Our Noticias: Brinson stays hot, bobblehead giveaway, season previews galore

The rebranding continues! During the 2019 season and beyond, Fish Stripes will be aggregating daily Marlins news and analysis for you in this “Our Noticias” article format. The name, of course, is inspired by the team’s “Our Colores” campaign. Expect similar coverage to what we used to do in links pieces...with a few new twists.

Is this becoming Lew’s Crew?

I had no plans of doing a full recap of Wednesday’s game, but by Spring Training standards, this was a fascinating one that needed to be documented.

Road Chen dug the Marlins into a deep hole and a couple fringy relievers let things get out of hand late in the 14-6 loss to the Mets. Ho hum.

In between all that, however, we saw the entire Christian Yelich trade package—Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison, Isan Diaz and Jordan Yamamoto—play together for the very first time. They kicked ass.

Brinson in particular looks focused and mechanically sound at the plate so far. His 2.056 OPS ranks third among all MLB qualifiers. Both home runs in this matchup were no-doubters, including the second-inning blast against established starter Steven Matz.

Sandy Alcántara and Brad Peacock are the probables when the club visits the Astros on Thursday afternoon (1:05 p.m. first pitch).

Meet Monte

Speaking of the Yelich trade, the latest Five Reasons podcast episode is an interview with Monte Harrison. He details his background in baseball, football and basketball, adversity he’s dealt with so far in the pros, and the role he hopes to play in elevating the Marlins into contention.

Regardless of performance over the next month, Harrison is expected to open the 2019 season with Triple-A New Orleans. He slashed .240/.316/.399 last summer in Double-A with 19 home runs and 28 stolen bases...and 215 strikeouts.

Baseball America releases updated Top 30 list

Most of the top Marlins prospects are relatively new the organization, headlined by right-hander Sixto Sánchez and outfielder Víctor Víctor Mesa, both of whom were acquired this past offseason.

• Stock up from 2018: SS José Devers (No. 30 to No. 11); RHP Jordan Holloway (No. 26 to No. 16)
• Stock down from 2018: SS Christopher Torres (No. 9 to No. 28); RHP Tyler Kolek (No. 17 to unranked); 3B James Nelson (No. 8 to No. 20)

2019 season previews

Can’t stop, won’t stop with these player-by-player preview articles. The staff is covering the entire Marlins 40-man roster between now and Opening Day, plus a handful of notable non-roster invitees at major league camp.

Here are the most recent additions to the series...

The bobbleheads are coming...

Photo courtesy of FOCO

Our friends at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum are providing a Game of Thrones bobblehead to feature in a Fish Stripes contest beginning next week. State your preference, please (options pictured above):

Walk-off Links

• It’s only February, but Dwyane Wade may have clinched “Miami Sports Moment of the Year” for 2019 with this buzzer-beater to upset the defending NBA champs:

• Acquired from the Phillies in the J.T. Realmuto trade, right-hander Will Stewart talks to Beyond The Bases about transitioning to a new organization
• The Marlins summarized the numerous changes to their gameday concessions and where to find them in this graphic:

Marlins Communications

• Swings and Mishes caught up with Marlins infielder Neil Walker and second-guesses the decision to expose Víctor Víctor to live games so early in Spring Training
• Veteran reliever Peter Moylan has retired from Major League Baseball, per David O’Brien of The Athletic, and Moylan provides a detailed explanation (subscription required). Having spent the vast majority of his career with the Braves, he faced the Marlins more often than any other team and fared pretty well against them (2.58 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 40 K in 45.1 IP).
• Non-roster invitee R.J. Alvarez attended the inaugural Marlins game in 1993, Wells Dusenbury of the Sun Sentinel reports
• No. 16 prospect Jordan Holloway makes his Grapefruit League debut on Thursday, Dusenbury tweets. It’s extra special for the right-hander because his parents flew in from Colorado, their first opportunity to watch him pitch in person in two years.