The Florida Marlins are stubbornly perched just five games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, and a measly three games behind the wild-card leading San Francisco Giants.
The Marlins recent acquisition of a Nick Johnson gives them tremendous flexibility for a playoff run. It appears as though Johnson will take up first, with Cantu moving to third. Emilio Bonifacio should split time with Chris Coghlan in left field, but both are capable of playing multiple positions, if need be.
I whole-heartedly agree with the Nick Johnson rental, but the Marlins have someone already in their system that could have provided a similar boost for the playoff run. You guessed it, Cameron Maybin.
Unlike the majority of hard-core prospect watchers, I wasn’t enamored with Maybin to start this year, or last year, or as a Tiger. Maybin’s always exhibited a sense of recklessness and a lack of discipline. Defensively and at the plate, Maybin seemingly lacks the desire to capitalize on all of his natural talents, the desire to achieve greatness.
Maybin’s making a convert out of me with his stay in AAA-New Orleans, though. Prior to this year, Maybin had never spent time in AAA ball, he’d made the jump straight from AA ball in two consecutive seasons. In 240 AAA plate appearances, Cameron Maybin’s hitting .329 with 3 home runs and six stolen bases. This shouldn’t come as a surprise though, Maybin’s definitely been-there done-that with the power-speed combo. What should come as a surprise is Maybin’s dedication to making each plate appearance count. Even during Maybin’s most promising Minor League seasons, he couldn’t refrain from striking out between 25-30% of the time. That impatient approach festered into a 37% MLB strike-out rate before Maybin was optioned early in the 2009 season.
In AAA-New Orleans, Maybin’s striking out under 20% of the time. Maybin’s also posted a 0.72 BB/K Ratio by maintaining his consistent above average walk-rate, while lowering his strike-outs. Quite literally, Cameron Maybin has been earning his free passes rather than pitchers avoiding his strike-zone with intentional, unintentional walks.
Maybin’s continued to hit the ball hard through this transitional period; legging out 6 triples and 14 doubles to go along with his three home-runs. Maybin does have a BABIP above .400 in New Orleans, so the .329 average isn’t completely legit, but Maybin is capable of posting a well above league-average BABIP.
As is often the case with hot young prospects, Cameron Maybin was overwhelmed by superior big-league talent. He was quickly flustered and started pushing too hard to make a difference. Maybin’s settled down both in the batters box and mentally. The numbers reflect a quick adjustment, and suggest that Maybin’s finally ready for the show.
Unfortunately, Florida’s probably going to have to fall out of the pennant race for Maybin to contribute regularly. With the harem of league-average fielders that Florida’s amassed, there’s really no room for Maybin’s learning curve especially when you’re already five games back. The curve won’t be that long, but even if it takes Maybin five games to hit his stride, that’s probably too long for a contender.
