Under Mattingly’s Helm, Fish Are Playing Above Water

Photo by: Gabe Rodriguez

One year ago today the Miami Marlins were 15-17, in third place and heading towards another forgettable season, as they would ultimately finish 20 games under at 71-91.

But a new manager and a new season has brought much promise to a young squad looking to make an impact.

The Marlins are currently .5 game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for third place and only three games behind division leading New York Mets. Miami also has one of the best records on the road at 10-5 and have won seven of their last 10 games.

Ending the month of April, they finished at 12-11, with a seven game winning streak. They have continued their winning trend into May, with a 5-1 start, and preparing to head to division showdowns with the Washington Nationals (6 games), Phillies (3 games) and the Atlanta Braves (3 games).  The Phillies did take two of the three games from the Fish this last weekend.

Even with the loss of second baseman Dee Gordon, who was suspended 80 games for PEDS violation, the Marlins are being led by Martin Prado (.396/.425/.481, 7 Doubles, 10 RBI), Derek Dietrich (.333/.417/.603, 2 HR, 13 RBI), Christian Yelich (.333/.447/.519, 4 HR, 16 RBI) and Giancarlo Stanton (.250/.363/.577, 10 HR, 24 RBI).

On the mound, Jose Fernandez looks to be back in form especially after his gem on Monday where he tossed seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, four walks, while striking out 11 batter to win his fourth game on the season against two loses.

The Marlins have not been blowing anybody out and their losses have been close games, but they are playing winning baseball and very quickly have adapted to manager Don Mattingly‘s style of play.

As a team Miami, is in the top ten offensively in the league in hits (300), triples (8), batting average (.280), OBP (.339) and Slug (.430). The new look offense is a product of new hitting coach Barry Bonds and even though they don’t seem to be much of a threat in the home run category, they still have a healthy and powerful Stanton waiting his turn to unload on the baseball.

Mattingly has done a great job so far, and if the Marlins are going to be contenders in the NL East, it may take a mid-season trade to bring in a few more pieces.  But so far they are playing winning baseball and in a season with many opportunities for surprises, Miami may be that come down the stretch.

David Conde

David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.