Miami Marlins

Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India and Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena, as expected, were named the National League and American League Rookies of the Year, respectively, on Monday.

.@JonathanIndia is the Jackie Robinson NL Rookie of the Year!

India led all rookies in games, OBP, doubles, walks and runs scored. pic.twitter.com/XjTP8MTK4d

— MLB (@MLB) November 15, 2021

.@RandyArozarena is the Jackie Robinson AL Rookie of the Year!

Arozarena helped lead the Rays to an AL East title with a 20-20 season. pic.twitter.com/ReNjnP3vvO

— MLB (@MLB) November 15, 2021

India beat out St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson and Miami Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers. Arozarena beat out teammate Wander Franco and Houston Astros pitcher Luis Garcia.

It seemed a foregone conclusion that India, 24, would win the award in the NL. he led MLB's rookies in games (150), on-base percentage (.376), doubles (34), walks (71) and runs scored (98) while ranking second with a .835 OPS. He added 21 homers and 69 RBI.

He took home 29 of 30 first-place votes.

Full voting for NL Rookie of the Year. pic.twitter.com/kqePN5PdoW

— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) November 15, 2021

"I can't imagine someone being more deserving than Jonathan," Reds manager David Bell told reporters after the season. "He's done everything. He's done everything in his power to make our team better, and he has done that. He's personally had just a great season, great accomplishments, but he's just simply made us a much better team by being in our lineup every day, and I think that's what it is all about."

Nick Castellanos on Jonathan India: "The Reds better shape up and extend this man very quickly, or he's going to become too expensive. Jonathan India is a very, very good baseball player and he's going to get better."

— Adam Baum (@AdamJBaum) November 12, 2021

.@JonathanIndia is the first @Reds player to win Rookie of the Year since 1999 (Scott Williamson). pic.twitter.com/CHsdFt5AZq

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) November 15, 2021

The 26-year-old Arozarena was already the favorite to win Rookie of the Year after an incredible 2020 postseason that saw him named the AL Championship Series MVP.

"He set the bar so high, the expectation level coming off his postseason of 2020 probably made it unfair," Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters. "Nobody in their right mind was going to say he was just going to back that up for the month he produced in the (2020) postseason. But for a 26-year-old rookie, he had a pretty special season."

Indeed he did, hitting 274 with 20 homers, 69 RBI, 94 runs, 32 doubles, 20 steals and a .815 OPS. He led all MLB rookies with a 4.1 WAR, per Baseball Reference.

Randy Arozarena is the 4th @Raysbaseball player to win Rookie of the Year. pic.twitter.com/fkLdTvG7zB

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) November 15, 2021

Arozarena received 22 first-place votes.

Luis Garcia placed second behind Randy Arozarena in the AL Rookie of the Year Award voting. Garcia got two first-place votes, 15 second-place votes and eight third-place votes. https://t.co/CvSJq7KOnx

— Jake Kaplan (@jakemkaplan) November 15, 2021

It was stiff competition for both players. In the NL, the versatile Carlson—he played all three outfield positions and hit in seven different spots in St. Louis' lineup—hit .266 with 18 homers, 65 RBI, 79 runs and a .780 OPS.

Rogers, meanwhile, went 7-8 with a 2.64 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 157 strikeouts in 133 innings. Sixto Sanchez was the young pitcher the Marlins were expected to build around for the future, but after he was forced to miss the season, Rogers emerged as another building block in Miami.

In the AL, Franco very likely would have won this award had he played a full season. Nonetheless, he still hit .288 with seven homers, 39 RBI, 53 runs, a .810 OPS and a 3.5 WAR in 70 games.

"I think you could make the argument that he's the most impactful player on any team in baseball," Cash told reporters after the season. "Certainly for us, our team was really good; we got better when he came. He lengthened our lineup. He made our defense better. He worked really hard on his defense to make his defense better, and it made our overall defense better. He is a game-changing player. It's going to be fun to watch for a long time."

Finally, Garcia helped the Astros reach the World Series, finishing 11-8 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 28 starts during the regular season, leading AL rookie pitchers in wins (11), innings (155.1) and strikeouts (167).

