Fangraphs Top 200 Prospects: Two Marlins Crack List

Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs released his top 200 prospect list for the 2015 season earlier this week. In his top 200 prospect list, Kiley had 2 Miami Marlins crack the list.

Like Baseball Prospectus, Kiley was not overly high on Marlins first round from last year, right-handed starter Tyler Kolek. He ranked Kolek on the low end of the top 100 prospect list, at number 74.

Here’s what Fangraphs had to say about Kolek:

"Fastball: 60/70, Curveball: 50/60, Changeup: 40/50, Command: 40/50, FV: 55Scouting Report: Kolek jumped on the national scene in the summer of 2013 after hitting 100 mph at the Area Code Games regional tryout in Texas, just after the 2013 MLB Draft. He then showed up at most of the major events over the summer, where his velocity ranged from 93-98, hitting 100 mph in early innings, but sometimes would dip to the low 90?s in longer outings. His sharp low-80?s curveball would flash plus but was often just average to above, while he only very sparingly threw a nascent changeup. As prep pitchers often do, Kolek’s velo slipped after the draft and he looked quite ordinary, but this is a long-term play by the Marlins. If Kolek can maintain his peak stuff, he’s got a chance to be a frontline starter, which is rare, but there’s a long way to go and there’s plenty of risk along the way."

While Keith Law and MLB.com were a lot more friendly with Kolek’s rankings, we cannot ignore the risk that a High School arm like Kolek carries. As many Marlins fans remember, many draft experts thought very highly of Chad James, back in 2009, when the Marlins took the left-hander in the first round.

Kolek is an arm that the Marlins can definitely build hope around to be an anchor in the rotation in a few years, but he carries a lot of risk as well. Kolek is likely to be brought on slowly by the Marlins, as I doubt he’ll be a quick riser like Jose Fernandez.

More from Marlins Prospects

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• Miami Marlins: Farm System rankings part 2
• Miami Marlins: Farm System rankings part 1

An important thing to keep an eye on in 2015 will be Kolek’s velocity over the season. If he struggles to maintain it later into the season, the Marlins will likely slow down the amount of innings he pitches.

Obviously the Marlins believe Kolek can evolve into an ace, otherwise they wouldn’t have selected him number 2 overall, over Carlos Rodon, a guy who could have been apart of the Marlins rotation as soon as next season, if he progresses well.

The other Marlins prospect to crack the list was catcher J.T. Realmuto. He did not come in the top 142 prospects, but was listed among the last of the 58 prospects on the list. He, along with the final 58, were listed by team, so it’s hard to figure where he would have landed on the top 200. 

Fangraphs did not love the Marlins prospects as much as MLB.com and Law, but they did rate their prospects better than Baseball Prospectus did.

Next: What did the Marlins Offer K-Rod?