Heir to 'Mr. Marlin,' Griffin Conine battles injury and competition to forge his own legacy in Miami.
Miami Marlins outfielder/designated hitter Griffin Conine is best known as Jeff Conine's son.
That isn't entirely a bad thing.
After all, Jeff Conine is known as "Mr. Marlin" and is one of only three players who were on both of the franchise's World Series winners.
At the same time, a player always wants to carve out his own legacy, and Griffin Conine is in the process of doing that.
He's the latest subject of "Getting to Know the Fish," a Marlins roundtable series profiling each Miami player.
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 210 pounds
Hometown: Plantation, Florida
2025: Conine made his MLB debut in August 2024, playing in 30 games.
He was supposed to be a regular contributor last season.
Then, in late April, he suffered a shoulder injury that cost him the rest of his season.
So through two seasons, Conine has only played in 54 games. In that small sample, he's had a .261/.320/.435 slashline, with five homers, 20 RBI and a 107 OPS+, which is seven points above the league average.
When healthy, Conine is known for his power. In seven minor-league seasons, he hit 130 home runs.
It's hard to tell how that will translate to the majors, but for a Marlins team that finished 27th in the league in home runs last season, Conine couldn't hurt.
Outlook: Fangraphs projects Conine to be the Marlins' No. 5 hitter and DH.
But Conine hasn't proven enough yet to where we should presume he'll be in the starting lineup all season.
The Marlins' catching situation could complicate things for Conine. Both Agustín Ramirez and Joe Mack -- one of Miami's top prospects -- have offensive potential, so if both hit at the major-league level and Conine doesn't, he could lose his DH spot.
The biggest thing for Conine is that he's healthy enough to where he has enough chances to show what he can and can't do. Maybe Conine can become a big-time power bat to complement Kyle Stowers. Maybe he can't. In any case, the worst thing is not knowing, and right now, we just don't know what Conine can do in the bigs.
Hopefully, we'll find out soon enough.
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