The Miami Marlins missed out on a former top prospect

As the Miami Marlins are looking ahead to the Trade Deadline, it's easy to wonder what could've been. What if The Fish added a bat to replace outgoing DH Jorge Soler? One such option happened to fly under the radar. I'm of course talking about LF Jurickson Profar. Profar is having a break-out season and it could've been happening with The Fish.

The Miami Marlins missed out on signing Jurickson Profar last off-season.

Jurickson Profar was an elite prospect with the Texas Rangers about a decade ago. He was the #1 prospect in the Minor Leagues. It was expected that he'd be a star upon his call-up to the Majors, but it didn't happen. From 2012-2018 with Texas (minus the missed due to injury 2014 season), Profar batted .240/.321/.387. He was worth just 2.0 WAR for that time period.

Traded to the Oakland Athletics for the 2019 season, Profar batted just .218/.301/.410 with 20 home runs and 67 RBI, in 139 games and 459 AB. Traded to the San Diego Padres after the season, he batted .244/.333/.375 from 2020-2022. He split 2023 between San Diego and the Colorado Rockies, batting .242/.321/.368, with just 9 home runs and 46 RBI in 125 games and 459 AB.

It's pretty obvious that the 31 year old Jurickson Profar didn't look that good going into this season. San Diego signed him for 1 year/$1 million to play LF and it seemed like an odd gamble to make. He's rewarded them quite a bit so far, batting an amazing .323/.417/.482, with 8 home runs and 38 RBI in 65 games and 220 AB. He has an 89.0 EV, which is higher than his career mark of 86.9. His BABIP however is .354, which is higher than his career .272 mark, implying a drop in the near future.

It's possible that Jurickson Profar would not have done so well playing for a different team. Still, the fact that he's playing so good and could've been had for just $1 million.... it really makes you think. He would've been an upgrade over Nick Gordon in LF.