Finding a Place for Derek Dietrich
Ever since Derek Dietrich was acquired by the Marlins in the Winter of 2012, he’s become an intriguing player and a fan favorite in the world of the famous Twitter community known as #MarlinsParty.
Not a lot of people know who Derek Dietrich is, which has to do with the lack of time he sees on the field which is one of the major issues for the Marlins. Derek Dietrich only has 1,117 career Major League at bats. Some of that has to do with being blocked by other players that play his position(s). Some of it also has to do with the lack of respect the Marlins have for Derek.
Dietrich made his MLB debut in 2013 and belted a respectable 9 home runs in 233 plate appearances. Then came the 2014 season, where he made the team out of spring training due to the injury of Ed Lucas but was limited to 49 games before later being sent back down to the minors. He was the main name in the Tino Martinez scandal where he claimed the hitting coach was abusive towards players.
The problem with the Marlins and Dietrich has always been finding him at bats. He usually comes off the bench as a pinch hitter or replaces an injured player like he did when Stanton got hurt in 2015, or last year when Dee Gordon failed a drug test and got suspended so Dietrich had to fill the void at 2nd.
What the Marlins have done to try to get Dietrich more at bats is trying to make him a versatile defender. During his career Dietrich has seen innings in left field (396 innings), 1st base (92 innings), 2nd base (1,454 innnings), and 3rd base (263 innings). Doing this has given him more chances to start for a player who needs a day off or is hurt. However, the problem with this is, Dietrich isn’t good on defense. He grades poorly at all of these positions besides first base where he has a 48 UZR/150 in a way too small 92 innings sample size.
But with the Marlins lack of hitting talent, Dietirch’s bat is way too valuable to keep out of the lineup. Dietirch can hit the ball hard, 77.6 of Dietrich’s batted balls have been medium or hard hit. Dietrich also hits the ball to all fields at a decent rate. He’s mainly a pull hitter, pulling the ball 42% of time, goes to center 35% and goes to the opposite field 23% of the time.
Dietrich’s strong suit is getting on base, although he walks at a below average rate of 7.1% (league average is 8%), his batting stance that has him up in the box and in, with his arms near over the plate, makes him a magnet for the ball. He has been hit by the pitch 56 times in his short career.
In 2016, Dietirch got his first taste of really playing every day when Dee got suspended. He posted a career high in plate appearances with 412. In those 412 appearances, he posted a .343 BABIP, .348 wOBA and a 117 wRC+. For you traditionalist folks, he had a traditional split of .279/.374/.425. He raised his BB% to 7.8 and he belted 7 home runs.
With all those stats besides the home run total being career highs, Dietirch posted a 2 win season.
The Marlins must find a way to get Dietirch’s bat in the lineup and the best way to do it is by making him an every day starter. How can they do that? They must bench Adeiny Hechavarria, whose amazing defense just does not make up for a historically bad bat. Hech has had two negative wins seasons and has yet to show signs of approving.
Dee Gordon would have to make the switch back to short stop and then you slot Dietirch into second base.
The Marlins could get the most value out of Dietirch by having a lineup of this:
Christian Yelich
Giancarlo Stanton
Marcell Ozuna
Justin Bour
JT Realmuto
Dee Gordon
Pitcher
Derek Dietrich.
Having Dietrich hit last would have a guy with a high on base percentage and hard hit % find his way to scoring position from the bottom of the order, giving Yelich and Stanton a better chance to create runs.
