MIA 5, NYM 3; Game notes from Marlins’ win in spring opener

We have waited long enough and we are finally getting our first looks at this exciting 2020 Marlins team. We got our Marlins in the beautiful blue jerseys along with a great looking Clover Park, and honestly I am still feeling amazing from Saturday’s game. The team overall played great and I think if someone watched this game they would understand the players that we have are future. Freddie Freeman said it best when he said, “I envision them being us in a few years.” The future is coming and together we are going to enjoy Spring Training with the glimpses of our stars.

Marlin’s vs Mets Game Notes—Feb. 22, 2020

The biggest thing I noticed as a team is that they are going to run. They attempted 5 steals today and swiped 4 successfully. JJ Bleday being the only one who failed, but no one was coveting Bleday for his speed anyway. This team has a lot of speed coming up so if that is how Don Mattingly wants to play, I am excited for it.

Jordan Yamamoto struggled earlier, but that was to be expected. He settled in the 2nd and looked good. I spoke with him about the second-half slump and he thinks he made the appropriate adjustments in his delivery to correct the issue. Will he win the 5th starter spot? I honestly don’t know.

Monte Harrison is an athlete who plays center field. He has a great arm, but I do believe the wind played a factor in that off-target throw from CF. I think he will only get better defensively at the position. You saw the speed on the 2 steals against a good defensive catcher in Wilson Ramos, and neither were a 50/50 chance. Impressive debut.

Chad Wallach looks like Chad Wallach, but we all know where this road leads for him. If he survives I’d be surprised, but I am going to root for his career.

Big surprise that Isan Diaz struck out first time up. In his 2nd at-bat, he had a nice liner up the middle. I want to see more if Isan can correct the strikeout issues, because if he can’t I don’t think Mattingly is going to be patient to let him figure it out in the MLB.

Lewis Brinson had a loud pop in his first AB that was caught near the track. Possibly would have been a home run if the wind wasn’t holding the baseball inside the park today. His 2nd at-bat he grounded into a double play. I am sure in the next game I will have the same notes and honestly he is only 25 so I could have the same notes for the next 6 years.

Harold Ramirez with a HR and HBP.

It was an impressive game for Harold and he is an impressive player when he plays. He is going to cause problems when he plays. It is the playing time which is the difficult thing to figure out will the current roster construction of the team.

Fish Stripes original GIF

JJ Bleday looks seasoned. He takes pitches and he makes the right decisions. I don’t think any spring training pitcher is going to be excited to face him. The contact is going to be hard and if you make a mistake he will capitalize.

Sean Rodriguez is an extra utility man on the team. Does he belong? Probably not, but the locker room impact could be larger than we expect.

Adam Conley gets a lot of hate. Some deserved, but some of it not. The team believes in him so I’ll trust them with keeping him. If I am the last one to say get rid of him then I will roll with it. I think he got hit on a perfect infield single, and Devers almost made the play to keep a runner on second. It was a good appearance.

José Devers caught my attention. Devers had a great stop down the middle. Throw was offline, but he is 20 years old in Spring Training for the first time. He showed great defensive awareness on the rundown at homeplate. His flyout to RF had a nice pop and could have been a home run without the wind. The bat speed was quick and if he builds out that frame more, then the NL East is going to have a problem.

Jazz Chisholm is going to be aggressive at the plate. Sometimes it will work sometimes it will not. He knows how to have a strong at-bat and he has the right mentality to succeed in this league. The young shortstop got on base both times with solid hits that hit the holes in the field. He also added in a steal and he made it easily.

Victor Victor Mesa has a much more patient approach. He makes frequent contact, but well below-average hard contact. It showed in the double play ball and could have had grounded into potentially another one. His ceiling is a strong leadoff hitter, but the floor is a defense-first outfielder who bats 8th.

Lewin Díaz surprised me on his defensive play in the bottom of the 5th. You can tell he worked on it during the offseason. Lewin Díaz had an excellent AB in the top of the 8th bringing in Chisholm for the winning run. He showed a lot of patience and eventually got the pitch to hit. Diaz and Bleday will not be a fun duo to face in the majors if they continue their trajectory.

Jerar Encarnación looks good, but I think he is going to grow even more. He struck out looking on a good pitch, but he is playing outside of his level so I am not going to take too much away on that. The second at-bat he absolutely crushed the ball.

He is not lacking power as he showcased that for anyone who didn’t know his name.

MVP: Don Mattingly

The team played the right way and I believe he came in with the perfect gameplan: get on the bases and run. The team played great and they played with passion. They had fun in this one and you could tell on every play.

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports