Marlins’ international scouting director addresses huge signing day

Under a new international scouting director, the Marlins made a huge splash on the first day of the 2024-25 international signing period, signing 17 total prospects including 10 who received bonuses of at least $100,000. David Hernandez Beayne spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon about orchestrating these signings and his team’s overall strategy.

“We're obviously very excited with the acquisitions that we have currently in place and the players that we've signed today, not just what their potential is, but for what the future holds,” Hernandez Beayne said. “All in all, it was an absolutely beautiful ceremony down here in the Dominican; we also had one in Venezuela and one in Mexico, kind of comprising all the different talents that we have represented within this class. We are very excited with the different profiles that we've been able to add the different players that we're going to that we're going to be adding to our system, and just excited for what the future holds, not just for the players, but the staff as well.”

The crown jewel of Wednesday’s inkings is infielder Andrew Salas who was ranked as a top-five player in this class and is expected to enter organizational rankings as a top-three talent. Salas, the youngest of three brothers who were signed as top international prospects, is thought to be the furthest ahead overall at the time of his signing. Salas is the second of the three brothers to sign with Miami; Jose Salas signed with the club in 2019, also earning the team’s top signing bonus in that class. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins in January 2023 as part of the Luis Arraez package.

According to Hernandez Beayne, the team’s history with and knowledge of the Salas family was paramount in getting a deal done.

“It’s one of the things that really attracted us to Andrew at the very beginning. He obviously comes from a very extensive baseball background; his grandfather, his father, his brothers, and the history that we have with his older brother, Jose, being an original Marlin, signed back in 2019,” Hernandez Beayne said. “There’s always been a lot of camaraderie. There's always been a strong connection. We've always felt very comfortable with how professional Jose handles himself."

“At his house in Kissimmee, Florida, he literally has a field, baseball field in his backyard. He's somebody that eats, sleeps, breathes baseball and was just kind of built in that way, seeing his older brothers and again, his family in general. From a makeup standpoint, from a competitive standpoint, from a work ethic standpoint, and everything else, we're extremely excited about adding him to the system.“

Hernandez Beayne reiterated the strong ties the Marlins have continued to have with the Salas family since 2019 even amidst Jose being traded. Much of the Salas family, including Jose, were present for Andrew’s signing ceremony.

“It was great to see Jose once again. I got to know him back when I was an intern in 2019 and so seeing him again, happy for his brother was obviously a great sight,” Hernandez Beayne said. “We've built a relationship for a long time now, back from when Jose was signed. Understanding the context in which Jose was traded, in order to acquire player for the big league team, it what was best for Jose at that time.”

“Ultimately, there is no bad blood at all. On the contrary, it was one of those where the relationship was fostered from that time, Jose was signed and has continued on.”

Andrew Salas boasts a present 65-grade hit tool with solid present power from an easy swing and stroke with plenty of room to add more muscle. Defensively, the Marlins love Salas’ versatility. The goal will be for him to gain as much experience as possible with an initial focus on middle infield where Hernandez Beayne believes Salas has the chance to stick long term. That will be his recommendation to player development.

“Our intention is to start him at shortstop,” Hernandez Beayne said. “I think the more positions the player plays, ultimately the more flexibility he'll have long term. I wouldn't be surprised if they put him in center field, they put him in second base, third base, just to get his bat in the lineup as much as possible. But the full intention for us, for player development, is to start him at shortstop. We think he has all of the characteristics and traits to stick there and be impactful.”

In addition to Salas, the Marlins also officially came to terms with one of the top-heralded pitching prospects in this year’s class, Kevin Defrank. A Dominican righty, Defrank has already made a ton of noise in his amateur career. With a fastball up to 98, a changeup with late arm-side fade, repeatable motions, and the ability to control the strike zone all at age 16, Defrank is already well on his way to a solid floor at the next level. The organization has been incredibly impressed with Defrank’s level of development before turning pro.

“He’s one of the most advanced pitchers I've ever seen in my short career of doing international baseball,” Hernandez Beayne said. “We are equally excited with how good our development system is with pitchers, especially Dominican pitchers, and how he's going to further develop an already advanced skill set to begin with. Obviously, he's been involved in our process, coaches are already fully aware of what he brings to the table. I'm equally as excited to begin working with him and getting that process going. I think because he is so advanced in certain areas, he should put himself in a really good position to, for his talent to show up, on the field.”

In addition to fellow right-handed pitcher Defrank, Hernandez Beayne pointed out Adrian Peña as a name to keep an eye on.

“A guy who just has elite size, still very projectable, very athletic and coordinated, and has already been up to 94 miles an hour for us, with an absolute plus breaking ball that he spends up to 2,700-2,800 [RPM] and just in terms of understanding his development timeline, his age and where he needs to get to, we think that he has one of the highest skill sets of any player in this class.”

Hernandez Beayne also called out infielder Steven Herrera.

“He's a guy whose arrow has been trending up as well. He's a very dynamic, wiry type athlete that is able to play multiple positions. We don't know if he's going to be able to stick with shorts up. We do know that he's able to be able to play it all over the field. He's a dynamic, explosive player all the tests that we did. Amongst all our players, he's number one in raw explosiveness, bat speed, power. There is a little bit of length to the swing. There's some recognition, things that we've been working on as well. But if it all clicks for him, he's one of the guys that we picked internally as our dark horse to be somebody that can become impactful just because of how explosive and how athletic he actually is.”

In comparison to seasons past, particularly 2022, this 17-player class is significantly smaller than what the Marlins have grown accustomed to. Back then, they had an additional Dominican Summer League team to populate from scratch. With both of their DSL teams now established, the club is in a position to go quality over quantity.

“As the years have progressed, with more players sticking the system and others progressing to the States, there hasn't been as aggressive a need to add more talent to fill those positions,” Hernandez Beayne said. "This year, I think was more strategic in diversifying part of our portfolio in terms of getting Andrew and kind of adding as much pieces with what we had remaining to kind of fill out the rest of the class.”

All but one of the players in the Marlins’ signing day class came from the two most dominant international markets, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. That said, Hernandez Beayne stated the organization has done research and is continuing to expand their department to build a presence in smaller markets. He highlighted the hiring of new scouting coordinators in Columbia and Panama as well as the new pact between MLB and Brazil in his future plans for the department.

“Our plans are going to be to cast a really wide net, trying to identify as much talent as possible to see, what makes most sense for the Marlins as a whole. I can tell you that recently, we have been exploring other markets to see if there is any talent that we would want to add going forward. And I think that we positioned ourselves strongly understanding what our process is to feel secure about reaching an agreement with a player to continue with that. But overall, yes, we have been looking.”

“It is our plan to add more players, for sure. We always keep our options open. If there are players that pop up and like they normally do, later on in the period, we'll be be aggressive if need be.”

The Marlins still have an estimated $570,500 left to spend during this year’s international signing period, which is open through December 15.

Interested in learning more about the Miami Marlins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!