New ‘weapon’ pays dividends right off the bat
The Marlins acquired versatile infielder Joe Panik from Toronto, and he made an immediate impact — homering in his first at-bat with his new club.
Joe Panik was running on fumes by the time his Miami Marlins debut ended on Wednesday night.
After all, it had been a pretty eventual two days for him leading up to that point.
Traded to a new team on Tuesday morning, a move he didn’t see coming. A detour home to help his wife Tuesday night before driving to join his new team. Getting to the ballpark about six hours before his first game with his new team — a game that was nearly five hours and was halted for 38 minutes due to rain.
Through it all, Panik was quick to make his mark on his new club.
That night, the 30-yearold left-handed-hitting infielder went 2 for 4 with a walk in Miami’s 11-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. He hit a solo home run off Aaron Nola in the second inning to open scoring and his two-out RBI single in the fifth as part of a six-run Marlins rally served as the goahead run.
“Running on adrenaline, but it was a good night,” Panik said after the game as Wednesday night rolled into Thursday morning. “It was really fun playing with these guys. Always good to end up with a win, even though it’s midnight right now. Definitely a good first day, and a lot more good to come, hopefully.”
The Marlins certainly hope there’s more to come. When they acquired Panik from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for injured outfielder Corey Dickerson and relief pitcher Adam Cimber, the move was described as one that will
benefit the Marlins both in the present and the future.
Panik represents the help in the present. He provides a veteran presence to platoon with Jon Berti at third base while Brian Anderson continues to rehab, make spot starts at second base or shortstop when needed and provide a trusted bat off the bench when he’s not in the lineup.
“Joe is a guy that has got some experience,” Marlins general manager Kim Ng said. “He’s got versatility. We think he’s going to be a weapon for [manager Don Mattingly].”
BUSY TREK TO JOIN THE TEAM
But before he could join the Marlins, before he stepped onto the field at third base, before he hit that 380-foot home run, Panik had an eventful 36 hours.
The breakdown:
About 10 a.m. Tuesday: Panik receives a text from his agent with a simple message: Did you get traded? Maybe five minutes later, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins gave Panik the news.
“For me, it was kind of surprising,” Panik said. “Just you never expect to be traded, and especially at end of June, it’s not like it’s close to the deadline.”
1:45 p.m. Tuesday: The trade becomes official. At that point, Panik tried to find a direct flight that would get him from Buffalo (where the Blue Jays are playing their home games this season) to Philadelphia in time to join the Marlins for their series opener against the Phillies that night. There wasn’t one. Instead, Panik and his wife Brittany packed up their Buffalo apartment and made the nearly six-hour drive to Hopewell Junction, New York, which is where they live in the offseason.
Wednesday morning: Panik left Hopewell Junction and made the three-hour drive south to Philadelphia. He said he got to the ballpark around 1 p.m. First pitch for the Marlins-Phillies game was 7:09 p.m.
7:33 p.m. Wednesday: Panik ends a ninepitch at-bat against Nola by sending an elevated curveball into the seats in right-center field. He gets a fist bump from catcher Sandy Leon as he taps his foot on home plate before receiving a sea of high fives in the dugout.
Panik is just the seventh player in Marlins history to homer in his first at-bat with the club, joining Neil Walker (March 29, 2019), Jeremy Hermida (Aug. 31, 2005), Paul Lo Duca (July 31, 2004), Hee-Seop Choi (April 6, 2004), Moises Alou (April 1, 1997), Terry Pendleton (April 25, 1995) and Mitch Lyden (June 16, 1993).
9:25 p.m. Wednesday: Panik ends an eightpitch at-bat against Neftali Feliz with a line drive to center field for an RBI single, the fifth of six consecutive two-out hits in the fifth inning that turned a 5-2 deficit into an 8-2 lead.
“He puts at-bats together, and I think that’s what you look at when you really look at clubs that are tough to get through,” Mattingly said. “It is like when you get six, seven, eight guys doing that, having those types of at-bats — not that you’re always going to get hits and it’s not always going to be that many pitches — but those kind of at-bats wear guys down. That’s how you win a lot of games when you’ve got guys like that.”
11:52 p.m. Wednesday: Panik’s first game as a member of the Marlins comes to an end.
“I’m running on fumes,” Panik said. “Yeah, I’m ready to get back to the hotel and go to sleep. It’s been a crazy 48 hours so just ready to kind of get settled in and just kind of get back to normal.”
‘PLAY MY GAME’
Panik, born in Yonkers, New York, grew up a New York Yankees fan. He grew up during Derek Jeter’s prime years. Jeter is now the Marlins’ CEO.
“That was one of the first things my wife said when we got traded,” Panik said, “because when trades happen you’re always kind of in shock and so many things run through your head. So she’s smiling. She’s like ‘You know, Jeter is there.’ So of course that’s something. Excited about just playing for this organization because he did have a big influence on me as a kid.”
The opportunity comes in the middle of Panik’s eighth season as a bigleaguer, a career that started in 2014 — Jeter’s final season as a player.
Panik, the 29th overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, won a World Series in 2014 with the San Francisco Giants and spent the next five seasons with the club, during which time he also played with fellow current Marlins Adam Duvall and Steven Okert. Panik was an All-Star in 2015, a season in which he had a .312 batting average and scored 59 runs in 100 games, and won a Gold Glove in 2016. The Giants designated him for assignment and granted him his release in August 2019. He signed with the Mets two days later and finished the season with them before spending all of 2020 and the first three months of the 2021 season with the Blue Jays.
For his career, Panik is a .268 hitter with 42 home runs, 253 RBI and 334 runs scored.
“I’m just gonna go out there and play my game,” Panik said. “I’m not gonna try to be anybody else.
Just go out there and just be who I am, so that’s pretty much it.”