All-Time Marlins Countdown: Chapter 7

Part seven of our 165 chapter offseason series focuses on seven more players with less than 20 plate appearance or batters faced.

This article focuses on the final four players from the first tier and three from the second. That is, four players with negative brWAR and three more with neutral brWAR, all with under 20 plate appearances or batters faced.

588. Brian Daubach

Brian Daubach, a first baseman and outfielder, was a 17th round choice of the New York Mets in 1990. A Belleville, Illinois native, he played six seasons in their minor league system before getting released and later signed by the Marlins.

Daubach spent the entire 1997 season at Florida’s Triple-A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights. He hit .278/.367/.510 in 136 games, with 21 home runs and 93 RBI. Even better for them in 1998, he hit .316/.421/.634 with 35 round-trippers and 124 RBI. Following the close of the International League season, he joined Florida in September.

Daubach got into 10 games for the Marlins, going three-for-15 with a walk, a double, three RBI, and five strikeouts. Defensively, he handled 24 defensive chances without an error. Released from the team after the campaign, he signed on with the Boston Red Sox.

Daubach appeared in 541 games for the Red Sox over five of the next six seasons, also playing one year with the Chicago White Sox before playing for the New York Mets in 2005. Overall, he slashed .259/.341/.476 with 93 home runs with 333 RBI.

587. Sandy Martínez

Sandy Martínez, a native of Villa Mella, Dominican Republic signed his first pro deal with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990 at the age of 19. A left-handed hitting catcher, Martínez took five years to get to the majors, In his first five major league seasons, three with the Jays and two for the Chicago Cubs, he slashed .234/.289/.338 with six home runs and 51 RBI in 203 games.

After the completion of the 1999 season, Martínez signed a deal to play for Florida. He started the year with the Marlins at the major league level, and went two-for-three with a double on April 4 in a 3-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants. He then went 0-for-9 over his next six games, and got sent down a level. In 86 games at the Triple-A level for the Calgary Cannons, he hit .300/.338/.534 and socked 15 homers with 48 RBI. He then rejoined Florida for three games in September, and again went two-for-three with a double in his final Marlins appearance.

The final tally for Martínez as a Marlin was four-for-18 with eight strikeouts. He only made five more appearances in the minors over the next five seasons, bouncing around many minor league systems including the Marlins again in 2007.

586. Matt Diaz

Left fielder and Portland, Oregon native Matt Diaz was a 17th round choice of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999. He made the majors in 2003, and enjoyed a 10-season big league career before ever joining the Marlins system. In 726 games he put together a respectable .291/.339/.431 slash line and hit 45 home runs with 225 RBI for the Rays, the Kansas City Royals, the Atlanta Braves, and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Just a week before Opening Day in 2013, Diaz signed with the Marlins through free agency at the age of 35. He hit .341 in 24 games at the Triple-A level with the New Orleans Zephyrs. In May, he joined the Marlins for a 10-game stretch, going three-for-18 with a walk, a double, an RBI, and three strikeouts. Defensively he handled six left field chances without an error.

585. Mike Piazza

The career-path of Mike Piazza is already quite well documented. Taken in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Norristown, Pennsylvania native would go on to slug 427 home runs over the course of a 16-season Hall of Fame major league career.

A 12-time all-star, Piazza was traded by the Dodgers to the Marlins with Todd Zeile for Manuel Barrios, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Gary Sheffield in a post-World Series salary dump in early 1998. In five games for the Marlins, he went five-for-18 with a triple and five RBI.

Just eight days after the Marlins sent everyone west, they traded Piazza to the New York Mets for Geoff Goetz, Ed Yarnall, and Preston Wilson. If you have a second, check out Piazza’s bio at sabr.org.

584. Adam Greenburg

New Haven, Connecticut native Adam Greenburg was taken by the Chicago Cubs in the ninth round of the 2002 draft. Three years later, he made one major league plate appearance for the Cubs, getting to first via HBP. He then went back to the minors. In 667 games over seven minor league seasons between the Cubs, Dodgers, Royals, and Angels’ systems, he hit .268/.374/.392.

Greenburg joined the independent Bridgeport Bluefish in the Atlantic League, where he hit .253 in 384 games over five seasons. On the last day of the 2012 major league season, the Marlins signed him to a major league contract. He appeared in the game that day, and struck out in his second and final plate appearance, seven years after his first. The Marlins released him the next day.

583. Jai Miller

Jai Miller was the Marlins fourth round pick in 2003. A right-handed right-fielder from Auburn, Alabama, Miller was ranked as Florida’s number eight prospect in 2004 by Baseball America. In 2008, while at the Triple-A level with the Albuquerque Isotopes, Miller hit .267/.349/.472 in 117 games, with 19 homers and 56 RBI.

Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images

On June 22nd of that year, Miller was called up to the majors and appeared in a 7-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Coming in as a defensive replacement for Luis Gonzalez in center field in the seventh inning, Miller struck out in his only plate appearance for Florida.

Prior to the 2010 season, the Marlins put Miller on waivers. He later appeared in the majors with the Royals and the A’s, and hit .235/.288/.368 in 28 major league games.

582. Jeff Fulchino

Jeff Fulchino is a native of Titusville, Florida, and the Marlins eight-round pick in the 2001 draft. A right-handed pitcher, Fulchino cut an imposing figure on the mound at six-foot-four and 270 lbs.

Fulchino started 29 games for the Isotopes in 2005, going 11-7 with a 5.06 ERA and 101 K’s in 153 innings. On June 22, 2006, he made his major league debut in an 8-5 victory against the Baltimore Orioles. Fulchino are into the game with runners on first and second, with two outs in the bottom of the eighth with a 4-1 Marlins lead, walked Kevin Millar to load the bases, and got Ramon Hernandez to line back to the mound.

Fulchino returned to the minors, but later got back to the majors to play for the Royals, the Astros, and the San Diego Padres. In parts of five seasons, he was 9-10 with a 4.84 ERA and 162 K’s in 178 ¹⁄₃ innings.