How can Connor Norby become a more complete player in 2025?

[Kevin Barral]

Connor Norby's first stint with the Marlins was a fun one, but there are more steps he'll need to take next season to prove himself as a true franchise building block.

The biggest name that the Miami Marlins acquired at the 2024 MLB trade deadline was Baltimore Orioles prospect Connor Norby. While the other players included in the deal (Kyle Stowers and Trevor Rogers) struggled on their new teams, Norby made a positive impact late in the season. It should be exciting to see what he does over the course of a full season, but there are a few areas where he has room to improve.

"He was great with us," said president of baseball operations Peter Bendix during an interview with MLB Network. "He's got power. He's got opposite-field power, which is really unusual to see. He's got the tools to be a good defender and he has that chip on his shoulder. He has that mentality that he's going to prove everybody wrong. He's going to be a Hall of Fame-level player in his own mind and he's really going to outwork everybody and just keep getting better."

After the Marlins called Norby up from Triple-A Jacksonville, he immediately went on a 10-game hit streak. Overall, he slashed .247/.315/.445/.760 with seven home runs, 17 RBI and a 108 wRC+ in 36 games played. He found a home in the number two spot of the Marlins lineup.

Despite being undersized at 5'10", Norby exceeded expectations in the power department by consistently connecting with the ball on the sweet spot. He posted a 14.8 Barrel%, according to Baseball Savant. That's about the same as All-Star sluggers like Teoscar Hernández, Yordan Alvarez and Fernando Tatís Jr.

Although Norby showed he has the potential to be a valuable spark plug, he still has work to do on his plate approach. He was extremely aggressive on the first pitch, swinging at 53.3% of them while with the Marlins, a rate that would've led the major leagues if he had enough playing time to qualify. That approach caused him to frequently fall behind in the count. He also had a two-week stretch without drawing any walks. Chasing pitches was part of it, but the bigger flaw was missing on pitches in the strike zone as well. His Z-Contact% was just 76.5%, very similar to the struggling Stowers (75.9%) and far below the MLB average of 85.2%.

Norby struck out in 32.1% of his Miami plate appearances, which is not sustainable for an everyday player. He should be looking for a better balance of power and contact. Maybe that comes from swinging with less intensity.

What went overlooked was Norby ranking in the 94th percentile of sprint speed. He was even ahead of teammate Xavier Edwards, who was among baseball's best base-stealers during the second half of the season. Despite that talent, Norby stole only 16 bases combined between AAA and MLB.

The Marlins scored the fourth-fewest runs in the majors last season and—at least for now—they barely have any experienced bats around Norby. Creating runs on the basepaths will be important. As first base coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Clayton McCullough played a big role in helping speedy Shohei Ohtani take his baserunning to the next level. With McCullough now managing the Marlins, hopefully Norby can benefit in a similar way.

With second base occupied by Otto Lopez, the Marlins made the decision to move Norby to third base. Through 30 games at the position, he posted a -5 DRS and had seven errors. Five of those were throwing errors and he just didn't look smooth there. That can change with a full offseason of work.

If the same issues continue in 2025, a transition to left field could be next. Look at the career of former Kansas City Royal Alex Gordon. He thrived after moving from 3B to LF, winning a Gold Glove in his first full season there and receiving the award eight total times. The Marlins would just be grateful for decent defense in that spot after the combination of Bryan De La Cruz and Nick Gordon (no relation to Alex) rated negatively last season.

Development is not always straightforward. It would be ideal for Norby to become a well-rounded player in 2025 and one of the faces of the franchise, but the Marlins have to be patient even if there are setbacks. Either way, we will learn a lot more about Norby as a result of him playing regularly for a whole year.

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[Slacker Mills]

I will be very surprised if Norby manages to impress in the first half of the season. I assume he'll turn into a short side platoon player, most likely in left field.

[Slacker Mills]

Kevin, did you read the in-Spanish interview of Eury Perez that he did last week? Assuming you did, could you please let us know what he had to say?

[rurrusuno]

I don't believe that swinging at the first pitch the majority of the time has such an impact on having a high strikeout %. He has a mix of contact and power, but I could see him utilizing the contact side more. Perhaps swinging less at pitches that are outside of the plate would help him lower his strikeout amounts in 2025. 

It makes to switch him to left field if he struggles defensively at third, but our only backup for now there is Jonah Bride, so I don't see that happening soon unless the Marlins were to sign a veteran infielder that's versatile at third. 

[Slacker Mills]

My question: How is Bride a backup to Norby? Based on what I've seen, Bride is the better player, particularly when it comes to getting on base.

[One Regend]

14 hours ago, Slacker Mills said:

My question: How is Bride a backup to Norby? Based on what I've seen, Bride is the better player, particularly when it comes to getting on base.

He isn't. If Norby was bad at 3rd base defensively, Bride is dreadful at 3rd base. That is a situation that will have to be resolved externally, as there are exactly zero in-house solutions.

[Ely Sussman]

10 hours ago, One Regend said:

He isn't. If Norby was bad at 3rd base defensively, Bride is dreadful at 3rd base. That is a situation that will have to be resolved externally, as there are exactly zero in-house solutions.

It has been a mess. Thankfully, Berry was finally moved off the position. By necessity, they haven't totally closed the door on De Los Santos at 3B (even though he struggles there too).

Pauley is close to average at 3B, from what I've seen. Just don't know what to make of his bat.

[Ely Sussman]

On 12/17/2024 at 7:28 PM, rurrusuno said:

I don't believe that swinging at the first pitch the majority of the time has such an impact on having a high strikeout %. He has a mix of contact and power, but I could see him utilizing the contact side more.

It can be a successful approach if you get good pitches to hit and put them in play. The concern for Norby is he didn't have much production on first pitches. He swung 106 total times and only put 28 in play. All the other times, it caused him to fall behind in the count 0-1, which would make anybody more likely to strike out.