As Rafael Furcal settles into the starting second basemen role, last night he had his best offensive game as a Marlin by going 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and a run scored, I thought it would be the perfect time to check in on our old friend Derek Dietrich. Just so he knows he is gone, but not forgotten. If you have seen my comments on some of the game threads you know I have an unabashed affinity for Dietrich's offensive skillset.
Since being sent down to New Orleans Dietrich has been doing what he always does: getting on base. To be more specific, he is absolutely raking. In a very small sample size of 41 at-bats Dietrich is hitting .390/.457/.854. In 10 games Dietrich has also slugged six homeruns, including another last night. Now we know Dietrich can hit, he had a solid .342 on base percentage during his stint with the big league team, and was proving he can provide value offensively. He was sent down was because of his shortcomings on defense in hopes he would regain confidence by playing with less pressure in the minor leagues. Currently Dietrich has only made one error since being sent down, which I suppose is progress.
It is not likely that Dietrich will see the big league roster any time soon, as Furcal will and should be given every chance to perform before having the starting job taken away from him. Furcal is without a doubt the better option defensively, but there is no guarantee he will replicate the offensive performance from his younger days. Time will tell whether the Marlins view Furcal's upgrade on defensive to be more valuable than Dietrich's offensive production. In the meantime Dietrich will use this time to get his glove back to a playable level, and do what he does best, patiently wait.