Miami Marlins photo by Denis Bancroft
By David Driver
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As a young boy Justin Bour spent time enjoying baseball video games, and among the players in those make-believe contests were left-handed hitting sluggers Barry Bonds and Don Mattingly.
These days the games are real and Bour, a former George Mason standout, is getting tips from the former All-Stars.
Bour is the regular first baseman for the Marlins under manager Mattingly, in his first season in Miami after guiding the Los Angeles Dodgers for five years. Mattingly hit .307 with 222 homers in a career that lasted until 1995 with the New York Yankees.
The new hitting coach for the Marlins is Bonds, who hit a big-league record 762 homers during a career that ended in 2007 with the San Francisco Giants.
“It has been really cool. These are two guys I remember growing up playing video games,” said Bour, 27, sitting his locker in the Marlins clubhouse before Thursday's game against the Nationals in Washington. “If you asked me then I wouldn't have said, 'Hey, I will be playing for those guys.' It has been great actually.”
Bour, listed at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, ranked third among Major League rookies in 2015 in homers (23) and RBIs (73) with the Marlins with a batting average of .262. So it should not be a surprise that Bonds has not tried to make major changes in his swing.
“He is not one of those guys who is going to come in try to cookie cut and make them do certain things,” Bour said of Bonds. “He has been watching and saying small things. As a hitter that is what you are looking for in a hitting coach.”
A product of Westfield High in Chantilly, Bour can also pick up fielding tips from Mattingly – who was also a left-handed hitting first baseman. Bour can also rely on infield coach Perry Hill of the Marlins for fielding suggestions. “Those two together have been awesome,” Bour said.
Bour struggled last year against lefty pitchers but Bonds and Mattingly have been supportive of him. Bour hit .270 against righties and .221 against lefties in 2015.
“We're going to need him,” Bonds told the Miami Herald of Bour. “He's a big guy. He can hit the ball out of the ballpark. I like him a lot. He works hard. I don't know anybody who puts more pressure on himself than he does. It's going to be up to him to want to practice at it and want to be better at it.”
Said Mattingly to the Herald: “He's done it in the past (against lefties), so there's no reason he can't do that again.”
Bour started at first base and hit sixth in the lineup on Thursday in a 6-4 win against the Nationals. He had two doubles in four at bats and is now hitting .333 through the first three games of the season.
The Marlins continue the series in Washington on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. with the series finale Sunday at 1:35 p.m. Miami returns to Washington May 13-15 and ends regular-season play at Nationals Park in early October.
Five of Bour's first 24 career homers in the majors came against Washington, with four coming at Nationals Park. He hit four homers in 2015 against the Nationals, including back-to-back games in the nation's capital against right-handers Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg.
Bour has now hit in 10 games in a row against the Nationals, including seven straight games at Nationals Park.
“It is a good place to play,” Bour said of Nationals Park. “Obviously it is nice to be close to home and see family and friends. They have good pitchers. You have to be locked in every single day. They are going to challenge you.”
Bour was drafted out of Mason in the 25th round by the Chicago Cubs in 2009. The scout that signed him was Billy Swoope, a long-time scout for the Cubs based in Norfolk.
Bour worked his way up the Cubs minor league system and reached Double-A Tennessee in 2013, where he hit 18 homers. After that season he was acquired by the Marlins the Triple-A phase of the Rule V draft, and he hit 18 homers for Triple-A New Orleans in 2014.
Bour began the 2015 season back at Triple-A, then made his big league debut on June 5 at Tampa Bay.
The left-handed slugger went back and forth between New Orleans and Florida during the year, hitting .306 with 18 homers in 103 games for New Orleans and .284 with one homer in 39 games with the Marlins. His first big league homer came against Washington right-hander Doug Fister in Miami.
When he was recruited Jason Bour said that veteran Patriots coach Bill Brown told him he expected the first baseman to play three years for the Patriots and then get drafted. And that is what happened.
“It seems like he has been there forever,” Bour said of Brown. “He has always been one of those guys that is straight up with you. Since day one he has always had confidence in me and let us play our game.”
Bour's brother, Jason, also played for Brown and George Mason and in the minor leagues with the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox from 2007-11. Jason Bour now lives in North Carolina and was able to see Justin play in spring training this year in Florida.
Justin Bour has returned to Mason in the off-season for alumni golf events and for a chance to keep in touch with Brown. “I make it a habit to go there every off-season and talk to him and stay up to date with him. He has been nothing but supportive,” Bour said.
Editor's note: Virginia native David Driver is a free-lance writer who has covered college and pro baseball in the region, and the Atlantic 10 Conference, for 20 years. He can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com
