Marlins call up Harrison as OF reinforcement

After a tough road series victory against the Brewers, the Marlins recalled outfielder Monte Harrison from the alternate training site in Jacksonville, Fla., to help them get through the rest of this 10-game road trip that continued Friday night in Washington.

This will be Harrison’s first appearance in the Majors this season, but manager Don Mattingly has received good reports from the alternate training site on his progress, especially at the plate. The club’s No. 14 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, is expected to serve primarily in a bench role. The Marlins optioned lefty Daniel Castano to the alternate training site in a corresponding move.

“We’ll see where everything goes, but for right now it’s a bench role with a combination of guys, but that doesn’t mean there’s not starts in there also,” Mattingly said.

Harrison didn’t have the most eye-popping Spring Training, with a batting average of .105 and just two hits in 23 plate appearances. But both hits were for extra bases -- a double and a home run. The weekend series seemed like the perfect time to bring Harrison back to the Majors: The home run came against the Nationals on March 11, a solo shot to left-center field off Patrick Corbin, who is scheduled to start on Saturday at Nationals Park.

“He’s continuing to work on his swing,” Mattingly said. “He’s keeping that path shorter. His strikeout rate went way down. Monte’s been good, and this isn’t just BP games [at the alternate training site]. These are actual games against other teams and everything.”

After a 1-6 start, the Marlins went into Friday night’s game 11-13 despite several players battling injuries. Outfielders Garrett Cooper (left foot soreness) and Corey Dickerson (mild right groin discomfort) were both removed from Wednesday’s win against the Brewers. The Fish are still without third baseman Brian Anderson (left oblique strain), second baseman and team OPS leader Jazz Chisholm Jr. (strained left hamstring) and center fielder Starling Marte (left rib fracture).

Anderson is continuing to progress and will be eligible to be activated from the injured list on Saturday. Mattingly said Anderson took batting practice Friday afternoon.

“Everything went according to plan; he’s feeling good. He’s not having any pain in anything that he’s doing,” Mattingly said. “I think he’s feeling pretty confident that he’s ready. I probably would like to dot a couple I’s and cross some T’s before we make that move.”

Cooper was in the Marlins’ starting lineup Friday after X-rays on his foot came back negative. Dickerson also returned to the team but served off the bench.

There is no definitive timetable for Chisholm and Marte to return.

“I’m not sure you ever want to expect to play less than .500, but I’m happy in general with everything that’s going on with us where we’re at,” Mattingly said. “We had a little 1-6 start, and from there we kind of caught our little rhythm and have been fairly consistent since then. I expect us to really get better and better as the season goes on, and I think we’ll get more consistent as long as we stay healthy.”