The Miami Marlins will start the 2018 campaign with top prospect Lewis Brinson in the fold, informing the outfielder Sunday that he made the team's Opening Day roster.
"It's going to be an emotional day for me and my parents and everybody that's been with me through the ride, everybody that saw me play Little League and growing up loving the Marlins," Brinson told Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
The move doesn't come as much of a surprise as the Marlins are fairly bereft of proven major-league talent after an offseason roster purging that saw the departures of all three starting outfielders from 2017.
Brinson, 23, arrived in the trade that sent Christian Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers and is seen as the cornerstone of the team's latest rebuild. He was named the top prospect in the organization by MLB.com, and the 27th in all of baseball.
It's not hard to see why. Despite an ugly 21 games with the Brewers, he was a force at Triple-A where he hit .331/.400/.562 with 13 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 76 games. After a strong spring where he hit .328 with a pair of homers, he's setting the tone for a solid rookie campaign.
For his part, Brinson is pumped to join the team for Thursday's opener against the Chicago Cubs.
This is just the beginning... let’s go Miami! See you Thursday. 💪🏾😎
— Lewis Brinson (@LewisBrinson) March 25, 2018
