Fish On First Prospects Report: Etzel's power surge; Milbrandt cracks BA Top 100 list

For the 2026 season, Fish On First will provide weekly reports on the Miami Marlins farm system, covering all levels. Here's the third May edition of our Fish On First Prospects Report, which includes several important injury updates near the bottom of the page.

This report covers the games played from May 12-18.

Triple-A Jacksonville

Fish On First Prospect of the Week Matthew Etzel had gotten off to a rough start in 2026, but now through 35 games, his production is close to his career average. Etzel was incredible in the most recent series against the Memphis Redbirds, recording at least one RBI in five of the six games and hitting home runs in each of the first four games. He is currently riding a 10-game hitting streak. His overall season slash line is up to .227/.313/.391/.703 with five home runs, 21 RBI and an 88 wRC+.

The Marlins acquired Etzel right before last year's trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for longtime catcher Nick Fortes. The Rays are satisfied with their side of the deal as Fortes is contributing to a club with the best record in Major League Baseball, but Etzel could potentially be called up at some point this season to give the Marlins a left-handed bat off the bench.

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40 likes, 1 comments - fofprospects on May 17, 2026: "Fear the beard! 🧔‍♂️data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== By way of a 9-25 series in which he hit homers in four straight games and in which he raised his OPS by over 100...

Kemp Alderman continues to mash in Jacksonville, now slashing .303/.376/.526/.903 with nine home runs, 23 RBI and a 137 wRC+. The 2023 second-round pick has been playing some first base recently, increasing his defensive versatility. He currently leads the Marlins farm system in hits (46) and runs scored (29). The main concern with Alderman is the jump in his strikeout rate, going from 23.1% in 2025 to 31.2% this season.

Although a much different type of hitter, Jacob Berry has been equally successful in Jacksonville, now slashing .317/.419/.455/.874 with two home runs, 16 RBI, 13 stolen bases and a 138 wRC+. He is walking (14.2 BB%) more often than he's striking out (12.2 K%). Berry has gotten reps at five different defensive positions this season, most recently second base. It's getting hard to justify keeping him down while the Marlins receive minimal contributions from the likes of Christopher Morel and Heriberto Hernández.

It's been an up-and-down ride for top prospect Thomas White since coming off the IL and going to Triple-A. In seven starts, White has a 4.01 ERA, 4.93 FIP, 12.77 K/9 and 5.47 BB/9. In his most recent start against Memphis, White allowed four runs on seven hits (two home runs).

White's fastball currently is averaging 94.9 mph and generating a 32.0% whiff rate, but is getting hit extremely hard (55.5% hard-hit rate). It's also below league average with a stuff plus grade of 91 (100 is league average). The breaking pitches have been a bit better, primarily the sweeper, generating 34% whiff and a 97 stuff plus. He is throwing that pitch 30.6% of the time, his second-most-used pitch.

Still only 21 years old, there is no rush with White, but Chris Paddack's departure and Robby Snelling's injury have moved him up the depth chart.

In the bullpen, Jack Ralston and Josh White continue to dominate. Ralston has a 1.11 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 12.21 K/9 and 4.81 BB/9 in 15 appearances. As for White, he has a 1.61 ERA, 4.95 FIP, 9.27 K/9 and 4.84 BB/9 in 14 appearances (one start).

William Kempner made his MLB debut with the Marlins on May 5, then quickly returned to the Jumbo Shrimp. He has not allowed a hit since then in seven innings pitched.

Double-A Pensacola

The Wahoos put on a power display in their series in Chattanooga. The beneficiaries of 13 total home runs over the week, Pensacola slugged their way to four wins in six games. They will head back home to take on Columbus with the chance to get back over .500 in the tightly-contested Southern League South division.

Once again leading the offensive charge was 22-year-old slugger Dillon Lewis, who went 5-for-21 with four of his hits visiting areas beyond fences. In the second game of the series, Lewis hit two home runs marking his first multi-homer game of the season and second of his career. On the season, he’s slugging .481, which ties him for 11th-best SLG in the Southern League. He’s on pace to be the first Marlins minor leaguer since Griffin Conine (2021) to reach 30 homers.

Lewis has immense raw power. With a seemingly gentle flick of the bat, Lewis is generating average exit velocities in the mid-to-upper 90s all the way up to the 110s. He is a pure pull hitter, smashing the ball to left field and in the air 17.9% of the time, in the 80th percentile in the Southern League. He turns on almost everything he touches with amazing strength. On the flip side, working to Lewis’ disadvantage is his extremely low percentage of swings at pitches in the strike zone and his relatively high amount of swings outside the zone. With a 40-point difference between his Z-Swing and O-swing, this is a clear point of emphasis for Lewis to hone in on as he continues to progress.

