As Marlins injuries pile up, ‘everyone’s just got to step up’ as road trip continues

Jon Berti wishes the circumstances were different. Yes, he wants an opportunity for regular playing time. What major-league player doesn’t want that?

But at the cost of Brian Anderson? Another key position player when the Miami Marlins had already lost two starters this week and were getting ready to start a 10-game road trip?

Regardless of the how or the why, Berti has now gone from the Marlins’ super-utility backup to a fixture in the everyday lineup for the immediate future. Anderson is on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain. Berti and shortstop Miguel Rojas are now the only two on the active roster with significant experience at third base. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Devers, the latter of whom was called up when Anderson went on the IL, are primarily going to play second base or shortstop.

“We were hoping [Anderson would] be doing better when they tried to do some stuff with him,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Anderson after the Marlins’ 3-0 shutout loss to the San Francisco Giants to start the 10-game, three-city road trip. “It just wasn’t to the point where we felt even good that it was going to be a couple of days. If we had thought it would’ve been a couple of days, we could have played with it and got through it. But it seemed like it was going to be more than that.

“We’re just not in a spot to lose Andy for a four-week period, letting him go out there and trying to play and ripping something up,” Mattingly continued. “So we’re going to be cautious with him, trying to hopefully get him back at the end of the 10 days. But honestly, we’ll have him back when he’s ready to be back. But we’re hoping it’s just a shorter period of time since we’ve kind of stopped this thing.”

Anderson is the third Marlins starting position player to go on the IL in the past week, joining center fielder Starling Marte (fractured left rib) and catcher Jorge Alfaro (left hamstring strain).

Marte has been the Marlins’ most consistent hitter. Anderson, despite an early season slump, has noted potential at the plate and was a Gold Glove finalist last year at third base. Alfaro was showing steady progression before the hamstring injury.

Berti started at third base each of the past two days, going 2 for 7 at the plate and making a few nifty defensive plays. Lewis Brinson has started each of the past three games in center field since Marte was sidelined. Chad Wallach and Sandy Leon are splitting catching duties.

“It’s just about being the best version of yourself,” said Berti, a career .262 hitter who has played 28 games (20 starts) at third base in the big leagues. “I can’t go out there and be Brian Anderson and or be Starling Marte. I’ve just got to be the best version of Jon Berti that I can be, do the best I can in that framework to help this team win. Hopefully, they’ll get back sooner than later and we can continue to roll from there. Until then, everyone’s just got to step up and do their part.”

The Marlins have been through this situation before. Last year, after 18 players tested positive for COVID-19 three games into the season, Miami returned from a weeklong quarantine with a makeshift roster that played played nine games on the road to finish what would ultimately be a 23-day road trip.

Berti, one of the 13 players from the Opening Day roster who tested negative throughout the team’s outbreak, started eight of those nine games, playing four games at second base, two at shortstop and two in right field.

Miami went 6-3 in those nine games.

“We have some experience from last year,” Berti said. “A lot of the returning guys understand how it goes, and we can’t control that kind of thing. We’ve just got to come to the ballpark every day and whoever’s healthy and available, we’re going to put the work in and do what we can to help this team win, and go from there. You hate to see a lot of the guys starting to go down like that, but like I said, we’re just trying to do our best to get some wins out there.”