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Losers in Lake Buena Vista
Alex Contreras made the trip north to cover Sunday’s Marlins-Braves game. Five home runs carried the home team to a 6-5 victory with journeyman infielder Andrés Blanco delivering the walk-off solo shot against non-roster invitee Brian Moran.
RIght-hander Tommy Eveld appeared again and still hasn’t surrendered a run this spring.
Hungry for their third win, Wei-Yin Chen will start for the Marlins on Monday in Jupiter as they host the Nationals. Expect Lewis Brinson and Brian Anderson to participate after the young studs got the previous day off.
Marlins vs. Brave box score (MLB.com)
Introducing the WITTY Wireless Training Timer system
Interesting article by MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro on the technology that Marlins are using to further develop their players’ baserunning abilities. They have held three sessions with the WITTY system so far this spring.
“We’re trying to get them mentally able to relax enough and be able to build up that tension into their explosion position,” new infield coach Trey Hillman says, “and then focusing on their form, trying to reduce their reaction time.”
Hillman wasn’t with the Fish in 2018 when they finished last in the National League with 45 stolen bases, succeeding on only 59.2 percent of attempts. Beyond that, they are looking to get better jumps on balls in play to manufacture extra runs with an offense that figures to be power deficient.
3 more international amateur free agents sign with Miami
As the 2018-19 signing period winds down, the Marlins allocated some of their remaining funds toward locking up three Dominican pitchers. They are right-hander Mario Doble (entering his age-18 season), left-hander Ivan Perez (17) and right-hander Guillermo Ramirez (19). Perez has been assigned to the Dominican Summer League roster, while the other two are going to the Gulf Coast League.
Here’s a look at the 6-foot-2 Ramirez:
Fish Stripes is aware of at least 18 international amateurs who’ve signed with the Marlins during this signing period. The vast majority of the bonus pool went to the Mesa brothers ($6.25 million), limiting their flexibility to pursue other highly regarded prospects.
Grapefruit League stats
I’ll be consistent with this message all month: Spring Training stats without context are meaningless. Better than nothing? They can be worse than nothing. It’s impossible to determine which players are focused on performance versus others experimenting with mechanical adjustments. Treating them too seriously will only mislead you.
However, for those who cannot follow every game, I understand the curiosity to find out what happened.
Through nine games, the Marlins are 2-7 and nearly every player in major league camp has taken the field, which makes this an interesting “milestone.” So far, they rank last in the Grapefruit League in OPS (.586) and have allowed the most home runs (18). Here are the sortable individual stats on MLB’s site.
Walk-off Links
- Austin Dean committed an error on one of the most routine plays you’ll ever see, but he’s taking it in stride
- Andre Fernandez of The Athletic details why the Marlins and veteran outfielder Curtis Granderson had mutual interest this offseason (subscription required and recommended)
- Prospects 365’s Ray Butler is gradually unveiling his 2019 preseason top prospects lists. So far, Monte Harrison and Isan Díaz made it at No. 126 and No. 193, respectively.
- More player previews! Get caught up...
- As mentioned in the Zac Gallen preview, the cutter has always been his bread-and-butter. A midseason adjustment in 2018 could be critical to translating his success to the next level. He spoke to Wells Dusenbury of the Sun Sentinel about it.
- Christian Cevallos has all the major Marlins storylines from last week