Four positives from a rough first series for the Marlins

Coming off a postseason berth and facing a Pittsburgh Pirates team that finished with 86 losses last year, the Miami Marlins looked to start off 2024 right where they left off and carry the momentum into the new season. What ensued over Opening Weekend, however, was quite the contrary. Miami was swept in a four-game set, blowing sizable leads in the first and last games, while getting essentially shut down in games two and three. The Marlins are now 0-4 for the first time since 2001, leading to some disgruntled fans not even a week in to the season.

However, aside from the fact that there are 158 games to be played, multiple Marlins had a stellar start to their 2024 campaign in addition to encouraging trends opposite of last season.

Jake Burger and Josh Bell keep on hitting

When Miami acquired Burger and Bell last August at the trade deadline, they had arguably the best stretches of their career the second they arrived in South Florida. Through the first four games of 2024, they are picking off right where they left off, both currently leading the team in OPS amongst qualified players. Jake Burger, especially, is scorching hot, slashing .438/.444/.500 with only two strikeouts, which is arguably the most important part of Burger's hot start, to kick off the season. In addition, he drove in a run in all four games, the new longest streak of his career.

Josh Bell is also looking like his late 2023 self, slashing .286/.474/.831 with a double. What sticks out to me most about Bell is the number of walks he has taken. His 8.9% walk rate following the trade last year was lower than any full season of his career. Fast-forward to now, just four games and 19 plate appearances into the season, Bell already has four walks (21.1 BB%). The entire series, the 31-year-old was dragging out at-bats and showing his improved plate discipline, leading to good results.

Declan Cronin makes stellar first impression

On the two-hour FOF Live special before Opening Day, our panel discussed which relievers could be used in high-leverage situations, other than the proven Andrew Nardi and Tanner Scott. Our panel answered with Anthony Bender and George Soriano, and expressed little confidence in a lot of the new faces or fringe pieces in the 'pen. A few hours later, however, in the tenth inning on Opening Day, Skip Schumaker turned to newly acquired Declan Cronin in a massive spot. In what was supposed to be ideally one inning of work, Cronin put on a show through three intense innings, allowing only one hit and an unearned run while striking out three. Cronin leaned on his slider the most, throwing it 20 times out of 32 pitches and getting six of his eight swinging strikes with it. While he undeservedly got the loss, Cronin showed his levelheadedness along with his filthy slider and sinker topping out at 96.1 mph.

Cronin also threw an inning in Saturday's game, allowing zero runs yet again. Unfortunately, Cronin was sent down to Triple-A Jacksonville to make room for Vladimir Gutierrez in an exhausted Marlins bullpen just hours after that appearance, yet he will almost certainly be back soon after showing what he is capable of.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. continues to be a game-changer

Finally, Opening Weekend showed everyone just how much a healthy Jazz Chisholm Jr. can impact this Marlins team when he is healthy.

On the offensive side, in just his first plate appearance of the season, Jazz drew a nine-pitch walk and flew around the bases to get the Marlins first run on the board. Just a few innings later, he smoked a double into right center at 100.8 mph off Pirates ace Mitch Keller and came around to score yet again, this time from second, showing off his 92nd percentile sprint speed. In the Sunday matinee, he blasted a 424-foot, first-inning grand slam into the right-center field seats for Miami's first long ball of the year, off a lefty, no less.

What has impressed me most from Jazz, however, has been his play in center field. Another offseason of working with Jon Jay and getting accustomed to the position more and more is paying off every game, as evidenced by his stellar 89th percentile fielding run value. Chisholm used his speed to make incredible diving plays in games one and two of his sophomore season in center.

The obvious concern and issue for Jazz has been his health, as every full season since his debut has been cut relatively short due to injury. Just four games into the 2024 season, though, he is showing all of the baseball world how dangerous and dynamic he is if he can stay on the field.