Alex Carver

Once again, Miami has become the most opportunistic place for a young player to call home. After a busy offseason in which they sold off nearly all of their biggest names (again), the club is in the midst of a spring campaign in which multiple starting and bench positions still needing filling. With just 19 locks for the 25 man roster, of the 53 players remaining in camp, many of them still have a good chance at cracking the Opening Day roster. The last time the franchise re-branded, the careers of players such as Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla and Scott Olsen were jump-started. Who will it be this time? Halfway into spring training and after the first round of cuts, favorites have begun to emerge. In this installment of Spring Training Power Rankings, we take a look at those who have made a good first impression upon Mike Hill, Don Mattingly and the rest of the Marlins brass as well as those who in some cases are surprisingly facing an uphill battle. Final Bench Spot Peter Mooney17 G, 9-26, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 2/2 K/BB, .320/.393/.360Despite a rough full season in AAA last year that amounted to a lowly .213/.290/.308 slash line, Peter Mooney has showed up at camp this year, hit in eight of his first 17 games including a string of four straight and reached base in nine of them. Looking at Mooney's career walk rate of 11% including 9.5% last year and his career 1.11 K/BB including 1.44 last year, its easy to see Mooney is an extremely patient hitter and an annoyingly pesky guy for opposing pitchers to face. Standing just 5'6", the left-handed Mooney cuts down on an already small strike zone by getting low in his stance and makes his living fighting off tough pitches and waiting out others in route to wearing you down and forcing you into making a mistake. It is the perfect resume for a guy at the back of the bench you can throw in many situations whether it be to jump-start a rally, wear down a cruising starting pitcher or finish off a game. The biggest hitch in Mooney's game has been poor bat-to-ball skills a hinderance made possible by subpar bat speed. Despite almost always swinging at good pitches to hit, Mooney misses barrels and instead hits the ball off the ends of the bat, leading to weakly hit ground balls. Without the speed to beat them out, Mooney has most often been a ground out victim. This is made relevant by his career 1.13 ground out/air out ratio and a BABIP that has never failed to fall short of .300 and stood at a career low .243 in AAA last season. However, last season in the Arizona Fall League against some of the league's top young pitching talent, Mooney hit .278 over 80 ABs and has continued that type of production into Marlins' camp this spring so it is also evident that Mooney has made some type of positive adjustment. Mooney, a Lake Worth, FL native, is also a versatile infielder who does his best work at second base due to just average range at shortstop but with a strong arm, can also slot in at third base. His glove would be good insurance for Starlin Castro, who has a career -12 defensive runs saved, including -6 last season at second. Cristhian Adames15 G, 6-21, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2/4 K/BB, .286/.348/.333With starting shortstop JT Riddle still on the shelf recovering from the same shoulder injury that ended his 2017 season and Miguel Rojas struggling out of the gate, Cristhian Adames has jumped on the chance the Marlins gave him when they signed him as depth and insurance as a minor league free agent out of Colorado this past December and the opportunity they continue to give him as he has become a familiar face in in-game action this spring. Adames comes to the Marlins looking to shake the audacious title of AAAA player, a moniker he has unfortunately spent the past three seasons earning. Despite slashing an impressive .299/.351/.447 with 23 homers and 117 RBIs from 2014-present, Adames has only managed a meager .206/.283/.278 line in 166 MLB contests over that same span. However, sample size aside, Adames, who has reached base in six of his first 13 games and flashed some nice leather at multiple infield positions, has so far looked like the Marlins' best bet to come off the bench late in games and slot in on days off for starters. Scouted as an instictive fielder with good versatility and eligibility at three infield spots and quite possibly in the outfield (though he has yet to play there yet in his career), plus-plus glovework, a standout arm and average range, Adames spent most his career in Colorado's system on the heels of their now superstar shortstop Trevor Story level for level up the promotional ladder. In his most lengthy MLB look in 2016, a look he earned after winning a primary bench spot out of camp, despite preseason Steamer (.279/.324/.375) and PECOTA (.273/.313/.379) projections expecting him to be quite the contributor, Adames appears to have hit a major snag managing just a .218/.304/.302 line. However, judging by his 9.4% walk rate, the highest he's posted since rookie ball, and .267 BABIP despite hitting at Coors Field, it appears as though Adames made the mistake of drinking Jobu's rum just before the season began. Only that could explain such an unlucky anomoly campaign at the plate. Judging by reports and the rest of the wiry 6'0", 185 Adames' career numbers, he's not a guy who will blow you away with power (though, judging by last year's 11 homers and .461 SLG, he may have found some hidden muscle) but rather a guy who will do just enough to get by offensively, posting Mendoza line type numbers via average bat-to-ball skills, a shortened approach and swing and a pesky hitter's eye while he anchors his defensive position (wherever that may be) and then some. Look at Adames as a Adeiny Hechavarria-light: little offensive production but a viable late inning defensive replacement off the bench. Over the course of a full season, I like what his ZiPS projections are saying for him this year: .232/.287/.341, 30 BB, 89 K, 4.0 dWAR. Yadiel Rivera16 G, 6-23, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 3/4 K/BB, .261/.370/.391Rivera is another free-agent depth signee from this offseason who like Adames, has managed to turn some heads early in camp. Though he is not known for his offensive exports, Rivera has shown good plate discipline and an extremely quick bat, hitting in five of his 16 appearances including at one point three straight. A guy who struck out an egregious 106 times to walking just 30 times last year between AA and AAA, he has even managed to walk more times than he has K'd which at any sample size, is an accomplishment for a career 4.21 K/BB guy. What Rivera is known for is his fantastic work in the field. Able to play any spot in the infield, Rivera exhibits great vision off the bat and an almost natural correct first step to the ball. Rarely the victim of a misplay, can get equally high and low on anything hit in his direction and has equally great range to both his left and right. Rivera's arm is similarly impressive as he has proven he can go across his body and range deep into holes and still get the ball to his decisive base, a decision which is almost always the correct one. As good as all his tools are, Rivera's best asset may be his athleticism. He isn't afraid to put his body on the line to get to his spot on the field and he quite frequently dazzles with his ability to make any play. An innings eater and a guy who can be called upon to preserve small leads, Rivera is perfect bench material. If he doesn't make the team out of camp, he will definitely be keeping his phone charged while in AAA. Off: Eric Campbell, Isan Diaz Cuts: Johnny Giovatella, Jonathan Rodriguez Fourth Outfielder Isaac Galloway13 G, 8-20, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 1/3 K/BB, 2 SB, .400/.429/.600A