After a lost year, minor-league baseball is back. Its importance is not lost on the Marlins
Derek Jeter reflected on the year that was — and, for many of the players in the Miami Marlins’ organization, the year that wasn’t.
Major League Baseball held a season during the COVID-19 pandemic, albeit one that was shortened to 60 games, played in a regional format and had its bumps along on the road.
Minor League Baseball wasn’t as fortunate. Its season was officially canceled on June 30, right as MLB teams were about to start reporting for their second round of camp following a three-and-a-half-month layoff due to the pandemic.
Thousands of players were left without a season to play, a year of development and progress at risk.
That long lost year has finally ended. Minor League Baseball is back.
The Marlins’ four full-season affiliates in the realigned minor-league format — the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in Triple A, Pensacola Blue Wahoos in Double A, Beloit (Wisconsin) Snappers in Class A Advanced and Jupiter Hammerheads in Class A — all begin their seasons Tuesday.
The importance of that is not lost on Jeter.
“Thank God,” the Marlins’ CEO said Wednesday. “And what I mean by that is I think a lot of times people pay so much attention to what goes on at the major-league level that we lose sight of the fact that these guys lost an entire year in the minor leagues.”
The lost season came at a critical juncture for the Marlins, who were entering the third year of their rebuild under the Jeter and Bruce Sherman ownership group that centered on enhancing a dormant minor-league system. The Marlins’ farm system was annually ranked among the worst to being ranked anywhere from fourth to 11th among 30 MLB teams depending on which outlet’s ranking system you use.
The Marlins did what they could to ensure their players gained as much experience as possible in a lost season, from dedicating spots on their 60-player roster pool solely to develop top prospects to weekly video sessions with players who weren’t at the facilities during the pandemic.
But none of that replaces the grind of the 120-game minor-league schedule and the daily reps that come with it.
Which is why Minor League Baseball’s return Tuesday after a year hiatus is all the more important.
“Everyone knows how I feel about our system,” Jeter said, “but our guys need to get back out there. You can only play so many intrasquad games. You’ve got to play against real competition.”
How good is the Marlins’ minor-league system?
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked the Marlins’ farm system No. 2 overall this preseason. The Athletic’s Keith Law and MLB Pipeline both had the Marlins’ minor-league system as the fourth best in baseball. Baseball America was the lone outlet of the main four to not place the Marlins among the top five, ranking the Marlins 11th.
“This is by far the best Marlins system I’ve ever had the pleasure of ranking and detailing,” Law wrote.
Five Marlins prospects entered the year as consensus top-100 prospects: right-handed pitchers Sixto Sanchez, Max Meyer and Edward Cabrera; outfielder JJ Bleday; and middle infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. Left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers also cracked Baseball America’s top-100 list.
Chisholm and Rogers have since graduated from prospect status.
And the Marlins’ top prospects are scattered throughout the system.
Four of their top-30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline are currently with the big-league club: Infielder Jose Devers (No. 8), outfielder Monte Harrison (No. 14), right-handed pitcher Jordan Holloway (No. 22) and right-handed pitcher Paul Campbell (No. 27), although Campbell’s future with the club is unclear after MLB on Monday suspended him for 80 games following a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance.
Four of their top 10 are starting the season with the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp: first baseman Lewin Diaz (No. 5), outfielder Jesus Sanchez (No. 6), left-handed pitcher Braxton Garrett (No. 7) and right-handed pitcher Nick Neidert (No. 10). Sixto Sanchez, the club’s top prospect, would most likely have started the season in Triple A as well if he were healthy. He is dealing with a right shoulder injury. The same goes for Cabrera, the club’s No. 4 overall prospect who is rehabbing after being sidelined with an inflamed nerve in his right biceps before the start of spring training.
Double A Pensacola is arguably the most intriguing of the Marlins’ four full-season affiliates. Bleday and Meyer, the club’s Nos. 2 and 3 prospects, are starting the season there, as are outfielders Peyton Burdick (No. 12) and Jerar Encarnacion (No. 21) plus left-handed pitcher Jake Eder (No. 24).
Class A Advanced Beloit is headlined by a strong outfield in Kameron Misner (No. 15), Connor Scott (No. 16) and Griffin Conine (No. 18). Catcher Will Banfield (No. 28) and pitchers Kyle Nicolas (No. 17) and Zach McCambley (No. 23) are also starting there.
Class A Jupiter features three of the club’s top-15 prospects in left-handed pitcher Dax Fulton (No. 9), outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. (No. 11) and shortstop Nasim Nunez (No. 13).
“I think one of the things that we do acknowledge across the board is that last year and the minor leagues not having that season has really hurt us, really hurt all of us,” general manager Kim Ng said. “We’re really trying to make sure our guys can get as many reps and innings as possible. That’s our approach throughout this season.”
