In their 22 years as a Major League Baseball franchise, the Florida/Miami Marlins organization has been a head scratcher. The Marlins have only had two trips to the playoffs, but they made those trips count as they won the World Series Championship on each occasion. After each trip to the World Series, the Marlins would go on to have a fire sale. In 2012, the Marlins began playing in Marlins Park and they also had lofty expectations upon their arrival. But after finishing that season with a record of 69-93, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria decided to have another fire sale where he traded the majority of the talent on his team. The only player that was able to avoid being shipped out of town on the Mayflower moving truck in 2012 was current Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton.
In 2007, the Marlins used a second round pick in the MLB Draft on Stanton. Stanton quickly ascended through the Marlins minor-league system and by 2010 he was ready to make his Major League debut. In just 100 games that season, Stanton hit 22 home runs with 59 runs batted in. It didn’t take Stanton that long to develop a reputation as one of the premier power-hitters in the National League. In 2012 Stanton hit 37 home runs which was second in the NL and it was also the second most in Marlins franchise history for a single-season.
Stanton has turned Marlins Park in Miami into his own personal playground. The distance from home plate to the center field wall at Marlins Park is 418 feet which makes it one of the deepest parks in baseball, but Stanton has become the king of hitting 450 foot home runs there. Stanton has destroyed everything at Marlins Park from scoreboards to speakers when he has hit some of his mammoth home runs and in the process he has given the people of South Florida their money’s worth when they purchase a ticket to a Marlins game.
This season Stanton currently second the National League in home runs (8), and his 31 runs batted in are leading the NL as he is putting the young Marlins on his back. The Marlins came into this season expecting to be an offensively challenged team, but Stanton’s bat is currently keeping them afloat in the NL East as they are currently 3.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for first place within the division. Stanton is only 24-years of age, but his 125 career home runs are already 6th all-time in Marlins franchise history. Stanton is currently just 29 home runs behind Dan Uggla for the top spot on the Marlins all-time home runs list and at the rate that he is going, there is a good possibility that he could be the franchise’s leader in the category before the end of the season. If Stanton remains on his current pace this season he could also surpass Gary Sheffield who hit 42 home runs with the Marlins in 1996 to become the franchise’s single-season leader in the category.
Stanton is not eligible to hit the free agent market until 2017. Like many other former Marlin players before him, Stanton more than likely will not complete his MLB playing career in South Florida as he will probably be dealt if he is doesn’t skip town as a free agent. At 6’6″, 240 lbs., Stanton is a very imposing figure at the plate as he has the build to be a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins.
The Marlins $47 million payroll this season is 29th in Major League Baseball, but Stanton gives them a bona fide star as he is the modern day Mr. Marlin.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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