Miami Marlins Place Two Prospects On Baseball Americas Midseason Top 50 List
July 8, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; USA outfielder Christian Yelich hits a single during the sixth inning of the 2012 All Star Futures Game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
We are just over half way through the season, that means its time for the usual midseason top prospect lists to start coming out. Baseball America released their Midseason Top 50 List earlier this morning and there were two familar faces on there.
The Miami Marlins placed Christian Yelich (8th) and Andrew Heaney (33rd) on BA’s presitged midseason list. Both prospects were among the top 50 on the top 100 list that Baseball America released in the preseason, and both made a jump up the list from their respective spots from the preseason.
Here is a look at how both prospects ranked on the top 50 list:
8Christian YelichofMarlinsInjuries have ruined his first half of the season, but they haven’t screwed up his excellent swing.
Yelich began the season as the 15th best prospect coming into the season, so with him being ranked 8th, he made a jump of seven spots.
Probably the only reason that Yelich is not in the majors right, and as a result on this list, is because of injuries. When he has been healthy, Yelich owns a .262/.342/.518 slash line in 187 plate appearances for the Jacksonville Suns in 2013. His wOBA is currently at a healthy .383 for the season and the only weakness in his hitting seems to be his 25% strikeout rate in Double-A.
Yelich is currently rehabbing with the Jupiter Hammerheads, the Marlins High-A team, and should return to the Suns sometime this week. Yelich injured his abdomen on a diving catch on June 2nd and has been on the DL since. Yelich also missed the first half of April due to plantar fasciitis he sustained in Spring Training.
Yelich will particpate in the Futures game on July 16th, standing in as the Marlins only representative.
33Andrew HeaneylhpMarlinsOn strict pitch counts as he comes back from strained lat, but has dominated in short stints.
Heaney made a bigger jump than Yelich, moving up 10 spots from his 43rd position at the beginning of the season. A strained lat likely held Heaney from being ranked even higher on this list.
Heaney has only made seven starts (eight appearances), pitching 35 2/3 innings in 2013. He has struck out 47 batters and walked just 11, leading to a 1.26 ERA and a 2.47 FIP. Heaney is striking out 11.86 hitters per nine inning and is proving to be worth the number 9 overall pick the Fish used on him just a season ago.
I would anticipate Yelich making his major league debut sometime at the end of July or beginning of August. Heaney will probably earn a promotion to Double-A at some point this season and could stand to make an impact on the Marlins rotation mid-way through 2014. Both has very promising futures.
Jose Fernandez (5) and Marcell Ozuna (75) both appeared on the top 100 preseason list, but have graduated to the major leagues. I don’t have the paid version of Baseball America’s, but my money would be on both Jake Marisnick (64) and Justin Nicolino (86) both probably made a little jump on the list as well.