September 25, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Miami Marlins center fielder Gorkys Hernandez (2) allows a Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward (not pictured) triple by missing a leaping catch in the sixth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

Down on the Farm Report for the Miami Marlins: May 19th:

The Suns had the day off and the Hammerheads were blown out by a talented Cubs team, but the Zephyrs and Grasshoppers were able to pick up huge wins.

Triple-A:New Orleans Zephyrs (20-24) @ Sacramento River Cats  (25-21)

Win 2-0

Gorkys Hernandez, RF: 2-for-3, 2B (6), 2 R

Kevin Mattison, CF: 2-for-3, 2B (5), SO

A.J. Battisto, SP: 5.0 IP, 2 H, BB, 4 SO

Chris Hatcher, RP: 1.0 IP, H, BB, SV (13)

The Zephyrs collected three doubles in this game and were able to muster enough offense to get Battisto the win. 2-0. Battisto pitched five solid shutout innings before New Orleans’ bullpen came in and tossed another four shutout innings. Combined, the team allowed just six hits in the game. Chris Hatcher collected his 13th save of the season and lowered his season ERA to 3.70. Look for him to have a shot to make an impact on the Marlins later in the season.

Double-A:

Jacksonville Suns (25-17) 

No Scheduled Game

High Class A:

Jupiter Hammerheads (24-21) vs. Daytona Cubs (23-21)

Loss 8-4

Logan Morrison, 1B: 1-for-5, RBI

Austin Nola, SS: 2-for-3, 2B ( 6), 3B (2), RBI, R

Ryan Rieger, RF: 2-for-4, 3B (1), 2 SO

Jake Esch, SP: 2.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO

Josh Hodges, RP: 1.0 IP, H, BB

Logan Morrison continues his rehab in Jupiter, he is hitting just 3-for-14 (.231) in his first three games. Expect LoMo to take a couple of more games to find his groove against pitchers not in extended spring training and that have been pitching all season. Austin Nola had a huge game for the Hammerheads, picking up a double and triple, as well as scoring a run.

Jake Esch had a rough start against a talented lineup, but expect him to have a few opportunities to bounce back. With the return of Andrew Heaney, it seems like the Hammerheads have moved Josh Hodges to the bullpen. Hodges pitched well in the rotation for the most part, but the organization sees him as a reliever longterm.

Low Class A:

Greensboro Grasshoppers (18-26) vs. Hagerstown Suns (26-16)

Win 6-2

Jesus Solorzano, RF: 2-for-3, 2B (9), RBI, BB, SO

Viosergy Rosa, DH: 1-for-3, 2B (8), RBI, BB, SO

Michel Main, CF: 2-for-5, HR (1), 2 RBI

Ramon Del Orbe, SP: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, SO

Jheyson Manzueta, RP: 3.0 IP, 2 H, BB, 2 SO

Big days for Soloranzo and Rosa, as they collect an RBI and double each in the Grasshoppers 18th win of the season. The Grasshoppers offense was able to score 6 runs on 7 hits. Main hit his first home run of the season and drove in two runs. He raised his batting average all the way up to 0.77 with his one hit.

May 18, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins relief pitcher Steve Cishek (31) throws during the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Manager Mike Redmond has decided he has seen enough of the early struggles of Steve Cishek in the closer role and has decided to oust Cishek as the primary closer, for now. The team will turn to a closer-by-committee for the time being.\n
In 18 2/3 innings in 2013, Cishek owns a 4.91 ERA and 4.29 FIP. He has struggled immensely against lefties, as they own a. 325/.438/.564 (.410 wOBA) line against him in 48 at bats. Right handed side-armed pitchers generally struggle against lefties, as the ball does not have quite the movement they need. The equalizer for Cishek would be a changeup, which he could work on improving in lower leverage situations.

Mike Dunn and Chad Qualls will join Cishek in a three man committee in the closer role. Dunn has been impressive in 2013, as he has lowered his walk rates substantially. Dunn has a 1.74 ERA and a 3.03 FIP. Dunn, a left handed pitcher, gets lefties and righties out at a decent clip and is a good closer candidate if he can keep his walks down.

