Miami Marlins 2018 Review: Speed Demon Cade Gotta’s Baseball Odyssey

Cade Gotta played in the Miami Marlins organization in 2018.

Throughout the 2018/2019 offseason, Marlin Maniac will devote one article each for every player who appeared in the Miami Marlins system for the 2018 season. Every. Single. Player. This is Part 203 of 286.

Cade Robert Gotta is a 6’4″, 205 lb. right-handed outfielder from San Diego, California. Born on August 1st, 1991, he played his high school ball with Santa Fe Christian School, in Solana Beach. Follow Gotta on Twitter @cadegotta.

Gotta attended Riverside CC, a Junior College in the eight-team Orange Empire. In two seasons, he hit .274/.344/.401 over 73 contests, with four round-trippers and 41 RBI. He also stole 20 bases in 27 tries.

In the 2014 MLB Amateur Entry Draft, the Tampa Bay Rays chose Gotta in the 26th round, 787th overall. Players chosen at that spot have gone on to reach the majors only once. Lou Pote (1990, San Francisco Giants, 3.1 career WAR) pitched in 129 major league games, with a 3.56 ERA.

Gotta joined the Gulf Coast Rays, in the rookie-level, Florida-based Gulf Coast League after signing. He stole 16-of-19 bases in 49 contests for the club, hitting .245/.371/.390 and drawing 30 walks in 195 plate appearances.

In 2015, Gotta split his year between the short-season-A Hudson Valley Renegeades in the New York-Penn League and the single-A Bowling Green Hot Rods in the Midwest League. His combined slashline was .280/.335/.408, with 15 stolen bases in 20 attempts. His walk-rate dropped from 15.4 percent to 8.2 percent. He was named to the NYPL midseason All-Star team.

2016 would see Gotta play for the the Charlotte Stone Crabs in the high-A Florida State League and the double-A Montgomery Biscuits in the Southern League. He again displayed a lot of skill on the basepaths, stealing 29 bases in 35 tries while slashing .278/.332/.422 in 122 games. He also showed decent power stroke for the first time, slamming nine over the fence with 50 RBI. For his efforts in the FSL, he was again named to the midseason All-Star team. Here he is with the Biscuits, courtesy of Baseball Census.

In 2017, Gotta played with the Biscuits and the triple-A Durham Bulls in the International League, slashing .267/.287/.356 in 121 combined games. He stole 40 bases, getting caught 13 times. Gotta hit five homers and collected a career-best 52 RBI. For the third year in a row, he joined a midseason All-Star team, this time in the SL. He was released by the Rays on April 9th, 2018.

On April 26th, the Miami Marlins signed Gotta to a minor-league deal and sent him to the FSL’s Jupiter Hammerheads. After going five-for-11 with two stolen bases in three games, he was promoted to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in the SL.

Gotta performed exactly as advertised in 44 games in Jacksonville. He slashed .254/.344/.373 with 18 stolen bases, while getting caught only three times. Gotta had multiple hits in 13 of his 47 games in the system, including on April 26th, when he hit two singles and a home run, stealing a base and collecting a pair of RBI in a 4-3 loss to the Bradenton Marauders. On May 14th, he batted fourth and hit two singles and a triple, scoring a run, knocking another in, and of course, stealing a base in a 7-4 win against the Montgomery Biscuits. His performance that week ended with him being named the SL Player of the Week. On June 18th, the Miami Marlins granted Gotta his release.

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Through Gotta’s minor league career to date, he has played 406 contests in the outfield. This includes 100 games in left, 152 in right, and 160 in center. His best fielding figures occured in center field, where he holds a .988 fielding percentage with 17 assists and only five errors in 1329 innings.

Gotta joined the Acereros de Monclova in the Mexican League soon after, and slashed .335/.439/.434 with 21 stolen bases in 29 tries. Since then, Gotta has played in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, and led the circuit with 25 stolen bases in 56 games for the Margarita Braves while slashing .306/.371/.431.

Gotta has a set of skills that could benefit a team looking to fill a role. He’s currently a free agent, and welcome to sign with any professional organization for the 2019 campaign.

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