Marlins changes in minors a step in the right direction

The Miami Marlins have made major changes to their minor league system the past year that should lead to success in the future.

It wasn’t a front page story like other transactions the Miami Marlins have made in the past year, but trading pitcher Dillon Peters to the Los Angeles Angels showed just how far the team’s minor league system has come in one season.

Peters was once considered one of the organization’s top prospects. A hard-throwing pitcher who was part of the starting rotation at the beginning of the 2018 season and a player the team considered part of its future.

Peters showed success in Jacksonville two seasons ago at Double-A and wooed the front office in Spring Training last year. Now, he is on the left coast, having spent time in Triple-A and in the bullpen with the Marlins new blueprint.

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With Peters gone, others who were highly touted may follow, another sign the trades Derek Jeter and the organization made are beginning to pan out for the better.

“The Marlins are in the process of compiling more Minor League pitching. On Wednesday afternoon, they acquired right-hander Tyler Stevens from the Angels for lefty Dillon Peters,” Joe Frisaro of MLB.com wrote prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.“Peters was traded a day after he was designated for assignment on Tuesday. After a player is designated for assignment, a club has seven days to either work out a trade or release him. Stevens is not being added to the 40-man roster.”

The changes in the team’s roster are significant in that a majority of the players who comprise those attending Spring Training in February have been acquired within the last year, which is exactly what Jeter had in mind when he traded away major puzzle pieces after taking over the team in October of 2017.

“Peters, a 10th-round Draft pick from the University of Texas in 2014, appeared in seven games (five starts) for the Marlins in 2018. The lefty was 2-2 with a 7.16 ERA,” Frisaro added.”He spent most of the season at Triple-A New Orleans, where he was 6-7 with a 5.61 ERA in 19 starts.”

It was the inconsistency that led to the up and down season. It has been the inconsistency that the front office and manager Don Mattingly has had to deal with in this time of growth. Now, the Marlins get another minor league pitcher to groom and see if he can help this season or is on the path to competing for a roster spot in 2020.

Miami’s pitching staff and rotation are full of questions heading into February. There may be more trades or even players released before pitchers and catchers report to south Florida.