Qualls has quietly been throwing well in 2013, as he owns a 3.63 ERA and 3.61 FIP. Last season, between three teams, Qualls pitched to a 5.30 ERA and 4.60 FIP. His career numbers sit closer to his numbers from last season than this, so regression could be on the way for Qualls going forward.

Logan Morrison could be back with Miami Marlins by June 1 | Palm Beach Post

Logan Morrison’s minor-league rehab assignment will move to Double-A Jacksonville on Monday and he could rejoin the Marlins as early as the end of next week.

Manager Mike Redmond said on Wednesday that Morrison will play four more games — three at first base and one as the designated hitter — at Single-A Jupiter before making the trip to northern Florida.

Miami Marlins’ injured Giancarlo Stanton takes live batting practice | Miami Herald

When Marlins manager Mike Redmond finished his injury update before batting practice Tuesday, he smiled.

“We’re starting to move some dirt,” Redmond said. “That feels good.”

Metrics say Ruggiano among top defensive center fielders | Sun-Sentinel

It doesn’t take fancy formulas to determine Justin Ruggiano plays a pretty good center field. The metrics in Ruggiano’s case confirm what the eyes see.

Ruggiano entered Wednesday’s series final against the Phillies leading the Marlins with seven homers and 19 RBI. No less important has been his contribution with the glove. Ruggiano according to several metrics is among the National League’s best.

Marlins or Astros: Who’s worse? | Baseball Nation

Back in the early off-season, when the discerning baseball fan wanted to laugh at a team with dismal prospects, he or she would pick on the Houston Astros. Sure, the organization has hired smart people from all around the baseball universe, and their future seems bright. But in the short term, it looked like the Astros were going to have a tough time. Almost certainly the toughest time in baseball.

2013 MLB Draft: Mock drafts from around the Internet | Fishstripes

Fish Stripes aspires to be a sophisticated baseball blog. You may have noticed that the Game Threads here don’t receive thousands of posts like on other SB Nation sites, and this is by design. The content here is for elite, high-minded folks. But once in a while, I feel like throwing a bone to the common rabble. What better way exists accomplish this than writing about mock drafts?

Here at Marlin Maniac:

Down On The Farm Miami Marlins Daily Report: May 21st

Jordan Smith blew a 3-2 Zephyrs lead in the eight inning and caused the game to go extra innings. Luckily, recent signee Velazquez picked up the game winning single to drive in Gorkys Hernandez to put New Orleans up 4-3 for good. Chris Hatcher got the ball in the ninth and made things interesting by allowing two hits. He was able to bounce back and strike out Andy Parrino to end the game. Parrino struck out four times in this game.

Prospect Profile: Anthony DeSclafani

Having lived in Gainesville, Florida, for the past eight years, I’ve watched a lot of Florida Gators baseball games. I’ve seen a ton of great players, both Gators and opponents, and I’ve been wrong about almost all of them. I marveled every time Georgia came into town and I got to watch Gordon Beckham. I was positive Matt LaPorta would hit 35 home runs a year as a designated hitter, and I was certain Bryan Augenstein had the stuff to stick in the majors as a reliever.

I’m hoping that my streak of being wrong is over, because for three years, I loved the heck out of a righty named Anthony DeSclafani. He was the type of player that I love – a grinder that just gets the job done.

Philadelphia Phillies @ Miami Marlins Game Preview: Wednesday, May 21st 7:10 PM EST (Game 47)

The Miami Marlins will attempt to close their series out against the Philadelphia Phillies with a win. A win would ensure the Marlins just their second series victory of the season.

The Marlins will have a tall order in front of them as they try to win this one, Cliff Lee. Lee will be making his tenth start of the season and he has been dominant thus far. The Marlins will counter with Kevin Slowey, who has struggled in his last two starts.

May 11, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz (51) talks with starting pitcher Cliff Lee (33) during the seventh inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins will attempt to close their series out against the Philadelphia Phillies with a win. A win would ensure the Marlins just their second series victory of the season.

The Marlins will have a tall order in front of them as they try to win this one, Cliff Lee. Lee will be making his tenth start of the season and he has been dominant thus far. The Marlins will counter with Kevin Slowey, who has struggled in his last two starts.

