2015 Spring Training, Miami Marlins

Marlins Rising Recap: Brignac keeps hot spring rolling, Marlins beat Cards 6-3

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What started as a possible rainy Friday afternoon at Roger Dean Stadium, ended up turning into a sunny vicotry for the Marlins. Kicking things off early by scoring Dee Gordon in the first and continuing to roll in the second inning, tacking on three more runs thanks to a clutch hitting bases loaded triple off the left field wall by Reid Brignac. Lifting the Marlins to a 6-3 victory over the Cardinals this afternoon.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cardinals 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 3 11 0
Marlins 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 6 10 1

Marlins Rising

Mat Latos

Came out strong and didn’t disappoint in his first spring start. Working 3 strong innings, scattering 2 hits with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks. The down hill plain was there, his pitches looked sharp and generated weak contact. Making the hometown proud today!

Latos’s PFP Blooper

Steve Cishek 

Comes in firing on all cylinders in the 7th, striking out the first hitter on a nasty outside slider in 3 pitches. The next batter can of corned it to center, followed by a chopper up the middle for a single and then got nasty with his last batter faced painting the black with a 2-seam hitter for the third out. A much needed bounce back performance after be slammed by Dan Uggla for an RBI double earlier in the weak. Stay strong Cishek!

Dee Gordon

Captian catalyst did again what we brought him here to do. Leading off the 1st with a base hit single, and was brought in for the first run of the game by a Morse hit & run single through the six hole. Going 2 for 3 on the day with another single that was lined the opposite way to left. Stay steady Flash!

Reid Brignac 

Went 1 for 2 on the day. Drawing a walk and driving in three runs with an RBI triple down the left field line. After what he as down up to this point in spring training games, its hard to see him landing down with the Zephrys. Stay hot, and your dream might come true Brignac!

Brignac’s 3-run Triple, Get Some!

Don Kelly

1 for 1 at the dish. Got his pitch it at bat and capitalized by dusting off his wheels and beating out a weak chopper up the middle for an infield base hit. Kelly, you did what your suppose to do, enough said!

Kelly Legging it Out

Michael Morse

His our RBI guy and he did just that in the first. Driving in Dee Gordon on a full count single through the six hole. Finishing the day 1 for 3 at the dish. As i stated though he did what he’s here to do, so he makes my list. Flexing ain’t easy Morse!

Morse driving in Dee Gordon

Reed Johnson

Just like Don Kelly, Reed is here to come off the bench and produce. Doing just that on Friday by smoking a wind aided line drive off the Left field wall, driving in Donovan Solano.

Driving in Donny Boy

Marlins Falling

Mike Dunn

Continuing his struggles this spring working 2 innings on Friday while allowing one run on four hits, struggling to find his command on the mound registering only one strikeout. Just so you know Mike, we have other arms, just incase you forgot about our off-season moves.

Aaron Crow

Besides throwing 5 out of 6 first pitch strikes, he allowed a two out walk followed by two consecutive singles, causing him to give up one earned run. You cant have two out walks, you just cant!

Sam Dyson

Lead off walk coming out of the pen coming out of the pen should be all that’s needed to tell his story. After that though, he went on to pitch to five batters giving up a single and a sac fly, resulting in one earned run as he took home the save in the 9th. There are two many arms in the system for you to be playing around with the first batter Dyson!

Martin Prado

0 for 3 at the plate. Killed the first inning rally by grounding into a double play, then went on to fly out to CF and strike out swinging in his last about to end his afternoon. Hang with um Prado, and show your worth!

Jarrod Salty

Besides going 1 for 3 at the plate, with a weak broken bat blooper over second. Salty went on to do what we have been accustom to seeing, and that is striking out twice in his next two at bats. One looking and one swinging. I don’t know if you know this but Realmuto’s last name is much shorter and more cost effective on a jersey, just saying.

Marlins Rising Prospects Watch

Avery Romero

Getting a pinch hit at bat for Reid Brignac in the 8th, Avery stepped up against Rosenthal hitting a weak grounder to second base for the final out of the inning. You cant hit bombs everyday Avery.

J.T Realmuto

1 for 1 in a pinch hit at bat for Salty in the 8th, lining a Rosenthal outside fastball to left for a single. One hit at a time J.T!

Follow Jason Tate on twitter @MarlinsRising and at http://www.marlinsrising.com to receive news and analysis on the Miami Marlins. Also, make sure to check back in daily to get your full Marlins Rising Recap of whose stock is rising and whose is falling.

Giancarlo Stanton, Jarred Cosart, Miami Marlins

Cosart standing out, Stanton primed for huge season

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The Fish Pond's avatarThe Fish Pond

JUPITER, Fla. — Spring Training games have been going on for about a week. With so many players filtering in and out of the lineup each day, it’s difficult to keep track of what really matters.

