Miami: Offensive Arrivals
(Photo by Patrick Smith – Getty Images 2019)
The Miami Marlins have been fully enthralled in a complete tear down and rebuild since the trades of 2017 MVP Giancarlo Stanton, 2018 MVP Christian Yelich, All Star catcher J.T. Realmuto, and outfielder Marcell Ozuna. Miami’s offensive woes in recent years can be mostly explained by replacing these star veteran players with young, unproven talent and prospects. However, the offensive campaign for the Marlins in 2019 was particularly unimpressive.
Over the course of the 2019 season, the Marlins only had four players, with a minimum of 100 at bats, post an OPS+ above the league average: Brian Anderson, Garrett Cooper, Bryan Holaday, and Jon Berti. For reference, each of the other National League East teams had more players hit to an above average OPS+ than the Marlins. The Mets had 9, the Nationals had 7, the Phillies had 7, and the division winning Braves had 6. The following table represents where the Marlins landed among the National League ranks, according to Baseball Reference.
| Offensive Metric | NL Rank |
| OBP | 15th |
| SLG | 15th |
| OPS | 15th |
The Marlins front office was tasked this offseason with providing offense while sticking to their rebuilding plan. Miami addressed this by making a few moves, but the headlines of the offseason were adding infielder Jonathan Villar and outfielder Corey Dickerson.
Last season for the Baltimore Orioles, Jonathan Villar played in all 162 games and slashed .274/.339/.453 with a .792 OPS, 109 OPS+, and 40 stolen bases. Villar will bring a respectable on base percentage with the ability to manufacture scoring opportunities with his elite base-running abilities.
Corey Dickerson played his 30 year old season for teams in the state of Pennsylvania, splitting his time between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. He slashed .304/.341/.565 across 78 games. Dickerson hit to the tune of a .906 OPS and 131 OPS+ which both qualified as the second highest in a season for his career.
This offseason, the Miami front office has executed their plan to supplement their young, promising talent with cost effective players in order to compete in the short term while building for a hopeful future.
Statistics provided from Baseball Reference
