Meet Minor League Baseball's most dominant pitching staff

[Ely Sussman]

The FCL Marlins have won nearly three-quarters of their games this season, leaning heavily on young Dominican arms.

I'll spit it out immediately in case it isn't apparent to everybody: there's close to zero correlation between a minor league affiliate's overall stats and the quality of MLB talent on the affiliate's roster. That is particularly true midway through a rookie ball team's abbreviated season. Numerous factors can skew the numbers over such a small, strange sample.

With that being said, the 2024 Florida Complex League Marlins have earned a shoutout. Entering Monday, the FCL Marlins (to be referred to as FCLM for the rest of this article) are 24-9. Their .727 winning percentage ranks first among all domestic MiLB affiliates. That success is largely attributable to foreign-born arms who the Marlins have found via international free agency in recent years.

Dominican RHP Juan De La Cruz is Fish On First's #19 Marlins prospect. He got sent back to the complex league despite a long stint at Low-A in 2023. This season, De La Cruz has posted a 1.20 earned run average in his team-leading 30 innings pitched, limiting opponents to three hits or fewer in each of his seven starts. De La Cruz throws a low-90s fastball, a mid-70s curveball and an occasional mid-80s changeup which has improved, helping him limit left-handed batters to three hits in 37 at-bats against him (.081 BAA).

RHP Walin Castillo has deservedly matriculated to Low-A Jupiter already. He allowed only one earned run and 13 baserunners (hits, walks and HBPs combined) in his 23 FCLM innings. Signed in June 2022, Castillo is the same age as De La Cruz (this is his age-19 season). His fastball is a tick slower, but possesses nasty armside run. Plenty of room to add onto his slender 6'3" frame.

Fellow Dominican LHP Luis Cesar is more physically mature. The 20-year-old has sliced his walk rate in half, from 16.5% in his stateside debut to 8.2% this summer. His MiLB groundball rate is over 60% in parts of three seasons (56.2 GB% in 2024).

On a roster that's overwhelming populated by international signees, RHP Colson Lawrence leads FCLM with 11 appearances. The Alabama native was Miami's 13th-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

Every complex league club benefits from the contributions of rehabbing big leaguers. Braxton Garrett and A.J. Puk have suited up and excelled for FCLM, but only for one game apiece. By Baseball-Reference's calculation of pitchers' average age, FCLM has had the third-youngest pitching staff in the league (20.1 years old). They lead the FCL in strikeouts (350) and WHIP (1.11), and in terms of overall run prevention, they're lapping the competition:

There have been encouraging developments on the position player side as well. The youngest FCLM hitter, Venezuelan OF Andrés Valor (FOF #15 prospect), is slashing .289/.362/.446 while manning center field practically every game. Repeating the FCL, 1B Julio Henriquez has posted a .496 on-base percentage, second-highest among league qualifiers.

The other hitter getting daily reps is switch-hitting SS Fabian López. He's been far less successful at the plate (.231/.263/.346 slash line), particularly against right-handers. However, López has excellent defensive potential and I'm going to take an educated guess that he's been helping out these pitchers by making more impactful plays at shortstop than his peers. The FCLM defense has allowed a .247 BABIP—that's gotta be more than just good luck, right?

 

 

 

 

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Beginning with a doubleheader on Monday, FCLM is scheduled to play 23 more regular season games. The club holds a commanding eight-game lead in the FCL East division.

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