Because of his current gaps, the offensive floor is a bit volatile, but with improved plate vision and better swing decisions, there is a path to Lewis developing into a 40+ home run threat. He raises his overall floor a bit thanks to great athleticism and plus speed. Lewis is under the radar nationally, but that could change in short order later this year.

Are you not entertained? At this point, every Karson Milbrandt start is a must-watch event. His latest movie from this past week: six shutout innings on three hits, no walks and 11 strikeouts. That earned him Southern League Pitcher of the Week honors. In his past three starts, Milbrandt has a 0.50 ERA with a 28/3 K/BB.

Milbrandt’s player page on TJ Stats lights up like a Christmas tree. In every stat category except for swing% and zone%, he ranks on the upper echelon of his fellow competitors (75th percentile or better). This includes the 99th percentile in whiff rate and the 98th in ground ball rate.

Dominating all areas of the zone, changing eye levels, changing speeds—Milbrandt is doing it all largely with upper-90s velo plus ride on the fastball and a nasty sweeper with late run. He also still has a good power curveball in his back pocket. With questions about third-pitch development and control and command becoming more distant by the start, Milbrandt's career path increasingly bears resemblance to Max Meyer's, only his improvements are happening at a younger age. If these results persist for Milbrandt, we will see him at the big league level sooner than originally expected.

On Tuesday, the 22-year-old was deservedly added to Baseball America's Top 100 prospects list. The Marlins now have five players on the list, with Milbrandt joining Thomas White, Robby Snelling, Aiva Arquette and Joe Mack.

High-A Beloit

It was also a good week for the Sky Carp who shook off a series loss by taking four out of six from Peoria. The series was highlighted by an explosive 17-run performance on Saturday followed by a walk-off win on Sunday. Beloit’s offense scored a whopping 40 runs over the week (plus-10 run differential). It was refreshing to see from a squad who is still hitting just .220/.356/.375 as cold air and dreary weather start to finally dissipate in the region.

A Marlins’ 2024 14th-rounder, Cam Clayton enjoyed a solid week at the plate, recording a bit in each game including two home runs. His second homer came Sunday and served as Beloit’s walk-off salvo. The 4-for-15 series came on the heels of a three-hit game on May 9. Overall, Clayton is 7 for his last 18 with six RBI.

Clayton was drafted as a shortstop, but has since transitioned to corner infielder spots. This season with Beloit, he’s primarily played first base and slotted in as their DH. To reach an MLB ceiling, his bat will need to play consistently. It’s only showed up in spurts so far this season in High-A: before this current stretch, he was mired in an 0-for-21 spell before spending time on the development list. Clayton is walking at a tremendous rate and he is not swinging at bad pitches often, but he may be being a bit too timid at the plate: his zone swing percentage on the year is just 50.5%, one of the lowest in the High-A ranks. If Clayton, who sports a decent swing, can shake off some of his stoicism in the box without fully sacrificing his walk rate, he will improve his stock as a prospect.

As the weather improves, so does Eliazar Dishmey's control and command. After tossing five shutty last time out, the 21-year-old turned in his first quality start of the year against Peoria, going six innings of one-run ball on just two hits and three walks while striking out six. His only charged run came on a solo home run.

By way of one of the deeper arsenals in the Marlins’ organization, Dishmey continues to trend in the right direction. His 2.57 ERA this season is 11th-best in the Midwest League among pitchers with at least 20 IP. Transparently, Dishmey’s BABIP is an extremely low and unsustainable .189 and his 4.09 FIP is two runs higher than his ERA. As the BABIP normalizes over a larger sample of frames, Dishmey’s ERA will rise.

Dishmey won’t overpower with fastball velo which usually sits 92-94, but he throws the fastball two different ways and keeps hitters off balance with both rise and sink. His best breaker is a hard slider in the mid-upper 80s and he also owns a slow loopy curveball in the low 80s. Lack of shape on his changeup has caused it to morph more so into a cutter recently—that pitch sits 88-90 plays as a better mix-in offering.

Fantastic start tonight for Eliazar Dishmey, building off five shutout frames his last time out.

6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 92/54 P/S

Didn’t allow a hit until the 5th. Ended the start by striking out the side in the 6th. His ERA falls to 2.57.#Marlins pic.twitter.com/dups53ANvC

— Fish On First Prospects (@FOFProspects) May 15, 2026

Overall, Dishmey seems to be simplifying his craft as he gets older while still working efficiently as a timing disrupter. A tricky arm to face due to his solid repeatability, there’s a decent floor here as a multiple inning reliever at the next level. As long as he is controlling and commanding, he can blossom into a future back-end rotational starter.

