Ely Sussman reacts to what we’ve seen early on this season from Jesús Aguilar, Jesús Luzardo and Jesús Sánchez.
Ely finds Jesús Sánchez Jesús Luzardo and Jesús Aguilar to be intriguing players for entirely different reasons. How do they fit into the Marlins’ plans for the rest of the 2022 season and beyond?
Enjoy Episode 154!
The top performer of the trio, Sánchez, is under club control for the longest period (through the 2027 season). His 177 weighted runs created plus leads all qualified batters on the Marlins, but he’s been overly aggressive at the plate (only one walk). Although lacking the agility of a traditional center fielder, he hasn’t been much of a liability at the position so far—let’s see how that unfolds over a larger sample.
Luzardo is also in the pre-arbitration phase of his career. He ranks among MLB’s hardest-throwing starting pitchers. The key to consistent effectiveness will be whether he can locate those fastballs precisely enough to avoid giving up barrels and to get himself into favorable counts that set up his putaway breaking ball.
So much of Aguilar’s value is derived from his bat, yet he’s one of eight MLB qualifiers who don’t have any extra-base hits in 2022. The Venezuelan first baseman/designated hitter is the third-highest-paid player on the Marlins roster behind Avisaíl García and Jorge Soler. With Lewin Díaz waiting in the wings, it’s doubtful that Aguilar sticks with the Marlins for 2023—the better question is whether he even makes it through this season.
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