Josh Bell explains why he returned to Miami Marlins for 2024, where he wants to improve

Josh Bell said he went back and forth on the decision this offseason.

Does he stay with the Miami Marlins after a solid two-plus months after being acquired late in the season and leading a surge to the playoffs? Or does he try to leverage that into a potential bigger deal in free agency.

Bell ultimately chose the former, exercising his $16.5 million player option to play for the Marlins in 2024 as Miami tries to make it back to the postseason for a second consecutive season.

“I think what really drove the needle for me was getting the call from [manager] Skip [Schumaker] and [chairman and principal owner] Bruce [Sherman] saying ‘We want you back,’” Bell said Thursday. “We had a big opportunity last year to win games and I was able to help with that.”

Bell later added, with a smile: “Obviously popping champagne at the end of the year doesn’t hurt.”

If the Marlins want to be celebrating at the end of the season once again, Bell will likely need to play a vital role once again.

Bell, acquired at the trade deadline on Aug. 1 from the Cleveland Guardians, added needed length to the Marlins’ lineup with a combination of hitting for power and average in addition to being a switch hitter. Over 53 regular-season games with Miami, Bell hit .270 with a .338 on-base percentage and .480 slugging mark along with 11 home runs, nine doubles, 26 RBI and 26 runs scored.

Offensive production will be critical from him and others — notably Luis Arraez, Jake Burger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. — as Miami attempts to replace the production lost by Jorge Soler (and his team-leading 36 home runs from 2023) despite not making any substantial move to this point to upgrade a lineup that finished 2023 with the fifth-fewest runs scored (666) and tied for the eighth-fewest home runs (166).

“We have a lot of opportunity to grow as a team if each person gets a little bit better what they’re already really good at,” Bell said. “Obviously, expect to have Arraez hit at least .300, right? Guys like Jazz that continue to be electric. Get different leaps from guys like [pitchers Jesus] Luzardo and Braxton [Garrett]. ... We have an awesome opportunity to continue to be that team to hold games close and come back late. Have the right game plan for each starter and establish early leads. So hopefully if we get going in the right direction this year, we can go into the All-Star Break and into the trade deadline set to make moves to help this team.”

Bell said he spent this offseason honing in on “what made me good last year.” For him, that’s hunting fastballs and figuring out a better gameplan for breaking pitches, specifically the slider.

Last season, Bell hit a .296 with 13 of his 22 total home runs coming against fastballs. Meanwhile, he hit below .200 on both breaking pitches (.195 average) and offspeed (.188). His batting average against sliders? A measly .123.

“So the last few years I’ve been kind of struggling with that,” Bell said. “So it was understanding that basically from the first time that I picked up a bat this offseason, having that in the back of my head hopefully allows for growth this year. Hopefully I can make the proper changes to have success.”