FanSided

Four under the radar Miami Marlins prospects who are killing it in 2022

By Neil Raymond |
JUPITER, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 19: Jerar Encarnacion #87 of the Miami Marlins poses for a photo during Photo Day at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on February 19, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
JUPITER, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 19: Jerar Encarnacion #87 of the Miami Marlins poses for a photo during Photo Day at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on February 19, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
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MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 20: A general view of the Miami Marlins logo. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 20: A general view of the Miami Marlins logo. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

The Miami Marlins have a great farm system and this article inspired to write our version. There are four prospects who are on a tear and yet you don’t hear much about them. I won’t spoil the names now, but it wouldn’t be surprising if everyone knows them very soon. Here’s your chance to get to know them early, let’s begin…

The Miami Marlins could have the top farm system by mid-season.

The top players in our system are pretty well-known, we even recently wrote about one of them recently, but The Fish’s elite system has other names that aren’t as well-known.

The four prospects that I‘ll be talking about today may not be as well-known or elite, but each showed some serious potential this season and each deserves a chance to receive some acclaim. Who knows, maybe some of them will even become stars on the Major League team.

JUPITER, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 19: Jerar Encarnacion #87 of the Miami Marlins poses for a photo during Photo Day at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on February 19, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
JUPITER, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 19: Jerar Encarnacion #87 of the Miami Marlins poses for a photo during Photo Day at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on February 19, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

First in line is Miami Marlins AA RF Jerar Encarnacion.

Let’s start with thy aforementioned Miami Marlins AA RF Jerar Encarnacion. Encarnacion is a 24 year old righty currently smashing to the tune of .326/.417/.562. That’s pretty impressive to say the least. Could he do just as good in AAA and then in the Majors?

I think so and I’ll explain why, though I should also mention that he’s never been this good before, but what if he made some adjustments that work? Is it really unrealistic that he can potentially keep this up?

Detractors will of course point to his .411 BABIP, but I’ll point to his impressive .298/.363/.478 in 2019 while in single A ball. My point is that he’s done similarly well before and that means that perhaps he can do it again. I’m a big believer in players replicating their success if they’re young enough.

Did I mention his elite 12.4% BB% this season? He is great at taking walks, which is a hallmark of an elite batting approach. I’m not implying that he’s an elite player…yet, but he’s certainly showing a lot of promise so far this season. Encarnacion may be a worthy call-up this season (as is his ETA), and might just help boost the Miami Marlins’ offense.

OMAHA, NEBRASKA – JUNE 28: Tanner Allen (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NEBRASKA – JUNE 28: Tanner Allen (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

A+ OF Tanner Allen is another Miami Marlins prospect to watch.

OF Tanner Allen is not particularly close to the Majors, but it doesn’t hurt to think about the future for him on the Miami Marlins. Tanner is estimated to be coming up in 2024, but by that point it wouldn’t be surprising if his prospect stock has actually increased.

Tanner is currently hitting .265/.296/.456 and that batting line may not immediately jump off the page, but that’s an improvement from his .189/.258/.288 production from last season. An interesting thing about Allen, is that when he first started playing in the Miami Marlins’ Minor League system he had an excellent and very impressive 18.2% BB%. It has unfortunately dropped down to 4.2% this season, but there’s hope that he can get back to working the count more.

An encouraging thing about the former college baseball standout is that he cut his strikeout rate from 16.9% in 2021 to 15.5% in 2022. Another encouraging thing is that despite his poor batting line last season, he did it with a .189 BABIP, which means that it was a fluke. This season he has a .304 BABIP, implying that this season’s production is more in line with his actual talent level.

Tanner Allen is definitely a prospect to watch at the moment, and could end up rising up the prospect rankings by the time that this season ends. It’s possible that in a few years he’ll be a major part of the Miami Marlins’ outfield.

MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 22: (L-R) The Mesa brothers at Marlins Park on October 22, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 22: (L-R) The Mesa brothers at Marlins Park on October 22, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

OF Victor Mesa Jr. is on his way to the Miami Marlins!

Do you remember when the Miami Marlins fans were hyped for the arrival of top Cuban signing Victor Mesa Jr.? Well… they hype was justified! Mesa is another prospect that we should all be well aware of. He may not have been talked about as much since he signed with The Fish back in 2018, but he certainly should be.

Mesa hit .284/.366/.398 in rookie ball in 2019 and then followed that up by hitting .266/.316/.402 in A-ball in 2021 (the 2020 Minor League season was cancelled due to the pandemic). This season in A+ ball Mesa is hitting .275/.318/.400. As you can see, he produces above average stats at every level of the Minor Leagues so far.

Fangraphs rates Mesa’s speed at 50/50 which means that he can probably steal 30-40 bases in the Majors when he’s ready. He also received a 45/50 “raw power” rating, which shows that those SLG numbers can get a lot better as he matures. Let’s not forget that Mesa is still only 20 years old and his best days are still well ahead of him. One can only imagine how good he can be when he gets older.

Victor Mesa Jr. is the #14 Miami Marlins prospect according to MLB.com, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see his name skyrocket up the rankings in the near future. Let’s hope that Mesa can be a central figure of the Miami Marlins outfield when he presumably gets his call-up in 2024.

Jake Eder (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
Jake Eder (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

LHP Jake Eder may be a future Miami Marlins ace!

LHP Jake Eder shouldn’t come as a surprise, but he gets lost on the long list of Miami Marlins’ top prospects. Eder is the #7 Miami Marlins prospect according to MLB.com and may very well be at the top of the list before the season crosses the finish line. He’s having an impressive season, and things are looking very very good for this 23 year old elite prospect.

Would you like to know how Eder is currently doing in AA? Well not much, just a 1.77 ERA/2.48 FIP in 71.1 IP in 15 starts. That’s ELITE production of what increasingly looks like a future Miami  Marlins ace. With all the talk of other top pitching prospects on The Fish, why isn’t Elder getting the most attention?

Eder’s production as a 23 year old in AA is so impressive that I can go on about that for hours, but let’s keep it simple for now. He has a 12.49 K/9 rate so we can check off “elite strikeout rate” from the list too, just in case you were wondering if he gets those whiffs or not. His BB% is a bit high at 3.42, but he can definitely drop it and improve even further. Assuming that he does, a call-up to the Majors should be in the cards.

The Miami Marlins have many good pitching prospects, but Jake Eder has a case to be at the top of that list. He may not have a household name or be as flashy as some of the other elute names, but Eder may just end up being the best of the bunch. Remember the name Jake Eder by the time his estimated promotion year of 2024 rolls around.

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