Miami Marlins: Sickels Reviews Marlins Pre-Season Prospect List

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Aug 21, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins right fielder Derek Dietrich (32) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home during the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Over the past two seasons, the Miami Marlins farm system has taken a hit, as the team tried to turn themselves into a contender before their timeline allowed it. This led to a series of moves that sunk the 2015 season and beyond, for the franchise.

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From John Sickels, of Minor League Ball, top 20 prospect list from before the 2014 season, the Miami Marlins have traded 5 of their top 10, and 6 of their top 13 prospects in a 2-year span.

This includes the likes of Andrew Heaney, Anthony DeSclafani, Jake Marisnick, and Colin Moran. Heaney and Moran were the Marlins first round draft picks in 2012 and 2013, with the team gave up on both rather quickly.

These trades have sunk the Marlins farm system and potentially hurt their future chances of contending.

Over on Minor League Ball, Jon took a look at his pre-season Miami Marlins prospect rankings and wrote his thoughts on them. He labeled a few guys as disappointments for the team.

Let’s take a look at a few of the names I found intriguing.

Next: #2 Overall Pick Struggling

Sep 29, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins president of president of baseball operations Michael Hill (right) is flanked by vice president & general manager Dan Jennings (left) during their press conference before a game against the Detroit Tigers at Marlins Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

1) Tyler Kolek, RHP, Grade B+: 4.43 ERA with 73/52 K/BB in 102 innings in Low-A, 100 hits. Not showing the 100 MPH heat he demonstrated in high school and secondary pitches, command are not good enough to compensate at this point. Disappointing but still young enough to get much better.

The Miami Marlins fell in love with Kolek because of his big arm, an arm that reached triple digits multiple times in high school. All of a sudden, that fastball is not getting that same zip on it and his secondary pitches have not developed enough for him to make up for it.

Thus far, he owns that 4.43 ERA and an even worse 4.84 FIP in 102 innings of work. He has struck out just 15.8% of the hitters he’s faced, while walking 11.3%.

Kolek has flashed some of his potential, including an August 8th start where he struck out 9 hitters in 5 innings of work. With Kolek being 19, it’s too early to give up on his talented right arm and he has a lot of time to turn things around, but he still has a very long road to the majors.

If the team had opted to draft Carlos Rodon with the number 2 pick instead, Rodon would have been able to help the major league pitching staff already.

Now the team just needs to take their time with Kolek and hopefully he’ll be able to reach his potential.

Next: Third Baseman of Future?

Aug 9, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Miami Marlins third baseman Martin Prado (14) throws a runner out at first against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports 5) Brian Anderson, 2B-3B, Grade B-: Hitting .231/.300/.345 with eight homers, 36 walks, 97 strikeouts in 420 at-bats in High-A. I was very high on him coming out of the University of Arkansas last year but this production is very disappointing. Will need to dig into the final end-of-year scouting reports on this one to determine what went wrong.

Brian Anderson was the Marlins third round pick from a season ago. He was projected to breeze through the minor leagues and be ready for a potential cup of coffee call-up in September of 2016 or even to be ready to compete for the starting third base job in 2017, once Martin Prado‘s contract ran out.

Unfortunately, Anderson has run into a bit of a speed bump this season. He’s posted a .232/.302/.344 slash line now in 2015 in 475 plate appearances at the High-A level. Anderson has just 30 extra base hits on the season, which is a bit disappointing, as that was supposedly his calling card coming out of the University of Arkansas.

He’s struck out in 20% of his plate appearances while walking in just 7.6% of them. Anderson posted ISO’s of .182 and .203 in his two minor league stops last season, Anderson has seen his ISO dip to a lowly .112 this season.

The good news is that the Florida State League is known for being a pitcher friendly league and a lot of prospects struggle at the level. Hopefully that’s the case for Anderson and he makes adjustments at his current level or in Double-A in 2016.

Even with that, the Marlins should not feel too secure with the thinking of Anderson as their solution to the third base problem when Prado is gone.

Next: Top Lefty Prospect?

