Marlins sent to the AFL

(Editor’s Note: Now that the minor league seasons have wrapped up, resident Marlins prospect maven John Herold is back to analyze and break down our youngsters. He’ll be dropping by occasionally with his thoughts.)

The AFL rosters were announced awhile back.  Here’s the list of players the Marlins will be sending (I’ll be going deeper into the numbers for players later, when park factors have been released):

Kyle Skipworth is the main name, and it’s rather surprising to see him going.  Strike outs and plate discipline are still a massive problem with him, and they barely improved in his second going around in Greensboro (0.20 BB/K, 31.8% K rate in 2009; 0.24 BB/K, 30.3% K% in 2010).  But he did show more power, hit for a better BABIP, and greatly improved on defense.  He still hasn’t been worth the #6 selection, but at least it wasn’t a repeat of last season.  The Marlins had called him up for two games in Jacksonville at the end of the season when Jax needed a catcher (when Chris Hatcher was called up); I’d expect him to be in Jupiter next season, but considering that call up and the fact he’s going to the AFL, it’ll be interesting to see if they have him skip A+.

Osvaldo Martinez is the other big name.  He had a breakout season for Jacksonville at just 22 years of age, and is now one of our top hitting prospects (though this speaks more of the current state of our system than for Osvaldo, as he’s still considered a future utility player).   He posted a strong BB/K, a good BABIP, plays good defense all around the infield, but still has questionable power.  A Rule 5 draft eligible player, we could see him some time next season.

Other names include:

2B Ryan Curry: After having a good year for Jupiter last season, he had a horrendous season for Jacksonville.  However, he’s a VERY good defensive player.

SP Brad Stone: Has decent control, but bad strikeout rates and a penchant for flyballs)

MR Peter Andrelczyk
MR Steven Cishek: Both are former 5th round picks [Cishek in 2007, Andre in 2008] who sit in the low 90’s with the prototypical slider/change rounding out their repertoire. Both have posted good peripherals, but have been old for their leagues.  Andre has posted better numbers and has a better ground ball rate (Cishek’s batted ball data is neutral), but Cishek has seen more time in the upper minors.

MR Jay Buente: You should already be familiar with him.