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Miguel Rojas inserted at third for Marlins debut; Cole Gillespie also promoted
MIAMI -- Part of the seven-player deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past offseason, infielder Miguel Rojas will make his Miami Marlins debut against his former club Saturday afternoon.
Rojas, who earned his major-league call-up last season, will start at third base and hit eighth with three-time National League Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw on the mound.
Primarily a shortstop, Rojas filled in for Juan Uribe at third to begin his big-league career in 2014. The 26-year-old said he appreciated this chance with the Marlins organization because he has family in the area.
"It's a great feeling," Rojas said. "I was trying to help my team to win in Triple-A and now that's what I try to come here for. This is a great team. I know there's a lot of talent in this clubhouse, so I just try to come here and inject a little bit of energy off everybody. What we've been doing in Triple-A has been great. I think they need a little bit of it here, too.
"I was playing yesterday and that's what they told me when I got called up. 'Be ready to play, be ready to play some third.' I'm looking forward to help this team to win however possible."
With the Zephyrs, he posted a .302 average with 15 doubles, four triples, three homers and 23 RBI in 64 games. He is a career .244 hitter in 10 minor-league seasons.
In parts of 85 games with the Dodgers last season, Rojas hit .181 (27 for 149) with 16 runs, three doubles, one homer and nine RBI. He struck out 28 times and walked in 10 instances. Most of his time came at short with 66 games and 25 starts, but he also played third in 19 games (10 starts). Rojas made three appearances at second and another in left field.
"That was a great experience because I didn't know anything about the big leagues last year," Rojas said. "Now I know what I'm going to face. I feel like what I've been doing -- Triple-A playing every day -- helped me a lot because my offense is getting better and I feel like I can hit in Triple-A, so just going to take it now to the big leagues. Going to try and get better offensively in the big leagues too."
With Martin Prado on the disabled list since June 15 with a right shoulder sprain, Derek Dietrich has been getting the brunt of the third-base work with nine starts.
To make room for Rojas the Marlins optioned Donovan Solano to Triple-A New Orleans. Solano, who has been on the Opening Day roster for three straight seasons, was batting .153 (9 for 59) with two doubles, a triple and five RBI.
"Go get some at-bats and get his skills sharpened," Jennings said of Solano.
Miami also selected the contract of outfielder Cole Gillespie with Giancarlo Stanton on the DL, though Ichiro Suzuki started in right and hit seventh. Suzuki is 114 hits shy of 3,000 and will start the majority of the games.
A non-roster invitee this spring, Gillespie didn't make the Opening Day roster and started out with Triple-A New Orleans. In 66 games with the Zephyrs, he compiled a .291 average with 15 doubles, one triple and 23 RBI with seven stolen bases.
Gillespie, who can play all three outfield positions, has appeared in 113 big-league games with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2010-11), San Francisco Giants (2013), Chicago Cubs (2013), Seattle Mariners (2014) and Toronto Blue Jays (2014). The 31-year-old is a .230 batter (56 for 243) with 12 doubles, four homers and 25 RBI.
"I never take this moment for granted," Gillespie said. "You just never know what's going to happen in the future. Definitely excited to be here. Last night we were playing a game and around the eighth inning I came out of the game just because of some issues with Stanton's hand and all that. Obviously they didn't know the extent of it at the time and I didn't know what was going on but precautionary measure. Obviously found out the news after the game and the news of Stanton this morning. That was kind of tough. Any event, it's part of the game and someone has to step up.
"NOLA's a grind out there with the humidity and weather. It's definitely a pitcher-friendly park I'd say. Just try to put good at-bats together. I know my power numbers weren't technically where I thought they could be or want them to be but that's not really part of my game anyways. I'm trying to hit balls in the gap and score some runs and get on base and help the team win. It was going good so far and hopefully continue it up here."
Manager Dan Jennings said the offense will need to find other ways to score runs with Stanton's major-league-leading production of 27 homers and 67 RBI absent for 4-6 weeks. Miami has just 18 runs over its past nine games.
"Defensively we've done nothing to hurt ourselves bringing (Rojas) and Gillespie up here," Jennings said. "We just lost some power in the lineup with G and now we have to do other things. Put the game in motion that we've tried to do and put the ball in play. We have to be able to put the ball in play realizing it's going to take us stringing together multiple hits, stealing some bags, hit and run, squeezing, all those things to execute and score runs."
You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at cdenicola13@gmail.com.