Low-A Jupiter

Carter Johnson is quietly slashing .233/.366/.395/.762 with five home runs, 20 RBI and a 113 wRC+. A major improvement has been walking 15.5% of the time. Although the progress is great to see, Johnson already spent part of 2024 and all of 2025 at the Low-A level.

Emilio Barreras is now slashing .333/.491/.481/.972 with two home runs, 16 RBI and a 175 wRC+. Barreras continues to sport one of the highest walk rates in Minor League Baseball at 19.8%.

After a rough start to the season, outfielder Andres Valor is beginning to look like himself, now slashing .209/.348/.343/.691 with three home runs, 12 RBI, 19 stolen bases (most in the Marlins org) and a 99 wRC+. In the most recent series against the St. Lucie Mets, Valor had a hit in five of the six games, with two multi-hit games.

Elier Morillo, a 20-year-old left-handed pitcher, has been off to a strong start this season, making nine appearances (one start) posting a 2.53 ERA, 3.28 FIP, 17.72 K/9 and 5.48 BB/9. He threw 77% fastballs on Thursday, averaging 94.6 mph.

FCL Marlins

The FCL Marlins have completed their second full week of the season. The week featured a few slugfests and a pitcher’s duel to end it, where they fell to the FCL Nationals by a score of 3-0. Here are three players who stood out this week, including two repeaters from last week and an under-the-radar bullpen arm.  

Eiver Mosquera had an excellent stateside debut last week and followed it up with an even better start this week. He went five innings, allowing two hits, no runs, and no walks while striking out three. Through two starts, he holds a 1.00 ERA while allowing no walks and striking out five. His WHIP is 0.67. Mosquera’s K/9 is down compared to last year, but he is throwing four fewer pitches per inning, showing that he is pounding the strike zone. A couple more months of quality pitching, and he could very well end up among Fish On First’s Top 30 prospects.  

Luis Arana is starting to get attention from the media, and rightfully so. After hitting .400 to start the season, he raised his average to .405 over the last week. In 37 at-bats, he has struck out only two times, which comes out to a 5% strikeout rate. You would definitely like to see the power start to come, as only one of his 15 hits has gone for extra bases. But when he gets on base, he is a threat. He has stolen a bag in each of his last three games and is up to 10 stolen bases in 11 games played.

Jonas Uzcategui spent the last four years in the Dominican Summer League before coming stateside this season. In 7 ⅓ innings so far, he has struck out 14 while walking only two. Why is that important? In 2022, he struck out 18 while walking 13. In 2023, he walked 30 while striking out only 13. In 2024, he walked 16 while striking out 30. In 2025, he walked 10 while striking out 10.  Command has always been Uzcategui’s issue, but so far this season, he has been excellent in that area, which is leading to positive results all around.

Uzcategui has always had strikeout stuff, and when he is in the zone, he is hard to hit. Opponents are hitting only .214 off him so far this season, and that is not even the lowest mark of his career—in 2024, opponents hit just .159 against him. If Uzcategui can continue this upward trend, the Marlins may have something very interesting here.

Injuries/Rehab

In Sunday's series finale against Memphis, Kemp Alderman suffered what has been described to Fish On First as a left elbow injury. Alderman made contact with a runner when trying to receive a throw at first base, which is a new position for the longtime outfielder. 

After hitting two home runs, Kemp Alderman was removed from today’s Jacksonville game after this play at first base.#Marlins pic.twitter.com/ZZEwlyLZR4

— Fish On First Prospects (@FOFProspects) May 17, 2026

Ryan Ignoffo (Pensacola) is expected to miss at least a week after injuring the popliteofibular ligament in his knee. Ignoffo has been the primary catcher for the Blue Wahoos, slashing .250/.308/.396 with seven stolen bases but only one home run.

Cam Cannarella (Beloit) made his return to the diamond after missing the previous five weeks due to a wrist injury. The 2025 draft pick is slashing .364/.429/.545 in eight games played this season.

Keyner Benitez (Jupiter), who made five appearances and posted a 2.79 ERA, is done for the season as he will undergo surgery on his left arm.

This week's schedule

• Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Norfolk
• Double-A Pensacola vs. Columbus
• High-A Beloit at Quad Cities 
• Low-A Jupiter vs. Daytona
• FCL Marlins vs. FCL Cardinals, FCL Nationals, FCL Astros and FCL Mets

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!