Marlins' Griffin Conine making strides during the spring

[Kevin Barral]

In his first go-around as a non-roster invitee, Griffin Conine looks to learn from the Major League coaching staff and make the best of his opportunities.

JUPITER, FL—Now entering his fourth full year with the Marlins organization, Griffin Conine is closer than ever to following in his father's footsteps. The 26-year-old son of Jeff Conine, Griffin was invited by the Marlins this year to be a non-roster invitee at big league camp. He's seeing a lot of action early on in Grapefruit League play.

Through his first three spring training games, Conine is 3-for-6 with one RBI, but two strikeouts.

"It's been a lot of fun so far," said Conine when Fish on First spoke to him. "Definitely a lot of new faces, meeting a lot of new people, always trying to introduce myself to as many people as I can and do as much as I can while I'm here to to make an impact and get comfortable around all these guys and get comfortable with this coaching staff and develop a rapport."

The Marlins acquired Conine from the Toronto Blue Jays at the 2020 MLB trade deadline in exchange for Jonathan Villar.

His best minor league season came in 2021 when he hit 36 home runs and 84 RBIs between two levels. He has recorded at least 20 home runs in every minor league season he has played since then.

The biggest issue holding Conine back from reaching the majors has been his high strikeout percentage. In 2023, his K% was 34.0% in Double-A and then 38.5% in Triple-A. Overall, he owns a 35.9 K% across parts of five MiLB seasons. The MLB average is 22.7%.

Defensively, Conine has primarily gotten reps in right field as a pro, showing more arm strength than Mr. Marlin himself had during his playing days.

Conine has a lot of competition for an outfield spot in Miami. Beyond the projected Opening Day outfielders, Jonathan Davis, Marty Costes, Victor Mesa Jr. and Dane Myers are all in camp as well. Davis and Myers both have big league experience on their side. For Conine to make his case during the course of the 2024 season, it would help to find a balance between contact and power hitting.

The Marlins' first full-squad workout was less than a week ago, but Conine mentioned how much he has already learned from Skip Schumaker's coaching staff.

"The main emphasis has just been getting to the top of the ball," said Conine. "I've definitely been under a lot in the past. Just kind of how my swing path plays. It's just evening things out. Feel versus real type stuff. Thinking about the barrel working above the ball, even if that's not the way that it unfolds on video. That's kind of what I'm realizing I have to feel to get the swing and so on."

For Conine, being around big leaguers on a daily basis now could be valuable to him in the future.

"Obviously the talent is better, so the more comfortable I can get now with that, I think will help me down the road for sure," said Conine.

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