The Miami Marlins are doing their due diligence in evaluating free-agent outfielders.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported that Miami has met with Nick Castellanos' agent, Scott Boras, following the right fielder's standout season for the Cincinnati Reds.

Miami Herald writer Barry Jackson stated that the Marlins have also shown interest in Milwaukee Brewers free agent Avisail Garcia.

Castellanos will be one of the most coveted free agents this offseason after putting together the best season of his 10-year career. The 29-year-old recorded career highs in WAR (3.2), batting average (.309) and home runs (34) while adding 100 RBI.

Castellanos, who earned his first selection to the All-Star Game, was set to make a guaranteed $34 million over the next two seasons, but he opted out of the final two years of his contract. Cincinnati tagged him with an $18.4 million qualifying offer, but he declined it last week in favor of testing the open market.

Garcia opted out of his mutual contract option last week, and the 10-year veteran also could be in line for a big payday after coming off a career year. Garcia had career highs of 29 home runs and 86 RBI while hitting .262 in 135 games last season. Milwaukee chose not to give him a qualifying offer.

The Marlins went 67-95 last season, finishing in fourth place in the NL East and missing the playoffs. in 2020, Miami had advanced to the postseason for the first time since 2004, winning the NL Wild Card Series over the Chicago Cubs before getting swept in the NLDS by the Atlanta Braves.

The offensive production fell off a cliff for Miami last year. The Marlins finished 28th in MLB with a team batting average of .233 and 29th in runs scored with 623.

While adding Castellanos or Garcia would be a major boost to their lineup, the Marlins have multiple holes to fill and will have to spend their money wisely.

Miami Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said in an article published Friday that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer prior to the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season.

Speaking to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, Stottlemyre said he received the diagnosis in February and had his prostate and lymph nodes removed Oct. 6.

"I had elevated PSAs [prostate-specific antigens] over the past five years, and my doctors continued to monitor them," he said. "Over [last] winter, I just didn't feel right. I was wiped out. I knew something was wrong. When I got to spring training, my numbers had escalated to the point that I knew I had to see the urologist."

Mish noted Stottlemyre planned to have surgery during the All-Star break, but he opted to wait until after the season in order to keep coaching.

Stottlemyre added he "didn’t want anyone to know," so he only told only CEO Derek Jeter, general manager Kim Ng and manager Don Mattingly.

According to Mish, the Marlins gave Stottlemyre a contract extension that will keep him with the organization through next season.

The 57-year-old told Mish he is going to encourage men to get their prostates checked regularly.

"It brought me to my knees," Stottlemyre said. "There were some crying moments there. I want to be a spokesperson for this and remind people getting their prostate checked can save their life."

As Mish noted, Mel Stottlemyre Sr., the New York Yankees pitcher and longtime MLB pitching coach, died in 2019 after he was diagnosed with blood cancer. And Mel Stottlemyre Jr.'s brother Jason died of leukemia when he was 11.

Stottlemyre was a first-round draft pick by the Houston Astros in the 1985 secondary draft. He appeared in 13 games with the Kansas City Royals in 1990, his lone stint in the big leagues.

The Washington state native began his career as an MLB coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009. He joined Mattingly's staff in 2019 after a three-year stint with the Seattle Mariners.

Talk about recovering from a mistake.

Miami Marlins right fielder Jesus Sanchez overran a fly ball during the fourth inning of Monday's game against the Washington Nationals but somehow recovered enough to stick his bare hand out and made a spectacular catch:

Jesús Sánchez will be on the highlight reel for years to come. 😱 pic.twitter.com/9reWcDn1vk

— MLB (@MLB) September 21, 2021

HE CAUGHT IT WITH HIS BARE HANDS @BRWalkoff

(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/3sBuOs6JLP

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 21, 2021

It was reminiscent of a similar catch San Francisco Giants outfielder Kevin Mitchell made in 1989:

The Marlins may be out of the playoff race in the National League East, but they will at least have this incredible play to look back at when reflecting on the 2021 season.

Stories have continued to emerge about the difficult conditions that minor league baseball players endure while trying to make it to the big leagues.

The latest one is courtesy of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, who shared texts from three minor leaguers in the Marlins organization about their housing situations.

These are texts we received from Miami Marlins players at three different Minor League affiliates.

