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The 2019-2020 offseason was a long one, no doubt. The COVID-19 pandemic stopped baseball activities in the middle of Spring Training and made us wait for it until July. For the Marlins, it can be difficult to keep tabs on their many additions to improve the team; the same applies for all the ballplayers who left via trade, release, waiver claim, or retirement (Curtis Granderson and Martín Prado’s cases).
While the Fish are inactive right now due to the COVID-19 outbreak, some of those players who are no longer wearing Miami’s colors keep playing the 60-game schedule.
The best one so far has been Starlin Castro. The Dominican infielder spent the last two seasons as a Marlin and has enjoyed a great start with the Washington Nationals, after signing a 2-year deal for $12MM.
After seven games, he’s recorded nine hits in 25 at-bats while hitting mostly in the third spot. He’s already hit two doubles and one triple, along with three scored runs and a .360/.385/.520 slash line. In fact, he had a four-hit game as recently as Thursday.
Heineman's at-bats have been very nice this year. Not a sentence I ever expected to type.
— McCovey Chronicles (@McCoveyChron) July 27, 2020
Another one who has had a good performance offensively is Tyler Heineman, one of the Giants’ catchers. He only played in five games for the Marlins last year, but has already matched that total for San Francisco, thanks in part to Buster Posey’s absence. Heineman is 5-for-17, with an RBI, a run, and a stolen base (.294/.400/.294).
Veteran outfielder Matt Kemp was cut before the beginning of the regular season and then signed a minors deal with the Rockies. So far, he has registered one single and one double for them, plus two walks (.333/.500/.500).
Another experienced player position, Neil Walker, had decent numbers for the Marlins in 2019 across 115 games and accepted a contract offer from the Phillies. So far, with the whole team sidelined due to coronavirus, he’s 0-for-1. He’s not expected to see everyday action, but could be a nice bench option for new manager Joe Girardi.
Going with the pitchers, 31-year-old Brian Moran was released by the Fish last January, but found another place to pitch in Toronto. In two appearances for the Blue Jays, the lefty has logged a scoreless inning. That’s the same job righty Tyler Kinley has done with the Rockies: 1.1 IP, 3 K.
For the Angels, 27-year-old righty Kyle Keller threw two-thirds of an inning in his first appearance, then recorded five outs on Friday night. He was scored upon both times. Keller pitched in 10 games for the Marlins last year. Also, reliever Austin Brice—who fired 44 2⁄3 frames for Miami in 2019—is now wearing a Red Sox jersey and has allowed five hits and four earned runs, though he’s collected five strikeouts.