Here's one way for Derek Jeter to mute the Home Run Sculpture that is an eyesore to some and a quirky ballpark fixture to others: don't touch the roster and leave the outfield fences where they are.
The Marlins aren't making it spin. The sculpture that was the brainchild of former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria just sits there, looming darkly while gathering rust and dust.
The Marlins have hit only 15 home runs in 22 games this season in their home park, giving them the lowest home run rate of any team in the majors _ just over one four-bagger every two games on average.
Not that it comes as a great surprise.
The Marlins traded away 65 percent of their power production last winter, with the loss of home run king Giancarlo Stanton causing the biggest dent. And they play in one of the most notoriously difficult ballparks in the majors for sluggers.
Which is why opposing players don't envy Marlins hitters.
"This is probably the biggest ballpark there is," said Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who somehow managed to hit three home runs in Atlanta's just completed series in Miami. "It's a big ballpark. It's huge."
He doesn't need to tell the Marlins. They know.
Rookie Brian Anderson smacked a double high off the wall in left-center on Saturday that Freeman said would have gone out of any other park in the majors, with the possible exception of Yankee Stadium.
Derek Dietrich hit one to nearly the same spot the same game.
And Freeman said it's not just the average ballplayers who are impacted. He said even Stanton lost home runs playing at Marlins Park for eight seasons.
"Stanton would have had a lot more if he played somewhere else," Freeman said. "I remember five to 10 of his balls that got caught at the wall here against us. It effects everybody. It takes away a lot of home runs here."
It used to be even worse.
The Marlins brought the fences in before the 2016 season, hoping to make it more fair for hitters.
Freeman's response: they did?
"It's still big," he said.
Dietrich said Freeman raised the issue with him during the Atlanta series when the two were both at first base.
"He's played a lot here," Dietrich said. "He said, 'When the roof's closed, that's when we hit the home runs.' But it's tough to gauge it. Most of the games we've played with the roof open. Some days with the roof closed."
