JJ Bleday’s MLB debut with the Marlins has come and gone. Now ‘the real work begins’

JJ Bleday made sure to soak in the moments that came over the weekend.

He made his MLB debut with the Miami Marlins on Saturday and made his first start on Sunday. In the span of five total plate appearances, he drew his first walk, logged his first hit, stole his first base and scored his first run in that order.

And he did it in Pittsburgh against a Pirates team he grew up rooting when he lived about two hours away in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Bleday estimated there were about 60 family members and friends in attendance at PNC Park over the two days.

“It’s been a whirlwind for sure,” said Bleday, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft. “Definitely surreal. Happy so many people have helped me get to this point in my life.”

But Bleday knows the weekend was merely the first step. There’s a lot more to accomplish, a lot more to showcase, a lot more to prove.

“Now that I’m up here,” Bleday said, “the real work begins.”

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The real work will continue this week as the Marlins open a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark. Bleday, a power-hitting lefty, should be a regular in the lineup throughout the series, especially considering three of the Reds’ four projected starting pitchers for the matchup are righties.

“He has a quiet confidence,” Marlins bench coach James Rowson said. “He knows how to play the game. He knows how to take an at-bat. I also feel like this is going to be the kind of guy that is going to be tough to get him out the same way every time. He’s a kid who has always made some adjustments along the way. That’s going to really help him at this level.”

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Bleday showed early glimpses of that over the weekend.

It began on Saturday, when he entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning for his debut. He caught the one ball that came his way in left field and drew a full-count walk in the ninth against Pirates All-Star reliever David Bednar in his first MLB plate appearance. Bleday saw seven pitches, fouling off the three in the strike zone and taking the other four.

“I don’t go up to the plate looking to walk,” Bleday said of his plate discipline. “I go up to the plate looking to swing the bat, and I let the walks dictate themselves throughout the course and the quality of the at-bat. But for the most part, I’m going up there trying to be aggressive and for the most part trying to get a pitch to hit.”

Bleday said entering the game late Saturday helped “get rid of some nerves” before first start on Sunday, especially on defense. He got the start in center field in the finale and made all the plays he should have made.

He looked good at the plate, too.

He recorded his first hit in the second inning, a one-out infield single on a hard-hit groundball to Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz. Bleday had a sprint speed of 29 feet per second on the run to first to beat out the throw (for reference, 30 feet per second on a competitive run is considered elite in MLB).

“I saw where it was and I realized that I had a chance to beat that out,” Bleday said. “I was just going to take advantage of it, put my head down and run as hard as I could.”

Bleday said the ball from his first hit is going to his parents.

“Knowing me, I’ll probably lose something like that,” he said with a laugh.

That wasn’t the only memento Bleday received that day. Bleday stole second base later in the second inning, beating the throw from Pirates catcher Jason Delay — one of Bleday’s teammate at Vanderbilt in 2017. Bleday said he got the ball used for that throw as well, a consolation prize considering he couldn’t take home the second base bag.

He added a ninth-inning double to the gap in right-center field and came around to score on a Bryan De La Cruz single to finish 2 for 4 on the day.

“That’s really been the trademark of JJ,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He’s going to put at-bats together.”

Bleday’s perspective of what he’s done so far?

“I felt good in the box when I was in there,” he said. “When it came down to it, it was just being aggressive and trusting what I was doing in Triple A. It’s the same game up here. I felt satisfied.”

The goal now is to build on it.

“He knows he wants to be here,” Rowson said. “He’s gonna have an opportunity to be here now and now it’s a matter of playing and going from there.”