MLB Trade Rumors reported yesterday that former MLB catcher Mike Redmond has been hired to manage the Miami Marlins. He spent seven years of his playing career with the ball club, and five with the Twins. Last year, in his final hurrah in the bigs, he had 63 at bats with the Indians.
He will be taking over a Marlins team which finished 69-93 after a 29-22 start through May. What seemed like a solid offensive club fell apart in early June and finished the month 8-18. In many ways, June was the beginning of the end. It didn’t help that Marlins management panicked and rid themselves of all their best players.
What’s done is done, but the tale of the tape isn’t pretty. Here’s a look at how the Marlins fared in the National League this year:
| 2012 Marlins | NL Rank | |
| Batting Average | .244 | 13th |
| On-base percentage | .308 | 13th |
| Slugging percentage | .383 | 12th |
| Home runs | 137 | 13th |
| Runs | 609 | 15th |
| RBI | 576 | 14th |
| Strikeouts | 1228 | 11th |
Redmond has his work cut out for him, but he’s been there before. In his 13 years as a backup catcher, Redmond batted over .300 six times. The other years, he batted anywhere from .204 to .294. He knows how to ride the roller coaster.
That brings us to the scary part.
One of the things Redmond is known for, outside of his career .287 BA, is his awkward approach at getting himself out of slumps. Batting practice of course, but to bust the slump, Redmond goes naked — batting gloves, shoes and socks, and nothing else.
Luckily for all of humanity, we couldn’t find a picture to back this up, just a 2011 article by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
Something tells me there will be a lot of naked batting practice in Miami this year.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com
