Even with no minor-league season, this Marlins prospect found a way to keep his stock rising
Peyton Burdick was waiting for the opportunity. He had arguably one of the best minor-league seasons of any Miami Marlins prospect in 2019 despite only playing in 69 games after being drafted in the third round that June. His second year in the organization, the thought process went, was only going to be better and give him the opportunity to separate himself in a minor-league system filled with top outfielder prospects.
And then the coronavirus pandemic hit. He spent less than two weeks in spring training before MLB shut down. He spent the season back home in Ohio after not being named as part of the Marlins’ 60-man player pool for the season.
His only formal in-person, teamcentric workouts came during the Marlins’ six-week instructional league that ran from the end of September through early November.
“It was really nice to get down here and have a sense of schedule again,” Burdick, the Marlins’ 16th-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, said of the instructional league. “You’re at home waiting to get that call to come down and we finally get the call. I’m just making the best I can out of it.”
Burdick, 23 years old and a stocky 6-0 and 205 pounds, didn’t take that for granted, and his stock continues to rise as a result. Baseball America named Burdick as the Marlins’ top instructional league performer, based on evaluations by coaches, scouts and front-office officials.
“After an excellent pro debut last year, the Wright State product got stronger and showed an impressive combination of power and natural feel for hitting,” Baseball America wrote in its evaluation. “Evaluators noted he faces profile challenges as a right-handed-hitting corner outfielder, but expressed confidence he’ll hit enough to be a solid everyday player.”
That “excellent pro debut” Baseball America references? Burdick hit .308 with 20 doubles, four triples, 11 home runs, 64 RBI and 60 runs scored in 69 games, 63 of which were with the Class A Clinton (Iowa) Lumberkings. His .950 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) with Clinton was the best on the team among players who appeared in at least 60 games and more than 100 points better than his closest teammate (Jerar Encarnacion, .841). Burdick had at least three hits in six games and rattled off four different hitting streaks of at least five games.
“Burdick’s massive strength and the bat speed in his right-handed stroke gave him some of the best raw power in the 2019 college class and allow him to drive balls out of any part of any park,” reads his MLB Pipeline scouting report, which projects him to be MLB ready by 2022. “He takes aggressive hacks at the plate but doesn’t strike out excessively and has the patience to take walks if pitchers try to work around him. He moves well for his size and makes the most of his average speed on the bases.”
And there’s reason to believe he’s only going to get better. As Burdick put it, he prioritized fundamentals and setting a baseline for his production during his first season of minor-league ball. Now that he has a routine in place, he expects to keep improving as his career continues.
“You hear all about professional baseball and you want to do it your whole life, and you’re not too sure what it’s like,” Burdick said. “So, the first season, for me it was just nice to get my feet wet, get to know new people, get involved with the new organization, and learn their what their foundations are because you go from college to pro ball and everybody’s foundations and philosophies are different. ... My biggest thing is just going out and competing you know because at the end of the day, you can just flat out compete, probably going to have like a lot of success so I like to just compete.”
The Marlins’ outfielder depth
Despite Burdick’s potential and high ceiling, he is just one in a long line of high-end outfielder prospects in the Marlins organization.
Ten of the Marlins’ top-30 prospects are outfielders. The whole group, in order of ranking: 2019 first-round pick JJ Bleday (No. 2), Jesus Sanchez (No. 5), Monte Harrison (No. 10), 2019 competitive balance draft pick Kameron Misner (No. 14), 2018 first-round pick Connor Scott (No. 15), Burdick, Encarnacion (No. 17), Griffin Conine (No. 18), Victor Mesa Jr. (No. 27) and Victor Victor Mesa (No. 30).
“We show up to the field every day and we compete against each other,” Misner said, “because ultimately we want the same position. We have good heads about it. We all want the same thing, but we compete against each other and it brings the best out of us and makes you show up to the field.”
Roster move
Marlins right-handed pitcher Robert Dugger was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners on Monday. The Marlins’ 40-man roster is now at 38.
Dugger, originally acquired from the Mariners in December 2017 as part of the Dee Strange-Gordon trade, had a 7.40 ERA in 11 career MLB games with the Marlins (eight starts). Opponents hit .295 against Dugger, who also had a 1.64 WHIP (walks and hits per inning) and 29 strikeouts against 20 walks over 45 MLB innings.
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 10:49 AM.
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