Marlins draftee from 2008, Galloway is one of the longest tenured members in the Marlins' organization. Despite some pretty disappointing seasons over that stretch including a 2016 campaign in which he slashed just .254/.312/.374 with a 112/31 K/BB in 129 games and an injury-hampered 2017 season in which he only appeared in a total of 49 games between AAA and rookie ball, the Marlins have stayed committed to the now 28-year-old outfielder. This spring, Galloway is proving he still has something of value to give back to the organization in return for their confidence in him. Over his first 20 spring ABs, Galloway is the best hitting player in camp among those who have gotten that many chances in the box. He's also one of just two players in camp to have stolen multiple bases thus far. A 6'2", 205 specimen, Galloway's biggest hitch has always been his plate discipline and his struggles with the strikeout. In his 10 year minor league career, he owns a hideous 5.76 K/BB. However, when Galloway does put bat to ball which he has done so more often than not this spring, he's a threat for extra bases every time, whether it be by reading the ball well off his bat or whether it be by using his still plus-plus-plus jets to swipe bases. A stolen base threat that has a career 70% success rate in 201 attempts, Galloway is nearly impossible to contain when he doesn't contain himself. When he barrels up, Galloway quite surprisingly has some plus pop and the ability to reach the fences. However, he could use to find a more happy medium and learn to trust his tools more. Galloway can do this by learning to swing with less of an upper-cut stroke that can more often than not get extremely long. This is evidenced by Galloway's 0.90 GO/AO rate. Watching him this spring, Galloway's cut has been much more lateral through the zone which has been a catalyst in his early success. If he can continue to be coached to swing with more of a straight through line drive cut, get on base any way and let his feet go to work for him from there, Galloway is perfect fourth outfielder material and a huge weapon off the bench. J.B. Shuck14 G, 8-22, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2/2 K/BB, .364/.417/.545Shuck is a long-time minor league journeyman who comes to Miami, his fifth organisation seven years, as a minor league free agent. The latest exports from the 30-year-old Shuck were 123 games worth of a .259/.325/.368 slash line and a 43/41 K/BB in AAA. His latest MLB product was a .205/.248/.299 line over 80 ABs with the White Sox in 2016. Always a good performer in spring training (career .298/.334/.395), Shuck has gotten off to a similar start in his career as a Marlin. Mr. March as it were, Shuck has hit in six of his first 14 games and reached in eight of them. He's also doubled and homered. If there were ever a prime example for why a lot of stock should not be put into spring training stats, Shuck is it. Despite his somewhat respectable career .729 OPS in the preseason, Shuck, drafted in 2008, is a lifetime .627 MLB OPS in 363 career appearances. However, with the depth-poor Marlins, Shuck may have found the perfect place to revive his career as a pro. A 5'1", 195 hitter, Shuck is a lefty who has seen same-side pitching well in his short big league career (117 AB, .289/.345/.358) and who, last season in AAA, slugged .403 against right handed pitching with 30 XBH. A good gap finder when he finds advantageous wood and a good enough eye to make his pitcher work as well as an average defender at all three outfield spots, Shuck is the kind of guy who could make the roster in allowance of the further development of the Marlins' top prospects. Braxton Lee14 G, 7-22, 1 RBI, 3/5 K/BB, 4 SB, .318/.400/.318The top prospects spoken of above start with Braxton Lee. 24 years old, Lee came to the Marlins in the trade that sent Adeiny Hechavarria to the Rays. Lee, hitting .321/.391/.401 at the time of the trade, took the change of scenery in stride and didn't miss a beat as he hit .294/.398/.364 in his first 60 Marlins' affiliated games with the Jumbo Shrimp. A lock to make the Opening Day roster as well as the Opening Day lineup all the way up until last month, Lee was pushed out of the starting lineup when the Marlins re-acquired Cameron Maybin. At this point, as well as Lee has been performing in spring training, it doesn't make much sense to relegate him to a bench role and makes much more sense to continue to feed him innings in the minors in order to iron out the rest of his game. Look for Lee, a future top of the order bat, to return to the minors and perfect virtually the only hiccup in his performance last year: a 1.6 K/BB made possible by his ability to over-pursue early in counts. That said, this will definitely not be the last we have heard of Lee in a Marlins' uniform this season and in the future. Scott Van Slyke15 G, 8-28, 1 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3/8 K/BB, .286/.355/.607Van Slyke made quite the first impression on the Marlins, homering twice in the club's first spring game. However, since that day and the two following it which all in all amounted to a 4-6, 2 HR, 4 XBH, 7 RBI start to his campaign, the gargantuan 6'4", 215 Van Slyke, son of former Dodger Andy Van Slyke, has fizzled out, going just 2 for his last 21. Unfortunately for Van Slyke, fizzling out has been exactly what his career has been doing since 2016. After an incredible 60 game performance in AAA in 2013, he cracked the Majors for the first time with the Dodgers and made an immediate impact, slamming six homers in his first 19 games. In 2014, Van Slyke, in his age 27 season, made the Dodgers' 25-man roster out of camp and posted an impressive .910 OPS in 98 games while platooning with Carl Crawford and filling in for Andre Ethier. Van Slyke easily made the Dodgers roster in 2015 and appeared in another 96 games. However, that's when his injury troubles began. In June, he first hit the shelf with a sore back. Despite returning two weeks later, he was never quite the same and it showed in his performance. After a .239/.317/.383 2015, Van Slyke hit the shelf again with the same back injury in early 2016. This time, he missed nearly two months. At the end of the 2016 season, Van Slyke took another trip to the DL with a wrist injury. He ended the year on the 60-day DL. Last year, Van Slyke hit a combined .222/.317/.365 with the Dodgers and Reds, whom he was traded to in the deal that brought Tony Cingrani to LA. The Marlins signed him after he elected for free agency upon being DFA'd in August. He comes to the Fish as a boom-or-bust option off the bench. So far this spring, he has been a little bit of both. What will hurt Van Slyke in his crusade to make the Opening Day roster is his injury history and positional inflexibility (he can only play LF and 1B). Despite the hot start, the 31-year-old will really need to turn it on again in the second half to avoid another trip to AAA. Cuts: Monte Harrison Starting Rotation (2 spots) Sandy Alcantara4 G, 12 IP, 7 H, 4 R (3 ER), 2 HR, 3 BB, 7 K, 2.25 ERA, 0.83 WHIPAlcantara is the other prime piece in the trade with the Cardinals for Marcell Ozuna. A tall and slender 6'4", 170 specimen, Alcantara gets the most out of his body, throwing from an extremely high downward plane, hiding the ball well, and sneaking up on hitters with his drop into the zone. He is free and easy in his repeatable delivery generates simple velocity on his heat which usually sits in the 94-95 MPH range but which he can ramp all the way up near triple digits when necessary. Sierra's second pitch is a sinker that sits on average at 93 but can reach 98. The late arm-side run on it is downright filthy when he is commanding it. However, it is very hittable when he isn't commanding and it floats over the heart of the plate. Alcantara's third pitch is an 86-90 MPH change which has a lot