Our Noticias, 10/12/20: 2020 Fishys; rebrand suggestions

My Marlins Award Picks

Welcome to the 2020 Fishys! The following Marlins earned my vote. Comment on this article with whoever you think is most deserving in the following categories. Take into account both regular season and postseason performance.

Team MVP: Pablo López. The only pitcher who stuck in the starting rotation all summer long, Pablo was at his sharpest when the team needed him most—leading a victory on the first night back from the COVID-19 hiatus and battling through the raindrops to halt a losing streak on Sept. 24 against the Braves. Good postseason debut, too, even though his teammates laid an egg that day.

Best Position Player: Miguel Rojas. Nobody on the Fish was more transparent about the symptoms he experienced from the virus, yet Rojas was the very first player to work his way back from the injured list. Smooth as ever defensively, the 31-year-old carried a spectacular .340/.429/.563 slash line into the final week of the regular season. On a per-game basis, Miggy Ro was among the top five MLB shortstops during this shortened campaign.

Best Pitcher: Pablo López, but it’s an extremely close call between him and Sandy Alcantara.

Rookie of the Year: Sixto Sánchez. Even though it was great for marketing purposes, I believe Pedro Martínez did Sixto a disservice by fawning over him so publicly. The comparisons between them—and comps between Sixto and José Fernández, for that matter—were extremely premature. Nonetheless, the gifted right-hander posted a 3.64 ERA in his regular season and postseason starts combined, striking out 41 batters in 47 innings. He also demonstrated what is, to me, the most important skill that a pitcher can have these days by limiting opponents to three total home runs (and only one outside of his debut).

Gold Glove: Brian Anderson. BA finally got a season to focus on third base and delivered Miami’s most sensational defensive highlight of 2020. His fielding was worth 4 Outs Above Average, in the estimation of Baseball Savant. Nobody else on the club came close to his 468 total innings.

Surprise I Never Saw Coming: Daniel Castano. It was difficult to imagine Castano making a single start for the Marlins with so few games on the schedule and so many options ahead of him on the depth chart. Shockingly, he contributed a 3.03 earned run average (one-third of an inning from matching Alcantara’s mark) in seven critical appearances.

Best Moment: Brandon Kintzler induces double play to clinch postseason berth. The ball finding Rojas made it especially satisfying.

Player-by-player season reviews

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

The Fish Stripes staff has at least 28 articles planned as part of our 2020 Marlins Season Review, each of them dedicated to individual players. Magneuris Sierra is batting leadoff. Arguably the team’s most valuable outfielder during the first month of the season, his durability continues to be a concern and his inability to barrel the ball limits his ceiling.

I’ll also be handling the Chad Wallach review, but most articles will come from our other writers.

Our Noticias rebrand?

The title of these morning news roundups is a spin-off of the Marlins’ “Our Colores” campaign that accompanied the 2018-19 rebrand. Prior to that, they were simply called “Marlins links.”

Time for an update, right? Please comment below with any suggestions!

Walk-off links

• Last call for Bottom Feeders t-shirts and hoodies! Use promo code BTE10 to get a 10% discount. My thanks to everybody who has already made a purchase.

David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

• Speaking of unique apparel, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro shows off his collection of homemade t-shirts as seen on Twitter throughout the 2020 season.
• Frisaro writes about why the status of Michael Hill is the Marlins’ No. 1 offseason question (I agree with him).
• The first season of “The Clubhouse” YouTube show concludes with a conversation between Lewis Brinson and Miguel Rojas about overcoming adversity and reflecting on the steps it took for the franchise to reach this point (recorded before the start of the NLDS).

• Highlights from the Florida Instructional League continue to trickle out, most recently a solid swing by outfielder Víctor Mesa Jr.
• WTNH News 8 produced a segment highlighting the achievements of one of their most successful alumni: Marlins play-by-play announcer Paul Severino.