Don’t Sleep on the Marlins

By Mike Lucas

3-10-15

The Miami Marlins aren’t baseball royalty by any means.

The team has had its fair share of struggles over the past few seasons, but the emergence of two young superstars has Miami excited about the upcoming season.

Right fielder Giancarlo Stanton led the National League in home runs and runs batted in in 2014, and pitcher Jose Fernandez has had some of the most dynamic pitches in baseball.

“[Stanton] is a five tool guy,” Marlins assistant coach Jeff Conine tells WEBN “He can do everything and he can do it well. He hits a baseball unlike anyone I’ve ever seen. When you add that power component to his total game, and what he brings to the clubhouse, it’s the total package.”

Conine wasn’t the only Marlins assistant coach singing Stanton’s praises at camp.

“[Stanton] is a young kid that’s getting better and better each year,” Marlins assistant coach Jack McKeon tells WEBN. “He’s a young kid that wants to be good and because of his work ethic, chances are he’s going to be good.”

Stanton gets the most attention of any Miami field player, just like Fernandez does, when it comes to the pitching staff. Conine is a former Major League Baseball player himself and he says Fernandez has an unmatched tenacity.

“You’re looking at the same as Giancarlo on the pitching side, [Fernandez] is a special talent,” says Conine. “His mound presence and attitude to go with it are as tenacious as I’ve ever seen.”

The duo of Stanton and Fernandez will be crucial in the Marlins’ hopes of dethroning the Nationals atop the National League East Division in 2015.