The Marlins must address this. pic.twitter.com/kgrvJtQ9aE

— MiLB Players (@Milb_players) August 31, 2021

Minor leaguers face difficult housing scenarios because of low pay. Advocates for Minor Leaguers says that most players make under $7,500 per year. In addition, they play for free during spring training.

Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic also summarized takes on the housing situation firsthand from over 30 minor leaguers.

The Athletic spoke to more than 30 players from 20 major-league organizations, ranging from undrafted free agents to first-round picks with big-league experience, about their housing travails, past and present.

Players detailed living out of their cars, dealing with roach-infested apartments and piling multiple teammates in one- or two-bedroom apartments, with some men sleeping on lawn chairs, pool rafts or air mattresses.

With rare exceptions, minor-league players—who are paid only seasonally—are responsible for procuring and paying for temporary housing for a five-month season. Players get assigned a team, often at the very end of spring training, and get three nights—in a hotel paid for by the team—to travel there and figure out where to live.

Some franchises have taken better care of minor leaguers in regard to housing, with Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post providing some examples in a July 16 piece:

The Houston Astros have tried to relieve some of the financial burdens on their minor leaguers by providing housing. The New York Yankees offer housing stipends to players in the Florida Complex League that extend beyond the competitive season, and they cover housing for their High Class A Hudson Valley team. The Philadelphia Phillies offer housing stipends to minor leaguers.

However, there are numerous examples of players from various organizations facing significant struggles in the present day or recent years, including the Los Angeles Angels, Detroit Tigers, the Oakland Athletics, the Baltimore Orioles.

Starting this year, minor league baseball underwent a complete restructure. There are now just four levels of minor league ball (Triple-A, Double-A, High Single-A and Low Single-A), with each of the 30 MLB teams overseeing an affiliate for each system.

For Miami Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson, what may ultimately prove to be an innocuous situation doesn't erase the abuse he encounters elsewhere away from the diamond.

The Colorado Rockies announced Sunday they were investigating what was initially believed to be a fan using the N-word while Brinson was at the plate. The Rockies followed up to say the fan in question had been calling toward their mascot, Dinger.

Brinson told reporters that he still finds himself hearing a slur when re-watching the video, though that's not what he wants to hear.

"I personally keep hearing the N-word," Brinson said Monday. "It's not that I want to hear it."

He did say that if the fan truly was calling for Dinger, he's "sorry for the backlash and unnecessary attention [the fan is] getting right now." However, he added that seeing the N-word directed toward him is a very real occurrence:

They don't show their face and don't tag themselves on their posts or the DM they send me, but I do get it, once a month, twice a month. I know other Black players get it more. We do get called the n-word on social media. It's disgusting. We see it and try to block it out, but it's a disgusting, degrading word that brings nothing but hate and cowardliness.

There's no place for it. It does happen and I don't want to just throw that under the rug. I want everybody to know that it does happen to Black players, quite often, way too often.

The lack of diversity across all levels in MLB has been a pressing issue for years.

One consequence of that is Black players feeling isolated on matters relating to racial or social injustice.

Six-time All-Star CC Sabathia reflected in his memoir, Till the End, on how Black players across baseball often hang out or message one another as a means of "self-defense, self-preservation" because of their relatively small number:

There were plenty of years in Cleveland when I was the only Black player on the roster; New York was better, but even with the Yankees, most seasons I was one of a maximum of four or five Black players on the 24-man roster. That's a lonely place to be at any point in your career, but especially if you're a younger guy trying to prove yourself in the game. You want to hold onto your job and you want to feel like you're part of the team, not an outcast, not the 'angry Black guy.'

MLB's problems with diversity can also create issues at the top.

Amid the nationwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality during the summer of 2020, some questioned the length of time the league waited to post an official statement condemning "racism and racial injustice."

Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts told reporters at the time he didn't think "baseball has done enough" for the wider Black Lives Matter movement.

Brinson said that what shouldn't get lost in the fallout from Sunday is that racist taunts directed at MLB stars aren't an anomaly.

"And a lot of Black players can attest to that," he said. "It’s forgotten about way too much and needs to be stopped."

