Just how good are Marlins’ Triple A prospects? Ask the big-leaguers who rehabbed there
A lot of talk has been made about the Miami Marlins’ hitting prospects with the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and for good reason.
Four of the team’s top eight position player prospects are either playing for the Jumbo Shrimp now or have spent the bulk of their time with the Marlins’ highest-ranked minor-league affiliate.
That group includes first baseman Lewin Diaz (No. 5 in the Marlins’ system, according to MLB Pipeline), outfielder Jesus Sanchez (No. 6), infielder Jose Devers (No. 8) and outfielder Monte Harrison (No. 14). Devers is currently with the Marlins and getting regular playing time as the team deals with a slew of infield injuries.
And even just mentioning those four fails to recognize the emergence and steady production of players like infielder Eddy Alvarez (currently playing with Team USA in hopes of qualifying for the Olympics), catcher Brian Navarreto and infielder Luis Marte (who was called up to the big-league roster on Friday and is waiting to make his MLB debut).
But just how good is this group that contains a few pieces the Marlins hope will factor in their future? Three Marlins regulars got an up-close look over the past couple weeks while on rehab assignment with the Jumbo Shrimp.
Their takeaways?
“Those guys rake,” Marlins middle infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “Going down there, they got me hyped, man. I got in the game to lead off and they were hyped to see me. I’ve played with those guys before in the Minor Leagues, so it’s kind of cool to come back and play with them. How hype they were to play with me and how hype I was to play with them … I can’t wait to see them in the big leagues.”
Catcher Jorge Alfaro added: “It’s impressive how much talent we have on the Triple A team. All the guys go out and compete every game. They’re always fighting and they have a good vibe. It was fun to be there.”
And outfielder Starling Marte: “It’s just a lot of talent that you will be able to see at this level really soon.”
Sanchez, who the Marlins obtained from the Tampa Bay Rays at the 2019 trade deadline, remains the headliner of the group a month into the minor-league season. The 23-year-old outfielder has a .410 batting average, a 1.124 on-base-plus-slugging mark, seven home runs, 21 RBI and 15 runs scored while also recording five outfield assists defensively.
Marlins general manager Kim Ng has taken notice of Sanchez’s month-long success but noted last week that
“We just want to make sure he’s getting his at-bats,” Ng said. “I don’t have any timetable on when we expect to see him up here, but the most important thing for him and for a number of others of these guys who didn’t have a minor-league season last year ... I think it’s really, really important for them to just make sure that they’re seeing their at-bats, they’re having some success and really just try to be consistent.”
Some other notable hitting performances at Triple A:
▪ Harrison has hits in 14 of his last 17 games and nine of 23 hits overall have gone for extra bases (four doubles, one triple, four home runs). He has also stolen six bases but his strikeout rate is still particularly high (35 in 93 plate appearances)
▪ Diaz is hitting .220 with 13 RBI and four home runs.
▪ Navarreto has a .267 batting average and a .904 OPS with three home runs, 10 RBI and eight runs scored in 14 games.
Chisholm’s overall message to them?
“Don’t try to change who you are,’” said Chisholm. “Don’t try to be someone you’re not out there. Be yourself. If you got to dance in the box, go dance in the box. If you gotta go out there and bat flip someone just to keep hitting, go bat flip someone. If you gotta bat flip a walk, do your thing out there. If you’re going to do all that stuff, you gotta play hard and play the game aggressively.”
More Marlins minor-league updates
▪ The Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Class A Advanced Beloit Snappers moved to five-man starting pitching rotations last week, paving the way for one pitcher each week to pitch twice in each six-game series. The two this week: Max Meyer in Double A and Zach McCambley.
Meyer, the Marlins’ first-round pick in 2020 and the No. 3 overall prospect in the organization, impressed in both of his outings, throwing five shutout innings with three strikeouts on Tuesday, but left Sunday’s game after 3 1/3 no-hit innings and 47 pitches on Sunday for precautionary reasons with an apparent finger injury.
McCambley (Marlins’ No. 23 prospect) threw nine innings over his two starts last week (4 2/3 innings on Tuesday, 4 1/3 innings on Sunday), giving up four earned runs on 10 hits while striking out 13 with no walks. McCambley has not walked a batter since his first start of the season.
▪ Outfielder Peyton Burdick, the Marlins’ No. 12 overall prospect, is on a nine-game hitting streak with Double A Pensacola. Since May 18, Burdick has at least one hit in 11 of 12 games (including four multi-hit contests) with five doubles, one triple and five home runs.
▪ A few hitters to recognize at the lower levels: Griffin Conine (Marlins’ No. 18 prospect) hit .348 last week (6 for 23) with five RBI and six runs scored and is now hitting .274 with a .958 OPS this season with Beloit; catcher Will Banfield (No. 28), also with Beloit, drove in seven runs, walked six times, scored five times, hit a home run and stole a base last week; first baseman Troy Johnston is hitting .349 with 13 RBI and 12 runs scored over 24 games this season with Class A Jupiter.
▪ More encouraging in Jupiter: Dax Fulton, the Marlins’ second-round pick in the 2020 draft and ninth-ranked prospect who was coming off Tommy John surgery, threw a career-high 4 2/3 shutout innings on Wednesday, striking out seven batters while allowed just three hits and one walk.
▪ To round out the performances from the Marlins’ 2020 draft picks: Jake Eder (No. 24 prospect) threw another five strong innings for Pensacola, giving up one unearned run on a hit and two walks while striking out eight. His ERA is down to 0.45 after four starts. Kyle Nicolas (No. 17), meanwhile, gave up two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out a career high 11 batters in 4 1/3 innings for Beloit on Friday.
This story was originally published May 31, 2021 at 11:30 AM.
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