The Marlins’ minor-league system was due for a big year. Coronavirus could impact that
Dick Scott works his way around the back fields at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, going station to station as close to 150 players go through drills.
Minor league camp had just begun, and the Miami Marlins’ director of player development knew the importance of this season.
There is depth at most positions across the organization, from the major leagues to rookie ball. The Marlins’ top prospects, most of whom were acquired after the Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter ownership group took over in October 2017, are bubbling to the surface.
After two years of rebuilding and restocking, trades and draft decisions, the Marlins’ minor-league system is where it needed to be.
“We traded away some good players, but we got equally good players in return,” Scott said during spring training. “They’re just younger. People have kind of heard the names, but they haven’t seen them.”
It will be a little while longer until they are seen at any level.
The minor-league baseball season was supposed to begin Thursday. The Wichita Wind Surge was going to make its debut as the Marlins’ Triple A affiliate. The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp were going to have the next wave of Marlins pitching prospects.
Who knows how the Marlins would have sorted out their overabundance of top outfielder prospects among the four full-season levels.
However, no baseball has been played since March 12 when Major League Baseball suspended the end of spring training and indefinitely postponed the start of the 2020 season because of the growing novel coronavirus pandemic. When the 2020 season will be played and in what format is undetermined.
There are preliminary talks of the MLB resuming its season with all 30 teams based in Phoenix, games in empty stadiums, players quarantined to hotel rooms when not at the ballpark.
Minor-league teams, though, don’t have that luxury. Instead, there’s waiting and uncertainty as they wait a decision to be made.
“With the health and well-being of the players, umpires, team employees and our fans in mind, we will continue to monitor the developments and follow guidelines set forth by public health agencies and our partners at Major League Baseball,” Minor League Baseball president and CEO Pat O’Connor said in a statement. “Once the public health experts and agencies have decided it is safe to begin the 2020 season, and the players are physically ready to begin the season, we will do so.”
The delay, while understandable, nonetheless puts a damper on a Marlins organization that has focused on revamping its minor-league system and was ready to hopefully reap the benefits of that decision this season.
Miami’s minor-league system ranked as a consensus top-10 system among MLB’s 30 teams and fourth overall by MLBPipeline.
Twenty-five of the team’s top-30 prospects joined the organization after the new ownership group took over.
The Marlins have five of baseball’s top 100 prospects. That’s tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks for the second most top prospects. Only the Tampa Bay Rays have more with six.
The super team
Just look at Miami’s Triple A club. Baseball America Baseball America described the Wichita Wind Surge roster as a potential minor-league super team. The majority of the Marlins’ prospects who were in big-league spring training were expected to start the 2020 season here.
Headlining the rotation would be Sixto Sanchez, the club’s top prospect and the No. 22 prospect in baseball. They acquired him from the J.T. Realmuto trade with the Philadelphia Phillies in February 2019.
The Marlins have been cautious with him since he joined the organization, trying not to exacerbate an elbow injury from earlier in his professional career. His fastball touches 99 and he complements it with a changeup and slider that both are plus pitches.
Nick Neidert (Miami’s No. 10 prospect) and Robert Dugger (No. 30), both acquired as part of the Dee Gordon trade in December 2017, both were likely to be in the Triple A rotation as well.
In the lineup are shortstop Jazz Chisholm, first baseman Lewin Diaz, and outfielders Jesus Sanchez Monte Harrison.
All four are among the club’s top-10 prospects. Chisholm, Diaz and Jesus Sanchez all joined the organization at the trade deadline last season. Harrison was part of the Christian Yelich trade.
And that’s just the top level.
The Marlins’ Double A affiliate, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, was projected to have four of the Marlins’ next wave of starting pitchers in Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Trevor Rogers and Jordan Holloway. Miami has 10 outfielders among its top 30 prospects and likely would have at least two starting at each of its four full-season affiliates.
“I’ve been seeing all the talent since I got here,” Chisholm said. “It’s amazing talent from rookie ball up. I’m seeing it coming.”
‘They’re going to get that opportunity’
This all circles back to one of Jeter’s biggest talking points: Competition. The Marlins are getting to a point where roster spots aren’t guaranteed anymore. The front office wants to make the tough decisions.
“Those are good problems to have because it means the overall depth has gotten better,” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. “... We have to put a 26-man roster together. That’ll be the challenge of upstairs, downstairs to work together to put the best 26 on the field.”
Prospects aren’t excluded from that. Nineteen of the team’s top 30 prospects took part in big-league spring training this season. Two — Harrison and Neidert — were still with the big-league club when spring training was suspended (they were subsequently optioned to Triple A to avoid starting their service time).
“When they’re ready,” Jeter said, “they’re going to get that opportunity.”
How will those decisions be made? The Marlins are using a player’s whole body of work — not just his sample size from a few weeks of spring training games — to make decisions.
Scott, the Marlins’ director of player development, said it’s good for fans to get excited about what the prospects can do and for the prospects themselves to get the feeling of being with the big league club.
But perspective, especially in spring, is key.
“There are a lot of [spring training] games where they’re going to be playing against guys who are going to be in Double A. They’re not always playing against the varsity team,” Scott said. “It’s a great experience for them. They can learn from the other players. They have coaches they can pick up tips from.”
The hope, Scott said, is that time with MLB players will give them a better understanding of what it takes to be ready when they get called up. He saw that this year before baseball came to a halt.
“When those guys come back here, they’re more comfortable in their own skin,” Scott said. “That confidence is growing.”
.JPG)