Miami Marlins Select Noble Meyer with First-Round Pick

Details on right-hander who Marlins considered “clearly the best high school pitcher in the country.”

Kevin Barral

On Sunday night, just hours after the Miami Marlins wrapped up their three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies, the 2023 MLB Draft began. With the tenth pick, the Marlins took right-handed pitcher Noble Meyer out of Jesuit High School in Oregon.

“He was clearly the best high school pitcher in the country,” said Miami Marlins senior director of amateur scouting DJ Svihlik. “We didn’t expect him to fall all the way to us. When you have the opportunity to select something that you’re very confident in, then you’ve done a really good job, and that our evaluations of a lot of prospects in that position on the board, it’s very hard to pass.”

Meyer was the 2023 Gatorade Oregon Player of the Year during his senior season with a 0.33 ERA, 128 strikeouts and 19 walks through 63.0 IP.

“The thing that separated Noble was that just his ability to use his stuff to pitch to throw strikes and to do it on just a consistent basis,” said Svihlik.

The 6’5″ right-hander has a three-pitch mix of a fastball, slider, and changeup. Meyer was the seventh-ranked overall prospect in this draft class per Baseball America, eighth according to MLB Pipeline, 12th per FanGraphs and he ranked 26th on The Athletic’s list.

“I would say we were surprised that he fell to us,” said Marlins general manager Kim Ng. “This is a pitcher who we believe will be a top end of the rotation type pitcher.”

In terms of velocity, Meyer was frequently hitting 97-98 mph this past summer and told the media that his velo kept on increasing throughout the course of last season. Meyer still has a lot to work on and he admits it.

“Biggest thing would be fastball command,” said Meyer. “I mean, just getting those fastballs to where I need them. Not making those mistakes—the costly mistakes, at least—and then workload management.”

2023 MLB Draft Profile: Noble Meyer

Meyer is committed to the University of Oregon. Ng is confident that they’ll be able to agree on a signing bonus and bring him to the pros. The No. 10 pick has a slot value of $5,475,300.

“Yes, I mean our scouts do a really nice job in terms of signability and, you know, we think he’s going to be a Marlin real soon,” said Ng.

The Marlins still have two picks to go on Day 1 of the MLB Draft: No. 35 and No. 47.

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7 responses to “Miami Marlins Select Noble Meyer with First-Round Pick”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    The Marlins have show no aptitude for identifying or developing impact bats. Connor Scott, Khalil Watson, JJ Bleday, Jacob Berry…sure, there’s still time, but realistically…the only current Marlins position player who was drafted by the Marlins is Fortes…who’s been in the .214-range all year.

    The Marlins have done a much better job of drafting and developing pitchers. It’s obvious to the point I don’t think I have to defend it as a fact. They’re playing to their strengths here.

    Two things with this pick:

    First, as is seen in the Arraez, DLC, Jazz (although I would prefer to have Gallen instead of Jazz), and even Jesus Sanchez acqusitions, it is likely more efficient for the Marlins to develop pitchers to trade for worthwhile hitters than it is for them to try to develop the hitters themselves. If this new Meyer turns ML-ready and the Marlins don’t need him, they flip him or someone else for a bat, and it makes the team better.

    Second, by selecting a HS pitcher they’re timing his arrival in the big leagues for when we’ll need it. We can win with the pitching we have now, and with Jake Eder and Max Meyer becoming options again in the not-too-distant future, especially if they can get Trevor back on track – we don’t need more pitchers NOW. But by drafting a HSer, realistically he could be ready for the bigs in three years at the earliest, which is around the time some of our current staff will be departing as their rookie contracts expire, potentially setting the stage for sustained success. To your point about Kolek – the draft is always a coin flip. You say Kolek was a bust as an HS pitcher, I say look at Brax Garrett. 1st round HS pitcher, Marlins turned him into a very viable starter.

    In the end we’ll see, but I like this better than a college bat.

    Reply
    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      This was supposed to be a reply to OneRegend. Still figuring out this new site.

      Reply
    2. Steve Avatar
      Steve

      Member of the Evil Empire here.

