A hot streak at the plate and more Marlins prospect notables in final minor-league stretch
.jpg "Miami Marlins outfielder prospect Kameron Misner bats for the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.")
Kameron Misner doesn’t get as much attention as many of his fellow outfielder prospects in the Miami Marlins’ system.
But for the past seven weeks, across two minor-league levels, all Misner has done is hit.
The 23-year-old and the No. 22 overall prospect in Miami’s system according to MLB Pipeline has safely reached base in 35 of his past 36 games, including his final 24 contests with the Class A Advanced Beloit Snappers and 11 of his first 12 games with the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
In this ongoing span heading into the final week of the Double A regular season, Misner has a .322 batting average, .410 on-base percentage and .552 slugging mark. He has 15 multihit games — nine with Beloit, six with Pensacola — and nearly half of his 46 hits have gone for extra bases (13 doubles, one triple, and six home runs). He has 30 RBI, 26 runs scored and five stolen bases. Arguably just as important, he has just a 22.3 percent strikeout rate over these 36 games.
Misner, the No. 35 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of the University of Missouri, is playing in a Double A outfield that currently also includes draftmates JJ Bleday and Peyton Burdick as well as fellow top prospect Griffin Conine.
Throughout the minor-league season, this trio has received more fanfare than Misner. Bleday was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 draft, and hopes are high for him to become an everyday starter for the Marlins despite his overall struggles at the plate this season (.212 batting average, .700 on-base-plus-slugging mark with 100 strikeouts in 460 plate appearances). Burdick and Conine both have immense power potential. Conine has 36 home runs this season between his time at Beloit and Pensacola, while Burdick has 23 all at the Double A level.
MLB Pipeline also has all three ranked higher than Misner on their list of Miami’s top prospects — Bleday is No. 5 in the Marlins’ system, Burdick is No. 14 and Conine is No. 21.
But Misner’s consistency down the stretch to go along with his solid play defensively (he can play all three outfield positions) is worth watching and seeing how it translates heading into next season.
More minor-league notables
▪ Bennett Hostetler continues to be the early surprise of the Marlins’ 2021 draft. The Marlins’ 18th-round pick out of North Dakota State was promoted to Class A Advanced Beloit last week, becoming the first player from the draft class to play for a level above the rookie-level Florida Complex league or Class A Jupiter.
His first hit for Beloit? A two-run home run.
Through 31 minor-league games (27 with Jupiter, four with Beloit), Hostetler is hitting .319 with six doubles, four home runs, 28 RBI and 20 runs scored.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Eury Perez’s phenomenal first season of professional baseball has continued in Beloit. The 6-8 18-year-old, ranked as the No. 6 overall prospect in Miami’s system, has a 1.50 ERA (three earned runs allowed in 18 innings) with 22 strikeouts against three walks and a .115 batting average against in his first four Class A Advanced starts after putting up similar numbers in Jupiter before his promotion.
▪ Both first baseman Lewin Diaz and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz have graduated from prospect status. Infielder Cristhian Rodriguez and catcher Payton Henry have been added to Miami’s top-30 prospects as a result.
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