Insight into this week’s “Swings and Mishes”

As the Marlins continue to struggle offensively, they’ve gotten off to a rocky 4-15 start. That didn’t stop Craig Mish and Jeremy Tache from exploring the deeper conversation surrounding the team.

To start, Craig points out that there are “different ways to lose 100 games,” and what’s going on with the Marlins right now is about as tough as it can get to watch.

The young players are not playing up to the best of their abilities and it would unacceptable for those players to regress and be worse than last year. Mostly, Craig and Jeremy discuss Lewis Brinson and Brian Anderson — two pieces who the Marlins hope can be part of this franchise for a long time to come.

As for Don Mattingly, Craig doesn’t believe there much that can change at the moment. The only note made about Mattingly’s approach is that he has a calming presence and is not much of a “screamer.” That comes, as Craig notes, from following in his father’s footsteps as being a leader with “quiet confidence.”

Mattingly may need to make some tough decisions regarding the rest of his staff if the offense continues to look the way it does over this next stretch.

So, here going forward, Craig says he believes the Marlins emphasis should shift to the play of Brinson, Anderson, and Jorge Alfaro. They shouldn’t worry much about the wins and losses because it’s time to do everything you can as a franchise to help those players thrive. That, in Craig and Jeremy’s opinion, would include leading off Lewis Brinson to get him as many at bats as possible over the next couple of weeks. If over the next week or two Brinson doesn’t get things going, it may be time to send him down to the minors.

Lastly, the guys interview Marlins AAA pitcher Zac Gallen. Gallen’s been about as dominant as anyone in the Minor Leagues thus far has thrown 18.2 innings thus far in AAA. He’s allowed just 1 run on 5 hits and has struck out 25 batters. He has a .48 ERA.

Gallen spoke about his “best start to a season” in his career, the adjustment from last year’s Spring Training to this year’s, how playing at UNC helped him prepare for the pros, Mark McGwire’s home run chase, what it was like to find out he was traded from the Cardinals to the Marlins, how his changeup has helped him thrive this year, and what it will ultimately feel like to be called up to the bigs.

You can find it all on Apple Podcasts, Podbean, or here on the Five Reasons Website.