Ozuna and Stanton forming an impressive power duo
MIAMI Giancarlo Stanton had just hit two home runs in a game for the ninth time this season, but he became most animated when asked about the one teammate Marcell Ozuna hit Friday.
Ozuna’s three-run homer in the seventh inning was not only the decisive hit of the Marlins’ win that night, it enabled him to reach 30 homers and 100 RBI for the first time in his career.
But Stanton, who was the runner at first base when Ozuna drove a 2-0 slider from Kirby Yates more than 400 feet to left field, was impressed by the circumstances beyond the result.
“Give Ozuna everything he needs, man. I was proud of him for that at-bat. That’s a baseball player’s at-bat, a very smart at-bat,” Stanton said.
“If you’re a baseball player, you watch how he pitched me. And he’s in a tighter situation with me on base now, so you’ve got to download all that info and be able to capitalize, which he did.”
Stanton, who hit is 48th and 49th homers in that game, and has combined with Ozuna to give the Marlins multiple players with 30 or more homers for the first time since 2008 when Hanley Ramirez, Mike Jacobs and Dan Uggla reached that plateau.
While Stanton’s home run rampage since the AllStar break has become the talk of baseball, Ozuna has responded to a challenge from Marlins manager Don Mattingly to maintain his focus to avoid the fade in the second half that marred his 2016 season following an All-Star-caliber first half.
This season, Ozuna has posted comparable numbers since the break. Going into Saturday’s game he led the team with a .311 average while continuing to supply reliable power in the cleanup spot.
“After the break I told him I was going to stay on him,” said Mattingly, who thought Ozuna’s production tailed off in 2016 because he was concentrating on trying to hit homers.
“Instead, take your hits, have good at-bats [and] at the end of the year there will be a pile of numbers there that you’ll probably like a lot better if you just stay focused,” Mattingly said of his message to Ozuna. “Marcell is just growing up. He’s been around a long enough, he’s going to learn his lessons from one season to the next.”
Ozuna said he was determined to take a different approach after his second-half slump in 2016 when he posted an anemic slash line of .209/.267/.342 following the break.
“Last year I was down in the second half, not ready. This year in the offseason I was working harder to be ready for October,” Ozuna said.
While noting that Stanton’s dynamic run since the break has taken pressure off his teammates, Mattingly said, “Marcell has probably been the most consistent of our guys on a regular basis, a guy that has given us balanced production throughout the course of the whole season.”
Despite piling up 23 home runs since the break, Stanton also said he is not focused on the long ball.
Pudge impressed
Former catcher Pudge Rodriguez, inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame last month, was honored Saturday at Marlins Park.
A leader in the Marlins’ run to the World Series championship in 2003, has taken delight in watching Stanton’s surge.
“Every home run that he hits is not just over the wall, you can count two home runs in one every time he hits the ball,” Rodriguez said. “I think it’s good for baseball to see a guy like that approaching 50 home runs and know there’s still another month and a half in the season left.
“I think he’s going to probably reach the 60-home run mark.”
Rodriguez took note of Stanton adopting a more closed stance at the plate as an astute adjustment.
“I want to congratulate whoever told him that … knows what he’s doing. Maybe he did it himself,” Rodriguez said, adding that Stanton’s success “doesn’t surprise me. The talent is there. To me, he’s a five-tool guy.”
Ballpark buzz
Mattingly and some players remarked about an increased energy in the ballpark, that on Friday was boosted by the crowd assembled for Dominican Heritage Night.
“The Dominicans, they were loud,” Mattingly said. “I like it. It seems like that should be our atmosphere here in Miami. You’d love to have more of a Latin flavor with the noise and the music. I just think that’s our area, that’s our market. It would be great to have that feeling in the ballpark a lot.”