Two Miami Marlins Land on Sickels End of Season Top 75 Prospect List

June 11, 2013; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina third basemen Colin Moran (18) gets ready to make a throw during the 5th inning against the South Carolina Gamecocks at the Chapel Hill Super Regional of the NCAA baseball tournament at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels defeated the Gamecocks 5-4. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the Miami Marlins’ top two prospects graduating from being prospects in Jose Fernandez and Christian Yelich, the team was still able to land two prospects on John Sickels end of season top 75 prospect list.

A pair of Marlins first rounders, Andrew Heaney and Colin Moran, were able to crack the list. This is great news for an organization that went through a dry spell with their first round picks for a long period. The Marlins previous two first round picks have already reached the majors on 2013.

Colin Moran, the Marlins first round pick from this past June, came in as the higher ranked prospect. Sickels ranked him as the 34th best prospect in baseball and had this to say about him:

"36) Colin Moran, 3B, Miami Marlins: 2013 first-rounder heated up after slow start in Low-A."

It took Moran a little while to adjust to professional pitching, but once he got a hang of it, his bat really heated up. Moran finished the season with a .299/.354/.442 slash line with a .363 wOBA. He showed off his excellent plate discipline, striking out just 14% of the time, but did not walk as much as the Marlins probably anticipated when they drafted him.

Moran could be on the major league roster by the end of 2014, if the Marlins decide to aggressively promote him to Double-A to begin the season. When I do my own prospect rankings later this week for Marlin Maniac, we will go over Moran in greater detail.

Andrew Heaney came in just two spots below Moran, but Sickels felt that he may have deserved to be ranked a little higher:

"38) Andrew Heaney, LHP, Miami Marlins. Pre-season 115, July 40. Might still be too low."

Heaney jumped from being 115th in Sickel’s preseason ranking, to 40th by the trade deadline. He jumped up two more spots by the end of the season and if he fares well in the Arizona Fall League, he could see his stock soar even more.

Heaney began the season in High-A, posting a 0.88 ERA and a 2.60 FIP in 61 2/3 innings of work. His 0.88 ERA was impressive enough for the Marlins to promote him to Double-A, where he made 6 starts and posted a 2.94 ERA and a 3.41 FIP in 33 2/3 innings. He is on track to make his MLB debut by mid-season in 2014.

With their draft picks from 2010 and 2011 already in the majors and their 2012 and 2013 first rounders succeeding in the minors, the Marlins are set up nicely to make a strong run in the coming seasons, especially if they continue to draft well with their three first round picks this season