Offishial News: Another Jesús Sánchez center field experiment; hype around Agustín Ramírez and Max Acosta

[Ely Sussman]

Today's news roundup also includes our annual attempt to predict Marlins minor league call-ups.

Last year, our partners at HOMAGE revived the iconic teal Florida Marlins Starter jacket. For those who weren't able to nab one previously, they're back in stock with a higher-quality fabric for a very limited time! Get yours here (Fish On First receives a commission for products purchased through that link).

Marlins Opening Day is 36 days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Per Clayton McCullough, Jesús Sánchez will receive some reps in center field during spring training. It's not expected to be his primary position like it was back in 2022, but "we think he’s more than athletic enough," McCullough says. "To us, there’s no downside to do this in spring training.” In 78 games as a CF in '22, Sánchez posted plus-two defensive runs saved and minus-two outs above average. Personally, I'm pessimistic about how he'd perform there.

🔷 Two more Marlins minor leaguers were released over the weekend: RHP Collin Lowe and OF Antony Peguero. A former undrafted free agent, Lowe logged 192 innings over the last three seasons with the vast majority of that work coming with Low-A Jupiter. He consistently posted encouraging low walk rates and high groundball rates, but those have to be taken with a grain of salt considering the much younger competition he was facing (he's entering his age-26 season). Peguero, on the other hand, is only 19 and three years removed from receiving a $575,000 signing bonus from the Marlins. Overall, he slashed .251/.329/.355 (88 wRC+) with six home runs and 15 stolen bases in 104 rookie ball games. Left field had become his primary position since moving stateside. I wonder whether Peguero would have had a longer leash if the executives responsible for signing him were still with the organization.

🔷 I hosted and participated in our annual Marlins Call-Up Contest, selecting Agustín Ramírez with my first pick. I'll try my best to post new Offishial Show episodes every Tuesday moving forward (some with guest interviews, others with my solo analysis).

🔷 New Top 100 lists from Eric Longenhagen and Dan Szymborski of FanGraphs both have Ramírez as the top prospect in the Marlins organization, ranking him 43rd and 61st, respectively. Joe Mack and Noble Meyer also cracked both lists. Relative to the rest of the industry, they're low on Thomas White.

🔷 Aram Leighton of Just Baseball released his deep dive on the Marlins farms system. The analysis on Max Acosta's 2024 midseason swing adjustments was especially enlightening and makes it easier to grasp why the team considered him to be worthy of headlining a Jake Burger trade package.

🔷 Chris Clegg of The Dynasty Dugout likewise forecasts a breakout for Acosta and highlights Keyner Benitez as a "major helium prospect in 2025" if he can throw strikes more consistently.

🔷 As of this writing, 70% of voters in Fish Army's poll said that they preferred Jeffrey Loria as the Marlins owner over Bruce Sherman. I recently wrote about how Sherman's spending has been inadequate despite his insistence otherwise.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Diamondbacks extended Geraldo Perdomo (4-YR/$45M). Old friend Yuli Gurriel secured a minor league deal from the Padres. At age 40, he was the oldest position player to appear in the majors last season. The second-oldest position player, Justin Turner, has signed with the Cubs (1-YR/$6M). A high-grade right lat strain is expected to sideline Mets starter Frankie Montas until May, if not longer.

🔷 Happy birthday to Kelly Saco, the Marlins Radio Network analyst and FanDuel Sports Network Florida in-game reporter.

 

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[rurrusuno]

Wow, can’t believe Yuli is still playing. Good for him. 
 

As bad as Jeffrey Loria was, he’s better than the circus we got going on now with Bruce Sherman.