Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Brinson focused, despite strikeouts
MIAMI — The strikeouts keep piling up for Lewis Brinson through the first six weeks of the season, but the young Miami Marlins center fielder isn’t concerned about the punchouts.
“I know I’m going to strike out,” Brinson said. “I’m not going to strike out 50 times in a year. I go into the season knowing that. I’m not trying to fool myself. I know what type of guy I am. I have big swings at times. Sometimes I strike out. I’m not really worried about it.”
Through 36 games this season, Brinson has 48 strikeouts in 135 plate appearances. He has more than double the amount of strikeouts than he has hits (22). Across a complete 162-game season, Brinson would be on pace for 216 strikeouts, a mark only three players in MLB history have ever hit.
Brinson strikes out 35.3 percent of the time, the second-highest rate among all major leaguers. He’s struck out at least once in each of the last eight games.
But he also entered Saturday’s game against the Braves riding a four-game hitting streak and Brinson’s .539 on-base plus slugging percentage has only been higher twice since the fifth game of the season. He has two home runs in the last seven games.
Brinson was acquired from Milwaukee in the trade that sent Christian Yelich away. Brinson is arguably the best prospect Miami received during a flurry of offseason trades this winter.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly said Brinson’s recent at-bats have been “more competitive. I’ll say that. He seems to be staying on the ball a little bit more away. I feel like he’s gotten off the plate a little bit, given himself some room.”
Strikeouts have increasingly become a part of the modern game. Pitchers throw harder than ever. Bullpens are stacked with flamethrowers with nasty secondary pitches. Hitters are trying to hit the ball in the air more often. Whiffs happen.
But with Brinson, the process may be more concerning than the results. Pitchers have followed a similar plan against Brinson throughout the season. Feed him breaking balls. Make him chase them.
“Part of it is plate discipline,” Mattingly said. “We’re seeing him pretty much get pitched the same way. You have to understand when they’re trying to throw you strikes there and when they’re just running the ball off and letting you swing because you can’t do anything with it. And then you’re in bad counts all the time.”
Brinson swings at 35.3 percent of pitches outside the strike zone, the 12th-most in the National League (all numbers according to FanGraphs). Some players are good “bad ball” hitters, able to mash even pitches out of the strike zone. Brinson hasn’t shown that this season. He only makes contact with 55.7 percent of pitches out of the zone, the 12th-worst in the NL.
But it’s not just pitches outside of the zone. Brinson’s 67.3 percent contact rate is the worst in the NL. His 16.3 percent swinging strike rate is the secondworst in the NL.
Of course, facing a ton of breaking balls will lend itself to more chasing and more whiffing. Among NL hitters, only six of them have seen fewer than Brinson’s 50.5 percent of fastballs. The rest are an array of sweeping sliders, dipping curveballs and disappearing changeups.
According to Brooks Baseball, Brinson has a .381 OPS against sliders; a .216 OPS against curveballs.
“I’m getting fastballs to hit, I’m just missing them,” Brinson said. “I got to take advantage of fastballs I get in the zone. Maybe not foul it off, be a little bit more ready.
“I am getting a heavy dose of off-speed. I’m used to that. I’ve been getting that in the minor leagues my whole career so I’m used to that. It’s no different up here, obviously the offspeed pitches are a little bit better up here.”
The potential still rests within Brinson. He was a top-20 prospect when the Marlins added him and he just turned 24 on Tuesday. Brinson has played in 57 major-league games.
“Approach is going to have to be a part of his game where he understands who can throw the ball off the plate, who can throw the ball for a strike away, a breaking ball that’s going to be a strike and a breaking ball that’s not going to be on the plate,” Mattingly said. “I think there’s room for growth.”