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Throughout the 2016-17 offseason, Fish Stripes will be going back over the Top 100 Marlins of all time, from their inception as the Florida Marlins in 1993 through today's incarnation as the Miami Marlins. I used the WAR metric to order all potential members of the list. Today's Marlin, Henderson Martin Manuel Prado, has earned a mark of 6.9 while with the team so far.
Prado is a 6’, 215 lb. third baseman from Maracay, Venezuala born on October 27th, 1983. He made his first professional appearance in the Braves minor league system in 2003, making his way up to Atlanta three years later. In seven seasons with the Braves, he got into 683 contests and hit 52 homers with 286 RBI and a slashline of .295/.345/.435/.780. He then spent a season and a half with the Arizona Diamondbacks (261 games, .278/.326/.398/.725, 19 home runs, 124 RBI) and half of a season with the New York Yankees (37 games, .316/.336/.541/.877, 7 home runs, 16 RBI). After the 2014 campaign, the Yankees traded him with David Phelps to the Marlins for Domingo German and Garrett Jones. I think we won that one, at least.
2015 would see Prado get into 129 games for the Marlins, which ranked him in a tie for fourth on the club (with Justin Bour). Prado hit .288/.338/.394/.732, with 22 doubles, nine round-trippers and a team-third 63 RBI. He had 39 multi-hit games over his 127 starts, including eight contests with three or more hits. He ranked seventh in the NL with eight sacrifice flies. He turned 28 double plays to rank second in the NL from third base, and led the league with a .976 fielding percentage. On April 23rd, he hit two singles and a double for four RBI as the Marlins defeated the Philadelphia Philles, 9-1. May 2nd would see him hit a three run homer and an RBI double as Miami defeated the same Phillies by a 7-0 final. On September 4th, he hit three singles and two doubles, with a run scored and two RBI in a 6-5, 11-inning victory against the New York Mets.
In 2016, Prado ranked third on the team with 153 games played, and hit .305/.359/.417/.775 with 37 doubles, eight home runs, and 75 RBI. He was sixth in the NL with 600 at bats and with 183 hits, ranking second in the league with 135 singles. He was also third in the league with 8.7 at bats per strikeout. Defensively, he was fourth in the NL with 240 assists and second with 30 double plays turned. Prado had 52 multi-hit games over his 147 starts, with 19 occasions of three or more hits. On June 13th he went three-for-three with a walk and a homer to help defeat the San Diego Padres by a 13-4 final score. On July 9th, He hit two doubles and a single with a pair of RBI and a walk as the Marlins won over the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2. July 27th would see him get two singles and a double with a walk, a run, and an RBI in an 11-1 triumph against the Phillies. He also got to play manager for a day in the last game of the season, a 10-7 loss to the Washington Nationals. He went one-for-two in the contest.
I’ll be writing up through number 21 in this countdown based on WAR, but YOU, dear readers, will order the top 20 based on popular vote! The list below is self explanatory. Keep checking back here as we continue the march to Opening Day, right here at Fish Stripes.