Miami Marlins Prospects: Nasim Nunez 2019 Season in Review

Nasim Emmanuel Nunez is a 5’9″ 160 pound switch hitting shortstop out of Lawerenceville Georgia.

Born on August 18th, 2000, Nasim Nunez was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 2nd round of the 2019 MLB Draft. Nunez considered by many experts to be the most talented defensive shortstop in the draft, was passed on by many teams because it seemed almost certain he was going to be attending college at Clemson University. The Miami Marlins finally took the risk on the defensive stud and lured him in with an above slot value $2.2 million dollar contract, the risk payed off.

To start the year, Nasim was sent to the Rookie Gulf Coast League. Despite showing plus plus defensive skills and plus (maybe even plus plus) speed and baserunning skills, Nasim needed to improve his bat. In the GCL Nasim batted .211 with 12 RBI’s and 34 walks while helping the GCL Marlins win the East Division Title.

Possibly the most impressive part of Nasim’s year in the GCL was his baserunning. In 30 steal attempts Nasim stole an asinine 28 (28!) bases in just 48 games. To put that in perspective, if he would’ve had 28 steals in Class A Clinton where they play 140 games he would’ve been 4th in the league.

In the GCL he was a switch hitter. However, he batted .232 against right handed pitchers and .152 against lefties. After watching him bat from both sides of the plate in Batavia I can say his left handed swing looks a lot more polished. The right handed swing isn’t awful but moving forward it might benefit Nasim who does struggle to get hits to focus more on his left handed swing rather than being a switch hitter.

After the GCL season ended, Nasim was sent to Class A- Batavia to help assist in their playoff push. In three games (including two playoff starts at second base) Nasim worked one walk and had a double in a playoff game against Lowell that turned into Batavia’s only run of the ball game.

Once he came to Batavia he was given the start on his first day in town in a huge late season game against the West Virginia Black Bears. In the second inning of that game Nasim, playing at second base, ran all the way to shallow-mid left field to make a diving catch on a little blooper near the foul line. It was at this point that I realized what all the buzz was about on his defensive skills.

Nasim sees the ball extremely well off the bat and isn’t afraid to get dirty to make a play on the defensive end. Nasim also has a very good arm and on multiple occasions in his 3 games with Batavia made nice throws from awkward angles. One of my favorite things about Nasim is his obvious love for playing the game and his will to win. When he got to Batavia I interviewed him and asked him how he felt about joining a team in the middle of a playoff push, Nasim answered with “I want to do whatever I can to help this team win a championship, we won one in the GCL and now it’s time to win one here.”

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The one thing that Nasim really needs to work on is making good contact with the baseball. Seeing the plate isn’t really the cause for his issues at the plate, he had 35 walks to 48 strikeouts in the GCL. One good thing about Nasim’s swing is he doesn’t ever try to overcompensate. Nasim understands that his job is simply to get on base however he can and then do the rest with his speed and baserunning.

Moving forward into 2020 Nasim can expect to start the year in either Class A- Batavia or Class A Clinton. Either team will serve him well as he will see a lot better pitching than he saw in the GCL and he will be playing an extra 30-90 games. The defense and baserunning is pretty much already Major League quality it’s just waiting on the swing to develop. 2022 is more likely than not when you can expect to see Nasim making as push to be on the Marlins roster. This kids a special talent at shortstop and Miami Marlins fans should be excited.

Thanks for reading today’s profile. Tune in tomorrow for Cason Sherrod’s season review. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our daily newsletter to keep up with the Miami Marlins and all their affiliates.