of effort to it. He throws it with the same arm speed and action as the fastball allowing him to mask it and mix it in advantageously but he also has the tendency to overthrow it, in which case hitters are able to tip and anticipate the break. The rest of his arsenal, an 82-84 MPH power curve and a 83-87 MPH slider, are not much more than get-me-over mix ins right now and as some scouts have mentioned, it would probably be wise for him to pick one to develop and let the other go. Early this spring, Alcantara has similar command issues, hitting two batters, walking three and giving up two homers but has been equally impressive when he has been on. At this point for the 22-year-old on a Marlins team without much to lose, the thing that is going to help him the most is innings pitched while being coached professionally. With perfected command and with even more velo possible as his body fills out as well as a perfected arsenal of secondaries, this could be a future ace of the Marlins' staff. Justin Nicolino3 G, 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 HR, 2 BB, 6 K, 3.00 ERA, 1.17 WHIPFor Florida native Justin Nicolino, his first four years in the Miami organization have been a bit of a see-saw battle. After three dominant years in the minors in his first three years with the club which amounted to a 3.12 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 3.03 K/BB in 427.1 IP, Nicolino's career as a big leaguer began. All in all, it's been... well... disappointing. As the command artist has struggled with on-and-off command, he's been hit to the tune of a .297 BAA, a 4.65 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. Last year, things hit an all-time low for Nicolino as he battled injury and spent the bulk of his season in AAA. Such adversity affected Nicolino greatly and, as Craig Davis writes, despite being the father of a newborn, he never stopped working even if it meant taping a baseball to his hand in order to improve his grip. He's also resurrected a fourth pitch slider, a pitch he hasn't thrown since 2013. He's used it regularly this spring and it plays well off of his running fastball and further sets up the to-contact slow curve. Out of options, Nicolino realizes this is his make-it-or-break-it window with the Fish. Currently, he's doing enough to earn a roster spot and at least a handful of regular season starts, but if he falters at all, there's a ton of depth behind him and a DFA with his name on it. Elieser Hernandez4 G, 10 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 HR, 0 BB, 9 K, 2.70 ERA, 0.80 WHIPThe depth I speak of starts right here. Elisier Hernandez is a Marlins' Rule 5 draft pick formerly of the Astros and will need to remain on Miami's 25-man all season long or be returned to Houston. Hernandez is an interesting guy in that he doesn't have any one single pitch that really stands out. Rather, he has four average offerings that he gets away with due to a good feel for the game and a head for his craft. A master of mixing pitches even though he lacks much of a velo mix (everything sits between 86-92), Hernandez is a to-contact thrower who owns a rising four seamer which generates weak contact and a ton of weak can-of-corn pop outs. He balances that out with a sinking two seamer that garner him routine ground outs and he turns in swings and misses and the frequent K on a nice out-pitch changeup with arm-side fade. A 3.98 ERA (3.52 FIP) via a 10.52 K/9 and 2.98 walk rate in 63 innings in AA last year despite a slightly high .310 BABIP, Hernandez also stranded 73.0% of his runners, proving he has the composure and command structure to get the job done in any situation. At this point, I foresee Hernandez starting the year in the pen and being the first man to get a shot in the rotation in the not-so-unlikely event of a member of the rotation struggling. Off: Chris O'Grady, Dillon Peters Cuts: Merandy Gonzalez, Pablo Lopez, James Needy Projected Opening Day Roster: LF Derek Dietrich CF Lewis Brinson RF Cameron Maybin 3B Martin Prado * 3B Brian Anderson 1B Justin Bour 1B Garrett Cooper SS J.T. Riddle 2B Starlin Castro C J.T. Realmuto C Tomas Telis UT Miguel Rojas BN Peter Mooney BN Isaac Galloway RP Brad Ziegler RP Kyle Barraclough RP Junichi Tazawa RP Drew Steckenrider RP Nick Wittgren RP Brian Ellington RP Elieser Hernandez SP Jose Urena SP Jarlin Garcia SP Dan Straily SP Sandy Alcantara SP Justin Nicolino * = player will begin season on DL

Christian Yelich got exactly what he wanted: out. At the end of the offseason, Yelich became the last victim (or, if you ask Christian himself, benefactor) of the Marlins' latest firesale, getting shipped off to Milwaukee for a package of prospects. Yelich's relationship with his new bosses started off rocky and quickly deteriorated. After the Giancarlo Stanton trade, Yelich publicly stated that the relationship between he and the team was "irrevocably damaged". He even threatened to miss a fan-friendly event to which he was contractually obligated. The lay of the land being what it was, there was a very good possibility the Marlins -- even though they controlled Yelich until 2023 -- were going to be forced to settle for improper value, especially after Yelich, who was expected to compete for last season's batting title, had a bit of an off year, slashing .282/.369/.439 and posting a 3.9 WAR, down from 5.3 in 2016. Not only did that not happen but Yelich fetched the Marlins a better haul than each of Stanton, Dee Gordon and Marcell Ozuna. Lewis Brinson - OF [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScT5WG7H7rY] 2017: AAA - .331/.400/.562, 13 HR, 39 XBH, 62/32 K/BB, 11 SB The centerpiece of the return is former Brewers' top prospect, 2017's #13 overall prospect and undoubtedly new Marlins' number one prospect, Lewis Brinson. In being traded to the Fish, Brinson returns to his childhood home where he will play for the team he grew up watching. When he wasn't at Sun Life Stadium, Brinson spent his days at Coral Springs High School where he quickly made his name well known, hitting .473/.623/.872 in his junior year, numbers which earned him district Player Of The Year honors in 2011. At the time, head coach Frank Bumbales saw in his center fielder what has since become evident to the entire baseball world. "He leads by example," Bumbales said. "He gives 100%. He’s a really special kid." Brinson continued to lead by example in his senior year, hitting .394/.516/.732 in 91 plate appearances, once again leading the Colts to their third straight district title. He graduated with four school records which still stand today: career runs (92), career RBI (95), doubles in a season (13) and RBI in a game (8). Talking with Brinson's former teammates, they echo their coach's sentiments, saying their center fielder was a leader both on and off the field. "Even though I only played with him for one year, I can honestly say he was one of the best players I've ever played with because he knew how to hit homers but he also knew how to find gaps and get around the bases," Joseph DeMicco said. "But as good as a hitter that he was, he was even better on defense. With he speed, he could get to anything, no matter where it was hit. Anything. And his arm was explosive. Definitely a five tool type guy. I really think Marlins fans are going to like him." Dylan Ebel who has known Brinson since middle school praises him for his positive attitude and what he is capable of bringing to a team's intangibles. "I first played with him in 8th grade so to see how far he progressed has really been spectacular," Ebel said. "He always kept his head down and put the work in to get better each and every day. That type of grind and work ethic rubbed off on others on the team, made people just want to be better, play harder and always doing it with a smile." Upon graduating as the 16th best overall player and sixth