NFL Tickets
The 2015 season was undoubtedly a disappointing one for the Miami Marlins. One of the biggest issues with the team’s season was the drama surrounding center fielder Marcell Ozuna, who saw a drastic dip in his numbers from the previous season, spent time in Triple-A and had a feud with owner Jeffrey Loria. All that led to talk that the team may trade Ozuna this winter, but the Marlins ultimately decided against doing so. After all that, it’s ironic that Ozuna may be the key to Miami’s season in 2016.
With the addition of Wei-Yin Chen, the Marlins have a great 1-2 punch atop their rotation with Chen joining Jose Fernandez. Miami also has a slew of young pitchers who can fill out their rotation, as well as a quality closer in A.J. Ramos. This is enough to give the Marlins a solid pitching staff, but not one that can stack up with the other staffs in the NL East. This means the Marlins have to produce plenty of offense in 2016 if they expect to compete with the New York Mets and Washington Nationals.
This is where Ozuna becomes important. The Marlins have one of the best leadoff hitters in the game in Dee Gordon, as well as the preeminent power hitter of this generation in Giancarlo Stanton, but Miami needs more; that’s where Ozuna comes in. With Stanton, Ozuna and Christian Yelich, Miami has an outfield trio that has the potential to be among the best in baseball. This group has the talent to carry the Marlins for long periods of time, especially with a guy like Gordon setting the table. But the Marlins need all three of those outfielders performing at a high level, which entails Ozuna bouncing back from a poor season in 2015.
Despite the many setbacks he suffered in 2015, Ozuna hit .269/.317/.455 with 23 home runs, 26 doubles and 85 RBIs in 2014, so he’s clearly capable of making a significant impact offensively. If he can put up comparable numbers in 2016, he will be the third and final piece the Marlins need to have one of the best outfields in baseball. Having players in the middle of the order who can complement and provide support for Stanton is essential to Miami’s success, and Ozuna’s talent and upside make him the best candidate to be that player.
If Ozuna has a repeat performance of his 2015 season, the Marlins will have all kinds of trouble creating enough offense to make them a competitive team no matter how much they can squeeze out of Stanton. However, if Ozuna can bounce back and put up numbers akin to his 2014 season, it will change the trajectory of Miami’s season and give the Marlins a fighting chance of going toe-to-toe with the Mets and Nationals in 2016.
Share 
