Jazz Chisholm is following in Dan Uggla’s footsteps

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is doing something hardly ever seen before by the Marlins: he’s playing second base and also hitting for big power. On Tuesday, Chisholm ripped a game-tying home run for his 13th long ball of the season, leading the Fish in that department. Really, the only precedent for production like this is beloved former Marlins stud Dan Uggla.

Uggla was a star for the then-Florida Marlins, swatting 154 bombs—a franchise record before Giancarlo Stanton came along—while serving as the everyday second baseman from 2006 to 2010. He recorded four 30-homer and four 90-RBI campaigns. Uggla went to the All-Star Game twice and even won a Silver Slugger award.

Playing his third season in the Major Leagues and with only 196 career games under his belt, Chisholm has rapidly emerged as the top power source for the Marlins. Like Uggla did at some point, Chisholm is carrying the Fish lineup in the company of Garrett Cooper, Jorge Soler, and Jesús Aguilar.

Pulling the ball is a key for Chisholm to get so many balls over the fence. His 51.1% pull rate in 2022 is among the highest in MLB, similar to Uggla’s 47.5% rate as a Marlin.

Beyond the home run department, Chisholm leads the team in triples (4), runs batted in (41), scored runs (33), and total bases (100). He is tied with Soler for the most extra-base hits (24). He’s connecting for a home run every 14.38 at-bats. And as if that wasn’t enough, Jazz leads all Marlins position players in bWAR (2.2), well above Cooper and Miguel Rojas (1.2).

Throughout their history, the Marlins have not had many powerful second basemen—Luis Castillo, Omar Infante, Starlin Castro, and others had more conventional offensive approaches. Uggla still stands as the only Marlin ever to hit 15+ long balls while defending second base. He recorded 27 in 2016, 31 in 2007, 32 in 2008, 31 in 2009, and 33 during his final Florida season in 2010.

And that’s what Jazz is going after, it seems. He’s currently on pace for 35 four-baggers. That would not only break Uggla’s record as a second baseman, but the electrifying Bahamian would also become just the fourth Marlins hitter—regardless of position—to go deep 35-plus times in a season.

More than a decade removed from Uggla’s final game as a Marlin, Jazz Chisholm is the closest thing that the franchise has had to a successor.