best center field draft prospect nationally as well as the fifth best overall and third best positionally statewide and garnering first team All-American and All-Region honors in 2012, Brinson forwent a four-year commitment to the University Of Florida when he was selected 29th overall by the Texas Rangers. "I've been a Marlins fan growing up, and I still am, but I'm a bigger Texas Rangers fan now," Brinson said at the time. Now, Brinson and his fandom are coming home, just in time for his first full Major League season. Brinson comes to the Marlins after hitting .287/.354/.502 over 2,134 minor league ABs, including .331/.401/.562 in 300 AAA chances last year before making his Major League debut. Once described by scouts as projectible but very raw, Brinson jumped at least one level in each of his minor league seasons and enters spring training as MLB's 27th best prospect and as a shoe-in candidate to start for the Marlins in center field. Standing 6'3", 170, the Tamarac native used to swing from a straight front leg upright stance which caused him to fall off to his left side, limited his plate coverage and made him succeptible to pitches on the outer half. After a 96/33 K/BB season in 2014, Brinson made the adjustment to his current stance, a much more closed approach in which he stays much farther back in the box, his back foot nearly touching the back of it. Since the adjustment, Brinson's K rate has fallen from 25% to 18% last year. His swing will still get a bit long on quality pitches on a low and outer black but his new stance has improved his plate vision and extension. What Brinson is yet to acquire in body mass he makes up for with his superior bat speed which allows him to generate easy power. He will occasionally find the fences but will more frequently hit the gaps and from there, let his speed -- grade 60 on the 20-80 scale and alotting him a 4.25 second-to-home-to-first time -- go to work for him. Brinson still has some work to do, especially in the swing-and-miss department, in order to realize his full potential but recent production has alotted him to surpass boom-or-bust status and enter elite prospect maturation. Place Brinson's ceiling at Andrew McCutchen-lite and his floor somewhere around Shane Victorino. This year's PECOTA rankings favor the latter that assessment. Where McCutchen was a 2.5 WAR player last year (and a career 2.5 WAR player), they predict Brinson to hold a 2.8 WAR this season, highest among rookie outfielders. Needless to say, this hometown hero should be a fun player to watch and should be leaned on heavily by the franchise. Monte Harrison - OF [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKMb16lrYQo] 2017 (A-A+) - .272/.350/.481, 21 HR, 51 XBH, 139/43 K/BB, 27 SB The main accompanyment to Brinson is Monte Harrison. While being two levels lower than Brinson, a fellow outfielder, Harrison proved last year that he is also a potential fellow 20-20 threat and quite possibly is a threat for even more power. Playing between A and A+, Harrison slashed .272/.350/.481 with 21 long balls and 51 total XBHs. He also tore it up on the basepaths to the tune of 27 swiped bags. Much more the physical specimen than Brinson, Harrison stands 6'3", 220. Still, with a career 87-15 SB/CS (85%), 27 of which came this past year, Harrison manages to be quite nimble on his feet. As phsyically imposing yet still athletic as he is, with a career 28.55 K% and 3.08 K/BB, there's a lot of work to be done in the upper levels of the minors here. With an inconsistent timing trigger, poor pitch recognition and equally poor plate discipline, he needs to improve top down in his approach. While it's conceded that he will never be a for-average hitter, Harrison has plenty of projectible talent in his raw power and superb bat speed. If he can learn the zone, improve his vision and gain the ability to hit to his opposite side more often, negating the shift and improving plate coverage, there's realistic potential for Harrison to become a member of the 30/30 club someday. Harrison translates his power profile at the plate into a power arm in the outfield. He runs good routes via good reads and a good first step to the ball off the bat and he has more than enough speed to cover any outfield position, disallowing bloop hits and holding virtually anything hit in front of him to a single base. While he's been a center fielder most frequently in his MiLB career, Harrison projects best as a future every day right fielder. For a ceiling comparison, look somwhere between Yasiel Puig and Justin Upton. Needless to say, Monte Harrison will be the man to watch in Jacksonville this season. Isan Diaz - SS/2B [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_8lsRRJ9TM] 2017 (A+) - .222/.234/.376, 13 HR, 33 XBH, 121/62 K/BB, 54 RBI Diaz is a 2017 second round prep draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of Springfield, Massachusetts. Diaz moved to the Division I high school to garner more draft attention in his junior season. In his senior year, he did that and more. After a .492/.625/.898 campgaign, he was named Western Massachusetts' baseball Player of the Year for 2017. Infinitely humble, Diaz gives credence to those closest to him for allowing him to burst onto the national scene that year and take a huge step closer to making his childhood imagery come to life. "I have to give credit to my supporting cast: my family, my teachers and everyone who helped me. Without them, I wouldn’t have continued to strive to get too where I wanted to get to," Diaz said. "The constant reminder of making my dream come true and what was in front of me helped a ton." After breaking into pro ball as a 17-year-old, Diaz had similar immediate success, charging out of the gate his first three seasons, hitting a combined .291/.377/.515 between the Arizona Fall League and Pioneer League. He then parlayed that into a .264/.359/.469 first full pro season with the Wisconson Timber Rattlers, Milwaukee's low A affiliate in 2016, his first with the Brewers' organizaion after he was involved in a trade. These accollades, combined with a total 36 homers and 129 RBI allotted Diaz to climb up to the fifth ranked prospect in the Brewers' deep system entering 2017, just his age 21 season. That was when Diaz, for the first time in his baseball career, failed to exceed expectations, hitting just .222/.334/.376 with a career hih 26.48 K rate. However, Diaz doesn't look on last season with feelings of failure. Rather, he chalks it up to a positive part of the maturation process. "I honestly believe last year was a great learning experience for me, knowing how it feels to have success and how it feels to fail. It’s always fun to succeed but when you fail that’s when you have too still be the same player and still be a great teammate as you were when you were having success," Diaz said. "I believe I’ll be ready for this season and whatever comes to the table, trying to help the team and be the best teammate I can be both on and off the field." You wouldn't guess it by looking at his 5'10", 185 pound frame but one of Diaz's best tools is his power capacity. By getting his entire body involved in his swing, showing good repetition in balancing his load and getting his barrel extended, Diaz has a career 3.12 home run percentage and a career 43.02 XBH percentage. According to Diaz, extra bases aren't at the forefront of his mind when he's in the box; it's just something that occurs on its own. "I believe that the power is something that comes out naturally," Diaz said. "I don’t ever try to hit home runs; my main focus is always to reach base and hit the ball hard wherever it’s pitched." Unfortunately for Diaz, the good power numbers have come at the cost of a lot of K's. In each of his last two seasons, he's racked up over 100 strikeouts. This issue stems from a hole in his approach common to hitters