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28. MIAMI MARLINS
Jose Fernandez already had 13 strikeouts through 7⅓ innings when Mark Reynolds came to bat in the eighth inning of Friday night's game. He dominated the third-highest-scoring offense in baseball, shutting out the potent Indians lineup and allowing just two hits. Only now Reynolds was being annoying. Fernandez had struck out three Indians on three pitches apiece, eight more on four pitches. Here, Reynolds had worked the count to 2-2, preparing to face his sixth swing of the at-bat.
This would not stand. Fernandez reached back and fired a curveball from the depths of hell, an 85 mph bender that will haunt Reynolds's dreams for a week. After that whiff, Fernandez blew on his fingers. Allegedly, he did so to combat the humidity built up at Marlins Park. Of course this was just a front. You do something like that only when you're shooting flames out of your right hand.
Fernandez's monster performance Friday gave him 27 combined strikeouts over his past two starts, covering 16 innings. In his past 11 starts (75⅓ innings) dating back to June 1, Fernandez has struck out 86 batters, allowed two home runs, posted a 1.67 ERA, and limited opposing hitters to a line of .164/.234/.219. When it comes to rolling big numbers, the Marlins' early-season attempts to limit his pitch counts have failed miserably: Fernandez ranks 13th in the National League with 138 strikeouts, despite ranking 37th in innings pitched with just 127 2/3. Only Cy Young front-runners Clayton Kershaw and Matt Harvey, the sparkling Patrick Corbin, and off-the-charts RISP performer Jeff Locke own lower ERAs than Fernandez's 2.54. We could keep going and going with R-rated Fernandez numbers, as ESPN Stats & Info did here. Some industry insiders question Fernandez's listed age. But if he's anywhere near 21 years old, as the program says he is … yikes.
Fernandez's emergence as a potential Felix Hernandez 2.0 is just one of the multiple bright spots for a Marlins team that could become scary as hell much quicker than you'd think (as is, they're 27-23 in their past 50 games, having knocked off some good teams in the process). The Fish called up top outfield prospects Christian Yelich and Jake Marisnick two weeks ago. Yelich was a first-round pick who hit .313/.387/.499 in 302 minor league games, many of those coming in terrible environments for hitters. Watching him at bat, you're struck by the plate coverage his 6-foot-4 frame provides, but also by how young he looks — he's as lanky as your typical high schooler, with the face of a 13-year-old. Hailed as a top prospect for both his tools and his numbers, Yelich could become a beast when he fills out and adds more power to his high–batting average profile. Marisnick isn't nearly as polished a prospect despite being a year older than Yelich. But he, too, projects as an above-average major leaguer down the road, taking a step forward this year with a .294/.358/.502 campaign at Double-A Jacksonville.
Depending on what the Marlins do with star slugger Giancarlo Stanton, this could be the most dynamic outfield in baseball in a couple years. Though trade rumors have dogged Stanton and Miami for a while, he's still under team control through 2016 and he's still one of the best power hitters in baseball, with 106 homers in just 441 career games. Marcell Ozuna got sent back to the minors after hitting a rough patch, but he also showed flashes of potential earlier this year, giving the Fish four potential impact outfielders.
The pitching staff isn't just Fernandez, either. Twenty-two-year-old Jacob Turner, acquired as the main piece in the Anibal Sanchez/Omar Infante deal at last year's deadline, has flashed a 2.68 ERA in 12 starts. Twenty-three-year-old Nathan Eovaldi is an easy name to forget, given he was the key guy coming back in the 2012 deadline deal for Hanley Ramirez, who has set the league on fire. But he, too, has shown flashes of brilliance, including a one-run performance Sunday against the Indians in which he was firing 99 mph fastballs in the seventh inning. Turner, Eovaldi, Marisnick, and multiple other intriguing prospects came over in recent trades, the biggest of which cemented Jeffrey Loria's reputation as a genius and looks even shrewder eight months later, with the Jays floundering on a gigantic payroll and the Marlins steadily building a young core with upside. The Marlins' tendency to call up top prospects when they're ready, rather than deploying all manner of service-time shenanigans, is an absolute breath of fresh air if you like to see the best young players actually play in the big leagues.
The Marlins still have multiple holes left to fill, starting with just about the entire infield. A cynic would question the team's intentions, given that it tore down the roster just a year after moving into a mostly publicly financed $634 million stadium that has been mostly empty for much of this season. But with a few well-timed moves and a few dollars spent to add talent, this could be a dangerous team, maybe as soon as 2015.