Slowey will need to pitch much better for the Marlins to have a chance in this one.

STARTING PITCHERS

Cliff Lee	V	Kevin Slowey
9	GS	9
63.2	IP	52.1
2.83	ERA	3.44
3.00	FIP	4.16
50	SO	37
11	BB	12

Having lived in Gainesville, Florida, for the past eight years, I’ve watched a lot of Florida Gators baseball games. I’ve seen a ton of great players, both Gators and opponents, and I’ve been wrong about almost all of them. I marveled every time Georgia came into town and I got to watch Gordon Beckham. I was positive Matt LaPorta would hit 35 home runs a year as a designated hitter, and I was certain Bryan Augenstein had the stuff to stick in the majors as a reliever.

I’m hoping that my streak of being wrong is over, because for three years, I loved the heck out of a righty named Anthony DeSclafani. He was the type of player that I love – a grinder that just gets the job done. He wasn’t flashy, and his stat lines weren’t eye-popping. It seemed that every time he was in a big spot, DeSclafani delivered. In his final season at UF, I watched him come to the mound in the ninth inning with two runners on against the University of Miami and shut down the Hurricanes, nailing the Gators’ first ever sweep of UM in Gainesville – the day after he pitched two scoreless to clinch a 1-0 win against them. He shut down LSU in Baton Rouge. He came up big in the SEC Tournament against Georgia. And yet there wasn’t a whole lot of draft chatter about him, and I was selfishly hoping that no one had noticed this kid so he’d come back for his senior year.

The Blue Jays took DeSclafani in the sixth round of the draft, and he was gone. Gone from my life for a year and a half, until fate (and Jeffrey Loria’s stinginess) brought him back into my life. I was sitting in a coffee shop with my fiancee and a florist, discussing floral arrangements for our wedding. I got a Twitter message that the Marlins were trading Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes, and Emilio Bonifacio to the Toronto Blue Jays. I was irate. Beside myself. There was no word on the return – some rumors had Travis d’Arnaud coming back, which was exciting. Eventually, it was reported that the haul was Henderson Alvarez, Jake Marisnick, Yunel Escobar, Adeiney Hechavarria, Justin Nicolino, Jeff Mathis, and a minor league pitcher. It took a while to get the info on who the minor league pitcher was. It was Anthony DeSclafani. My anger subsided a little.

But enough about my relationship with DeSclafani – this article is about him, after all, and not me. DeSclafani is a young 23 years old (his birthday is in April) and, as previously mentioned, was drafted out of UF. He throws a low-90s two-seam fastball and a changeup, and has a subpar curveball and slider in his repertoire. He pitched out of the bullpen plenty in college, but both the Blue Jays and Marlins have viewed him as a starter. He’s responded well thus far, though he probably profiles as a bullpen arm long-term.

2012 was DeSclafani’s first pro season, and he performed very well. In 28 games – 21 of which were starts – he threw 123 innings and went 11-3 with a 3.37 ERA, striking out 92 while walking 25. His FIP was just 2.70, and he allowed just 3 home runs all season. His BB/9 rate was shockingly low, but so was his strikeout rate.

Most people – myself included – viewed DeSclafani as a throw-in in the Blue Jays trade. So far, however, he has been lighting up hitters in Jupiter. On the season, DeSclafani is 4-1 with a 1.32 ERA in 41 innings, spanning 9 starts. He’s given up just 35 hits and 8 walks while striking out 40. His strikeout rate has gone way up, while his low walk rate has remained essentially the same (it has actually dropped from 1.83 to 1.8). Opponents, who hit .307 against him last year, are now hitting just .229.

His success thus far this season has been sustained, as he has had just one start in which he gave up more than one earned run – and in that start on May 16th, he gave up 2. He has, however, given up a large amount of unearned runs, giving up an additional two in the May 16th start and a whopping 5 unearned in a start that lasted just two-thirds of an inning on April 13th.

