Dee Gordon under pressure to repeat for Marlins

At the time of the trade which brought Dee Gordon to Miami, people were saying that he was overrated and that the Marlins were giving up too much for his services. That was after a season in which Gordon led the league in steals and hit .289. In 2015, Dee Gordon blew all predictions to smithereens by leading the league in hits (205), stolen bases (58), batting average (.333) and fielding percentage (.992) at second base.

Gordon did the best Jackie Robinson impression since, well, the man himself. No one had led the league in batting average and stolen bases since the legendary number 42, all the way back in 1949. That year, Jackie Robinson won the MVP and his Brooklyn Dodgers lost the world series to the Yankees. Gordon has almost no chance at winning the MVP thanks to the likes of Bryce Harper and Zack Greinke, and he will not be winning a World Series ring, either.

Gordon was one of the only bright spots in another disappointing Marlins season that will not enter the record books. For whatever reason, the whole team (apart from Gordon, on the whole) struggled and was eliminated from playoff contention long before the season ended. However, Dee Gordon continued to work his socks off and as a result, has cemented himself as an elite player in the National League alongside fellow Fish Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Fernandez.

Dee Gordon has now set the bar for himself. If he can produce those sorts of numbers when the team can't even play .500 ball over the course of the season, then why can't he produce those stats if/when the team is in the playoff race? With the state of the current roster, production like that is actually a necessity from him.

If he cannot repeat this level of play next year, then 2015 will have all been for nothing. Yes, it was extremely fun to watch, especially when he was hitting over .400 for over a month after the season started. On the other hand, the extraordinary season hasn't helped Gordon to win a championship, or Miami. The Marlins are now expecting big things from their All-Star in 2016, and that is something he has never had to deal with before as a major leaguer.

Dee Gordon was the heart and soul of the Miami Marlins in 2015. He was the one constant in an ever-changing organization. He became a leader on and off the field when Miami was without it's two biggest stars and quickly became a building block for the near future. Unlike Dan Jennings though, he cannot give up his new duties. Gordon is the exact jolt that this organization needs, now more than ever. Gordon is more than capable than reaching these numbers, it is just a case of whether he can deliver on the promise that this year's play has made.