Deyvison De Los Santos has clearer path to the majors following Jake Burger trade

[Kevin Barral]

The Marlins' willingness to move Burger now could be a vote of confidence in De Los Santos to provide similar power at the first base and designated hitter spots.

On Tuesday night, the Miami Marlins traded Jake Burger to the Texas Rangers in exchange for three prospects: Max Acosta, Echedry Vargas and Brayan Mendoza. Moving an everyday player, proven run producer and popular teammate like Burger has a major impact on the team's 2025 plans, especially when it comes to first base prospect Deyvison De Los Santos.

Fish On First's number three prospect is the youngest member of the Marlins 40-man roster, not turning 22 until the middle of next season. He was acquired along with Andrew Pintar in a trade that sent A.J. Puk to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dominican power hitter slashed .294/.343/.571/.914 last year with 40 home runs and 120 RBI, becoming the first player to homer 40 times in a minor league season since MJ Melendez in 2021. He spent most of the season at the Triple-A level where he posted a max exit velocity of 116 mph (same as Burger).

De Los Santos got off to a hot start with the Marlins organization, but finished his AAA Jacksonville stint slashing .240/.284/.459/.744 with 12 home runs, 36 RBI and an 85 wRC+. His strikeout percentage climbed to 28.4%, way above the International League average of 23.2%. As Sean McCormack wrote about in October, there is a "massive hole up and inside" that pitchers can take advantage of to generate whiffs.

 

By the second half of 2024, Burger was splitting time with the Marlins at first base and designated hitter. His departure opens things up for Jonah Bride to play regularly at those positions, but there's also room for De Los Santos if they think he's ready to be challenged at the big league level. Defensively, he is already better than Bride or the other options on Miami's 40-man roster, recently acquired Liam Hicks and FOF #2 prospect Agustín Ramírez.

"We think really highly of him," said president of baseball operations Peter Bendix at the Winter Meetings this week. "I think he's got a very bright future. I don't know the specifics of when (his debut) is going to happen, but I think he's got a really bright future."

Bride emerged as a big piece of the Marlins lineup, slashing .276/.357/.461/.818 with 11 home runs, 39 RBI and a 123 wRC+. Hicks doesn't have any Triple-A experience, but as a Rule 5 Draft pick, he is required to be on the 26-man roster when healthy or else be offered back to his previous team. That could leave De Los Santos and Ramírez competing for one Opening Day spot. It's even possible that both of them miss the cut to finish up their development and save the Marlins from using a full year of MLB service time.

De Los Santos is attempting to become the youngest Marlins player to earn an Opening Day roster spot since José Fernández.

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[rurrusuno]

I'm sure DLS is in the Marlins' future plans as an everyday player, but I guess is that there's no rush now to use him. I think he'll get called up later in the year. 

[Slacker Mills]

He's going to have to hit at Jacksonville before the team can even contemplate seeing him in a Marlins uniform. I'm not buying any stock in him at this point.

[Chad Turner]

He's only 21 but has over 400 AAA AB.  Call him up.  I don't care about the year end slump.  He will adjust. We need firepower, even if he bats .210 as a rookie.  He just needs to be more patient.  Easy fix.  

I would wager that he will have the highest slugging percentage for the Marlins in '25.  

Stanton AA/AAA: 602 AB, .257 AVG, 38HR, .550 SLG, 162/76 K/BB

D DLS in '24: 583 AB, .294 AVG, 40HR, .571 SLG, 144/34 K/BB

Stanton wasn't great in RF. He would have been more DH if we had one then.  

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Play the young guys. Stay with the plan. leave the castoffs for others and build a tight-knit team.