After 'taste of success' with 2024 Marlins, Jonah Bride wants 'way more of it'

[Kevin Barral]

Fish Unfiltered—Episode #67

Jonah Bride emerged as a great hitter for the Miami Marlins during the second half of the 2024 season. How does he plan to build upon that? A few weeks in advance of spring training, Bride joins Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout on Unfiltered to reflect on the pros and cons of his first year in Miami, all of the organizational changes that the Marlins have made this offseason, Ichiro Suzuki's election into the Baseball Hall of Fame and more.

Find Fish Unfiltered on the Fish On First YouTube channel, our new-look Apple Podcasts channel and wherever else you get your pods. FOF's audio programming also includes The Offishial Show, Swimming Upstream, Big Fish Small Pod and more.

Bride snuck onto the 2024 Opening Day roster in the aftermath of the Jon Berti trade, but spent most of the season's first half with Triple-A Jacksonville. He had a permanent roster spot from July 4 onward and his production really took off following the July 30 trade deadline. The right-handed-hitting infielder slashed .284/.372/.497 with a 136 wRC+ and 11 home runs over his final 56 games.

The vast majority of Bride's defensive reps came at first base, but he wasn't satisfied with his performance there (-1 DRS/-2 OAA). "When you're in the big leagues, everything speeds up much more," Bride tells Fish On First. "I'm just trying to be more comfortable over there, increasing the speed side to side and the explosiveness, the diet. All those things will help...I'm definitely focusing on defense."

Bride was previously unaware of the extreme splits he had when facing starting pitchers compared to relief pitchers. "That really made me think about how I need to have a much better preparation going in and facing these relievers...Those are definitely eye-opening to me."

In 2025, Bride will be working with a completely different Marlins coaching staff led by Clayton McCullough.

"I have gotten to talk with a lot of them," Bride says. "Definitely bringing an exciting vibe and a lot of energy...Individually, just gonna work with them. We're gonna have an idea as a team how to approach pitchers and stuff, but it was good to hear that, 'we're not gonna teach one move.' Not everybody can do the exact same thing and look the same way."

On the heels of his second-half success and in the absence of accomplished veterans competing for playing time at the corner infield spots, the 29-year-old looks like a lock to crack the Opening Day roster again this season.

Follow Jonah (@JBride11), Kevin (@kevin_barral), Isaac (@IsaacAzout) and Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) on Twitter. Join the Marlins Discord server! Complete Miami Marlins coverage here at FishOnFirst.com.

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[Leo Armbrister]

With all of the moves I believe Sandy is our only player with a multi year contract. If the Marlins are going to win consistently They have to identify the players tey want to be long term Marlins. This roster turnover is not goint to cut it. They need to sign players who they can build around. If not we will just a revolving door of players who will not bring the team any winning results,

[Slacker Mills]

Long term Marlins can be defined as those who hang around until their first arbitration year.

[rurrusuno]

1 hour ago, Leo Armbrister said:

With all of the moves I believe Sandy is our only player with a multi year contract. If the Marlins are going to win consistently They have to identify the players tey want to be long term Marlins. This roster turnover is not goint to cut it. They need to sign players who they can build around. If not we will just a revolving door of players who will not bring the team any winning results,

True. The rest of our players are on one-year deals. Forget about signing any high profile free agents. I want to see this team invest long-term on some of their promising players.

[Chad Turner]

1 hour ago, rurrusuno said:

True. The rest of our players are on one-year deals. Forget about signing any high profile free agents. I want to see this team invest long-term on some of their promising players.

I hear you, but we control everyone on the roster for 4 or more years except Sandy, Jesús, and Bender (who we control for 3).  So who are you going to extend?  We aren't going to sign any high-profile FAs now.  That's for sure.  But we could use a SP and a couple of RPs to fill gaps and have someone to trade at the deadline.  Sandy's not pitching a full season.  Eury won't even pitch a half season.  Is Max fully healthy?  Do you really want to go into the season with Bellozo being in the starting 5?  Our bullpen was a late season MASH unit.  In other rebuilds, we would sign vet IF and OF bench guys to show leadership and coach these young ones up.  We have over $20MM to spend to avoid a grievance. So like $10MM on a starter and $3mm/each on the other 4.   

[BMK3]

They do have the opportunity for long term, team friendly, win-win contracts (Xavier Edwards?) when they identify people who can play. That’s why I wanted Jake Burger. The problem is I doubt they will do it. This management is awful and won’t spend a dime. The Tampa Bay model is to trade people before they want $250M. I actually agree with that. Sandy is the only one who may come under that concept.

[One Regend]

15 hours ago, Chad Turner said:

I hear you, but we control everyone on the roster for 4 or more years except Sandy, Jesús, and Bender (who we control for 3).  So who are you going to extend?  We aren't going to sign any high-profile FAs now.  That's for sure.  But we could use a SP and a couple of RPs to fill gaps and have someone to trade at the deadline.  Sandy's not pitching a full season.  Eury won't even pitch a half season.  Is Max fully healthy?  Do you really want to go into the season with Bellozo being in the starting 5?  Our bullpen was a late season MASH unit.  In other rebuilds, we would sign vet IF and OF bench guys to show leadership and coach these young ones up.  We have over $20MM to spend to avoid a grievance. So like $10MM on a starter and $3mm/each on the other 4.   

Extend Eury Perez now.

He's not going to pitch until July at the earliest. He's only 21 years old. He's got a lot to prove because of the injury, but that's why it's important to get it done right now before he asks for $250 million. He's the most talented pitcher we've had since Jose Fernandez. Not taking a once-in-a-lifetime chance like this would be incredibly criminal. This is the best possible time to lock a cornerstone player up.

[Ely Sussman]

15 hours ago, One Regend said:

Extend Eury Perez now.

He's not going to pitch until July at the earliest. He's only 21 years old.

Unfortunately, I feel like he is the least likely player who'd be willing to consider an extension. The injury did not impact his timeline to reach free agency because he continues to accrue service time. He's on track to get there as a 26-year-old! That is extremely rare. Teams prioritize youth and pure stuff more than track record.

Got a hard time envisioning him pushing back his free agent eligibility by more than a year, but those conversations should be happening just in case, I agree with that.