Miami Marlins: There is still hope for Victor Victor Mesa this season

Has the timetable on Victor Victor Mesa’s arrival with the Miami Marlins changed this spring due to poor performance in camp?

Where will Miami Marlins highly touted prospect Victor Victor Mesa begin the 2020 season? Does the outfielder continue to learn the game in Jacksonville, the organization’s Double-A affiliate? And more importantly from a timing standpoint, did the work he put in this spring in camp help accelerate his move to the Majors, or are other prospects passing him by on the depth chart?

The Marlins still have high hopes for Mesa, who was supposed to take the Marlins minor league system by storm last season and move up the ladder as the team’s top prospect. That did not materialize as hoped and now, with a chance to still show he can be a successful hitter in the Majors at some point, his path is somewhat slowed by others in the organization and his own personal growth.

He is currently the 26th ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline.

“Miami Marlins prospect Victor Victor Mesa‘s output this spring disappointed many who thought that he was finally turning the corner,” writes Yusseff Diaz of Call to the Pen here on FanSided.com.

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“It’s even more disappointing when you consider the impressive performance he had in the Arizona Fall League that saw him hit .271 and also saw him named the best arm of the league.”

The Marlins have an abundance of talent in the outfield the front office has put together the past year. The blueprint seems to have paid off for now with a bright future ahead for many prospects. Mesa and his brother Victor Mesa, Jr. are still part of the team’s plans moving forward.

I posed this question earlier in the offseason to my tag-team partner here at Marlin Maniac. While the Mesa’s have lived for the moment when both of them were playing together in the Marlins outfield in the Majors, is there a chance one or both of them are traded because of numbers and an overload of talent?

That question should be answered in another story in the coming weeks. For now, the older Mesa has some work to do to get ready for another season in the minors.

“Although his offensive output has always been suspect his defense has always been Major League caliber,” Diaz added.“Last season the young Cuban won a Rawlings Gold Glove in the minors. Víctor Víctor finished the season with a fielding percentage of 1.000 and 11 assists in 102 combined games between A+ (Jupiter) and AA (Jacksonville).”

There is no question the defensive side of his game is well ahead of swinging for the fences on American soil. Patience is there from the front office. Mesa must take a step forward, however, to have a chance to make the Majors by 2021.

Mesa had 10 plate appearances this Spring – which isn’t a real indication of how he could play this season. His batting average rested at .200 – which is not anything to get excited about. He should start in Jacksonville and hopefully make a jump to Class-AAA in Wichita at some point in 2020.

If not, then there should be some discussion about how to help the youngster continue this progression.