For a team that's probably going to finish last in the National League East for the third consecutive year, the Miami Marlins don't have many issues thus far.
Ricky Nolasco has already been named the Opening Day starter—shocking. Jacob Turner, Nathan Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez are still slated to follow Nolasco while Wade LeBlanc continues to make his case to be the team's No. 5 starter after throwing four shutout innings Sunday against the Atlanta Braves.
Among position players, second baseman Donovan Solano has hit .480 in 25 at-bats and Casey Kotchman is batting .435 in 23 at-bats. Kotchman is trying to win a spot on the team which, in his case, comes with the designation of starting first baseman if Logan Morrison isn't ready when the season begins.
According to Morrison's agent, Fred Wray, Morrison could be playing by April 15 after having surgery to repair a torn patella tendon in his right knee.
Meanwhile, with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic, slugging outfielder Giancarlo Stanton is hitless in seven at-bats, but he's broken a windshield with a home run during batting practice.
Stanton's teammate, closer Steve Cishek has two scoreless appearances, which includes the biggest out of Sunday's 9-4 win against Canada when Cishek induced Tim Smith to ground out to second baseman Brandon Phillips to end the eighth inning with the bases loaded while preserving a one-run lead.
And as far as the kiddies go, they have impressed as well. Future ace Jose Fernandez struck out two in two scoreless innings in his only spring training appearance while the Marlins' other star prospect, Christian Yelich, has been scorching hot as he's batted .375 with three home runs and 11 RBI in 32 at-bats. Yelich has been so good, it's prompted first-year manager Mike Redmond to sing his praises to MLB.com:
I'll tell you, man, I love putting him in that lineup. Every opportunity I have to put him in there, I get him in there. He gives you a great at-bat. It doesn't matter who he faces. Believe me, we go around and around [on where he'll start the season]. That's something that we'll have to talk about.
But not everything has been rosy with the Marlins...
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