      I have often wondered how Marlins fans feel about that trade. It felt like Gallen was worth more at the time. He is obviously the better player now. My bet is that he wins the Cy Young in 2024.

      Is Jazz fairly popular among the Marlins faithful? Do you guys still see him producing like an all-star at some point? Is he going to move to SS next year, or is he in CF for good?

      Look at it like this: fate might have denied you Zac Gallen. But it provided compensation when you got Luis Arraez. That trade looked like a bad idea for the Twins when they did it, and it has since turned out to be an incredible deal for the Marlins.

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Marlins fans were pretty split on the Gallen/Jazz trade when it happened. I didn’t like it because I thought it was clear Gallen had the drive and desire to be better than the sum of his tools. I posted to that effect on the old fishstripes site but IDK if it’s accessible anymore. My username was DarkHorse_2003.

        I think Jazz is a good player, but he’s shown me a) that he can’t stay on the field and contribute consistently, and b) that he seems to care more about Jazz than about the team. I also think he’s putting too much of an emphasis on his power numbers to the detriment of his full potential. I was excited to see how working with Arraez might rub off on him, but Jazz has been hurt so much this year that we haven’t really gotten to see. I also wonder if seeing how good the Marlins have been without him might check his ego a bit, which I think would only benefit him. Finally, I think he prioritizes immediate, flashy success instead of long-term success. If that doesn’t change I think it puts a ceiling on his potential.

        Marlins fans generally like Jazz, but we’re fed up with his inabillity to be healthy. I think he actually has potential as a center fielder (moreso than as a shortstop), but he needs to show that he can stay healthy playing there. If he can’t, I don’t think he sticks in center. I also wouldn’t be totally surprised if we traded him at some point.

        It’s interesting to note that Jeter was the big proponent of the Jazz/Gallen trade. Jeter also insisted on bringing Avisail Garcia to the Marlins – the worst decision of the current ownership group. I think when Jeter was here he had a bad habit of getting an idea into his head, believing himself to be absolutely correct in a way that blinded him to arguments against him.

        Arraez – yes. Pablo has by no means been bad for the Twins, but right now Arraez has been – obviously – on another level. But the real benefit is that he might rub off on the rest of the team.

        Evil empire = Yankees?

      2. Steve Avatar
        Steve

        LOL, yes, Evil Empire refers to the Yankees. I thought our unofficial nickname was well-known.

        Thank you for your thoughts on the situation with Jazz Chisholm. Hopefully he is ready to put it all together. It would be cool if he got a go-ahead, game-winning RBI off of Zack Gallen in the postseason.

        Of course, it would have been pretty cool to see Gallen and Alcantara in the same rotation. Then again, I am sure the Cardinals fans often think the same thing.

    3. OneRegend Avatar
      OneRegend

      To be honest, I never expected Braxton Garrett to be as good as he was this year. I believe that 11 ER game against the Braves was the best thing that happened to him, because he made much-needed adjustments afterwards. As you say, it’s a bit of wait-and-see, but for now, I’m not exactly thrilled about our 10th overall pick, especially considering Kyle Teel was still on the board.

      Drafts are always a coin toss, but hitting on a high school pitcher is the riskiest of the four possible options they could have gone with. I would’ve rather chased a player with a more solid floor; especially with how their core is starting to emerge.

      Reply
  2. OneRegend Avatar
    OneRegend

    The Marlins had an opportunity to make big with a potential collegiate bat with their first pick, and… went with a high school pitcher?

    What happened to the buzz the Front Office was making when they wanted to draft hitting depth? Just like the Marlins do when they face the Braves, the Front Office forgot how to play baseball.

    Furthermore, they used their first pick on a high school pitcher.

    …Do they realize that high school pitchers almost never pan out and are always seen as a massive risk? Have they not learned their lesson with Tyler Kolek?

    I mean, sure, there’s living proof in Eury Perez that high schoolers can be sensations, but that’s a flash in the pan rather than the standard, the norm.

    Well, Noble Meyer better blow me the hell away to not consider this draft class a dud for the Marlins.

    Reply

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