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Revisiting the Marlins Haul from the Christian Yelich Trade Six Years Later

After having a few days to digest the recent trade of Luis Arráez, let’s look back at another time the Miami Marlins traded away a star player: Christian Yelich. During the 2017-2018 offseason, the Marlins traded Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers. In exchange for their Silver Slugger outfielder, Miami received four prospects. These four were outfielders Lewis Brinson and Monte Harrison, infielder Isan Díaz, and right-hander Jordan Yamamoto. Yelich would make an immediate impact in Milwaukee, winning the MVP in 2018 and becoming an All-Star. As for the Marlins side of the deal, the four prospects they acquired all struggled to achieve consistent playing time in the majors. So, where are these four prospects now?

The Return of the Christian Yelich Trade Six Years Later

1. OF Lewis Brinson

At the time of the trade, Lewis Brinson was a former first-round pick and doing pretty well in the minors. Since the 2017-2018 offseason, he has had less favorable results. In his first year in Miami, he would play in a career-high 109 games, during which he had an underwhelming .199 average, 120 strikeouts, and 11 home runs in 382 at-bats. He played for the Marlins until 2021, when they designated him for assignment. After this, he signed a minor-league deal with the Houston Astros in 2022. Shortly after, he would be dealt to the San Francisco Giants. With the Giants, he played in 16 games in the majors and slashed .167/.211/.472 before being DFA’d.

Since then Brinson, 30, has had a short stint with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan. Now, he is playing in the Mexican league. He did not live up to his potential in the majors and became a “what if?” for the Marlins.

2. OF Monte Harrison

Monte Harrison was a second-round pick by the Brewers. The outfielder made his major league debut in 2020 after joining the Marlins in the Christian Yelich trade. In 2020, he played in a career-high 32 games with the Marlins and batted a mere .170 with three RBI and one homer in 47 at-bats. The following year, he only played nine games before being released in March 2022. Weeks later, he signed with the Los Angeles Angels and played nine games for them. Finally, ahead of the 2023 season, he re-signed with the Brewers on a minor league contract. In total, Harrison would play 10 professional seasons and only three of them would be in the majors, struggling to get consistent playing time at that level.

Recently he has made the momentous decision to pursue a college football career. While he was in high school he was a four-star football recruit and has not used any years of college eligibility. So, he will be joining Arkansas State as a 28-year-old freshman. Hopefully, he will receive more success in football than he did in baseball.

3. INF Isan Díaz

Isan Díaz was acquired during the trade with the Brewers and performed well in his first few years in the minors. In 2019, he won Miami’s Minor League Player of the Year award while batting .305 with 26 homers and 70 RBI. The same year, he made his memorable major league debut, homering off Jacob deGrom in his first game with his family in attendance. Despite this exhilarating start, the rest of his season would be underwhelming. He fought for the second base position but would ultimately not be able to compete with guys like Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Miguel Rojas. Díaz was designated for assignment and in 2022 he joined the San Francisco Giants.

Díaz did not return to the majors until 2023, when he split eight games in the majors between the Giants and Detroit Tigers. Currently, the 27-year-old is playing with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League.

4. RHP Jordan Yamamoto

Right-handed pitcher Jordan Yamamoto was a 12th-round draft pick by the Brewers. He was very impressive in Class-A Advanced during the 2017 season, where he went 111 innings with a 2.51 ERA. Shortly after, he was included in the Christian Yelich trade to the Marlins. He made his major league debut in 2019, making 15 starts with a 4.46 ERA. Unfortunately, he couldn’t continue down this road of success due to injuries he faced. Before the 2021 season, he was dealt to the New York Mets, where his trouble persisted as he bounced around in the minors.

After his time with the Mets, he signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Following this, he decided to call it quits. Yamamoto retired before the 2023 season and has since become a high school baseball coach for Dwyer High School in Palm Beach.

The trade involving Christian Yelich didn’t quite pan out as expected for the Marlins. Each of the four prospects they acquired struggled to establish themselves in the majors, with injuries, performance issues, and other challenges hindering their progress. This situation mirrors the current situation with Luis Arráez, but hopefully, the prospects in that return will be able to impact the Marlins and their current rebuilding process.

 

Photo Credit: © Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Julianna Sequera

Julianna Sequera

Julianna is from Miami, FL and she enjoys watching the sunrise on the beach and hanging out with her friends and family. When she's not doing these things you can be sure to catch her at a baseball or basketball game. She hopes to pursue a career in sports journalism.

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