Jul 12, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; World pitcher Jarlin Garcia (33) pitches during the second inning against USA Team in the All Star Futures Game at Great American Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports 9) Jarlin Garcia, LHP, Grade C+: 3.19 ERA with 92/32 K/BB in 119 innings, 126 hits combined between High-A and Double-A. Pretty decent year from 22-year-old lefty who throws strikes with low-90s fastball, workable change-up and breaking ball.

If I were to do a re-ranking of the Miami Marlins top prospects right now, there’s a good chance I’d rank Jarlin Garcia over Justin Nicolino. That’s something Baseball America already did, actually.

Garcia, like Nicolino, is not an overpowering pitcher. He throws in the low-90’s, but seems to have better swing-and-miss stuff, looking at his minor league profile. Of course it should be noted that Nicolino lost his strikeout prowess around this time in the minors as well.

Garcia, just 22, posted a 3.06 ERA and FIP in 97 innings in High-A. He struck out 17.2% of the hitters he faced and walked just 5.7%. Like I mentioned above with Anderson, this is known as a pitcher friendly league, so what he does in Double-A should give us a better picture of the pitcher he could be.

So far in 21 2/3 innings of work at Double-A, Garcia owns a 3.74 ERA and a 3.64 FIP. He’s struck out 24.5% of the hitters he’s faced and walked 9.6% of them.

Overall on the year, Garcia owns a 3.16 ERA and a 3.19 FIP.

There should be some excitement around the 22-year old prospect, but he projects to be a backend of the rotation starter, but with a slightly higher ceiling than Nicolino.

Next: September Callup Candidate?

Feb 25, 2015; Jupiter, FL, USA; Miami Marlins pitcher Nick Wittgren (77) poses during photo day at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports 16) Nick Wittgren, RHP, Grade C/C+: Impressive season in Triple-A, 2.89 ERA with 51/7 K/BB in 53 innings, 48 hits, 14 saves. Ready for big league bullpen trial.

I’m actually surprised Wittgren, the Marlins 9th round pick in the 2012 draft, has not already been called up. He’s having a strong season at the Triple-A level and seemed to be ready for the majors after doing well in Double-A last year.

Wittgren is seen as a potential closer candidate by many around the Miami Marlins, as he’s gained some experience of doing just that so far in the minors.

Two years ago, at the High-A level, Wittgren posted a 0.83 ERA and a 1.97 FIP in 54 1/3 innings of work, which put him on the radar. Last year was a bit of a drop off for him, but he still posted a steady 3.55 ERA and a 3.40 FIP in 66 innings of work.

He’s followed it up with a 2.83 ERA and a 3.54 FIP in 54 innings this season. Wittgren has struck out 53 in those 54 innings and walked just 7 hitters all season long.

The Marlins would be foolish not to give Wittgren a September callup this year, though he should have been up before the likes of a traveled veteran such as Erik Cordier.

Next: Summary

This is what John had to say about the Marlins system and how it will look after this past trade deadline and the MLB draft in June.

The 2016 list will look considerably different thanks to trades and the draft. Catcher Tomas Telis, right-handers Victor Araujo, Jeff Brigham, Kevin Guzman, and Ivan Pineyro, and lefties Cody Ege and Chris Reed are new acquisitions worth tracking. They are all Grade C or C+ types but at least they add depth. The most advanced of the ’15 draft class includes lefty Brett Lilek out of Arizona State, right-hander Cody Poteet out of UCLA, and polished southpaw Justin Jacome out of UC Santa Barbara. First-round pick Josh Naylor looks great so far, the Canadian first baseman hitting .353/.380/.447 thus far in rookie ball. Third round toolshed outfielder Isaiah White out of high school in North Carolina is hitting .330 with nine steals but an ugly 2/32 BB/K in rookie ball. Overall, the Marlins have some decent depth on the mound but lack impact hitting.

As Sickels points out, the Marlins do have decent depth in pitching, but unfortunately most of them cap out as #4 starters at best and never reaching the majors at worst.

If the Miami Marlins want to contend in the upcoming 2016 season, they won’t be able to depend on the system to help them get to the playoffs. The team lacks major league quality talent and the assets to land a big named player. The team may need to depend on the free agency market.

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