Miami Marlins trade OF Austin Dean to St Louis Cardinals

On Tuesday afternoon, the Miami Marlins announced the trade of outfielder Austin Dean to the St. Louis Cardinals for minor league prospect Diowill Burgos.

Austin Dean found himself as an odd-man out with recent additions to the Marlins 40-man roster. He was designated for assignment earlier this week, then shipped to St. Louis for a low-minors prospect.

Dean bounced back and forth between the minors and majors over the last two seasons. The promise he demonstrated as the Marlins’ Minor League Player of the Year in 2018 was never fully realized with Miami.

In 2019, Dean saw action in 64 games, hitting for a .225 average with a .261 on-base percentage. He connected on six home runs and 14 doubles, while knocking in 21 runs. He had far more success in 2019 with the Triple-A New Orleans Baby Cakes in the Pacific Coast League, where he hit .337 with a .401 on-base percentage, 18 homers and 57 RBI.

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Dean’s inability to consistently hit or get on base at the Major League level ultimately made him expendable, especially considering the glut of outfield prospects waiting in the wings for the Fish.

The recent additions of Corey Dickerson, Jonathan Villar and Jesus Aguilar seemed to squeeze Dean off the 40-man roster. Dean will be fondly remembered his willingness to engage fans and for his precise accuracy.

Dickerson is a corner outfielder, and Villar could end up in the outfield as well. Aguilar will battle with Garrett Cooper for time at first base, where Dean played five games for the Marlins in 2019.

This trade nets Miami a low-minors prospect in Diowill Burgos. The 18-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder was one of the Cardinals’ international signings in 2017.

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In 2019, Burgos competed in the Gulf Coast Rookie League for the Cardinals. In 22 games, Burgos hit just .205, but his on-base percentage was .311. In the 2019 Dominican Summer League, Burgos slashed .316/.420/.579 with a .999 OPS.

Burgos grades out on Fangraphs as a 40+ overall player, in the neighborhood of Osiris Johnson and Victor Mesa Jr. The new addition pushes the number of “rated” prospects on Fangraphs to 41. Burgos is the new number 19 prospect, and is projected to arrive in the majors in 2023.

This move for Miami is similar to the recent trades of Kyle Keller and Austin Brice. Those pitchers were similarly DFA’d then flipped to another club in low-risk moves for teenaged prospects Jose Estrada and Angeudis Santos.