Miami Marlins prospects are well represented on the top-100 lists. Where they stand
Three of the main Major League Baseball prospect ranking sites — Baseball America, The Athletic and MLB Pipeline — have recently unveiled their preseason top-100 lists for the 2021 season.
The Miami Marlins are well represented.
Five Marlins players — right-handed pitchers Sixto Sanchez, Edward Cabrera and Max Meyer; outfielder JJ Bleday; and shortstop Jazz Chisholm — are featured by all three sites.
A sixth, left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers, is part of Baseball America’s list.
Here’s a look at what each site is saying about the half-dozen prospects.
Sixto Sanchez
Sanchez, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies as the headliner of the J.T. Realmuto trade, made his long-awaited MLB debut for the Marlins on Aug. 22 and remained with the big-league club for the remainder of the shortened 2020 season. Sanchez, whose four-seam fastball averaged 98.5 mph and is complemented with a changeup, sinker and slider, posted a 3-2 record in the regular season with a 3.46 ERA and 33 strikeouts against 11 walks over 39 innings in seven starts. He also started two games during the Marlins’ playoff run.
Baseball America and MLB Pipeline have Sanchez as the Marlins’ top prospect.
Baseball America has Sanchez as the No. 6 overall prospect in baseball. He is the top pitching prospect on their board.
“With elite fastball velocity, a devastating changeup and rare control for a power pitcher,” the site wrote, “Sanchez is primed to build on his excellent MLB debut.”
MLB Pipeline has Sanchez at No. 15 on its list. He is fifth among right-handed pitchers on this list, behind the Detroit Tigers’ Casey Mize, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Nate Pearson, the Houston Astros’ Forrest Whitley and the Chicago White Sox’s Michael Kopech.
The Athletic’s Keith Law tabbed Sanchez as the No. 25 overall prospect and second among Marlins players behind Cabrera.
“His strikeout rate in the majors was lower than you’d expect,” Law wrote, “but he has the weapons to put away hitters, needing to work more on location when he’s ahead in the count. He still has to maintain his conditioning and show he can hold velocity like this over a regular season’s workload, but this is No. 1 starter material with this new, more complete arsenal.”
JJ Bleday
Bleday, the Marlins’ first-round pick in 2019, is featured prominently on all three lists, coming in at No. 20 for MLB Pipeline, No. 43 for Baseball America, and No. 89 for The Athletic.
“The Marlins’ rebuild has picked up speed, and Bleday is part of the next wave of solid prospects that could help the team keep up in the competitive NL East,” Baseball America wrote.
MLB Pipeline has the left-handed-hitting Bleday as the sixth-best outfielder prospect, behind the Seattle Mariners’ Jarred Kelenic, the Atlanta Braves’ Christian Pache, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Dylan Carlson, the Mariners’ Julio Y. Rodriguez and the Braves’ Drew Waters.
How soon could Bleday make his MLB debut? Potentially as early as this year, depending on his development. Remember: Even with his success at Vanderbilt and his shortened professional debut after being drafted, Bleday has yet to play a full season of minor-league baseball, and Miami is loaded with top-level outfielder prospects.
Max Meyer
Meyer, the Marlins’ first-round pick in 2020 out of the University of Minnesota, checks in at No. 28 for MLB Pipeline, No. 40 for The Athletic and No. 44 for Baseball America.
Meyer lacks size at only 6-0 and 191 pounds, but the Marlins see him as a formidable starter. His fastball touches 100 mph, but his best pitch might be what The Athletic’s Law describes as a “hellacious slider.”
“He’s very athletic and has a great delivery for someone who throws this hard, also earning raves for how hard he competes,” Law wrote.
Edward Cabrera
Law has Cabrera ranked the highest of any of the three, tabbing the 22-year old as the No. 20 prospect with the belief that “there’s a solid chance Cabrera will be better” than Sanchez “because he has the swing-and-miss secondary pitch Sanchez lacks.”
Law, however, quickly notes: “Pick your poison: They’re both potential aces and very, very valuable prospects right now.”
Cabrera was on the verge of a potential MLB debut last season but the Marlins were cautious with him after he suffered a minor shoulder injury early in the season while at the alternate training site in Jupiter. Cabrera, like Sanchez and Meyer, can reach 100 mph with his fastball. He also has a changeup that’s in the low 90s and an above average slider.
MLB Pipeline ranks Cabrera at No. 68. Baseball America has him at No. 81.
Jazz Chisholm
Like Cabrera, The Athletic’s Law is higher on Chisholm than the other two outlets. He ranks Chisholm at No. 26, while MLB Pipeline has him at No. 66 and Baseball America has him at No. 77.
Chisholm, acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Zac Gallen in July 2019, made his big-league debut late in 2020. While seen as the Marlins’ shortstop of the future, he will most likely compete with Isan Diaz for starting second base duties in 2021.
Trevor Rogers
Baseball America has Rogers, Miami’s first-round pick in 2017, as its No. 89 overall prospect.
Rogers, 23, made his big-league debut on Aug. 25 and made seven regular-season starts overall for the Marlins. His base numbers weren’t particularly great (6.11 ERA, .283 batting average against, 1.61 WHIP) but he had a three-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio and showed glimpses of his potential. Also remember: In a normal season, Rogers likely wouldn’t have made his debut in 2020.
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