All-Time Marlins Countdown: Chapter 94

Through their first 28 seasons of major league membership, the Florida and Miami Marlins have employed 630 players in total for at least one plate appearance or batter faced.

We’ve already covered 489 of them in our first 93 chapters, and we have 141 players to go in our next 72. This series will last through Opening Day eve.

Players are first sorted into brackets set by the amount of BF and/or PA they accrued during their time with the Marlins. We’re currently nearing the top of the tier of players who’ve totaled between 250-and-799 with the team.

After the initial sort, players are then ranked in order of ascending bWAR divided by PA/BF.

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141. Carlos Delgado

Carlos Delgado is a six-foot-three first baseman from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. In 1988, the Toronto Blue Jays signed him through free agency, at the age of 16. After making his major league debut with them in 1993, he spent the first dozen seasons of his big-league career north of the border. He slashed .282/.392/.556 in 1,423 games, with 336 home runs and 1,058 RBI.

Delgado made the American League All-Star team in 2000 and 2003, and led the Junior Circuit with 57 doubles and 378 total bases in 2000 and with 145 RBI and a 1.019 OPS in 2003. The Marlins signed him to a heavily backloaded four-year deal in 2005 worth $52 million guaranteed but just $4 million during the first season.

Delgado’s only season with Florida was a pretty good year. He hit over .300 for just the third (and final) time of his career, slashing .301/.399/.582 line. His OBP ranked ninth in the National League, and his SLG was the third best. He hit 41 doubles, three triples, and 33 jacks for an NL-fifth 115 RBI. Delgado drew 72 walks, scored 81 runs, and struck out 121 times.

Delgado had 42 multiple hit games, including seven three-hit games. In his first game with Florida, he went four-for-five with a double and three RBI. On May 29, he drew a walk in the second, drew first via HBP in the third, hit an RBI-single in the fifth, and added a three-run go-ahead homer in the seventh inning of a 6-3 victory over the New York Mets.

Defensively, Delgado played 1,206 innings at first base, fielding at a .989 rate. He was 20 runs below the National League average first baseman, according to total zone runs saved. Following the season, the Marlins traded him to the Mets for Grant Psomas, Mike Jacobs, and Yusmeiro Petit.

Delgado played four more seasons of major league ball with the Mets, and added another 104 home runs to his total to finish his career at 473. In 2015, in his first year of Hall-of-Fame eligibility, he earned 3.8 percent of the vote, falling short of the five percent threshold to stay on the ballot.

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140. Dan Jennings

Left-handed pitcher Dan Jennings (not to be confused for former Marlins manager Dan Jennings from Daphne, Alabama) is a six-foot-three reliever from Berkeley, California. In 2008, Florida spent an eighth-round pick for his services out of the University of Nebraska.

Jennings made his major league debut for the Marlins in 2012, but didn’t spend his rookie eligibility. He appeared in 22 games in total, and allowed a 1.89 ERA, a 1.526 WHIP, and an opposing line of .247/.360/.411. Jennings walked 11 and only struck out eight, and struggled through the campaign to get his pitches over the plate. He only registered strikes on 55 percent of his offerings, well below the National League average.

In 2013, Jennings pitched in 47 games, going 2-4 with a 3.76 ERA and a 1.352 WHIP. He struck out 38 and walked 16, increasing his strike rate to 60 percent and holding the opposition to a .255/.322/.392 slash line. Jennings stranded 71 percent of his inherited baserunners in each of his first two seasons.

Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images

2014 would be Jennings’ final season with the Marlins, and again struck out 38 in 40 ¹⁄₃ innings. He put up a career-best 1.34 ERA despite a relatively high 1.534 WHIP, and walked 17. After the season, Florida traded him to the Chicago White Sox for Andre Rienzo.

After his time with the Sox, Jennings later played with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Washington Nationals. In mid-2019, he signed with the New York Yankees through free agency, but after 14 days he was released. He’s currently a free agent.

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139. Bryan Morris

Bryan Morris is a six-foot-three, lefty-batting, righty-throwing pitcher from Tullahoma, Tennessee. In 2005, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays chose him in the third round out of high school. After deigning to sign, the Los Angeles Dodgers took him in the first round the following season out of Motlow State University, 26th off the board.

Before getting to the majors, Morris was involved in a three-team trade that made him a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He pitched in 81 games over parts of three seasons with the Bucs, going 9-7 with a 3.46 ERA. On June 1, 2014, they sent him to the Marlins for a competitive balance pick in the then-upcoming draft.

After getting to the Marlins, Morris had the best half-season of his career, by a wide margin. He registered a 0.66 ERA in 39 appearances, with 36 whiffs in 40 ²⁄₃ innings. Opponents got a 1.11 WHIP and hit at a .221/.287/.309 clip, as Morris got 63 percent of his offerings between the wickets. Butch Baccala, then the Seattle Mariners national crosschecker, was one of many across the industry who was wowed by him at the time.

The only thing Morris was not great at was in stranding his inherited runners, as 10-of-16 came around to score.

On July 1, Morris earned his sixth win of the season against zero losses when he pitched the final two innings of a 5-4, 11-inning victory against the Philadelphia Phillies. Morris struck out one and didn’t allow a runner.

In 2015, Morris was 5-4 with a 3.14 ERA in a team-third 67 appearances, and finished with a 1.467 WHIP. In 63 innings, he walked 26 and struck out 47. Unlike in his first season, he was gangbusters at stranding inherited runners, stranding 21-of-25 through the campaign. He pitched strikes at a 63 percent clip, and held opponents to a .275/.352/.369 line. On September 12, he struck out three in two perfect relief innings of a 2-0 win against the Washington Nationals.

Morris was limited by injury to 24 appearances in 2016, and finished with a 3.06 ERA in 17 ²⁄₃ innings. Granted free agency following the season, he soon after signed on with the San Francisco Giants. Since leaving the Marlins, he played in 20 games for San Francisco, and has been a free agent since mid-2017.