15-Year Marliniversary: Coghlan wins NL Rookie of the Year

[Mike Ferguson]

Chris Coghlan became the third Marlin to earn the distinction 15 years ago today.

Since the Florida/Miami Marlins' inception as a franchise in 1993, only the Los Angeles Dodgers have had more players win National League Rookie of the Year. Since 2003, no team has had more.

On this day 15 years ago, outfielder Chris Coghlan earned the distinction. On Nov. 16, 2009, Coghlan became the third member of the Florida Marlins to earn the award, joining pitcher Dontrelle Willis and teammate Hanley Ramírez.

Coghlan didn't join the club until the second week of May 2009, but wound up making a huge impact. He hit .321 with nine home runs, 47 RBIs, 31 doubles, a team-leading six triples, and an .850 OPS.

Coghlan took home 17 of 32 first-place votes, beating out second-place J.A. Happ, a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Pitcher Tommy Hanson of the Atlanta Braves finished third.

With Coghlan's help, the Marlins finished 87-75 in 2009. It would be 11 years later before the Marlins had another winning season and 14 later before they had a winning season with a full schedule.

Unfortunately for Coghlan, his rookie year was as good as it would get. Although he enjoyed respectable years for the Chicago Cubs in 2014 and 2015, his OPS, RBI, average and triples numbers never exceeded the totals from his rookie year. Over nine seasons in Major League Baseball, Coghlan hit .258 and posted a .731 OPS.

Pitcher José Fernández would become the fourth member of the franchise to win N.L. Rookie of the Year in 2013. Coghlan was that last to do so as a member of the Florida Marlins -- rather than the Miami Marlins. He took home the hardware on this day 15 years ago. 

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[rurrusuno]

Chris Coghlan was an example of a player that had potential, whether it was hitting for contact or getting extra-base hits, but never really progressed after his rookie season with the Fish. Back and knee injuries early on in his career played a role in terms of him becoming the player we hoped he'd turn out to be. 

[One Regend]

Chris Coghlan's rookie season was a mirage. He basically BABIPed his way into Rookie of the Year honors (not that his competition was lighting the world on fire either, which definitely helped his case) and gave fans a false sense of what his true talents were. Once the league adjusted to him, he just couldn't perform. And injuries didn't help in this regard either.

He was, in my opinion, another one of those "hits for average and does nothing else for the team" type of players. Once he stopped doing that, he had no value. He had no defensive home, so his defense wasn't great. He had no power. He wasn't a burner on the bases. All he had was his hit tool, and once that was gone, so was he.

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

During my "sabbatical" years. I was completely tuned out of MLB from 2005 to 2019. Honestly, I did not know anything about this fellow. It's a weird, yet cathartic, gap I needed at the time - and one I just let lie.