Giancarlo Stanton Crucial to Miami Marlins' Hope of Turning Season Around

Prior to the start of the 2015 season, the future was supposedly bright for the Miami Marlins. They already had a young nucleus of players like Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna, and they were also aggressive in the offseason, acquiring the likes of Mat Latos, Dee Gordon and Michael Morse.

During spring training, USA Today's Bob Nightengale picked the Marlins to represent the National League in the World Series, citing their abundance of young talent and refusal to let high expectations get to their heads as the main reasons for his selection.

After all, it was a very gutsy choice to go with a Marlins squad that hasn't made the playoffs since 2003 and hasn't finished a season with a winning record since 2009. And the last time that there was hype surrounding this organization—before the 2012 season when the Marlins signed Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell—it ended with a disastrous 69-93 record.

However, this year was supposed to be different.

"We learned our lesson," Stanton said via Nightengale. "We realize that no matter how much talent you have, that if you don't mesh in the clubhouse, it won't trickle onto the field."

Through 50 games, it hasn't gone as planned. With a disappointing 20-30 record, the Marlins currently sit 8.5 games behind the Washington Nationals in the NL East. They have Dan Jannings, an executive who hasn't coached baseball in 30 years, as their manager following the firing of Mike Redmond, and nothing seems to have gone right.

But with a roster as talented as the that of the Marlins, they still have a shot. But they are going to need major contributions from Giancarlo Stanton and massive improvement from Christian Yelich for anything substantial to take place.

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

The lineup has struggled mightily this season, but Stanton and Yelich are capable of being catalysts in a potential turnaround season.

Stanton is the key. The Marlins recognized his importance in the offseason when they signed him to a $325 million contract that made him the highest-paid athlete in North American sports history.

2015 has brought mixed results for Stanton so far.

He has hit for plenty of power—his 15 homers are tied for the third-most in all of baseball—but his average sits at a paltry .232. However, advanced statistics suggest that he might be in for a hot streak soon.

While he is striking out more this year—his K% of 31.2 percent is his highest mark since his rookie year—Stanton has also been the victim of some drastic misfortune.

His .264 batting average on balls in play is nearly 100 points lower than it was last year, which shouldn't be the case considering he is hitting the ball harder than he ever has before. He has made hard contact on nearly half of his balls in play, per FanGraphs, which is more than eight percentage points better than 2014.

In other words, he is hitting the ball hard more often than he did last year but he is not getting rewarded. That is something that will almost always correct itself over the course of a 162-game season, so expect Stanton to finish the season with a much higher average than he has right now.

One thing that has remained constant is his power. He homered twice in Saturday's win over the Mets, and his 15 multi-homer games are the third-highest total since 2010, per ESPN Stats & Information. 

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Stanton also has a tendency to make his home runs count. He owns three of the five longest home runs so far this year and is second in the MLB in no-doubt home runs, calculated by ESPN Home Run Tracker.

His most recent victim was even complimentary of his talents.

"I wish I could tell you we haven't seen him like this before, but we have," Mets manager Terry Collins told the Associated Press (via USA Today) after Stanton's two-homer performance. "There's nobody with more power in all of baseball."

That is true; Stanton possesses more power than anyone in baseball. When he hits it, he hits it high and long. 

His team has started slow, but it is not yet a lost season for the Marlins. Yes, they have already dug themselves a hole, but they have the talent to come back.

Jose Fernandez is set to begin a rehab assignment on Monday, and according to Nightengale, he wants to be back around the All-Star Game.  The Marlins will certainly welcome his presence, as his electric stuff can energize the entire club on any given night.

Christian Yelich has started the season in a horrendous slump, but he has recently shown signs of working out of it. He is batting .360 with a home run in the past seven days, and if he gets back to hitting like he did last year, the Marlins offense will instantly be more potent. He has the ability to hit second in the order behind Dee Gordon and provide yet another option to get on base in front of Stanton.

But while Fernandez and Yelich will help, it will ultimately come down to Stanton. He is one of the elite players in the MLB with arguably the most powerful bat in baseball. He has been the victim of some bad luck so far in 2015, and that usually doesn't last the entire season.

A Stanton hot streak might be all it takes to get the Marlins going in the right direction. He has the talent and explosiveness to put a team on his back and carry it for weeks at a time.

And if that happens, Nightengale's prediction might very well come true after all.