Chicago Cubs Series Preview: Youth, inexperience big hurdles for Miami Marlins

Heading into the series: Miami Marlins

Record: 0-0, T-1st in National League East

Record (Last 10): 0-0

Team ERA: 0.00

Team OBP: .000

Team HR: 0

Team Leader (WAR): N/A

Brinson headlines the new Marlins’ core

Miami netted one of the game’s best prospects in Lewis Brinson when they dealt Yelich to Milwaukee. With a clear path to the bigs, the young outfielder could lead off when Miami and the Cubs open the season on Thursday.

MLB.com broke down Miami’s likely Opening Day lineup in a post covering the team’s late spring injuries. Here’s what they came up with:

Projected Opening Day lineup

1. Lewis Brinson, CF
2. Derek Dietrich, LF
3. Starlin Castro, 2B
4. Justin Bour, 1B
5. Brian Anderson, 3B
6. Tomas Telis, C
7. Cameron Maybin, RF
8. Miguel Rojas, SS
9. Jose Urena, RHP

For Cubs fans, they’ll remember Brinson from his brief stint in Milwaukee last season. He slashed a disappointing .106/.236/.277 in a limited 21 game sample size. But, according to both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus, he enters the season as the game’s 18th overall prospect.

Starlin Castro could have a real shot at 100 RBI this year with a strong showing in the middle of the Marlins batting order. Pitchers won’t work around him too much given Justin Bour is sitting right behind him in the lineup. Once Miami gets some added protection in there in the form of the injured Martin Prado and J.T. Realmuto, the lineup gets a lot deeper.