like Diaz who thrive when they can get their arms fully extended and struggle when they get jammed and their eyes are taken away: the inability to cover the up-and-in pitch. Though he concedes strikeouts are something he needs to work on, Diaz still plans on being himself at the plate and keeping his game simple. "I know it’s something I have to try my best bring down, but I've learned that by thinking about strikeouts and trying to not strikeout that’s when you strike out more," Diaz said. "So my approach stays the same, the only difference now is knowing with two strikes I’m still trying to driving the ball." Even though he does have some work to do in the K department, the high numbers in that category shouldn't be indicative of his plate vision. Instead, refer to Diaz's nearly equally high walk totals and career walk rate of 12.3%. A good pitch identifier with equally good vision and timing, if Diaz can get his K total in check and continue to improve against lefties (he hit .255 and OPSed .734 against same-side pitching last year despite hitting it at just a .245 BA, .696 OPS in 2016, figures which were aided by a .386 BABIP), there will be nothing working against him reaching his 20/20 type ceiling. Just four years into his professional baseball career, this is the second time Diaz has been involved in a trade and had his offseason interrupted in order to relocate. However, this time, it's a small price to pay in exchange for him being much, much closer to his east-coast based support system. "I’m very excited to be a Marlin and I can’t wait to see this team in a few years to come," Diaz said. "Playing on the same coast is great you know closer to home, closer to family and just excited to be here and excited for all those who came over in trades as well." Overall, Diaz is a very sought after commodity -- a power first middle infielder who has above average speed and plays at least average defense. While there is some question as to how Diaz is going to perform after suffering a hamate bone fracture that ended his season last year prematurely and while he will have to repeat single A advanced in Jupiter this season, if he comes back 100%, his swing is unaltered and he learns to cover the upper inside half of the plate a bit better or at least lay off of it and continue to improve against same-side pitching, Diaz could reach his ceiling of Dan Uggla -- a player of extremes in the K/BB department but also in the power categories and cornerstone starting second baseman (and fellow jersey number 6) -- by 2021, his age 23 season. He will be an interesting prospect to follow. Jordan Yamamoto - RHP [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlnP0Sa1BAA] 2017 (A+) - 111 IP, 9-4, 2.51 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 113/30 K/BB, 3.77 K/BB, .280 BABIP The final return piece in the Yelich trade is righty Jordan Yammamoto, a Hawaiian native, the second in Marlins history after Charlie Hough. He was also the second Hawaiian selected by the Brewers in the 2014 MLB Draft. In the first round that year, Milwaukee selected Yamamoto's island mate and highly touted lefty Kodi Mederios who at the time of his selection, was already drawing comparisons to Madison Bumgarner. However, when the two met in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I baseball tournament, it was the northerner and Honolulu native Yamamoto who shined brighter. "It was a high-tension game because Kodi is a great pitcher and I was up for the challenge," says Yamamoto who threw a two-hit complete game shutout. "It was a game that I think I will hold against him as a friendly joke." Through the pair's first three years in professional ball, despite being drafted eleven rounds later than Mederios, the story has been the same: it's been Yammamoto who has grown up quicker. Where Mederios has mustered a 5.19 ERA, a 1.51 WHIP and a in 324.1 IP, Yamamoto has held down a 4.19 ERA, a 1.33 WHIP and a 3.60 K/BB in his first 329 IP. However, for Yamamoto, his career hasn't been trying to outdo anybody. Rather, it has been about learning from his squadmates, letting them learn off of him and most importantly, beinh himself. "When [Mederios and I] got drafted, it became a helping situation and all we did was push each other to be better. We were roommates for many years and we would try to help each other through it all." Yamamoto said. "It’s all about staying within myself and not overdoing anything. Be the same pitcher. As in the last years and letting my defense back me up because I believe in my teammates that they will have my back through thick and thin." After cutting his teeth in rookie ball in 2015, Yammamoto entered his first full pro season with the low A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2016. After coming out of the pen in six of his first nine appearances, Yammamoto transitioned to the rotation full time in mid June. Rather than being snakebitten (pun intended) by the increased workload and amount of innings, a common downfall for many young players in their first full season, Yammamoto didn't seem to be bothered by either factor. In fact, some of his best work was done in his final four starts of the season, three of which were quality starts and amounted to a total of 23 IP, a 0.78 ERA and a 0.57 WHIP. Collectively that year, Yammamoto held opponents to a minuscule .223 BA and .661 OPS by way of the second most Ks in the Midwest League (152) and its best K/BB% (21.8). His ERA wound up at 3.82, 12th best in his league and his WHIP at 1.20, 7th best. All of this occurred while he was working against the league's second highest BABIP, a very tough-luck .342. This past year, Yamamoto jumped up to A+. As his BABIP normalized down to .286, his ERA not only shrunk down to what it should have been last year -- proven by his 2.53 FIP in 2016 --, he was even slightly better in disallowing runs, as it came to rest at 2.51, lowest in the Carolina League by more than half a point. Once again, Yamamoto relied heavily on the strikeout, fanning 111 (or 25.2% of his opponents) and his excellent control and command as he gave up walks to just 30 (or 6.7% of his hitters). As much as the strikeout has been a key to his success so far, Yamamoto says he doesn't go into at-bats looking for a strikeout but rather to induce weak contact. However, if he works himself into a favorable count, Yamamoto says it's strikeout or bust because as has been the theme throughout his pro career this far, he wants to take the chance he's obtained through hard work and run with it. "I do not look for strikeouts; I look for contact because my mentality is that hitters will get themselves out 7/10 times. I do not have overpowering stuff so I just pitch to contact and let my defense back me up because they got my back," Yamamoto said. "But when I get hitter 0-2/1-2 I tell myself that the hitters can’t get a hit because I worked for this count and I will have to make the most of this opportunity." Last year, Yamamoto proved that he can successfully limit contact and damage, his a-priori when a hitter steps into the box. Along with a WHIP that stood at 1.09, third lowest in his league, he stranded 79% of the runners he allowed to reach base, another top mark amongst Carolina League hurlers. Yamamoto's arsenal consists of a 92-94 MPH fastball that he can ramp up a bit higher when necessary. It is by far the crux of his arsenal and his most frequently used pitch. It shows good run to both sides of the plate, especially to Yamamoto's glove side where he flashes his best command. Despite limited size, Yamamoto planes dthe pitch well and can get some sink on it. His first breaker is a 85-88 mph power slider which has good late movement and gives hitters fits when he's spotting it on the outside corner and. He piggybacks it off his fastball well and will throw both pitches in any count, keeping the opposition