Lewis Brinson’s bat comes alive early in spring training again. Will it carry over?

The pitch flew off Lewis Brinson’s bat and he immediately knew where it was heading as he began his trot to first base.

The dozen or so fans sitting on the grass berm in left field at The Ballpark in the Palm Beaches, meanwhile, scrambled to collect their latest piece of memorabilia.

His two-run home run capped a four-hit, four run start to the Miami Marlins’ first spring training game, a 6-1 win over the Houston Astros in seven innings.

“The first at-bat, you want to hit a barrel,” Brinson said. “I did that.”

Brinson has a knack for doing that in spring training. His goal is to have that preseason success continue once the regular season begins.

Brinson entered Sunday with a career .316 batting average in spring training and hit 10 combined home runs in each of his first three spring training cycles with the Marlins.

But Brinson has just a career .189 hitter in 252 MLB games with almost 100 more strikeouts (241) than hits (144).

Brinson showed steady progress toward the end of the 2020 season, hitting .269 over his final 80 plate appearances with three home runs, 11 RBI and 12 runs scored while primarily hitting against left-handed pitching.

He gained more confidence that he anticipates will translate into results on the field.

“As a rookie, I was trying to impress everyone,” Brinson said. “This Lew has his own expectations. ... This Lew, this year and last year, isn’t worried as much what other people think.”

Testing the automated strike zone

A speaker sat on top of the third-base dugout Saturday at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex and uttered two familiar words as the Miami Marlins went through batting practice.

“Ball.”

“Strike.”

It was a test run of the automated strike zone, an experiment that MLB hopes down the road can help remove some of the subjectivity and human error that comes with umpiring.

“I like it. It’s quick. You get it instantly,” said Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who has previously voiced his support for the transition to an automated strike zone. “MLB had some phones that you were shown exact location of pitches. ... I think there will be kinks to work out, and as technology just continues to get better and better, I think it gets more specific.”

On hand in Jupiter on Saturday to keep track of the testing? Michael Hill, who spent the last 18 years in the Marlins’ front office and is now serving as MLB’s senior vice president for on-field operations. Hill spent time catching up with Marlins members while on the field.

“It’s always good to see Mike,” Mattingly said. “Mike is more of a friend. Obviously things have changed from last year to this year. Glad to see he’s with MLB. I think he’s in a great position over there to continue to help grow the game and make it a better game.”

Rojas pays tribute to Jose Fernandez

About two hours before the Marlins’ first spring training game of 2021 began, shortstop Miguel Rojas posted a heartfelt tribute to the late Jose Fernandez on his Instagram account.

The post, in part, reads:

“Wanted to take a minute and remember you today and say thank you for everything that you did for me and for being a friend since I got to the @marlins in 2015. One of my biggest goal is not to let [your] fire and legacy go out and remind everybody who was “El Caballo” every 5th day.”