Here on the No. 5 jersey, there wasn’t precisely a giant record of Miami Marlins to select from.
Big coronary heart although? Hard to discover a higher instance of that wherever in Marlins franchise historical past than Jon Berti.
What else would you count on from a participant that earned each second of MLB taking part in time he obtained? Originally drafted within the thirty sixth spherical, he went to varsity for just a few years and doubled his enchantment, going to the Blue Jays within the 18th spherical of the 2011MLB draft. Seven years later, he made his large league debut. That lasted 4 video games, and Toronto launched him shortly after the season ended.
That December, Miami pounced…and all they ended up with was a participant that tied Juan Pierre for the twentieth finest profession WAR by a hitter in Marlins historical past.
Berti’s private finest work got here in 2022, when he led the majors with 41 stolen bases. Yet he solely had two seasons with a WAR below 1.0, and a kind of was the 2020 Covid 12 months. He’s additionally one among solely two gamers on the that Top 20 Marlins hitter WAR record who made the playoffs twice with the Fish, with Jeff Conine being the opposite. When you land in the identical sentence as Conine in the case of Marlins milestones, you already know you are in good firm.
All in all, good for a 7.6 WAR stint in Miami.
To say that stands other than the remainder of the record right here at No. 5 could be an understatement
As talked about earlier, this isn’t an oft-used jersey in Miami Marlins lore. In truth, it wasn’t worn in any respect till 2012. Prior to that time it had truly been retired in honor of Carl Barger, one of many franchise’s founding executives. That makes it one among simply two jersey numbers below sixty to see such little use, the opposite being the nonetheless retired No. 42, a choice made by all thirty MLB groups in honor of Jackie Robinson again in 1997. Only three Marlins have worn that one.
Yet for this sequence of the Top 34 Miami Marlins jersey numbers, No. 5 is the clear chief in not being worn with simply six names. Logan Morrison obtained the ball rolling by specifically requesting it previous to the beginning of 2012 to honor his father, and nobody has worn it since Berti was traded simply earlier than the beginning of the 2024 marketing campaign.
And of these six…Berti is the one participant who had a constructive profession WAR in a Marlins uniform.
He’s additionally by far the longest tenured, with solely Morrison showing for longer than a single season. Reed Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, Rosell Herrera, and the unhealthy season of Casey McGehee? Not a lot.
So like so many instances sliding into second base, it is Berti by a mile. Catch you subsequent time at No. 4.
