Marlins hitting coach evaluates the progress of his prospects
JUPITER
As the Miami Marlins reach the halfway mark of Grapefruit League games, Marlins hitting coach Eric Duncan breaks down what he has seen from some of the Marlins’ top position player prospects.
MONTE HARRISON ‘SLOWING THE GAME DOWN’
After a humbling first MLB season, hitting just .170 with a 51 percent strikeout rate, outfielder Monte Harrison has put together quality at-bats this spring and the results are starting to come.
He has hits in each of his past two games — a solo home run on Thursday against the Washington Nationals’ Luis Avilan and an RBI double on Friday against the New York Mets’ Tommy Hunter — and is making hard contact regularly.
According to Statcast, five of Harrison’s last eight balls put into play had exit velocities above 100 mph — including two outs that registered at 109.6 mph off the bat.
“He’s slowing the game down,” Duncan said of Harrison, the Marlins’ 11th-ranked prospect by Baseball America. “I think we’ve seen it in a lot of his ABs. He’s had a lot of really good ABs. He’s obviously has some walks. He’s had some hard outs. To me, there hasn’t been a whole lot of chases. He’s been seeing the ball really well. ... The game continues to slow down for him. Obviously he’s like all our guys that continue to make adjustments to find ways to stay dangerous in a lineup. But to me, the things that I go to with Monty is that he’s really slowing down. He’s taking a lot close pitches from some of the quality arms from our opponents. That’s been the biggest step for him.”
After seeing a couple balls fall the last couple days, Harrison is seeing the work from his steady approach beginning to pay off.
“As long as I keep hitting the ball consistently,” Harrison said, “everything’s going to work out in my favor over the course of a full season.”
JAZZ CHISHOLM’S ‘TREMENDOUS GROWTH’
As for middle infielder Jazz Chisholm, a consensus top-100 prospect in MLB, Duncan said he has shown “tremendous growth” since the first time Duncan saw him in the Arizona Fall League back in 2018.
Chisholm is a career .255 hitter in the minor leagues who batted just .161 in 56 at-bats with the Marlins last season.
Chisholm’s next step in
Duncan’s eyes?
“These guys who are as talented and as physically gifted as guys like Jazz Chisholm are, they continue to get better every day. That’s where he’s at,” Duncan said. “He’s young. He’s obviously working hard to improve all parts of his game on the offensive side, his swing in terms of where he’s at to have stability, game planning, all this stuff that’s gonna allow him to be consistent performer. I think with all of our hitters, all our guys are always working to get better in all areas, but he keeps getting closer and closer to the guy that’s gonna be dangerous.”
Chisholm is competing with Isan Diaz to be the Marlins’ everyday second baseman for the 2021 season.
OTHER PROSPECTS
A On middle infielder Jose Devers: “A guy who really stood out. He doesn’t seem fazed. ... It doesn’t really matter the situation. He has a really slow heartbeat and is able to put quality at-bats together. He’s been one that’s been tremendous to watch.”
A Collectively on the team’s second wave of outfielder prospects ( JJ Bleday, Kameron Misner, Peyton Burdick, Connor Scott and Jerar Encarnacion), Duncan simply described the group as “polished.”
“You’re seeing it,” Duncan said. “You’re really seeing it. They’re young guys, but it’s been refreshing to see. I think it’s a reflection of the quality work on the player development side.”
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126