The Miami Marlins currently possess one of the better hitters in the National League. No, his name is not Giancarlo Stanton. His name is Marcell Ozuna. He is a 25 year-old outfielder who is athletic and powerful. He managed to pop 23 homers in his first full season in the big leagues in 2014 at the ripe young age of 23.
After falling out of favor with the front office or the on-field staff, something just didn’t click last season. It was reported widely that he was in former manager Mike Redmond’s doghouse often. He still received 459 major league at bats, but was shuttled between Miami and the minors several times, almost shunned. Posting a .259 average and a .308 on-base with just 10 homers was not the season anyone was looking for in 2015. Ozuna was mentioned in trade rumors over the winter, with multiple teams interested, most commonly rumored were the Seattle Mariners. When spring training rolled around this year, I was surprised that Ozuna was still going to be calling Miami home.
April was also not kind to the 6-1, 225-pounder from the Dominican Republic. Despite appearing in 22 and starting in 20 of the team’s 23 April tilts, he hit just .229. 3 homers, 10 RBI, 8 walks and 23 strikeouts. New manager Don Mattingly stuck with him through the tough start and both team and player have been rewarded with his play during May.
Maybe it’s Barry Bonds effect, maybe it’s not, but Marcell Ozuna is using a bat from the new hitting coach Bonds and is now fifth on the National League batting list at 331. That is buoyed by his incredible .427 average and .457 on-base ratios. He’s got 7 doubles, 2 triples, 6 homers, and 15 batted in during the month. He’s also riding a 32-game on-base streak as of writing this. That’s quite the run, and now he’s back to flashing the talent and skills that made him such a commodity in first place.
We just passed the quarter pole for the 2016 campaign, so there’s plenty of time left in the season to evaluate if this is long-term growth or just a hot month. He will be vital to Miami’s success in the coming months, possibly helping them compete for a wild card as the calendar turns to September.
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