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Miami Marlins youth moving past growing pains

Throughout much of April and May, the Miami Marlins struggled as the team's youthful core was gaining big league experience. With one of the NL East's best records since May 31, the Marlins have found a way to win.

By Scott Gelman
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

They have a 43-66 record. Heading into Sunday afternoon, they sat 22 games out of first place in the National League East. And with just just over two months left of the season, a playoff run is not likely or probable.

Despite beginning the year by winning under 20 games after April and May, the Miami Marlins have grown up. With a youthful team that contains a handful of established veterans and a rookie manager, the Marlins are done fighting through the growing pains.

They are done growing up, and they want to win.

"We're trying to win ballgames," Redmond said in an interview with MLB.com. "We feel like, 'Hey, we have good enough players here to win ballgames.' And we've been able to show that over the last few weeks."

Following a 13-41 start, among the worst in franchise history, the Marlins have posted one of the National League East's best records since the final day of May. Since May 31, as of Saturday night, Miami has posted a 30-25 record.

The poor start was not as much a result of rookie mistakes as it was bad timing. Although Miami broke Spring Training camp with a handful of players with little to no big league experience, Giancarlo Stanton and Logan Morrison, two of Miami's biggest offensive threats began the year on the disabled list.

"This really is a tale, to this point, of two seasons, really," Redmond said. "We all like the second half better than the first half, of course."

Throughout the first half of the season, Miami struggled offensively. Since the All-Star break, timely hits have been consistent and the starting rotation has dominated opposing lineups.

Adeiny Hechavarria, Jake Marisnick, Christian Yelich, Ed Lucas, and while they were with the big league club Derek Dietrich and Marcell Ozuna, have all contributed to an offense that was among the worst in all of baseball to begin the year.

Henderson Alvarez and Nathan Eovaldi, who both were on the DL to start the year, have improved, and Jacob Turner, who began the year in Triple-A to work on his command, has posted a 2.68 ERA over 12 starts.

"I always look at the record, of course," Redmond said. "But I think we look at where we're headed and the improvement. Are guys getting better and are guys gaining experience? Are they learning?"

Owner Jeffrey Loria mentioned after the fire sale trade with Toronto that it would take a few seasons for the young players to mature. In Redmond's eyes, they are on the right track.

"When we watch these guys, what's the vision for the future with these guys? And I think we all realize that it's going to be fun and it's going to be bright."

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