phone calls and texts as I could.”
“We’re happy with his year,” said Hector Crespo, the Marlins’ director of minor-league operations, earlier this week. “You’re not where you want with strikeouts at 30 percent, but that’s down from 39 percent. The power is still there.”
Griffin Conine hopes that the slugging he demonstrated in the minor leagues will seamlessly translate to the majors.
“I just want to put the barrel on the ball. That’s really what it is,” Conine said while in Double A. “I’m not gonna say I don’t love hitting homers. It’s awesome when that shows up in the game, but at the same time I’m happy if I’m barreling three, four balls a game.”
Griffin did not always think he would follow in his father’s footsteps, but quickly realized he could make the MLB when he started playing well at Duke his sophomore year and then posted a good performance at the Cape Cod summer league. He was eventually drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Duke. The Marlins acquired Griffin Conine in exchange for infielder Jonathan Villar in 2020.
Despite his father’s history with the Marlins, Griffin does not appear to shoulder the expectations that outsiders might place on him.
But it was still an emotional moment when he called his parents to share the news.
“I just said you guys should probably look at flights to Denver, since [the Marlins] are flying there,” Conine told the media.
“I can’t tell if Dad featured any tears, but I know my Mom did — I heard it,” Conine said. “It was a great phone call and I think [my dad] is just so excited that [my call-up] could be with the Marlins.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2024 at 4:39 PM.