guessing. His distant third pitch is an 84-86 MPH changeup. The pitch flashes plus at times with late fade low in the zone. However, Yamamoto will need to develop a better feel and his command over the pitch as he gets ready to enter the upper minors. Even though it seems Yamamoto was thriving in the Milwaukee system, he finds himself as the receiver of a change of scenery, relocating to South Florida, about as far away as he could possibly be from his home in northern Hawaii. Though he admits that some things will be different now, Yamamoto expresses good understanding for the industrial side of the game and that he can only control what he can control. Despite the relocation, Yamamoto says his effort and drive to improve will be the same in a Marlins' uniform as it was in both his high school and Brewers uniforms. "Nothing will be easy from here on out but I will do my best to make the most of the opportunity that has been presented to me," Yamamoto said. "It is a great place for me. It is a business and like any other jobs, the boss will do what he/she thinks is best for the company. And if they have the belief in me that I can help this organization, then I will do everything in my power to help this organization." Look for Yamamoto to begin 2018 in A+ with the Jupiter Hammerheads and possibly be a quick promotee to AA Jacksonville. --- Despite the situation with Yelich going bad to worse to getting to the point where they were insufferable from Yelich's perspective, a fact which he wasn't afraid to point out to the media, Mike Hill, Derek Jeter and the Marlins surface from the debacle not only getting all they could out of Yelich (especially after a down year statistically), they got an even better return out of him than they got out of the Stanton and Ozuna trades. For coming away with a surefire fan-favorite MLB ready five tool center fielder, a not-too-distant-future 30/30 professional threat, a powerful middle infielder and a ceiling 3-5 starter, this trade passes the grade with flying colors. Grade: A

The city of Batavia, New York has known baseball for over a century. After the founding of a team in the city in 1897 during the playing tenure of Jack Burns, the franchise has seen names such as Doc Ellis, Cito Gaston, Manny Sanguillen, Ned Yost, Andy Ashby, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and, most recently, some of the Marlins' brightest budding stars don its garb. But despite how rich its history in the game is, the county of Genesee may have seen its last MiLB affiliated game played on its surface at Dwyer Stadium. Since 2008, the financial funding situation for the Muckdogs has been a unique one. With the team up for sale due to financial losses from the non-profit Genesee County Baseball Club, the nearby Rochester Red Wings volunteered to operate the club. "The Genesee County Baseball Club became strapped for funds and in order to sae baseball in Batavia, the Red Wings offered to manage the club under Red Wings Management," Red Wings' Director of Communications tells us. In return for running the team, the Red Wings would gain a share of the team's ownership with each passing year. That share was set to cap at 50% this past season. Despite another very generous offer from the Red Wings to virtually run the team for free, it was decided on December 19 that, with the GCBC unable to satisfy their half of the team ownership agreement, the franchise would be surrendered to the New York Penn League. "The Red Wings will receive 50% of the sale price (5% per season of operation for a maximum of 10 years," Rowan said. "We still offered to operate Batavia next season and were denied." If a new Muckdogs' owner cannot be found, the league has stated that there is no guarantee the team will play in 2018. In the ten years the team has been up for sale, only one suitor has come along but was denied purchasing power because of its intent to relocate the franchise to Bowie, Maryland, a territory occupied by the Orioles' Bowie Baysox. Lack of interest in buying the Muckdogs may be being driven by the condition of their park, Dwyer Stadium. As a frequent visitor of the park built in 1996 and baseball photographer, Mike Janes points out to us, it isn't the age of the stadium that is problematic; it is the lack of improvements and upkeep of it that have led baseball fans to seek a more desirable experience. "Dwyer is a throwback to what Minor League Baseball used to be," Janes said. "The park doesn't have a ton of amenities that newer parks have. There is room for improvement throughout but that could be done drastically for very little as compared to building a new stadium somewhere else." Going into further detail on the state of Dwyer Stadium, Janes states that the stadium is in definite need of some TLC but also says that all of the improvements needed could be completed at a reasonable cost. Overall, Janes says that although the atmosphere is different from most newer stadiums, it isn't a long ways off from being a competitor in the crowded northern New England baseball market. However, the financial situation surrounding the team with GCBC operating completely off of donations and volunteer work and the Red Wings running the team at a loss while also having a primary objective to their own baseball team, the work the park needs is simply not monetarily possible. According to Janes, fans have worked together with GCBC in order to give the park the facelift it needs but those efforts always seem to fall by the wayside. "Dwyer is hard to compare to other places since most others are in bigger cities but even in its current state, it still manages to stack up against others," Janes said. "In general they need a massive cleaning, painting, many seats need replacing (city put in some new ones few years ago), and just bringing it back to what it should of been all along. Small group of fans have been discussing doing a volunteer cleanup for years, but nothing ever materializes. Auburn which has an identically aged stadium as Batavia uses local prisoners to clean the park. That was also suggested by a season ticket holder but hasn't happened." While the conditions of Dwyer from a fan's perspective are subpar but not terrible, life through a player's eyes there is quite grim. As one former Muckdogs player tells us, despite great support from Batavia fans and natives, due to the state of the field and clubhouses at Dwyer, the team perferred and eagerly awaited the occasions they got to play at other New York Penn League venues. "The people of Batavia are nothing but supportive and invested in us as players and that was really nice to have that support system day in and day out. When we’d walk around town, people would always wish us good luck," he said. "Other than that, though, the facilities definitely gave us a little extra adversity to deal with compared to some of the other teams in our league. We would always look forward to road trips because the fields we played on when we traveled were almost always better than our home field and the same could be said for the hotels. I really think a move would benefit the club." With the decision now in the hands of Minor League Baseball as to the future of the Muckdogs, there is nothing left for the city of Batavia to do but wait. While an exodus by the MiLB from a city and group of fans synonymous with baseball for centuries would be heartbreaking, it wouldn't necessarily mean the death of the Muckdogs altogether. Because the GCBC own the rights to the team's name and logo, the 'Dogs could find partnership in either the independent or amateur ranks. But as for the MiLB, from a business standpoint, if a potential owner does not rear its head and very soon, relocation is hard to argue against. Expect the resolution from the league to be announced in the coming months ahead of the start of the short season in June.

