Thomas White's surreal consistency; Xavier Edwards batting gloves giveaway

[Ely Sussman]

Offishial News for 8/23/24

On Thursday down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 2-1. Only two hits for the Jumbo Shrimp, so a terrific Darren McCaughan start (5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 94 pitches/68 strikes) went to waste. Double-A Pensacola lost, 7-3. RHP Evan Fitterer couldn't find the strike zone and recorded only one out. OF Jacob Berry went 2-for-3 with a walk, but also committed his 19th error of the season. High-A Beloit won, 3-1. C Ryan Ignoffo raised his batting average to .375 through 13 High-A games. For the sixth consecutive outing, LHP Thomas White (5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 68 pitches/46 strikes) went the maximum five innings that the Marlins permit him to pitch while surrendering exactly one run (see game logs below). The No. 1 prospect's first full professional season has gone as well as anybody could have realistically imagined. Low-A Jupiter lost, 2-1. That's despite LHP Keyner Benitez (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 68 pitches/47 strikes) matching his career high with seven strikeouts. DSL Marlins won the opening game of their first-round playoff series, 7-5. Incredible start from LHP Luifer Romero (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K), who did not allow a single ball to leave the infield! C Jesús Abreu went 3-for-3 with a walk.

Here's more Marlins news and content: 

🔷 Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald updates the development of top Marlins outfield prospects. Regarding Jacob Berry's recent offensive surge, director of minor league operations Hector Crespo subtly mentioned that changes to Berry's pregame work have translated to improved production.

🔷 On this day in 2019, the Marlins defeated the Phillies, 19-11, in what is still the highest-scoring game in this ballpark's history.

🔷 Best of luck to Colleen Mitchell. After six years with the Marlins organization, most recently serving as manager of player care and service, Mitchell announced that she's leaving for another opportunity.

🔷 With Bruce Sherman on track to become the first owner in Marlins history to preside over two 100-loss seasons, Son Los Marlins calls for him to sell the franchise.

🔷 MLB is giving away a pair of Xavier Edwards game-used batting gloves. Follow the instructions here to be entered to win.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Mariners fired manager Scott Servais after a 1-8 road trip plunged the team to a .500 record. Dan Wilson (the one who spent 12 years of his playing career in Seattle) will serve as interim manager. The Angels extended general manager Perry Minasian through 2026. Joey Votto announced his retirement. Votto had been attempting to return to the majors with the Blue Jays this season, but his progress stalled at Triple-A. He hangs up his cleats having slashed .294/.409/.511 in the majors with 356 home runs in 2,056 games, all of them as a member of the Reds. Trevor Rogers was optioned to Triple-A after four mediocre starts with the Orioles. Aaron Judge hit his 48th homer of the season.

🔷 Today's MLB game: it's the series opener between the Marlins (probable starter RHP Max Meyer) and Cubs (RHP Kyle Hendricks). Hendricks has a brilliant 1.86 ERA in eight career starts against Miami, but he's in the midst of his worst season ever. The Marlins have a 53.5% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 7:10 p.m.

🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE today from 6:00-7:00 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. Special guests: Bullpen Mafia co-hosts Javier Salas and Eric Todoroff. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks. If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050.

Today's MiLB schedule:

• Triple-A Jacksonville at Nashville, 7:35 p.m. ET
• Double-A Pensacola at Tennessee, 7:00 p.m. ET
• High-A Beloit at South Bend, 7:05 p.m. ET
• Low-A Jupiter vs. Daytona, 6:30 p.m. ET
• DSL Marlins vs. DSL Giants Black, 11:00 a.m. ET (DSL Marlins lead series, 1-0)

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[Slacker Mills]

Should we be talking about Ryan Ignoffo as the system's player of the year? While transitioning to catcher he hasn't just hit better than any of his teammates at Jupiter or Beloit, he's done it by a massive margin. And 20 stolen bases for good measure. I'd like to read an indepth evaluation of how he's doing defensively.

[Chad Turner]

10 hours ago, Slacker Mills said:

Should we be talking about Ryan Ignoffo as the system's player of the year? While transitioning to catcher he hasn't just hit better than any of his teammates at Jupiter or Beloit, he's done it by a massive margin. And 20 stolen bases for good measure. I'd like to read an indepth evaluation of how he's doing defensively.

In his first season behind the plate, he’s thrown out 24 of 102 runners and allowed 15 passed balls, so he has some work to do to stick at C.  He turned 24 last month (4.5 yrs older than Thomas White) and his power tool is mediocre for that age at A/A+, so my expectations are tempered.  The hit tool is great though.  If he improves his defense this winter, I could see him starting in AA next year.  I would bet on him making the majors in a couple of years.  I have not seen him play though.  

[One Regend]

What a career that Joey Votto had. It's a shame he played all of it for a team that essentially wasted his entire career. A huge what-if story. If only he played his entire career with a team that actually cared about winning the World Series.