‘It was a challenge’
But with all that talent came difficult decisions last year. In lieu of a minor-league season last year, each team had a 60-player roster pool to work with during the 2020 season. Those who weren’t on the active roster worked out at an alternate training site.
Those who weren’t part of the roster pool were not allowed to work out at team facilities or get in-person instruction from coaches inside the organization.
“It was a challenge,” Marlins director of Minor League operations Geoffrey DeGroot said, “and it wasn’t just a challenge for us. It was a challenge for all for all 30 clubs and all 30 player development systems. We were very strategic about who we brought to the alternate training site. Obviously we were limited to 60 players between the major-league team and the ATS last year which is very difficult because we pride ourselves on developing all our players and impacting all of our players as best we can. Obviously under that framework, we weren’t able to do that the way we would like.”
The Marlins had a handful of top prospects — Bleday, Meyer, Devers, Encarnacion and Banfield — spend the season at the alternate site will the understanding they would be there solely for development purposes.
Even that was an adjustment.
Yes, those prospects got regular at-bats in controlled settings against fringe major-leaguers and prospects who were farther along in their professional careers.
But two months of intrasquad games can’t replace a full season, especially for those at the early stages of their career.
“Everybody works in offseason to get ready for spring training and then go to your affiliate affiliate knowing in the back of your mind like this could be the year that I can show out and take off,” Banfield said. “Getting that taken away hurt a lot.”
Now, several of the Marlins’ top prospects — Sixto Sanchez, Rogers, Jesus Sanchez, Diaz, Chisholm and Garrett among them — also made their MLB debuts earlier than expected last season and got a taste of the big leagues. This was mostly as a result of the Marlins’ roster being in a constant state of flux following a COVID-19 outbreak at the start of the season that resulted in 18 players testing positive.
“We had so many guys that went down, so they had a lot of experience,” Jeter said. “But I think at our alternate site last year, we had a lot of competition and a lot of our talented players — even some of the players at the lower levels had a chance to get some reps — but you can’t make up actual game experience against others. That’s what they’ve missed is that competition part.”
The Marlins were also able to host a group of about 50 prospects in Jupiter for a monthlong instructional league camp in October after MLB’s regular-season ended, which “salvaged some sort of a season for those guys,” DeGroot said.
Other than that, it was mostly weekly video meetings between coaches and players to go over game plans and provide critiquing that is most effective in person.
“I think we made the best of the situation,” DeGroot said.
Prospects for the most part, however, still had to figure out from a distance how to make the most of a year without an organized baseball season while also maneuvering through a pandemic.
Like Burdick, the club’s third-round pick in 2019 who quickly impressed in his first season of pro ball. He primarily stayed home in Ohio, where he worked out daily but admitted “those live reps are hard to get when you’re back home.”
Like Nunez, arguably the club’s top defensive shortstop in a system quickly getting deep with middle infielders. He played in the rookie Gulf Coast League in 2019, stealing 28 bases and drawing 34 walks while showing off his Gold Glove potential on defense. He did calisthenics workouts at home and got a batting cage that he installed in his backyard at home in Georgia and prioritized watching old video work.
“Just always have to stay ready,” Nunez said.
Like pitcher Will Stewart, who spent the last year back home in Huntsville, Alabama, and worked three jobs — including spending six months working as a lab technician for a cardiologist at his local hospital despite having no experience in the medical field — while also offering pitching lessons and doing his normal workout regiment.
“It changes your perspective, and it makes you appreciate life 10 times more than anyone did,” Stewart said. “I mean, if you run around this interview right now and ask everybody if they appreciate life more now than they did in 2019, I guarantee you everyone says yes. You change your whole way of life. It’s not the way we grew up, so going from that to this is, it’s a jump for sure.”
New minor-league setup
While the minor-league season returns, it doesn’t come without changes.
Each team now has just four full-season affiliates and its rookie-level leagues held at their spring trainings sites and in the Dominican Republic academies. The short-season Class A affiliates that normally start in early July where a lot of prospects taken in the draft normally start their professional careers are no more.
In an attempt to limit travel, minor-league teams are only playing against teams inside their division and are playing six-game series. Games are played Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday serving as a universal off day.
For the Marlins, three of their four full-season affiliates are in Florida — Triple A Jacksonville, Double A Pensacola and Class A Jupiter.
“Selfishly for us, to bounce around and see the other affiliates is great,” DeGroot said. “It’s a lot less flying. We can drive now. Just hop in a car and go. So that was great. I think it’s better on our players moving from affiliate to affiliate. They don’t have to hop on flights. We can move players much easier.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 12:13 PM.
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