Marlins extend invitations to expected minor-league affiliates. Three are in Florida
When minor-league baseball returns in 2021, most of the Miami Marlins’ prospects will be playing a lot closer to home.
The Marlins on Wednesday announced that invitations have been formally extended to the four minor-league teams they plan to have as their full-season affiliates for next season. Three — the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos and Class A Jupiter Hammerheads — are in the state of Florida. The fourth is the Beloit (Wisconsin) Snappers, which will be the Marlins’ Class A Advanced affiliate. The team will also continue to have rookie leagues at both its spring training complex in Jupiter as part of the Gulf Coast League and at its academy in the Dominican Republic.
The moves come as part of Major League Baseball’s reorganization and consolidation of the minor leagues.
Short-season affiliates, however, are no more, so the Marlins are no longer affiliated with the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League.
“We are extremely excited to invite the great baseball communities in Jacksonville, Pensacola, Beloit and Jupiter to join our Player Development system,” Gary Denbo, the Marlins’ vice president of player development and scouting, said in a statement. “As the Miami Marlins continue to build a championship organization, these outstanding baseball destinations will serve as home for our elite players and staff as they continue their rise up to the Major Leagues.”
Jupiter and Jacksonville have been Marlins minor-league affiliates since 2002 and 2009, respectively, but were previously at different levels on the minor-league spectrum. Jupiter, also the site of the Marlins’ spring training complex, has been a Class A Advanced affiliate since its 1998, but the 12-team Florida State League has been bumped down a classification starting in 2021. Jacksonville has been a Double A affiliate since 1970 when it joined the Southern League, but is being bumped back up to Triple A status.
Pensacola is heading into its 10th season of affiliated minor-league baseball, all at the Double A level. The Blue Wahoos spent the past two seasons as the Minnesota Twins’ Double A affiliate after starting off with the Cincinnati Reds from 2012 to 2018. They were named Baseball America’s 2020 Double A Organization of the Year.
The Beloit Snappers have been part of minor-league baseball since 1982, spending all 39 years in the Midwest League. The Snappers were most recently the Class A affiliate for the Oakland Athletics (2013-2020). Before that, they were the affiliate for the Minnesota Twins (2005-2012) and the Milwaukee Brewers (1982-2004)
The announcement also confirms that the Marlins’ ties with the Triple A Wichita (Kansas) Wind Surge, which was supposed to play its inaugural season in 2020, have ended before a game could even be played. The Marlins also are no longer affiliated with the Clinton (Iowa) Lumberkings, who became their Class A affiliate in 2019.
‘That’s the foundation’
The 2020 minor-league season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, putting the development of most MLB team’s prospects on hold. Many teams included their top prospects at their alternate training site during the condensed MLB season, but many players spent the season working out on their own until teams could start holding instructional camps in September and October.
Marlins general manager Kim Ng understands the value of the minor-league system.
“That’s the foundation of your organization,” Ng said.
That’s especially true with the Marlins, who have built their farm system into one of MLB’s best since the new ownership group led by majority owner Bruce Sherman and CEO Derek Jeter took over prior to the 2018 season.
Miami has six prospects ranked among the top 80 in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline: Sixto Sanchez (No. 19), JJ Bleday (No. 24), Max Meyer (No. 33), Jazz Chisholm (No. 61), Jesus Sanchez (No. 76) and Edward Cabrera (No. 80). Twenty-five of the team’s top-30 prospects were brought in since the new ownership took over prior to the 2018 season. Eight of the top 11 made their MLB debuts in 2020, although the club will admit some came up sooner than anticipated out of necessity after 19 players were simultaneous sidelined due to a COVID-19 outbreak early in the season.
“Being able to step into a situation like this where they are now coming up on year four, they are ahead of the game,” Ng said. “When you project out and when I’ve projected out and looked at other situations, it takes a really, really long time to build a farm system of this caliber and of this quality. That really is the most exciting thing about all of this. ... The resources that have been allocated to infrastructure, let’s call it infrastructure, has been really eye-opening and just incredibly happy to see it’s in place.”
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