Will Banfield looking to build off strong 2023 season

[Alex Carver]

Following a breakout 2023 season offensively, catching prospect Will Banfield is in major league camp with the Marlins as an NRI, looking to continue to impress.

JUPITER, FL—The progression and development of a high school catcher in professional baseball can be extremely volatile. When focusing on learning how to handle pro pitching and the speed of a pro game as their first priority, the ability to produce offensively can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. For some high school catchers, it never happens. But with how advanced the defense of Will Banfield was coming out of the draft in 2018, the Marlins were confident in Banfield’s very high floor at age 18.

In 2023, the confidence and persistence the Marlins showed in Banfield to become a dual threat backstop starter to pay off. While holding down his always solid tools behind the plate, Banfield had a breakout year at the plate, slashing .258/.302/.472 with 23 home runs. It happened over the course of a full season with Double-A Pensacola, the highest level he’s ever played at.

The catalysts for Banfield’s improvements at the plate were twofold. The first: mental adjustments.

“Not pressing, knowing I’m a good hitter and I can hit with two strikes and that I’m not gonna miss my pitch.”

Banfield pointed to Pensacola hitting coach Matt Snyder as a key cog in the improvements he was able to make mentally. The best advice he got from Snyder was to create a blueprint for how he was going to attack each pitcher he faced.

“That’s something that we worked on hard,” Banfield said. “Once I was able to feel comfortable with a couple of adjustments that we did make, once I was on time, those things took care of itself. It was more so making a plan for hunting windows for different guys especially righties with sliders, sweepers. So just making sure I’m sticking to a plan, through an at-bat, through a game…that was the biggest thing.”

The second catalyst for Banfield’s improvements were the mechanical adjustments he speaks of. At the plate and in his setup, Banfield looked much different than years past. The changes allowed him to stay more relaxed at the plate and cover more of it.

“Staying looser with my full body but mostly my upper half. Hitting more into my front side,” Banfield said of the mechanical adjustments. “It’s been able to give me a lot more length in my swing and it’s helped a lot obviously with offspeed or pitches down in general. I’m continuing to work on that and sticking with a routine I was comfortable with last year.”

 

There’s also a sense of comfort and familiarity in the Marlins’ clubhouse this spring for Banfield. Joining him are several of his Pensacola teammates from the past two years including Patrick Monteverde, Josh Simpson, Troy Johnston, Paul McIntosh, Victor Mesa Jr. and others. Seeing the winning culture he and those same teammates helped build in Pensacola matriculate to a major league clubhouse has been a boost of confidence for Banfield.

“Having the same core group of guys, it’s really cool to be able to keep going up with. All these guys are winners. All these guys want to win whenever we step on the field," Banfield said. “For that group and these guys here now that we’ve gotten to know and be around, everyone’s winners. It’s cool to bring our side from the minor leagues up into the clubhouse, blending it with major league guys. It’s gonna be a really fun year.”

Banfield has been a very regular participant in every drill on the backfields early in camp and he’s already played in two games, where he’s showcased his continuously plus defensive skills and recorded two hits in his first five ABs.

 

 

 

 

If Banfield can continue to showcase his improved bat-to-ball skills, he will continue to solidify himself as the top catching prospect in the Marlins’ organization and place himself in a good position to contribute to the big league club this year. He will be 24 for the entirety of the season.

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