5 Marlins who hit like MVPs in spring training games

Dane Myers did everything he possibly could to earn a spot on the 2024 Miami Marlins Opening Day roster. He had a .412/.474/.735 slash line, three home runs and four stolen bases in 17 Grapefruit League games. Manager Skip Schumaker called him "really impressive" and a clubhouse favorite. He is already on Miami's 40-man roster. It still wasn't enough: Myers was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville on Friday.

While spring training production can carry some weight, it rarely pushes MLB teams to take drastic measures. As Schumaker emphasized on Friday, depth will inevitably be needed over the course of the season, so the Marlins are not in a hurry to designate out-of-options veterans for assignment just to reward Myers—there will be room for him eventually. It was a very healthy spring for their position player group, meaning there aren't any pending injured list stints for Myers to capitalize on yet.

I still want to put Myers' dominance in historical perspective. According to FanGraphs, he posted a 218 wRC+ at the plate during his Grapefruit League campaign (100 represents league average). They have detailed preseason stats dating back to 2006. In that span, Myers is one of only five Marlins to enjoy a spring with at least a 200 wRC+ while averaging one plate appearance per team game. (The 2020 and 2022 springs have been excluded due to their shortened exhibition schedules stemming from COVID and a lockout, respectively.)

Let's briefly reflect on these other Myers-like standout performances and what happened to those players once the real games began.
 

Josh Willingham (220 wRC+ in 2006)

Willingham is the closest comp for Myers, a 27-year-old who previously had a couple cups of coffee in the majors and thoroughly conquered minor league pitching. Besides a brief midseason injury, he would stick as the Marlins' everyday left fielder in 2006 (120 wRC+). Willingham spent much of the next decade as a nice middle-of-the-order bat who you could perennially count on for two-ish wins above replacement (career 122 wRC+).

The circumstances that surrounded Willingham made all the difference. The '06 Marlins operated with MLB's lowest payroll and gutted their roster of veteran players to get there. Nobody was blocking him and there wasn't any pressure on that team to be competitive.

Chris Coghlan (203 wRC+ in 2011)

The 2009 National League Rookie of the Year, Coghlan was seemingly a strong bounce-back candidate coming off a quiet and abbreviated sophomore season. The Marlins deployed him as their leadoff hitter and starting center fielder. He finished April 2011 with a .287/.352/.521 slash line (133 wRC+).

However, by mid-June, Coghlan was a liability and got demoted to Triple-A. From that point through the end of his Marlins tenure in 2013, he played more games in New Orleans than he did in Miami, providing zero offensive impact. He enjoyed a career resurgence with the Chicago Cubs, but never got back to being a true everyday player.

Christian Yelich (214 wRC+ in 2013)

A first-time non-roster invitee to spring training at 21 years old, Yelich certainly looked the part of an elite MLB prospect and long-term franchise building block. He slugged .818 with nine of his 16 spring hits going for extra bases.

Yelich was too phenomenal for his own good! Having embarked on yet another rebuild, the Marlins let him incubate in the minors until the second half of the 2013 season to delay his arbitration eligibility. That would later help them negotiate an extremely club-friendly contract extension.  

Yelich was arguably the NL's best all-around player from 2018-19. Unfortunately, the Marlins had already traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers by then.

Garrett Cooper (202 wRC+ in 2021)

Cooper's roster spot was secure and his ability to rake against MLB arms was not in doubt. He still was plenty motivated, angling for steady playing time in a world without the universal DH.

His spring training success earned him semi-regular starts in right field. Through the first quarter of the 2021 season, Cooper struggled mightily in all aspects of the game. Then from mid-May through mid-July, he was scorching hot, not far off from his Grapefruit League pace.

Overall, Cooper had a .284/.380/.465 slash line (129 wRC+) on July 18 when he suffered a season-ending elbow injury. Fast-forward to 2024, he had a solid enough Cactus League audition to make the Chicago Cubs roster as an NRI.