The Colorado Rockies have determined that an alleged racial slur heard in Sunday's game against the Miami Marlins was instead a fan calling out to the team's mascot, according to Steve Staeger of 9News.

The team provided an official statement on the matter Monday:

An update from the Colorado Rockies regarding the incident at the end of yesterday's game: pic.twitter.com/4cCS8peKnU

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 9, 2021

Microphones picked up what sounded like a fan yelling the N-word while Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson, who is Black, was at the plate. The team said in a statement after the game that it was investigating the incident:

A statement from the Colorado Rockies regarding the racial slur incident at the end of today's game: pic.twitter.com/85uN3f1pFZ

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 9, 2021

The team spoke to the fan in the question and determined the fan was yelling "Dinger," referring to the Rockies mascot.

While the Bally Sports Florida broadcast picked up the fan's yelling, none of the players heard it.

"Neither Lewis, nor any other Marlins on the field or in the dugout, heard what was shouted," Marlins spokesperson Jason Latimer told the Associated Press.

The Rockies condemned the apparent slur and noted that any use of derogatory language would result in ejection and a ban. MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark also released a statement:

Executive Director Tony Clark’s statement regarding the incident in today’s game between the Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies: pic.twitter.com/xndcxGYAJC

— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) August 9, 2021

The Rockies have identified the fan and believe the situation was a misunderstanding.

Dinger has been the club's mascot since 1994, Colorado's second year in the majors.

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly will miss the remainder of this weekend's series against the New York Yankees. 

The Marlins announced Saturday that Mattingly tested positive for COVID-19. Bench coach James Rowson will serve as interim manager for the time being. 

Don Mattingly has tested positive for COVID-19@JessBlaylock provides the details on Mattingly's status@Marlins | #JuntosMiami pic.twitter.com/Zh7J3nEaj5

— FanDuel Sports Network Florida & Sun (@FanDuelSN_FL) July 31, 2021

Miami's statement did note that Mattingly has been vaccinated, and no one else with the team has tested positive to this point after undergoing rapid PCR tests. 

The Marlins host the Yankees on Saturday and Sunday. They will play the New York Mets in a four-game series starting Monday before going on a six-game road trip to Colorado and San Diego. 

Per Mike Axisa of CBS Sports, Major League Baseball has announced that 23 teams have reached the 85 percent vaccine threshold required to have COVID-19 restrictions lifted. 

It's unclear if the Marlins are among that group of 23 teams. 

Mattingly is in his sixth season as Miami's manager. The 60-year-old has a 351-458 record with one playoff appearance last year with the team.    

Miami Marlins outfielders Monte Harrison and Starling Marte were reportedly involved in a clubhouse altercation during the team's series against the Washington Nationals.

Craig Mish of Sports Grid reported Harrison instigated the incident. The Marlins are planning to handle the matter internally.

Harrison was demoted from the MLB club Wednesday. 

No further details were reported on the altercation.

Harrison, 25, has hit .200/.200/.300 with no home runs or RBI in nine appearance with the Marlins this season. He's spent most of the year playing in Triple-A Jacksonville.

Marte has been one of the best players on the Marlins roster this season, hitting .293/.390/.451 with seven home runs and 22 runs batted in. 

Jared Pettitte, who is the son of former New York Yankees and Houston Astros starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, has agreed to sign with the Miami Marlins as an undrafted free agent, per ESPN News Services.

Pettitte made 13 appearances for DBU, posting a 5.81 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26.1 innings. His best outing was against Illinois State, when he threw 4.1 hitless innings and struck out four on May 8.

He began his collegiate career with the University of Houston in 2017, when he redshirted because of a season-ending injury. Pettitte made 11 appearances for the Cougars over the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Pettitte played high school ball at Deer Park High School and Second Baptist School. He shone at Second Baptist, earning First Team All-State honors by going 12-1 with a 1.20 ERA and 130 strikeouts. He added four home runs and a .385 batting average at the dish.

Pettitte appeared at the MLB Draft Combine, and he spoke with YES Network's Nancy Newman afterward:

He was not selected in the MLB draft, but Pettitte has now landed with the Marlins.

Their CEO, Derek Jeter, was Pettitte's teammate with the Yankees. The two helped bring four World Series championships to the Bronx.