The Marlins have placed utilityman Jon Berti on their injured list, and selected the contract of infielder Joe Dunand from Triple-A. No specifics were given about Berti’s IL placement, and as with Brian Anderson’s placement to Miami’s IL yesterday, it would seem like Berti’s absence is related to COVID-19.
Berti is off to a fantastic start, hitting .300/.440/.550 over his first 50 plate appearances. While Berti was roughly a league-average hitter in 2019-20, he is better known for his versatility — already this season, Berti has seen time at shortstop, left field, second base, and third base, iin addition to pinch-hitting and pinch-running work. This multi-positional skillset has made Berti a very useful bench piece over his four seasons in Miami, and allowed the Marlins at times to keep a shortened bench and add an extra arm to the bullpen.
Dunand can bring at least some of that versatility, with lots of experience as a third baseman and shortstop (and a handful of games at first base) over his five minor league seasons. For tonight’s game against the Padres, Dunand is in the starting lineup at third base, set for his MLB debut.
A second-round pick for the Marlins in the 2017 draft, Dunand hasn’t hit much in the minors, and isn’t listed as one of Miami’s top 30 prospects by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline. A lack of offense has limited Dunand’s potential, but the 26-year-old Miami native (who is the nephew of Alex Rodriguez) has hit better at Triple-A this year, batting .255/.368/.426 over 57 PA.
A little Berti told me JJ Bleday and Max Meyer are destroying the minors, yet Miami prefers to keep them caged up.
Bleday is hitting .239 and striking out once per game.
.414/.528/.826, 10 runs, 3 homers, 9 RBI in his last 8 games
Our losing streak is now at six consecutive games following Friday’s 3-2 loss. This includes a franchise-record five straight losses decided by one run.
We apologize to our fans for this skid, especially a few select fans over at Trade Rumors who had been prematurely pounding their chests after a few wins. They’ve now retreated back to their silent obscurity and for them, we feel truly sorry.
Lovely win tonight. The bullpen needed a day with no pressure, and they got it. Division winning teams have one or two of those a week. Part of the learning process
…and a lovely walk-off loss today (that I saw in person, by the way)! Oh how sweet it is!
*TALLAHASSEE TURTLES