November 16 - 'Catching Up' is a monthly feature by NOVA Baseball Magazine where we connect with a player or former player with Northern Virginia roots for a question and answer session. This month's player is Justin Bour, a 2006 graduate of Westfield High School and 25th round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs out of George Mason University in 2009 who just completed his third big league season as a first baseman with the Miami Marlins.
The 6-foot-3, 265-pound left-handed swinging Bour was a first-team All-Met selection by The Washington Post following his senior season at Westfield, then went on to hit 46 homers and drive in 187 runs in three seasons at George Mason. After five years in the Cubs’ minor league system, Bour was taken in the 2013 Rule 5 Draft, which exists to prevent teams from stockpiling young players in the minors when other teams would be willing to immediately add them to their 40-man roster. In 2014, Bour made his big league debut over two stints with Miami, hitting .284 with a homer and 11 RBI in 39 games while also hitting 18 homers in 103 games for Triple-A New Orleans.
He was one of the National League’s top rookies in 2015, when he hit 23 homers with 73 RBI in 129 games. This past season, he was on track to surpass those numbers when a high ankle sprain forced him from the Marlins’ lineup for nearly two months in July and August. He finished the season hitting .264 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI in 90 games, and has established himself as one of the National League’s top power-hitting first basemen while protecting All-Star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton in Miami’s lineup.
We had a chance to catch up with Bour back in May, during one of the Marlins’ road series at the Washington Nationals.
NOVA Baseball Magazine - Is it always fun to come back and to be able to see some familiar faces?
Justin Bour - “It’s always good to come back and see family and friends, to see the people I drive on the same roads with during the offseason.”
Mag - Let’s back up to last year. You had spent the better part of six years in the minor leagues, but you make your way up and made the most out of it. Was having that level of success something that surprised you?
Bour - “I don’t think you get here by accident, you have to earn everything that you’re given in this game. Last year I got a good opportunity. I think, the first couple of times I was up, I sort of got an opportunity, but at the end of the day, don’t think I was in consideration to be up here full time. So last year, I wanted to make sure I took advantage of it. This is a game where you don’t have that many chances, so you’ve got to make the most of it.”
Mag - Sometimes it’s a matter of being in the right situation at the right time. Do you feel that was the case for you?
Bour - “Yeah, obviously I didn’t really get much of an opportunity with the Cubs, and then the Marlins picked me up and I’ve just made the most of it here.”
Mag - Looking back to high school, and in particular that 2004 team you had with Brandon Snyder, your brother [Jason Bour] and a bunch of talented guys that went to the state championship game. What do you recall about that team?
Bour - “That was a very talented team. It was cool playing with my brother, and my dad was one of the coaches that year, so that was cool too. You had Brandon Snyder, who was a first-round pick, my brother who got drafted, I got drafted, it was just a really talented team. I think that’s just the way high school baseball is, you just get a wave of talent that comes through. And it wasn’t just our school, Oakton had a good team, so did Chantilly and Centreville.”
Mag - After Westfield, you went over to George Mason and played for Skip [Mason coach Bill Brown] over there. How did that experience help prepare you for professional baseball?
Bour - “It was just a perfect fit for me. I can remember Skip talking to me when I first came over for a visit and he said, ‘I expect you to be here for three years, get drafted, and then go on with your career’. So he was on board for what I sort of wanted to accomplish. It was great, we had a good team over there as well, went to [the NCAA Tournament] regionals and I got to live with my brother again, which was cool.”
Mag - You have a new coaching staff this year, with Don Mattingly as your manager, and you’ve got Barry Bonds as your hitting coach, that has got to be pretty awesome to sit down and talk hitting with those guys?
“It’s been a good experience. Obviously when you hear those guys are coming in, there’s a wealth of knowledge between the news guys and the staff we already had in place. So I’ve tried to pick their brains when I can, and it’s been good because they haven’t tried to come in and change everything that we do.”
Mag - You and Barry are both bigger, left-handed power hitters. Does that help you to relate to him on even another level?
Bour - “I don’t know if I’m on the same wavelength as Barry, obviously. But it does help to have someone who understands what pitchers are going to try and do to a bigger power lefty.”
Editor’s Note: Bonds was fired as the Marlins’ hitting coach following the season, and was replaced earlier this month by Mike Pagliarulo, a former teammate of Mattingly’s with the New York Yankees.
