Emilio Bonifacio came to the Florida Marlins in a trade that sent Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham to Washington in return for himself and two other prospects. This spring, Bonifacio won the third base job which the forced the Marlins to drop third baseman Dallas McPherson who lead the minor leagues in homeruns last season with 42.
In his first AB as a Marlin, Emilio singled to right field. He then preceded to steal second base and score on a Jeff Baker double. In his second at-bat in the bottom of the third, Bonifacio singled to right and stole third before being drove in by Hanley Ramirez on a double. In his third at-bat and with Cameron Maybin on second base, Emilio hit a deep fly ball to center field that Lastings Milledge couldn’t catch up too and sped around the bases for the first inside-the-park homerun on opening day since 1968. But he still wasn’t done. In his 4th AB of the game, Bonifacio bunted to the left side of the infield for a base hit. He then stole second before Hanley Ramirez drove himself and two others in on a grand slam.
Not a bad day for a 23-year old who has little starting experiance to this point in his career.
