How Marlins' Berti used debut with Blue Jays as springboard to MLB success

TORONTO – During the fourth inning of his final home game as Toronto Blue Jays manager, John Gibbons spotted himself on the video board while on the mound for a pitching change, put his arm around Jon Berti and let the debuting infielder share in the love.

"Honestly, I was just enjoying the moment, enjoying my first game as a major-leaguer," says Berti. "It was a pretty cool moment for Gibby, when he came out, the crowd was cheering him on and they put the Jumbotron on him. Gibby being himself, very, very humble guy, just wanted to maybe divert some of the attention away from himself, and brought me into the shot with him, which was pretty cool."

The gesture was more than mere whim. Gibbons had pushed for Berti to get some time as a September callup, wanting to reward a player who’d earned respect across the organization over eight years of grinding in the minor-leagues. Injuries in the final week of a woebegone 2018 season to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Devon Travis created a need and Gibbons got his wish.

Berti played in each of the final four games of the season, savouring his breakthrough. Later, Gibbons would say, "regardless of what happens in his career from here on out, he can say he got here. But this may open up something for him. It goes a long way when you can you’ve been to the big-leagues."

As it turned out, things certainly did open up for Berti, who’s become an important contributor to the Miami Marlins team facing Atlanta in the National League Division Series. Following his brief cameo with the Blue Jays, he became a free agent and found interest from a number of teams, narrowing the possibilities to four clubs, then two before settling on the Marlins.

[relatedlinks]

Berti has been a productive big-leaguer since, producing a 2.7 wins above replacement as calculated by FanGraphs in 116 games, using his stint with the Blue Jays as precisely the type of springboard Gibbons suggested it could be.

"Absolutely," says Berti. "I was grateful for the opportunity, even if it was just the four games, to become a big-leaguer and to enjoy that experience. Going into that off-season, I was hopeful that it would hopefully lead to something. Fortunately for me, it worked out for me to find a home here in Miami and they’ve given me ample opportunity here, and I’ve just been doing my best to take advantage of it."

The 30-year-old offers the Marlins a lot of what they look for in players with his combination of athleticism, versatility and high baseball IQ, with his flexibility coming in particularly handy after the club’s early-season COVID-19 outbreak.

He’s played everywhere but first base, pitcher and catcher in the majors, the bulk of his work coming at shortstop last season (32), second base this season (21), although cumulatively most of his big-league action has come in the outfield (44).

Coming up in the Blue Jays system, a rise slowed by concussions and related issues, Berti primarily played second base but also move all around the diamond. His gains over the past couple of seasons have come in "being able to bounce around and be relied upon to play the outfield one day in the infield the next day, as well as continuing to work on my baserunning abilities and all sorts of tools as I made the journey this year."

Berti’s baserunning gained national attention during an Aug. 26 game against the New York Mets, when he walked and then stole second, third and home. He stole nine bases in 11 attempts this year after swiping 17 in 20 tries a year ago, and while his power contributions have been minimal (.391 slug in the majors), his on-base percentage of .359 – including a hearty .388 in 149 plate appearances this year – has often landed him at leadoff or batting second.

[snippet id=4722869]

Part of that is related to the upheaval the Marlins suffered through at the beginning of the season, when 18 players – more than half of the opening day roster – and two coaches became infected with COVID-19. The situation threatened the viability of the entire big-league season, yet instead of folding, they advanced to the post-season for the first time since winning the World Series in 2003.

"The belief among this team, even from the original spring training, was that we have a good ballclub here and that we can compete with anyone," says Berti. "Obviously with the outbreak when it happened, that brought on a whole new set of challenges for everyone, just every day trying to figure out if you’re one of the people that were going to test positive or trying to figure out what was going to happen with the season because everything was so new. Was it going to happen to another team? So there was just a lot going on. But through all of that, we stuck together and we stuck as a group and we stuck in our belief that when we were able to get back out there to play, that we were going to continue to show kind of what abilities we have in this clubhouse and surprise some people."

That was part of a summer like no other that included Berti facing several of his former teammates on the 2018 double-A Eastern League champion New Hampshire Fisher-Cats at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field. In the playoffs, he’s facing an Atlanta team run by Alex Anthopoulos, the GM who drafted him for Toronto in the 18th round of the 2011 draft, and that includes several other familiar faces.

"If you were to tell me that was going to be the scenario back a year ago, I would have said you’re making it up just because of all the craziness that obviously has happened," says Berti. "And to be playing a major-league game, in Buffalo, against a lot of my former teammates from that 2018 team, seeing John Schneider (who managed double-A that year) across the field too, got to say hi to him a little bit, but obviously couldn’t catch up with them as much as I would have liked to given the situation.

"You can say hi in passing and from a little bit of a distance, just with everything obviously going on with the pandemic. But it’s still always nice to see a familiar face across the field."

Especially in the big-leagues.