The Bus Stops Here

 

Okay. So the Marlins aren't a playoff team. As cool as their July surge was, they're not getting over .500, and they're way too inexperienced to craft a decent competitive performance. They also just lost Kyle Stowers to an injury, and Edward Cabrera seems to be calming down tremendously in August. So this really seems like a 'the horror is over' season without the benefit of a great ending.

However. I now know way more about the direction of this Marlins team than I did last year. Because last year, Kyle Stowers, Connor Norby and Eury Perez were all question marks, and now we know the team can rely on them. And last year, this Marlins team didn't have Liam Hicks, Ronny Henriquez, Agustin Ramirez, Heriberto Hernandez, Jakob Marsee or Janson Junk in position to succeed, and now they do. Hicks might be a more confident catching choice going forward than Fortes, Henriquez joins Bender as an excellent relief option, Hernandez has been hot this month, Marsee has been hitting like a storm ever since the call-up, and Junk allowed for some stability in June.

Of all of them, Agustin Ramirez might be the most important piece. The Marlins have, in the same farm system, two different pieces that can absolutely annihilate the ball despite some sloppy mechanics. They have Ramirez and they have Deyvison de los Santos. De los Santos hit 40 homers in the minors last year, and the fact that he's only hit 12 this year probably tells you why he hasn't made the majors yet. Ramirez got off to the better start this year, and had more contact luck in Jacksonville, which is why he's here. So far, despite being a downgrade defensively, Ramirez has 18 home runs and 56 RBIs, and has been one of the team leaders in production. Ramirez has the second-highest slugging percentage on the team, being Stowers and Hernandez. Even if all Ramirez will be is a power-hitting DH, that's still a good thing for the Marlins, as they need guys like that. Stowers, Marsee, Hernandez and Ramirez all look to contribute to this team for the foreseeable future, and the power numbers are gonna be insane if they all continue to pitch in like this.

Ultimately this team is gonna need to figure out how to keep their starters in one place without anybody getting hurt or falling off. They seem to have gotten Alcantara working, but they've gotten 3 straight bad starts from Cabrera. Weathers is still hurt, Garrett probably isn't showing up at all this year. Perez has been pretty good at least. If those five were all good at the same time we wouldn't be talking about what could have happened. But they all picked their moments and everything was spread out. With Ryan Gusto and Adam Mazur in the mix, who knows if all 5 will even get that chance next year.

At the very least, it is unlikely the Marlins will finish in last, they will be somewhat close to .500, and Clayton McCullough will probably keep his job. The bar will be slightly higher next year though.

Coming Tomorrow- He's been stalling for so long on living up to his reputation as a prospect that his midyear turn has caught a lot of fans off guard.