Two weeks ago, Derek Jeter and the new Marlins regime began the rebuilding process by trading second baseman Dee Gordon, the final four years of his five year, $50,000,000 contract and international bonus pool cash to the Mariners for three minor leaguers. Before we look at the pieces coming back to the Marlins, I'd like to pay tribute to one of the most exciting and likable players to ever pull on a Marlins' jersey. A maximum effort player in every at bat and every inning, Dee leaves the Marlins as the franchise's second best for-average hitter (.309), its fifth best triples hitter (23), its fourth best stolen base man (148) and eighth best defensive WAR player (2.7). He was also center stage for one of the Marlins' most magical, storybook moments. On September 26, 2016, the game after Jose Fernandez's untimely passing, the left-handed hitting Gordon, wearing Jose's helmet, stepped into the box right-handed and took the first pitch of the game as tribute to his friend. On the next pitch, this happened. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkTy9p91YQc]It is a moment that will live on forever, not only in Marlins lore but in the spirit of baseball, teammateship and the bonds of botherhood it brings forever. For that memory and the many others he brought the Fish, Dee Gordon will forever be enshrined in the minds of Marlins fans everywhere. And we are all grateful to him for that. Now on to the return, three young men who hope to one day make their own legacy in a Marlins' uniform. RHP Nick Neidert [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ekz6TKvR3U] 2017 (A+-AA) - 127.2 IP, 3.45 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 122/22 K/BB The centerpiece of the return, the Mariners' 2015 second rounder spent most of 2017 in A+ where he racked up 10 wins via a 2.76 ERA and 22.1 K/BB%, all tops in the California League amongst pitchers who tossed at least 100 innings. At the end of the year, he got his feet wet in AA which is where he should begin his Marlins career. Despite limited 6'1", 200 size, Neidert creates advantageous deception by hiding the ball behind his plant leg and following through to the plate lightning quick. The delivery is extremely fluid, smooth and repeatable which should allow Neidert to continue to work deep into starts. The 21-year-old has four usable pitches, all of which are either already Major League quality or show similar potential. His heat sits around 90-93 but he can ramp it up to 95 at will. Formerly a straight and narrow offering, Neidert is beginning to plane the pitch, giving it better movement and creating a fifth pitch sink piece, a great commodity for the 3/4 release point control artist he looks to be blossoming into. This past season, improved arm speed allowed Neidert's 84-87 MPH changeup to move past his 72-76 mph curve as his best offspeed pitch but both offerings have plus-plus potential and give him a nice 20+ mph velo mix. While the 9.4 K/9% Neidert posted in A+ last year should temper a bit when he gets to the upper minors and beyond, his deep arsenal, high arm slot, and pinpoint control give him a great chance to develop into a ceiling 2-3 rotational starter by as early as 2019. Neidert should easily be ranked among the Marlins' top 10 prospects this coming season. RHP Robert Dugger [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4mZMiGbxGY] 2017 (A-A+) - 117.2 IP, 2.75 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 116/32 K/BB Dugger is a 22-year-old righty who began his pro career at Cisco Junior College where he was teammates for the first time with Marlins' draftee James Nelson. He spent two years at Cisco, throwing 133.1 IP and producing a 4.86 ERA. While those numbers don't fly off the page, he did hold down good control numbers, posting an overall 2.32 K/BB, including a 3.06 marker in his sophomore season. Those figures punched Dugger's ticket to Texas Tech for 2016. There, against much stronger Big 12 competition, Dugger pitched in relief but also pitched much truer to his potential, holding down a 2.67 ERA over 60.2 innings. The good control persisted as he posted a 54/23 K/BB. Upon being drafted by the Mariners in the 18th round, Dugger bounced around from rookie ball to A ball to AAA to end his year but most of his time was spent with the Everett AquaSox. There, he made six starts and threw 26.1 IP to the tune of a 5.47 ERA as he clearly went through a stark adjustment process, going from throwing 70 JuCo innings a year previous to throwing the last 38 out of a total of 99 innings against professional hitters who were on average nearly two years his elder. This past season, the Mariners returned Dugger to single A and transitioned him to the bullpen in order to reduce strain on his arm and allow him to work on pitching around the plate rather than living over it. His arsenal features a low-90's fastball, a high-80's changeup and a mid-70's curve. He has a good feel for all three pitches and controls them well, though the release point on the curve is a bit inconsistent at the moment but again, he needs to develop better command if he is to make it as a starter. His biggest hinderance lies in his tendency to fall off to his glove side on the follow-through of his windup delivery. Dugger is much more effective out of the stretch where after a high leg kick, he is extremely quick to the plate. While there is still time for the bespectacled 22-year-old to work on becoming a corner painting Rembrant-style to-contact back end starter, the more likely scenario is that he is converted to a full-time reliever. SS Christopher Torres [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmEjQsxE-rc] 2017 (ROK-A) - .238/.329/.446, 69/28 K/BB, 22 XBH, 14 SB Torres is a 19-year-old infielder out of the Dominican that had quite the interesting start to his professional career stateside. Then 16, Torres came to America with a deal in place from the New York Yankees for seven figures. However, due to severe weight gain, New York apparently backed out of the deal. The Yankees deny they ever had a deal in place with Torres. Whatever the case, Torres eventually agreed to a deal with the Mariners worth much less, $375K. Since then, Torres spent two seasons in rookie ball posting a .253/.374/.358 (with most of his success coming in the Dominican Summer League back home) before playing in short season A last year where he slashed .238/.326/.435 and placed second in the Northwest League in triples (6) and seventh in runs (44). He was also 13/16 in stolen base attempts. Clearly, Torres' most advanced skill is his raw speed and good instincts on the bases but he will need to work at making better decisions with the bat (64/25 K/BB last year) if he is to make it as the tablesetter he projects to be. Despite weighing in at just 5'11", 170, the switch-hitting Torres will show surprising pop when he does barrell up. Torres earned high praise for his defensive abilities headed into the international draft. He did suffer an arm injury in his rookie season in the DSL, a contributing factor to his 34 errors in his last 88 games. Still, there is believed to be plenty of room for growth. Combine Torres' quick feet with a good first step towards the ball off the bat in the field, his line drive contact capabilities and the ability to turn anything that drops into extra bases, and -- though it will take some time -- there is five-tool potential here. Torres should slot in somewhere in the Marlins' top 15 prospects this season. --- From the outset, it looks like just another salary dump for the Marlins who rid themselves of 2015's NL batting title winner, a perennial 50+ stolen base guy and a lockdown fielder up the middle. And while that clearly was Jeter's goal, Miami did get back three quality pieces, one of which is a 3-5 slot starter that is but a year -- if that -- away from his MLB debut and one of which could develop into a cornerstone shortstop. Throw in Dugger who's future is unknown at this point but will, barring injury, undoubtedly include MLB service time and this is an equitable return. Grade: B