It remains to be seen if the Marlins will stick with DeSclafani as a starter or transition him back to the bullpen. He’s only pitched into the sixth inning twice this year, and he’s only finished the sixth inning once. If I had to guess, he will end this season at AA Jacksonville and eventually land in the Major League bullpen late next season or early in 2015. In any event, I hope that DeSclafani is the first Gators player I’m correct about.

Hand was a late scratch from his start against the Sacramento River Cats on Tuesday night. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Down on the Farm Report for the Miami Marlins: May 19th

Triple-A:New Orleans Zephyrs (19-24) @ Sacramento River Cats  (25-20)

Win 4-3

Gil Velazquez, SS: 2-for-4, SO, BB, 3 RBI

Ben Lasater, 1B: 0-for-4, 4 SO

Brad Hand, SP: Scratched, Oblique injury.

Chris Hatcher, RP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, SO, SV (12)

Jordan Smith blew a 3-2 Zephyrs lead in the eight inning and caused the game to go extra innings. Luckily, recent signee Velazquez picked up the game winning single to drive in Gorkys Hernandez to put New Orleans up 4-3 for good. Chris Hatcher got the ball in the ninth and made things interesting by allowing two hits. He was able to bounce back and strike out Andy Parrino to end the game. Parrino struck out four times in this game.

Not to be outdone by Parrino, Lasater struck out four times in this one, he did his in four at bats though, compared to Parrino’s five.

Double-A:

Jacksonville Suns (25-17) @ Mississippi Braves (27-18)

Win 5-2

Kyle Jensen, RF: 0-for-4, 4 SO

Noah Perio, 2B: 2-for-3, R, RBI, BB

Adam Conley, SP: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, SO, HR

Michael Brady, RP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, SV (8)

Apparently Jensen did not want Lasater to be the only one to have the honor of  picking up a golden sombrero in this game, as he struck out each opportunity he had. It is a small sample size, but Jensen, a right handed hitter, is starting to develop an interesting platoon split. Against lefties, Jensen has a slash line of .323/.488/.613, but against righties, Jensen has struggled for a .218/.326/.409 slash line. Jensen turned 25 on Monday and is still in Double-A. There is a reason he has been seen as a non-prospect for a while.

Conley has had an up-and-down season in 2013 and it did not get much better this start. Conley is still struggling to rack up strikeouts this season, as he has just 34 in 43 innings. In 2012 he had 135 in 127 innings.

High Class A:

Jupiter Hammerheads (24-20) vs. Daytona Cubs (22-21)

Loss 7-2

Brent Keys, CF: 2-for-4, BB

Austin Barnes, C: 1-for-3, HR (3), RBI, R, 2 BB

Anthony DeSclafani, SP: 6.0 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 6 SO

Ronald Barnes, RP: 0.0 IP, 5 H, 5 ER,

DeSclafani has been the best player in the Marlins-Blue Jays trade early on. He has a 1.32 ERA for the Hammerheads in nine starts. In 41 innings of work, DeSclafani has struck out 40 in 41 innings, while only walking eight. He did so against a talented squad that has prospects such as Jorge Soler and Javier Baez. The former Gator could receive a promotion to Double-A soon if he continues to pitch well.

The only thing that went against DeSclafani on Tuesday was Ronald Barnes. He came into the game in the 10th inning and allowed five runs on five hits without recording a single out. Barnes saw his ERA sky rockets from 2.16 to 4.86 in his rough outing.

Low Class A:

Greensboro Grasshoppers (17-26) vs. Hagerstown Suns (26-15)

Loss 5-4

Cameron Flynn, LF: 3-for-4, RBI, SO

Yordy Cabrera, 3B: 1-for-4, 2B (8), R, RBI, 3 SO

Scott Lyman, SP: 5.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 3 SO

Blake Logan, RP: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, SO, BS (4)

Flynn continues to hit well in 2013, with three more hits Tuesday, he raised his slash line to .371/.455/.505. He has also struck out just 15 times and walked 11 times 97 at bats. Flynn was the Marlins in the 2012 draft out of the University of Kentucky.

Logan had gone seven consecutive games without allowing a run, that came to an end on Tuesday night, as Logan blew his fourth save of the season, allowing three earned runs and a walk-off hit in his 1/3 of an inning of work.