Anderson’s bat comes alive in time for playoff run
Brian Anderson steps up to the plate to the sounds of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” The lyrics resonate with his mindset late in this Miami Marlins’ season.
“Don’t worry about a thing ‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right”.
Anderson, like the Marlins as a whole, has gone through rough patches this season. He put pressure on himself to produce when more than half his teammates on the Opening Day roster tested positive for COVID-19 after the first series of the season. He at times would try to overcompensate for the losses, taking too big of a swing or trying too hard to make a play on a ground ball at third base. Strikeouts, a batting average that at one point neared the Mendoza Line and errors in the field came as a result.
But on Friday, with three big swings in a pivotal game for the Marlins’ playoff hopes as the regular season nears its conclusion, Anderson lived up to the moment.
Three home runs — first a game-tying solo shot in the second, then a pair of three-run homers in the fifth and sixth — led the Marlins to a 14-3 win over the Washington Nationals to split a doubleheader at Marlins Park.
The win ensured that Miami, with 10 games left in this 60-game season, would hold onto its second-place spot in the National League East for at least another day.
Anderson placed himself in Marlins history with his performance. He joins Cody Ross (Sept.
11, 2006) and Mike Lowell (April 21, 2004) as the only players in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game.
“It was really cool,” Anderson, a core part of the Marlins’ rebuild, said after the game. “Having a multi-homer game is something that is pretty special.”
But this performance serves as a microcosm of Anderson’s past few weeks and the continuation of a hot streak coming at just the right time. He’s more relaxed as he prepares to take his at-bats. The stress of having to produce is fading away as he works to be a guy in the lineup instead of the guy.
Simply put: He’s not worried about a thing, and his performance has been better for it.
“We’re seeing it,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He’s getting better and better as he goes.”
HOT STREAK
Anderson’s production began to pick up in earnest on Aug. 31. The Marlins split a two-series homestand that day to make up a game with the New York Mets at Citi Field. Anderson belted an eighthinning home run off Mets reliever Brad Brach to help seal a 5-3 win and snap a four game hitless streak.
Anderson is hitting .348 (23 for 66) since that game. Four of his team-leading nine home runs, four of his seven doubles, 15 of his team-leading 34 RBI and nine of his 22 runs scored have come in that 20-game stretch that culminated with his three home run outing on Friday.
“I’ve been kind of grinding through this year,” said Anderson, the only Marlins player to appear in all 50 games this season. “Started off a little slow. Each and every day, my teammates kept picking me up. That’s kind of led to me starting to figure it out at the plate.”
It’s production like this that the Marlins hoped to see after his first two full seasons. Anderson, the Marlins’ third-round pick out of the University of Arkansas in
2013, posted a .273 batting average with 34 doubles, four triples, 11 home runs, 65 RBI and 87 runs scored as a rookie in 2018. He followed with a 2019 season that saw more power, evidenced by his 20 home runs and 33 doubles despite playing in 30 fewer games than the year before. A seasonending hand injury cut his sophomore season a month short.
“The sky’s the limit for a guy like Brian Anderson,” hitting coach Eric Duncan said before the season. “He can do just about anything he wants to do on the field.”
ENJOYING THE MOMENT
As Anderson rounded the bases for the second and third times on Friday, Jesus Aguilar made sure Anderson slowed down his pace. The Marlins’ upbeat first baseman smiled as he essentially powerwalked the final 90 feet from third base to home with Anderson right behind him. The two raised their fists to their heads and nodded to each other in a socially-distanced celebration.
“He says I need to enjoy them a little bit more,” Anderson said with a smile.
Anderson and his teammates are also trying to enjoy the moment they’re in.
The Marlins are closing in on clinching a playoff berth for the first time since winning the World Series in 2003. It’s happening in Year 3 of the team’s rebuild under the Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter ownership group and on the heels of going 120-203 over the past two seasons.
“That’s ultimately what we were told with the new ownership,” Anderson said. “That’s what they wanted. They wanted to win, and they wanted to bring guys in who are about winning and that mentality. It’s happening a little bit sooner than I think most people thought.”
They’re in the home stretch. They’re confident.
And Brian Anderson’s not worried about a thing. ‘Cause every little thing’s gonna be all right.