The Miami Marlins Need to Promote Austin Dean

The Miami Marlins need to promote Austin Dean, even if it’s at the expense of the highly regarded Magneuris Sierra.

Earlier today, Bleacher Report published a piece on which prospect needs to be called up next for each team. The player picked out for the Miami Marlins was Dean. Let’s dig into some reasons why this is a great idea.

This season, Derek Dietrich, Cameron Maybin, Garrett Cooper, and Lewis Brinson began the season as Miami’s outfield of choice. Since then, Braxton Lee and JB Shuck came and went, Cooper was injured, twice, Brian Anderson moved from third base to right field, and Maybin got traded away. Recently, Magneuris Sierra and Isaac Galloway joined the show, but there’s one more player who’s more than worthy of a callup to the Miami Marlins at this point.

Austin Dean is a 6’1″, 190 lb. left fielder out of Spring, Texas. Born on October 14th, 1993, the Miami Marlins selected him in the fourth round of the 2012 draft, with the 137th overall pick. Dean was ranked sixth in the Marlins system as recently as 2016, and 14th last year. This season he’s unranked.

But that’s not to say Dean hasn’t had a good year. In fact, this season, Dean has put together a stat line for the ages, slashing a combined .340/.399/.495 in 105 combined games between the New Orleans Baby Cakes and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.

Dean steadily rose through the ranks of the Miami Marlins system, playing with the GCL Marlins in 2012, the Batavia Muckdogs in 2013, the Greensboro Grasshoppers in 2014, and the Jupiter Hammerheads in 2015. The trend continued in 2016, with Dean spending the season with the double-A Jacksonville Suns and slashing a disappointing .238/.307/.375 in 130 contest. The struggle would see him repeat the level in 2017.

This year with the Shrimp, Dean hit .420/.460/.654 in 22 games to start the season. Clearly, he had done all he could at that level to prove himself. Since joining the triple-A Cakes, he’s proven a more than solid contributor. He’s got a .319/.383/.452 slash in 83 games, with seven homers and a team-second 50 RBI.

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Last month, the Miami Marlins chose fit to promote Sierra after Cooper went down for his second injury of the season instead of calling up Dean. While Sierra is very fast, he’s also not selective at all when it comes to swinging the bat. Dean, on the other hand, has stolen 30 bases through 645 minor league games. So not fast. Also contrary to Sierra’s figures, Dean has 50 strikeouts and 37 walks in 429 plate appearances. That’s an 11.6 percent whiff rate, an 8.6 walk rate, and a 1.35 BB/K rate. Sierra has a 19.9 percent strikeout rate, a 3.5 percent walk rate, and a 5.62 BB/K rate against the same competition. Sierra is also only 22, and clearly needs additional seasoning at double- or triple-A. At 24, Dean is ready for the show. The Miami Marlins need to promote him, even if it’s at the expense of the highly regarded Sierra.

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