NEW YORK -- On the day the Marlins told Chris Coghlan he was getting the call to the majors, they asked him to play one more day in Triple-A.That's not standard procedure -- why risk an injury? -- but Florida had a good reason.
The Marlins wanted Coghlan to get one career game in left field under his belt before asking him to do it in the big leagues.
In fact, Coghlan has been asked to do two things this year he had never done before. Besides moving from second base to left, Coghlan has become a leadoff hitter.
And while that might seem like piling on, asking a youngster to learn two new jobs at the same time he adjusts to the major leagues, Coghlan has handled it all calmly and well.
"There's adjustments, there's no doubt," Coghlan told FanHouse. "And at this level, there's a lot of it. And doing both of those things -- I try not to look at it so much. I try to take it as a grain of salt and try to make it as simple as possible. Otherwise I think it can be overwhelming. And for me, it's been a transition. I can't say it's seamless. There's definitely been ups and downs."
But many more ups, enough that he might be National League Rookie of the Year.
"You never know until you live with a guy what kind of guy he is," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "I tell you what, he's off the charts. You see him day in, day out -- you see the character, you see the work habits, you see the grit.
"You label certain guys as 'baseball players.' And he's one of those guys. And if next spring training you said, 'Hey we need you to maybe catch,' he'd say, 'OK, let's go.'"
Coghlan, 24, led the majors with 47 hits in August -- most by an NL rookie in a calendar month since Wally Moon had 52 in July 1954. Coghlan's streak of eight multi-hit games to start August was the longest for a rookie since Dan Driessen in 1973.
"He has a great idea of what he's trying to do, and he executes it," hitting coach Jim Presley said. "His approach is as good as you can have with a young player.
"He stays inside the ball really well. And he hits the ball the other way, which is really hard for a young player to learn how to do."
A supplemental first-round pick in 2006 -- the draft choice Florida got when A.J. Burnett signed with Toronto -- Coghlan played third base at Ole Miss and moved to second base in '07.
But outfield? Never.
Yet when Cameron Maybin faltered early in the year, Cody Ross moved from right field to center and Jeremy Hermida went from left to right to open left field for Coghlan.
Thus that final game in the minors before joining the Marlins on May 8.
"I feel comfortable in the outfield, I feel comfortable hitting leadoff. Now the game's slowing down."
-- Chris Coghlan "I didn't get any fly balls," Coghlan said. "That was really nerve-wracking because I went, 'Man, I'm going. My dream come true.' And I was just thinking about how fortunate and blessed I was -- but at the same time I didn't want to get injured."
The Marlins rave about Coghlan's work ethic, which he has applied to his defense. It has improved so much, Gonzalez no longer takes Coghlan out in the late innings for a defensive replacement.
"To his credit," Gonzalez said, "here's a guy that bought into: 'Hey, I'm going to play left field in the big leagues,' instead of just going, 'Ah, [expletive].'"
Gonzalez moved Coghlan atop his lineup at the end of May. And instead of just treating batting first like batting anywhere else, Coghlan set about learning, and embracing, some of the subtle intricacies of hitting leadoff. Things such as making sure to see a lot of pitches in the first inning, so his teammates get a look at the opposing pitcher's stuff. Or taking his time when his pitcher makes the second out of the inning, so the pitcher has time to rest before going back to the mound.
"There's a lot of unselfishness that comes with hitting leadoff," he said. "I haven't mastered it by any means, but each day I learn something new."
Since Coghlan took over the No. 1 spot, Florida has averaged more than five runs a game, best in the NL. And the Marlins continue to hang around in the playoff hunt.
But some on the Marlins believe Coghlan could be an above-average left fielder and that he is already better there than in the infield.
Really, there shouldn't have been any question whether Coghlan would hit. As a high school senior in Tarpon Springs, Fla., he led his county with a .573 average. He hit .302 as a college freshman, .363 as a sophomore and .350 as a junior. He hit .297 his first year of pro ball, .287 his second and .298 last year in Double-A.
All along he used the same daily routine, a progression from hitting off a tee to work in the indoor batting cage to on-field batting practice.
"He's had success," Presley said. "He knows what he needs to do."
Coghlan started out slow, batting .205 through his first 25 games, but now leads big-league rookies in batting average, hits, multi-hit games, total bases, runs and on-base percentage.
Since June 6, he is second in the NL -- among all players, not just rookies -- in hits (110, behind only teammate Hanley Ramirez), fourth in runs scored (59), sixth in batting average (.332) and 14th in on-base percentage (.396).Coghlan also had a 14-game hitting streak, Aug. 23-Sept. 6, that was longest by an NL rookie since 2006.
"Things have started to fall together," Coghlan said. "I haven't lost confidence, even when things are going bad. And now they just seem to be falling in place.
"I feel comfortable in the outfield, I feel comfortable hitting leadoff. Now the game's slowing down, and everything feels like it did in the minors."
