All-Time Top 100 Marlins: #98 Adeiny Hechavarria

Throughout the offseason, we will be going over the Top 100 All-Time Marlins. Yesterday, we reviewed Jarred Cosart’s time with the Fish. Today, we will check out Miami’s current shortstop, Adeiny Hechavarria.

Hechavarria (follow him at @Adeiny3) is a 6’0”, 195 lb. shortstop from Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. Born on April 15th, 1989, he went undrafted and ended up signing with the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent in 2010.

Heche played three seasons in the Cuban National Series with his hometown club from 2006 through 2008, slashing .248/.307/.339/.647 in 217 games. More importantly perhaps, he played over 700 innings at shortstop, learning his trade at Cuba’s top level and turning in a .963 fielding percentage while turning heads with his acrobatic defensive play. In 2009, he defected to Mexico on a boat with 11 other Cubans.

Hechavarria signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the Blue Jays just after the start of the 2010 campaign, and joined the Dunedin Blue Jays in the High-A Florida State League for his first 41 professional major league affiliated games, putting up an anemic .193/.217/.292/.509 slashline and making nine errors at shortstop in 200 chances for a .955 fielding percentage. Despite his as-yet unrefined skill in the middle of the infield, he was flashy enough to justify a promotion to the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Eastern League. He played better at the higher level, slashing .273/.305/.360/.665 with a .962 fielding percentage on 289 chances at short.

Hechavarria opened the 2011 campaign with the Fisher Cats, and would stay with the club for an extended period, getting into 111 contests and hitting .235/.275/.347/.622. His fielding was still not quite what we have been used to seeing for the last four seasons, but he did improve his fielding percentage to .974 over 428 chances. In a 25 game callup to the triple-A Las Vegas 51s to close out the season, he hit .389/.432/.537/.968 with a .959 fielding percentage.

Most of Heche’s 2012 season was spent with the 51s, and would see him slash an impressive .312/.363/.424/.788 over 102 games, with a .961 fielding percentage. He joined the Jays for the stretch run, getting into 41 games for Toronto after the rosters expanded. He hit .254/.280/.365/.645 over 137 plate appearances. Toronto played him more at third base than shortstop, and what was leftover was split with his time at second base. As a shortstop, Heche again posted a .959 fielding percentage. On November 19th, the Jays traded him with Henderson Alvarez, Anthony DeSclafani, Yunel Escobar, Jake Marisnick, Jeff Mathis, and Justin Nicolino for Emilio Bonifacio, John Buck, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, and cash.

Hechavarria joined the rebuilding Marlins for their 62-100 campaign in 2013, and led the team with 148 games, 123 hits, an NL fifth eight triples, 543 at bats, and 578 plate appearances. He put up a season statline of .227/.267/.298/.565, making just 15 errors on 613 fielding chances for a .976 fielding success rate. He ranked fifth on the senior circuit at shortstop by turning 89 double plays. He had 32 multi-hit games for the Fish, as the team went 57-91 with him in the lineup (and 5-9 without him). He also turned in three round-trippers, 42 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases. On May 2nd, as the Marlins demolished the Philadelphia Phillies 14-2, Heche hit a three-run triple in the first inning and a grand slam in the third inning for seven RBI (see below). On May 16th, he batted second in the lineup and went three-for-four with a run scored as the Marlins lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3. On August 10th, he scored on a Jordan Walden wild pitch in the top of the ninth for the only run of a 1-0 Marlins win against the Atlanta Braves.

In 2014, Hechavarria appeared in 146 games for the Marlins, which ranked him third on the team behind Casey McGehee and Marcell Ozuna. He went 148-for-536, slashing .276/.308/.356/.664 with an NL second 10 triples, 34 RBI, and 53 runs scored. He ranked fifth with his 146 games at short, third with 438 SS assists, fourth with 200 SS putouts, and third with double plays turned from SS to finish the season with a .979 fielding percentage.

Heche had 44 multi-hit games in 2014 for Miami, including three four-hit contests. Miami went 71-75 in his appearances, posting a 6-10 record without him. On July 28th, in the bottom of the ninth inning, he hit an RBI-triple to center field, scoring Marcell Ozuna and tying Miami with the Washington Nationals at six runs apiece. He would score the winning run three batters later when Jeff Baker knocked him in. On September 26th, in the second game of a doubleheader, Hechavarria hit an RBI groundout in the second, a single in the fourth, an RBI-double in the fifth, an RBI single in the seventh, and another single in the ninth (see below).

2015 would see Hechavarria appear in 130 games, and hit 132-for-470 with a slashline of .281/.315/.374/.689 with a career high 48 RBI, 17 doubles, an NL eighth six triples, and five home runs. He also hit a career high with an NL fourth .984 fielding percentage, making just nine errors on 555 chances through the season. He ranked fourth in the league with 93 double plays turned from shortstop. His 2.1 WAR for the season was and is a career high. The Marlins went 54-76 with him in the game, and 17-15 when he did not appear.

Adeiny had 37 multi-hit games in 2015, including six where he collected three or more. On April 23rd, he singled in the second, hit a two-run single in the fourth, walked in the sixth, singled in the seventh, and hit another RBI-single in the ninth as the Marlins trounced the Phillies by a 9-1 final score (see below). On August 7th, he was the number one Hero due to a seventh inning two-run triple in an eventual 6-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

In 2016, Hechavarria appeared in a career high 155 games for the Marlins, and hit .236/.283/.311/.594, with 17 doubles, six triples, three homers and 38 RBI. He put up a .977 fielding percentage, booting 13 chances against 575. His 1.7 defensive WAR was ninth in the league, and he ranked fifth with 153 starts and third with 203 putouts. The Marlins went 79-76 when Heche played, and 0-6 when he did not.

Although not Adeiny’s best offensive season, he did rack up 31 multi-hit games, including five three-hit games and one four hitter. That was on April 30th, when he hit a single and a solo home run in a 7-5 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers (see below). On August 5th, he reached on an error in the second, hit a leadoff single in the fifth, and hit an RBI-single in the top of the ninth, later scoring the eventual winning run in a 5-3 Marlins win over the Colorado Rockies.

Hechavarria currently under Marlins’ control for the next two seasons despite having turned down a long-term extension after the end of the 2015 campaign.

Check back here tomorrow as we continue to dig into Marlins’ history with the #97 Marlin of all-time (until now), with a current member of the rotation.