Marlins Prospect Austin Dean Named PCL Player of the Week

By David Levin | Aug 14, 2018

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 06: A view of the ball, that Bryce Harper #34 of the Washington Nationals (not pictured) hit a piece of the cover off, during the sixth against the Miami Marlins inning at Nationals Park on July 06, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

For the second straight week, a New Orleans Baby Cakes was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week. Outfielder Austin Dean won the award and J.B. Shuck received the honor before him.

The Miami Marlins promoted Austin Dean to Triple-A New Orleans from their Double-A affiliate in Jacksonville early in the season after the 24-year-old tore up pitching during the first month of the season. Dean has continued to do that with the Baby Cakes and could be a Sept. 1 call-up to the Major Leagues when rosters expand to 40 players.

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"Per the Baby Cakes public relations department, “Dean’s 2.053 OPS over five games bested all players in Minor League Baseball.“He also paced the PCL in batting average (.647), slugging percentage (1.353), on-base percentage (.700), total bases (23), while matching the league’s top home run (3) and extra-base hit (6) marks. Additionally, he drove in seven runs, scored seven runs and walked three times.”"

In 86 games this season with New Orleans, Dean is batting .327 with nine home runs and 54 RBI. While in Jacksonville, he played in 22 games, batted .420 with three dingers and 14 RBI for the Jumbo Shrimp.

While in Jacksonville, he won the Southern League Player of the Month for April.

Where Dean figures in the Marlins future plans are unknown. There is a plethora of outfield talent in the team’s minor league system, which includes Braxton Lee and Monte Harrison.

Miami recently added Magneuris Sierra, Rafael Ortega and Isaac Galloway to their parent club.

As Kevin Kraczkowski of Marlin Maniac wrote this past week, 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.

With his swing that has remained fluid all season in between two stops in the minors, it would be interesting to see what he can do against Major League hitters.

Also, where would Dean fit in the Marlins lineup? Is he a bottom of the order hitter, or does he move someone like Ortega from the leadoff spot?

This season with the Baby Cakes, Dean has 102 hits and is fifth in the league in hitting. He could be in the running for the Marlins Minor League Player of the Year.

Next. The Miami Marlins Need To Promote Austin Dean. dark

As the team explained, Dean is the second straight Baby Cakes outfielder to win the league’s weekly honor, teaming with outfielder J.B. Shuck who received the award last week. The only other time in New Orleans franchise history two players won the award in back-to-back weeks came when Colin Porter and Jason Alfaro did so in 2003.

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