Here’s basically what you need to know about the Marlins right now:

* Scouts are raving about right-hander Jarred Cosart, who is making a push to be the No. 2 starter. “Top of the rotation stuff,” scouts say.

* Miami hasn’t announced it’s Opening Day starter, but the safe assumption it will be Henderson Alvarez. The rest of the rotation is shaping up as Cosart, Mat Latos, Dan Haren and the fifth starter — Tom Koehler, Brad Hand or David Phelps.

* Still worried about Giancarlo Stanton? Don’t be. Don’t pay attention to his Spring Training numbers, they mean nothing. Right now, Big G isn’t tentative in the box. There is no lingering issues…

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Miami Marlins

Where will the Atlanta Braves finish in the NL East?

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Joshua Ebbs's avatarOutsidePitchMLB LLC

(Source: Stacy Revere/Getty Images North America) (Source: Stacy Revere/Getty Images North America)

At first glance, the 2015 Atlanta Braves roster may have casual fans scratching their heads in confusion this spring. I’d assume the thoughts running through their heads would go something like this: “Where is Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Evan Gattis?” “Who are Jace Peterson and Zoilo Almonte?” “Who the heck is Melvin Upton Jr.?” Needless to say, the Braves underwent one of the biggest overhauls in franchise history. Under new GM John Hart, they went to work this offseason with a plan to restock one of the more barren farm systems in all of baseball, all while trying to remain competitive in 2015 with an eye on 2017 when they plan to move into their new stadium.

In order to first determine where the Braves will finish in the NL East this year, you have to look outside of the organization at what other…

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Miami Marlins

MLB Predictions 4 – To the Far (National League) East

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shittybaseballgraphs's avatarShitty Baseball Graphs

These predictions started mostly as a whim.

Everyone Many baseball fans, myself included, believe that spending more money is the key to success in a sport where there are no (hard) repercussions for a team spending its way to success.

Perhaps it has been my life growing up as a Jays’ fan in the AL East, but you kind of get hammered over the head every season watching the Yankees and Red Sox throw money in the air and end up with truck loads of playoff appearances and World Series’ banners. “If only Rogers would just open their wallet! We have the richest owner in pro sports!!!” are words that my friends have definitely heard me utter way too many times in the past.

As we turn the page into the latter half of our MLB Predictions based purely on payroll, I think it’s fair to say that the correlation…

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Colby Suggs, Miami Marlins

The Enigma Prospect: Miami Marlins Colby Suggs

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Where do you rank a Jekyll and Hyde prospect like Colby Suggs? As Jekyll, Suggs is able to strut the pose and dominance that generated his “Bulldog” nickname. Lighting up scout’s guns with his 91-94 MPH fastballs, he also made some of the minor league’s best look ugly with what should be considered one of the best 12-6 hammers in the Marlins organization. As Hyde, Suggs has a tendency to allow his pitches to run wild on their way to the plate as he attacks the zone with a bull in the china shop mentality. Handing out walks at an alarming rate in 2014, he creates this mind boggling dilemma for the Marlins – as much as they want Jekyll night in and night out in 2015, have they seen the end of Hyde?

With a collegiate background as Jekyll, Suggs dominated in his time at the University of Arkansas, never finishing a season with an ERA higher than 1.74. He earned his “Bulldog” nickname by continually boosting his career stat line as a Razorback, finishing with a 1.36 ERA to go along with 53 walks and 65 strikeouts in a total of 79.2 innings pitched over three seasons. This gave the Marlins strong reasons to select him with their 2nd round, supplemental 73rd overall pick in the 2013 Amateur draft.  After all, what’s not to like when you can have a right-hand reliever whose physical attributes place him around 6’0″ in spikes and 235 lbs. strong on the mound? This physicality, combined with his show time curveball, contributed to MLB.com experts ranking him as the Miami Marlins Organizational #10 prospect in 2014. Unfortunately, Colby Suggs scouted talent is yet to catch up with his hype at this point. With a year and a half of seasoning behind him, Suggs has struggled to contain the presence of Hyde when he toes the rubber down on the farm – a presence that is undeniable when diving into his minor league resume.

As dominant as Suggs was in college, his struggles were real. As the team’s shutdown closer, he lead the Arkansas staff with 7.4 walks per nine innings pitched in 20 2/3 innings his senior season. This is the same unimproved statistical skid mark that is present in his game today. Let’s look at his stats from his first full professional season with the High-A Jupiter Hammerheads where mound presence continued to plague him night in and night out:  25 walks, six wild pitches and seven hit batsmen while pitching 58 1/3 innings in 46 appearances. He showed the same erratic tendencies on the mound that he showed in 2013 after signing with the Marlins and being promoted to High-A where he allowed 14 free passes in 18 1/3 innings, facing a total of 79 batters out of the pen.

