Former Miami Marlins Prospect Brian Schales Ready for Triple-A

Brian Schales hit .258 with 10 home runs in double-A last season.

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 227 of 286.

Brian S. Schales is a 6’1″, 185 lb. third baseman from Huntington Beach, California, population 201,874. Eight major leaguers have originated out of the city, including active players Jake Bauers, Kyle Higashioka, and Ian Kennedy.

Schales was born on February 13th, 1996, and was chosen out of Edison HS in the fourth round of the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft by the Miami Marlins. Taken 107th overall, Schales would be the 14th player to make the majors after getting selected there. The group is led by Clyde Wright (1965, California Angels, 13.2 career WAR) and Xavier Hernandez (1986, Toronto Blue Jays, 2.3 WAR). Fellow Miami Marlins project Peter O’Brien was also chosen 107th overall.

Schales came to terms with the Miami Marlins for a $490,000 bonus, and was assigned to the rookie-level, Florida-based GCL Marlins, in the Gulf Coast League. In 49 games in his first professional look, he slashed .243/.318/.306 with a home run and 23 RBI. Schales also drew 16 walks and struck out only 28 times, a 14.0 percent whiff rate. Schales spent most of his time at third base, fielding at a .911 percentage.

2015 would open for Schales on the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the single-A South Atlantic League. He played in a team-second 122 games, and slashed .260/.330/.348 with four home runs and a team-fifth 45 RBI. He struck out 76 times and drew 38 walks in 497 plate appearances. Defensively, Schales played 1042 innings at the hot corner, putting up a .927 fielding percentage. You can follow Schales on Twitter @Bschales. Here he is with the Grasshoppers, courtesy of Legends Baseball.

In 2016, Schales was moved to second base and promoted to the high-A Jupiter Hammerheads in the Florida State League. He turned in a much more acceptable .981 fielding percentage over 943 2/3 innings, making only 10 errors in 513 total chances. Unfortunately, Schales offensive output took a hit at the higher level, with a .194/.284/.224 slash line, with only 10 extra base hits (including zero home runs) and 16 RBI in 109 contests.

Kept with Jupiter in 2017, Schales was moved back to third base for another try. His .947 fielding percentage was better than in years past, but still not up to snuff. Offensively, he led Jupiter with 111 games played and with 39 walks. He slashed .251/.329/.351 with 39 walks and 95 K’s in 419 plate appearances, with six homers and 42 RBI.

2018 would start for Schales at the double-A level for the first time, with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in the Southern League. He played in 127 games, second on the club only to Monte Harrison‘s 136, and hit .258/.354/.403 with a career-best 10 homers and 49 RBI in 490 plate appearances. He drew 57 walks to lead the club, while striking out 108 times, half as many as Harrison. Here’s one of his long-shots, courtesy of MILB.COM.

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Schales turned in 28 multi-hit games, including seven games with three or more in 2018. On May 17th, in a 7-3 win against the Mobile BayBears, he collected a pair of two-run homers. In a 5-4 win against the Biloxi Shuckers on August 5th, Schales went four-for-four with two doubles and three RBI. On August 14th, Schales hit two doubles and a round-tripper with two RBI in a 7-4 loss to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. His performance back at the hot corner would see him struggle to a .924 fielding percentage over 1044 innings of work. For his efforts, he was named to both the SL Postseason All-Star squad and the MILB.COM organizational All-Star Club after the season.

Schales still hasn’t entirely licked third base, but has showed decent chops at second. Now that he’s got his plate discipline where he wants it, he’ll either need to continue to develop at third or move back to second for movement to the major league level. On November 20th, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins for reliever Nick Anderson. He should spend the 2019 campaign with the Rochester Red Wings, the Minnesota Twins triple-A affiliate in the International League.

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