5 biggest surprises from first half of Marlins season

[Ely Sussman]

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[Guest Hans Herrera]

There are some other “honorable mentions”:

1. Out-of-nowhere-and-not-even-close Jonathan Davis steady presence in CF. He is not a superstar, but he did a great job.

2. Apart from that awful outing vs. Atlanta, Braxton Garrett has been the most consistent and reliable SP, just a hair above Jesus.

3. Ditto from Andrew Nardi out of the bullpen, although I am pleasantly surprised by Scott, he has looked straight up nasty this year without the BBs.

4. Brant Brown by making me trust on a big hit coming (as well as a GIDP 😅).

5. The little time he has played, Jazz is looking better and better every day. Still a work in progress, but if healthy, I’m sure that by the end of the season, he’ll be a top 10 glove in the position. Kudos to Wendle and the way he has manned SS.

[Guest Robert Hanson]

Don’t see Fortes being demoted. The Marlins 3 best starters, so far, have been Luzardo, Garrett, & Eury. Fortes has caught all their games. How much credit he deserves is debatable. Fortes is a developing player who should not be bailed on. Stallings is starting to show a pulse at the plate. The catching position shouldn’t be messed with.

Will be interesting to see what the Marlins do with Dane Meyers once Jazz comes back, especially if he keeps producing at the plate. Dane has played some 3rd base in the minors. He’s started 15 games at 3rd in AA & AAA this year. Unfortunately, he’s made 5 errors for a ghastly .886 fielding percentage, so 3rd may not be an option. Could be relegated to platooning in r.f. & some c.f. vs lefties….

[Ely Sussman]

I probably should have included Nardi considering how badly things went for him last year, but he's somebody that I personally was optimistic about entering the season. Everything he did on his way through the minors suggested he would be solid.

 

Jazz's defense has been a great surprise too. I just wish we had a bigger sample of it.

[Guest OneRegend]

There's been some surprises, but there's also questions along the way too.

1. How exactly will Eury Perez respond when he gets the green light to start pitching again? This is a bit of an abnormal situation for him.

2. Will Sandy make the necessary adjustment and bounce back from his awful first half?

3. Is the Marlins pitching going to stop imploding on itself with runners on 2 outs?

4. Are we going to ever get a breakout performance from any of their homegrown players?

5. Relating to #4, Bryan De La Cruz seems to be the closest to said breakout season, ending the first half with a BA over .270 and double digit home runs. Is he going to be the first homegrown player to club 25+ home runs since new ownership?