As I have alluded to above, with Suggs there has always been two sides to his story. His Jekyll like moments on the mound have highlighted his ability to have master control of his devastating curveball making him a force to be reckoned with, especially when paired with his above-average fastball. These moments contributed to his 47 strikeouts last season and the 45 strikeouts he piled up in 2013 in just 39 innings pitched. Although he mustered a 2014 FIP of 4.09 and subpar strikeout-walk rate of 1.88, his Jekyll like appearances have cast a big enough shadow over other pitching prospects. He remains one of the Marlins top pitching prospects and a player to be watched heading into the 2015 season.

Assuming pitching coaches Joe Coleman at High-A Jupiter and Derek Botelho at Double-A Jacksonville can continue to tweak Colby’s mechanics, we hope to see the end of his Jekyll and Hyde ways. This will jettison the struggles with his command that we have seen up to this point, placing him back on the fast track to becoming a possible September call-up in 2015.

*Note: Please check out the article written by Jason Tate in its original form at http://www.fishstripes.com/2015/3/12/8196519/miami-marlins-prospect-colby-suggs

Marlins Rising Rumors, Miami Marlins

Dwork On Sports: Marlins Interested In Cuban Infielder Olivera

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Miami Marlins

Marlins Rising Recap: Rice and Harvey implode as the Marlins explode winning 7-4

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In a star studded starting pitcher’s duel between the Mets Matt Harvey and the Marlins Henderson Alvarez runs surprisingly came cheap early on. The Marlins offense rod the early hot streak at the plate for the rest of the game, finally breaking the game open in the 7th inning against the Mets reliever Scott Rice plating 5 runs off him and leading the Marlins to a 7-4 swing fest victory over the Mets on a sunny Wednesday afternoon at Roger Dean Stadium.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Mets 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 10 3
Marlins 0 1 1 0 0 0 5 0 X 7 11 1

Red’s Recap

Marlins Rising

Bryan Morris

Working a scoreless 6th inning, while freezing Matt Den Dekker for a called third strike and breaking off the slider to strikeout the Mets 2014 #1 draft pick in Michael Conforto. Allowing one ball in play, that was a weak pop up to Jeff Baker at 1B by Brandon Allen. Just doing what he do!

Pat Urckfitz

Teams pay millions for a lefty-reliever to pitch to one lefty a game, and no Urckfitz doesn’t get paid to close that much. What he did do though, was his job. One batter, one strikeout and one dinner bought by Carter Capps for saving his implosion on the mound. Butt tamp engaged!

Christian Yelich

2 for 2 at the dish, smoking a hard grounder and line drive to LF to collect two singles on the day. Nothing else to say except, we expect him to hit and he did. Keep making us proud CY!

Reid Brignac

Taking it to the Mets again this spring, going 2 for 3 at the plate, with two seeing-eye singles, one of which came in the flood gate opening 7th off Scott Rice driving in Justin Bohn for his solo RBI on the day. Someone has no intentions of playing for the Zephyrs.

Don Kelly

If he wants to make the team, it will be as a clutch pitch hitter from the pine. Doing just that yesterday, centering a ground ball up the middle for a single with bases loaded bringing home all three runners aboard. Way to rebound from the last meeting with the Mets, you won’t stay hot at the dish, you won’t!

Marlins Falling

Carter Capps

Yes Capps, we all know you throw cheese, but would it kill you to locate? Walking four batters, allowing one earned and striking out one over .2 innings pitched just isn’t going to get it done.

Brad Hand

Fighting to be the only starting lefty on the staff, he didn’t help himself yesterday. Pitching two innings, gave up two hits, a run scored while walking two batters. We’re pulling for you Hand, so try pulling for yourself!

Follow Jason Tate on twitter @MarlinsRising and at http://www.marlinsrising.com to receive news and analysis on the Miami Marlins. Also, make sure to check back in tomorrow at www.marlinsrising.com to get your full marlins recap of whose stock is rising and whose is falling.

Miami Marlins

UPDATED: Cuban infielder Hector Olivera now eligible to sign with a team

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Derek Helling's avatarOutsidePitchMLB LLC

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America

Hector Olivera, a nearly 30-year-old infield prospect from Cuba, was granted free agent status by Major League Baseball last Friday and expects to complete a deal with a team soon.

Teams such as the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, New Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants love Olivera because of his ability to play second or third base. The biggest reason for their optimism is his bat, however. Scouts have projected Olivera’s ceiling for this season at 15-20 long balls and around 75 runs batted in. Olivera wants to play for a team on which he could be a middle-of-the-order guy in 2015.

Two things that might prevent him from getting the maximum contract are his age and past health concerns. While in Cuba, he had issues with a blood disorder. Jeff Passan of Yahoo…

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