Mark Prior, Jason Marquis, Jayson Nix, Brian Jordan. These names make up an esteemed class of MLB draftees who have made a profound impact on the game after they were selected with the last pick of the first round of their respective drafts. After being drafted in that same slot last season, outfielder Brian Miller took a huge leap towards joining that group. Reading up on Brian Miller's background you might learn that after going undrafted he made the North Carolina Tarheels as a true walk on. However, as Miller tells us, it wasn't exactly like that. "It was actually a little different than a typical walk on situation. I ended up doing a workout for one of the assistant coaches at Carolina in the early summer, then they offered me," Miller explained. "They added me to their class as a late addition because they were going to lose a lot of high school commits to the MLB draft. So I was technically a preferred walk on. I didn't have to do a tryout during the year or any of that stuff to "make" the team." Despite not having to go through a formal try out though, Miller still had to prove himself worthy of cracking one of the nation's best baseball programs. That would happen a little later that summer when he was amongst nearly 50 players trying to crack a 25-man roster. "We had like 44 guys on the team in the fall, and had to cut it down to 35 by the end of the fall," Miller said. "The whole fall felt like my actual tryout." Miller made the team as the Tarheels' starting center fielder and proceeded to hit .288/.375/.326 as a freshman. He stole 10 bags in 12 attempts and was second on the team in K/BB% with a lowly 0.84 marker (16/19). A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Miller often spent time on the other side of the fence at Boshamer Stadium, dreaming of pulling on the Carolina blue and white. Now, that dream was a pleasant reality, even if not in the way Miller envisioned it. "North Carolina was everything I could've asked for as a baseball program and school as a whole," Miller said. "I've been a huge UNC fan since I was very little so it was definitely a dream come true being able to go there. Growing up going to games and being around campus a lot I sort of formed my own image about what it would be like to go there, but then when I actually fulfilled that dream I realized the experience was a lot different than I had expected... in a good way!" After his solid rookie campaign, Miller took his talents to the Coastal Plain League where he placed second in BA (.389) and led the league in OBP (.476) via its most hits (77) and also racked up a league-most 38 steals. He parlayed that to his sophomore year at UNC, where he absolutely exploded, hitting .345/.440/.469. His batting average ranked amongst the top 15 in the ACC, his 21 steals (in 26 chances) ranked fourth in the conference and his 56 runs scored ranked 10th. The 19-year-old continued to exhibit excellent plate vision, posting a 0.85 K/BB, a nearly identical mark to that of his rookie year and in almost 100 more ABs. During that breakout year, Miller started to become acclimated with the close-knit fabric that binds that UNC Baseball program together. According to Miller, it was a major catalyst in his success. "There's a huge feeling of comfort at UNC knowing that you're a part of such a tradition of winning and excellence on and off the court/field. I think all of my teammates and peers would agree with that feeling. I can say very confidently that if I hadn't played ball at UNC I would be no where near the player I am today," Miller said. "The knowledge, resources, and facilities that we have access to helped me grow tremendously as a player in all areas of my game." After a .327/.369/.387 showcase in the 2016 Cape Cod League, Miller's comfortability and compatibility with the UNC program continued to show true in his junior season last year when he hit .343/.422/.502. The biggest addition to his game here was a surplus of power as he slammed seven homers after managing just two in his first two seasons at the collegiate level. Once again, the emphatically patient Miller walked more than he struck out (38/35 BB/K), and he continued to be a menace on the basepaths where he added another 24 steals in 30 chances. He appeared on multiple ACC leaderboards including BA (11th), total bases (136, 9th), steals (2nd), hits (93, 2nd) and runs (61, 5th). All of it came in 271 ABs, most in the league. Miller was a key contributor to the Tarheels' 23-7 record, their division title and their #11 ranking in the nation. Indeed, Miller and the rest of his UNC teammates did big things that year, but if you ask any of them, including Brian, they will tell you they weren't the least bit surprised in themselves. According to Miller, the team is accustomed to success and counts on it day in and day out. According to Miller, this attitude had a profound impact on his career. "The ideology surrounding the program is just to win and compete," Miller said. "We expect to win and once I was surrounded by other players and coaches that embodied that mindset it really helped me improve as a baseball player." Enter Draft day 2017. Miller, by way of his five-tool type junior year, entered projected to go off the board in the second round only to hear the Marlins, with their competitive balance pick, call his name in the first round, 36th overall. Yes, the same Brian Miller that went unrecruited out of high school had become a first round draft pick. However, while he admits it was exciting hearing his name get called so early in the draft, Miller says his draft stock wasn't really a concern while he was playing for UNC. Instead, Miller had his sights set on making his friends and family proud. "Getting picked in the first round was pretty cool, but it's not really a goal I had all along because I just wanted to play for a team that valued me and gave me a chance to succeed," Miller said. "There are a lot of very very good baseball players that didn't get picked that high and will have great careers. Your junior year there's so much noise out there about you as a player or where you might get picked. I was very blessed to have great friends and family around me that helped me tune all of that out and just play as hard as I could for my school." