‘I think he’s just at-bats away’: JJ Bleday continues to impress Miami Marlins
JJ Bleday turned on an 82.1 mph slider near the heart of the plate from the Cardinals’ Kwang Hyun Kim on Saturday.
The ball carried ... and carried ... and carried... before landing at the base of the wall in left-center field at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Bleday, the Miami Marlins’ top-ranked position player prospect and first-round pick in 2019, cruised into third base on that hit for a fourth-inning RBI triple.
Two innings later, with a full-count, Bleday turned on a 96.6 mph fastball near the heart of the plate from Genesis Cabrera.
The ball carried ... and carried ... and carried... before landing beyond the left-field wall for a solo home run, Bleday’s second opposite-field long ball of spring training.
Two big extra-base hits against two big-league left-handed pitchers at the tail end of camp for the left-handed-hitting Bleday.
“It’s a big confidence boost,” Bleday said. “You’ve got to take that into wherever you’re headed this spring, and wherever you’re going to be at throughout the season. You can kind of go back, draw on those experiences and be like, ‘Hey, I’ve competed against the best,’ and you’re able to keep growing off that, keep improving and keep trying to top that to where you’re continuing to try and find success and just not over-pushing it. You want to let the game come to you, but again it’s just a big confidence booster when you’re facing some of the best arms in the world.”
While Bleday is unlikely to crack the Marlins’ Opening Day roster, his performance on Saturday was yet another selling point to the Marlins about his potential despite his limited minor-league action.
“Really, I think he’s just at-bats away,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Getting enough at-bats, seeing more styles, different guys. It’s hard to say that he needs to do this, this or this. I think it’s just a matter of getting at-bats and putting the rest of it together.”
Bleday, a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball ranked as high as the No. 20 by MLB Pipeline and as low as 89 by The Athletic’s Keith Law (Baseball America ranks him as No. 43 and ESPN has him at No. 55), is the only Marlins’ top-30 prospects who was a non-roster invite yet to be reassigned to minor-league camp. He has impressed the Marlins coaching staff and front office with his professionalism and polished hitting approach since he joined the organization, from his debut in Class A advanced in 2019 to his work at the alternate training site in 2020 to spring training this year.
After his two-hit night on Wednesday, Bleday has gone 6 for 26 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs, five RBI, five walks and six runs scored in 31 plate appearances. His .951 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) ranks third among Marlins players with at least 30 plate appearances this spring.
In addition to his success at the plate, Bleday has also been steady playing both corner outfield spots and showed some aggressiveness on the basepaths.
“Quietly, he’s a guy you just come to appreciate kind of day in and day out,” Mattingly said. “Same guy keeps showing up, keeps doing the right thing. Keeps putting it back together I mean that day and day out is really what separates him and separates guys that end up playing here for a long time.”
Bleday’s biggest takeaway as spring training comes to an end?
“It’s been being able to see as much big league pitching as I can, I think that’s the big takeaway,” Bleday said. “It’s really just been literally get as much big league pitching and facing as much as you can, because that’s what’s going to get you comfortable. And that’s what’s going to get you confident and able to compete when you do get that callup whenever that is.”
Rule 5 decisions
Zach Pop and Paul Campbell, the Marlins’ relief pitcher duo with Rule 5 restrictions, made what was likely their final Grapefruit League appearances on Saturday night.
Now, the Marlins have decisions to make.
As Rule 5 picks, both Pop and Campbell have to stay on the Marlins active roster for the season or else be sent back to their former team (the Orioles for Pop; The Rays for Campbell). They can be placed on the injured list, but must be active for a minimum of 90 days.
But the sample size the Marlins got from the two was relatively small. Pop, almost two years removed from Tommy John surgery, threw five innings in spring training games. Campbell, who missed part of camp to tend to a personal matter, threw seven innings in four games.
“You always wish for a little bit more for those decisions,” Mattingly said. “Obviously Paul had some personal stuff early, which kind of threw him back a little bit. Zach, we wanted to be careful with because of coming off the Tommy John and that progression. So I would say neither one of those guys has really been worked the way you would want to work them to really get to a better understanding of them, but you just do the best you can with it, and try to make a good decision.”
Marlins general manager Kim Ng said the club is “really surprised and happy about where they both are.”
She called Pop’s stuff “just excellent.” The 24-year-old uses a sinker and slider that both have swing and miss potential. The sinker has topped out at 97 mph this spring while the slider sits between 83 and 86 mph.
In five innings, Pop gave up one unearned run on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
“I definitely say it changes the way you think, but at the same time, you’re just trying to go out there and be the best version of you that you can be — for me, post-Tommy John,” Pop said Saturday. “It’s an exciting thing to get the opportunity to come here and to compete against these guys and have the opportunity I’m super grateful for. Whether they take me, they don’t take me, they send me back, whatever it is, just to have this opportunity to throw against these guys and to get regular work in, and you just get your confidence building and your stuff building and all that stuff is just amazing, amazing stuff.”
Campbell, meanwhile, held opponents to three runs on five hits and five walks with eight strikeouts in seven innings. He primarily uses a mid-90s four-seam fastball, high-70s curveball and high-80s slider. He was built up as a starter in the Rays organization and threw 43 pitches in two innings on Saturday.
“I think it goes deeper than just the outings, you know, throughout practice and before playing games,” Campbell said. “I think that I did my best. I gave it my all, and it’s their decision to make, but I mean I feel pretty good where I’m at.”
The decision of whether to carry both Pop and Campbell is amplified by the Marlins’ bullpen depth. In addition to holding onto Yimi Garcia, Richard Bleier and James Hoyt from last season, Miami also acquired Anthony Bass, Dylan Floro, John Curtiss, Adam Cimber and Ross Detwiler. Add in Pop and Campbell, and that’s 10 relievers competing theoretically for either eight or nine roster spots.
“Obviously,” Ng said, “we have tough decisions coming up.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2021 at 8:34 AM.
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