How Jazz is learning to hit lefties consistently

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Before this three-game homestand against the Dodgers started on Tuesday, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker rattled off a few storylines the organization hoped to resolve over the next month. Near the top of the list was Jazz Chisholm Jr. ability to hit lefties and stay clear of a platoon role.

Chisholm provided a quick answer by reaching twice on infield hits against Clayton Kershaw, then sending a towering homer to the second deck in right off Ryan Yarbrough in a 6-3 win.

"I feel like just because we've been working every day," said Chisholm, who had been hitting .199 in his career against southpaws. "Skip came to me one day and he was like, 'You're not bad against lefties. You've just got to work on it.' I don't really strike out against lefties. I just roll over a lot and hit a lot of ground balls right at the infielders. We've just been working on it for like two weeks straight. I don't even think about right-handed pitchers when I'm working in the cage anymore. Everything is pure lefty. Everything we do is lefty sliders, lefty curveballs, lefty sinkers. Nothing else. We're just working straight lefties right now, because he told me he needs me in the game. He needs me out there in center field, and I need to hit lefties."

In Schumaker's eyes, the challenge now is for Chisholm to keep up that level of dedication. Outside of the hard work, Chisholm credited former Marlin Dee Strange-Gordon for reminding him that he is capable of being one of the fastest players in the game and can beat out regular grounders. During a podcast interview earlier in the day, Mookie Betts told Chisholm he became an MVP by learning from his failures; so Chisholm watched footage of every lefty at-bat prior to the series opener.

With ace Sandy Alcantara and All-Star slugger Jorge Soler out for the foreseeable future, Chisholm and his teammates will need to continue rising to the occasion like they did during Wednesday night's 11-4 victory.

Chisholm, who has missed time on the injured list twice this season, already has three multihit games in September. He has gone deep each of the past two nights, and has driven in six through five games this month. After breaking up Lance Lynn's no-hitter with a perfect bunt in the fourth on Wednesday, he sent a first-pitch sinker over the wall in left center for a three-run homer during a nine-run fifth.

"I still feel like he's taking good at-bats and not overswinging," Schumaker said. "Sometimes when you hit a couple of home runs, you start to overswing. He's got enough twitch and enough talent, he doesn't need to create more. And I think he's starting to understand that, and with the new stance, it's not a toe tap, it's not a high leg kick.

"It's just, 'Use your talent, use your mind and your brain, and then figure this thing out,' and he's starting to figure out who he is as a player. If we can get him to play 160 one day, it's going to be really, really special. But the next [23 games] are going to be big, and he's the type of player that can carry us through the next three weeks. He's that talented. I don't want him to feel that pressure to do that, and that's not it at all. But it just shows you what kind of talent he has."