Norby's defensive growth at third shines in all-around game

MIAMI -- Earlier in the week, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker asked Connor Norby if he wanted to get some work in at third or second base – perhaps even seeing game action at the latter. Norby was insistent he stick to the hot corner.

When Miami acquired Norby from Baltimore in the Trevor Rogers deal on July 30, he was a second baseman by trade. But the Marlins have plenty of those on their 40-man roster, so the organization optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville to learn a position he had just 29 games of experience at in the collegiate and summer league levels in 2019.

“If I'm going to learn third, the best way is to play third, and I need game reps,” Norby said. “I think that's the only way. I'm going to go through my growing pains over there, and it can be easy to just say, ‘Yeah, let me go play second, I'm comfortable there.’ But Otto [Lopez] has been great, and he deserves to play over there, too. And if I'm going to play third for the future, I guess in a way, I need to keep getting better at it and keep learning. And at the end of the day, I tell [Schumaker], ‘Just write a lineup. I just want to be in it.’”

Added Schumaker: “That shows you that he's getting more comfortable. He wants to attack it. He's accepting the challenge, and that's not surprising to anybody that he's going to try to prove to people that he can play third base when there's some people that are doubting him.”

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That determination paid off for Norby, as he made two highlight-reel defensive plays and homered in Sunday afternoon’s 5-4 loss to the Braves at loanDepot park.

Since being recalled on Aug. 19, Norby has started 24 of Miami’s 32 team games at third base. Entering Sunday, he had committed five errors at third -- four on throws -- including one in Friday’s series opener. Advanced metrics had him at -4 defensive runs saved and -5 outs above average.

Infield coach Jody Reed and Jake Burger, who has started six games at third during this stretch, have tried to help Norby’s transition. It can be tricky going from the right to the left side of the infield, from the initial reads off the bat to the first step to the arm-slot change.

“I think there's two things: One is knowing whether to attack a ball or sit back on a ball, and the second one is just to throw across the diamond, because you can have five different arm slots at any given time and know which one to use in the right situation,” Burger said. “It doesn't mean it's ever going to be perfect, but that's kind of like the learning curve.”

Norby flashed the leather during two important situations Sunday. With the bases loaded in the first, Norby charged Ramón Laureano’s slow roller, touched the bag and threw across his body for the inning-ending double play.

In the sixth, Norby dove on his backhand down the third-base line, got up and fired a long throw to first at 83.8 mph to retire Orlando Arcia for the final out. He followed that with a leadoff homer to right-center in the bottom half of the inning.

“Whether I'm doing stuff in the cage, whether I'm doing stuff defensively, you're just trying to improve every day in some way and take those positives out of each day,” Norby said of his growing pains on defense. “Of course you want it to happen right away, but it's not realistic, and you want long-term sustained success more so than the short-term, because I've had both, and usually that short-term is not a solution, and honestly, kind of can push you further away from what you want to do.”

It was a much-needed momentum swing for Norby, who went hitless in four at-bats with three strikeouts in Saturday’s loss and struck out in his first two plate appearances on Sunday.

Jesús Sánchez went back-to-back with Norby in the sixth, as the Marlins launched four solo homers. But Miami was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“I think that shows you how athletic he is, making the double play at third base with the bases loaded, getting out of a huge jam,” Schumaker said. “... He was fantastic. He has plenty of arm strength to play that position, and then you saw the power. People don't hit it the other way like that. He's going to be a really good player for a long time in this league.”