Jose Fernandez already had 13 strikeouts through 7⅓ innings when Mark Reynolds came to bat in the eighth inning of Friday night's game. He dominated the third-highest-scoring offense in baseball, shutting out the potent Indians lineup and allowing just two hits. Only now Reynolds was being annoying. Fernandez had struck out three Indians on three pitches apiece, eight more on four pitches. Here, Reynolds had worked the count to 2-2, preparing to face his sixth swing of the at-bat.
This would not stand. Fernandez reached back and fired a curveball from the depths of hell, an 85 mph bender that will haunt Reynolds's dreams for a week. After that whiff, Fernandez blew on his fingers. Allegedly, he did so to combat the humidity built up at Marlins Park. Of course this was just a front. You do something like that only when you're shooting flames out of your right hand.
Fernandez's monster performance Friday gave him 27 combined strikeouts over his past two starts, covering 16 innings. In his past 11 starts (75⅓ innings) dating back to June 1, Fernandez has struck out 86 batters, allowed two home runs, posted a 1.67 ERA, and limited opposing hitters to a line of .164/.234/.219. When it comes to rolling big numbers, the Marlins' early-season attempts to limit his pitch counts have failed miserably: Fernandez ranks 13th in the National League with 138 strikeouts, despite ranking 37th in innings pitched with just 127 2/3. Only Cy Young front-runners Clayton Kershaw and Matt Harvey, the sparkling Patrick Corbin, and off-the-charts RISP performer Jeff Locke own lower ERAs than Fernandez's 2.54. We could keep going and going with R-rated Fernandez numbers, as ESPN Stats & Info did here. Some industry insiders question Fernandez's listed age. But if he's anywhere near 21 years old, as the program says he is … yikes.
Fernandez's emergence as a potential Felix Hernandez 2.0 is just one of the multiple bright spots for a Marlins team that could become scary as hell much quicker than you'd think (as is, they're 27-23 in their past 50 games, having knocked off some good teams in the process). The Fish called up top outfield prospects Christian Yelich and Jake Marisnick two weeks ago. Yelich was a first-round pick who hit .313/.387/.499 in 302 minor league games, many of those coming in terrible environments for hitters. Watching him at bat, you're struck by the plate coverage his 6-foot-4 frame provides, but also by how young he looks — he's as lanky as your typical high schooler, with the face of a 13-year-old. Hailed as a top prospect for both his tools and his numbers, Yelich could become a beast when he fills out and adds more power to his high–batting average profile. Marisnick isn't nearly as polished a prospect despite being a year older than Yelich. But he, too, projects as an above-average major leaguer down the road, taking a step forward this year with a .294/.358/.502 campaign at Double-A Jacksonville.
Depending on what the Marlins do with star slugger Giancarlo Stanton, this could be the most dynamic outfield in baseball in a couple years. Though trade rumors have dogged Stanton and Miami for a while, he's still under team control through 2016 and he's still one of the best power hitters in baseball, with 106 homers in just 441 career games. Marcell Ozuna got sent back to the minors after hitting a rough patch, but he also showed flashes of potential earlier this year, giving the Fish four potential impact outfielders.
The pitching staff isn't just Fernandez, either. Twenty-two-year-old Jacob Turner, acquired as the main piece in the Anibal Sanchez/Omar Infante deal at last year's deadline, has flashed a 2.68 ERA in 12 starts. Twenty-three-year-old Nathan Eovaldi is an easy name to forget, given he was the key guy coming back in the 2012 deadline deal for Hanley Ramirez, who has set the league on fire. But he, too, has shown flashes of brilliance, including a one-run performance Sunday against the Indians in which he was firing 99 mph fastballs in the seventh inning. Turner, Eovaldi, Marisnick, and multiple other intriguing prospects came over in recent trades, the biggest of which cemented Jeffrey Loria's reputation as a genius and looks even shrewder eight months later, with the Jays floundering on a gigantic payroll and the Marlins steadily building a young core with upside. The Marlins' tendency to call up top prospects when they're ready, rather than deploying all manner of service-time shenanigans, is an absolute breath of fresh air if you like to see the best young players actually play in the big leagues.
The Marlins still have multiple holes left to fill, starting with just about the entire infield. A cynic would question the team's intentions, given that it tore down the roster just a year after moving into a mostly publicly financed $634 million stadium that has been mostly empty for much of this season. But with a few well-timed moves and a few dollars spent to add talent, this could be a dangerous team, maybe as soon as 2015.
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