Miami Marlins top prospect Lewis Brinson will make the Marlins Opening Day roster after the 23-year-old impressed with a strong showing during Spring Training.
After the Miami Marlins cleared house this offseason, the team is getting set to start their season with a bunch of fresh faces. As they look for a new identity after the departures of Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, and Christian Yelich the Marlins will now turn to Lewis Brinson.
Miami’s top prospect found out today that he’ll be making the Marlins Opening Day roster out of camp this year. The Marlins acquired Brinson in one of their fire-sale trades made this past winter.
When Derek Jeter sent Christian Yelich packing for Milwaukee, he received Lewis Brinson, Isan Diaz, Monte Harrison and Jordan Yamamoto in return from the Brew Crew. Brinson had just 21 games under his belt with Milwaukee last year.
In those 21 games, he left a lot to be desired. He had a pitiful slash line of .106/.236/.277 while hitting two home runs and driving in just three runs. Brinson also struck out 17 times over that span which puts him on a pace of 131 strikeouts.
It looks like Brinson will have an opportunity to have a bigger role than he did last year at the Major League level. He’s projected to be the starting center fielder for the Marlins who enter year one of their rebuild.
Despite not performing well on the big stage last year, Lewis shined at the AAA level with Colorado Springs. In 76 games he had a slash line of .331/.400/.562 while hitting 13 home runs and driving in 48 runs.
In addition to hitting the ball well, he’s also an elite level defender which is likely the easiest transition to the major league level. His defense alone should keep him at the major league level even if he struggles early with the stick.
This spring is when he really made his presence felt. Slashing .339/.377/.607 with seven doubles, two homers and nine rbi’s the 23-year-old locked up a roster spot.
Although Marlins fans are upset about losing arguably the best outfield in baseball, they should be excited about Brinson’s potential. He’s a quality prospect who can be their next star and face of the franchise going forward.