Miami Marlins waiting for answers on young hitters. What Mattingly is saying about them
The biggest mystery entering Year 4 of the Derek Jeter regime is what exactly the Marlins have in some of these young hitters, from shortstop Jazz Chisholm to first baseman Lewin Diaz to outfielders Jesus Sanchez, J.J. Bleday and Monte Harrison and others.
All are frontline prospects.
But nobody will know for sure if they can hit big-league pitching until we see it. And it’s way too soon to have those answers. But Jeter and manager Don Mattingly both made clear in recent weeks that the onus is on all of those young players to improve their craft.
“Our young guys are going to have to make strides,” Mattingly said. “We’ve seen some of our guys get kind of exposed a little bit. And let them know you’re not quite ready yet.
“Going under the radar is a one-year thing; maybe you’re a little better than people thought. But now there will be no more surprises. I still think people will doubt where [we would be over] 162 games [instead of a COVID-shortened 60-game season].
“We have a lot to prove. We will be on the radar of more teams. [They will know] they’re improving, that you’re not just going to beat these guys up.”
Mattingly assessed some of the young hitters:
▪ On first baseman Diaz, who went 6 for 39 (.154) with 12 strikeouts, Mattingly said: “Defensively he’s off the charts. Offensively, we think he will be a guy that’s dangerous, that is going to have power to all fields. One of the things we talked to him about early when we sent him back to the alternate camp [site in Jupiter] was he’s going to have to make sure to figure out who he is, what [types of pitches] he wants to handle.
“Young guys that come up — and he’s no different — they swing at a big old box of stuff that they’re trying to handle, trying to handle the whole plate. That’s an area where he’s going to have to grow. I do think he is going to be a guy that is going to be dangerous, a guy that puts the ball in play with power. That’s what you have to do at first base, be a guy that drives in runs with power type numbers.”
▪ On Bleday, MLB’s 24th best prospect, Mattingly said: “JJ was a guy from the spring to summer who made a pretty good size adjustment. He had a little bit of a hitch to me in the spring and he got rid of that and shortened things up.
“He looked really, really good in the summer and it sounded like he swung the bat good all year in the alternate site. He’s going to be interesting to see what he looks like in the spring and where that goes.”
We hear the Marlins are very high on Bleday. Even though his professional experience has been limited to 38 games in Jupiter last year (he hit .257), the Marlins love him and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in right field at some point next season.
▪ On Chisholm, rated 61st among all prospects by MLB.com, Mattingly said: “Jazz shows you he sees the ball early and that is a huge attribute for a hitter. When I say that, if you really watch Jazz’s at bats, he gives up on pitches quickly. He sees it as a ball early and that is really a big advantage for guys. His swing has to be cleaned up and [he must] keep shortening it to put the ball in play. But he has a chance to make a big jump.”
Chisholm hit .161 in 56 at-bats with two homers and six RBI and multiple exceptional defensive plays.
▪ Outfielder Jesus Sanchez, rated the 76th best prospect in baseball by MLB.com, went just 1 for 25 with two RBI and 11 strikeouts.
He’s a career .296 hitter in the minors (those numbers padded by early success at lower levels) but the tools are intriguing.
“Jesus has lots of potential,” Mattingly said. “When he got up, he had full confidence. Seeing what this league looked like, he got exposed a little bit. He’s another guy who has to understand what he wants to cover [over the plate].”
Of Lewin Diaz and Sanchez, Mattingly said: “Neither one of those guys have major adjustments to make swing wise. Maybe small adjustments but not major.”
▪ With Harrison (who hit .170 — 8 for 47), Mattingly said: “Monte has some changes he has to actually work on. If he picks up those, he takes off. Lewis Brinson has a chance to make even bigger jumps next year. We’ll see what Isan Diaz looks like next year.”
▪ Mattingly made an interesting point in terms of how soon — and to what extent — the Marlins want to give at bats to many of the aforementioned young players while trying to stay competitive.
“There’s going to be some critical decisions made on which direction you want to go,” he said. “You know you’re going to be young and these guys are coming but how fast do you think they’re coming? If you totally think they’re ready, you’re going to say, ‘We’re going to play these guys.’
“And you run the risk, if it doesn’t go well, without a backup plan, [of asking] what direction do we go now? The whole team could go backwards in a sense. There are some critical decisions to be made by the organization in our growth and our timeline.”
I would expect the Marlins to have backup plans everywhere, including second base, where the team hopes Chisholm or Diaz can win the job.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 4:13 PM.
