Thomas White shines for Marlins in Spring Breakout game

[Kevin Barral]

Going into year two under Peter Bendix, the Miami Marlins farm system looks completely different and that was on display Friday.

JUPITER, FL—It featured the same opposing team and same starting pitcher as last year, but overall, there were a lot of differences for the Marlins when they took the field for MLB's second annual Spring Breakout. Following a full overhaul of the farm system, 17 of the Fish On First Top 30 prospects played Friday afternoon as the Marlins tied the St. Louis Cardinals by a final score of 3-3.

The acting manager for this game was former Marlins outfielder Juan Pierre, who said this will be his first and final game as a manager. "Grand opening, grand closing for that one," said Pierre. "It's fun to get out there. It's a honor for the Marlins organization even to ask me to do this. It's a lot of fun out there. Wish we could've gotten the win. Tried to motivate the boys for a W, but they played well and it was a nice experience."

Making the start for the Marlins was number one prospect Thomas White. After pitching a scoreless inning in his 2024 Spring Breakout debut, White built upon that by going two shutout innings, allowing one hit, no runs, no walks and striking out three. His fastball topped out at 98.9 mph and all three of his strikeouts were on the slider.

Pierre raved about the top prospect in the organization, saying "he isn't far off [from the majors] the way he's throwing." Pierre noted how "his body looks like a grown man" despite how young he is (20). "White has very great upside to him and he's got command of all three/four pitches. Just with his presence on the mound you can tell that he's not far off."

The expectation with White would be to begin the season in Double-A Pensacola. In 13 starts at the High-A level, he posted a 2.61 ERA, 3.41 FIP, 11.03 K/9 and 3.05 BB/9 in 62 innings pitched.

"He was electric," said Marlins director of player development Rachel Balkovec. "We're all really excited about him, excited about his growth on the field and excited about his growth as a person and kind of maturing into a leader for us. Pretty cool to see today."

"Just for a 20-year-old, how mature and prepared he is," said Marlins director of minor league operations and field operations Hector Crespo. "He's the first guy in the building and just getting his body ready to go for each day. I couldn't say enough good things about Thomas and rightfully the right pick for us to start this game and credit to him."

Following White was #23 prospect Karson Milbrandt. In 2024, he posted a 4.33 ERA, 4.18 FIP, 8.39 K/9 and 5.25 BB/9 through 97 ⅔ innings pitched at High-A. On Friday, Milbrandt went two shutout innings, not allowing a run or a hit, walking one and striking out two. His fastball topped out at 98.5 mph.

After getting off to a great start in Low-A, Fish On First's number five prospect Noble Meyer struggled in High-A, posting a 5.18 ERA, 6.14 FIP, 9.45 K/9 and 7.20 BB/9 in 10 starts.

"I ended up hurting something in my lower back. It caused little issues with my leg, specifically my back leg and it kind of just leaked into the rest of the year," Meyer told Fish On First earlier this spring. "It caused a little discomfort and a mechanical change, something I tweaked along the way and I kind of lost my feel for the zone. I spent all offseason working on that and it’s been amazing so far. I don’t think I’ve thrown more than two balls in a row in my eight outings here."

On Friday, the top right-handed high school pitcher in the 2023 draft went two innings, allowing one run off of two hits, walking one and striking out one. His fastball topped out at 95.0 mph.

"Just seeing him battle a little bit today, and again, somebody who's maturing a lot in a lot of different ways—and he was always pretty mature," said Balkovec. "To see what he's doing this year is pretty exciting."

On the offensive side of the ball, the only Marlins player with a multi-hit game was Andrés Valor. Valor entered the game in place of Kemp Alderman, who was taken out due to precautionary reasons after making a catch where he hit a wall in foul territory.

Last season, Valor was in the Florida Complex League where he slashed .289/.374/.421/.796 with two home runs, 28 RBI, 35 stolen bases and a 119 wRC+.

"Incredibly high ceiling," said Balkovec regarding Valor. "He has put on about 20 pounds over the past six months and that's an incredible gain. He's taking pride in that and you'll probably see it even a little bit more with him. That process started after the season last year. We'll see what comes of it this year and I have no doubt that physicality is going to really bode well for him."

Two players who made their organizational debuts were infielders Starlyn Caba—acquired from the Phillies in the Jesús Luzardo trade—and Andrew Salas, the Marlins' top international signing of 2025. In the top of the sixth inning, they turned a double play, potentially previewing what that duo can bring to Miami in the future.

"What people may not see is electric personalities and really energetic," said Balkovec about Caba and Salas. "People who are probably going to be voices and leaders in the organization, which is very cool, but the talent and the physical capabilities are pretty impressive."

At 17 years old, Salas is already stateside and will start his minor league career in the FCL, sources tell Fish On First. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Salas flew out to right field, but acting manager Juan Pierre thought that was gone. The ball had an exit velocity of 95.9 mph and traveled 356 feet.

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[Slacker Mills]

Was there something to like about Noble Meyers' stuff? Not that I could see. Millbrandt will be excellent if he can simply throw more strikes. Of course, that's a huge if.

[rurrusuno]

Good to see him show why he’s our #1 prospect