Miami Marlins Prospects: Lorenzo Hampton 2019 Season in Review

Lorenzo T Hampton is a 6’5″, 225 pound outfielder that was taken in the 28th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, so far he’s played like a 5th round pick.

After a solid college career at FIU, the Miami Marlins took a shot on Lorenzo Hampton in the late rounds of the 2019 draft. To start the year off, Lorenzo was assigned to the Gulf Coast League Marlins. The reason for sending Lorenzo to the GCL was to develop his swing. Lorenzo has a lot of raw power and sees the plate well, but his swing itself is a very raw motion.

In the GCL Lorenzo excelled and played well above the Marlins expectations. Lorenzo batted .280 with 31 RBI, five steals and two home runs while helping the GCL Marlins win the East Division. At the plate he had 24 walks to 30 strikeouts. All in all a very solid year for Lorenzo and he certainly proved some of his doubters wrong.

In 2019 the best part of Lorenzo’s game was his ability to get on base. Lorenzo had a .387 on base percentage in the GCL and whether it was getting hits or working walks he was finding ways to get a runner on for his team. Obviously this was against weaker competition in the GCL, but I’d still say that the GCL was a step up in competition from what Lorenzo was seeing at FIU.

After the GCL ended, Lorenzo, along with teammates Nasim Nunez and Andrew Nardi, were sent to Batavia to help them chase their championship aspirations. While in Batavia, Lorenzo started one game for the Muckdogs against the West Virginia Black Bears in a crucial game for both clubs. In four at bats, Lorenzo went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

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In that game I saw one really good at bat from Lorenzo and one really bad one. Let’s get the really bad one out of the way first. In Lorenzo’s bad at bat he showed poor plate discipline and was struck out on three pitches , the last was a swing and a miss after the catcher had already caught the ball. In Lorenzo’s really good at bat he showed excellent plate discipline and masterfully worked an eight-pitch at bat before popping out to left field. Obviously this isn’t a huge sample size from what I saw but l can say he didn’t look quite ready for Class A- pitching yet.

In 2020, expect Lorenzo Hampton to start the year in Class A- Batavia or possibly the GCL for a short stint. There is certainly some skill to Lorenzo’s game but he needs a bit of work. In the future Hampton has a ceiling of being a organizational outfielder at the AA or AAA level.

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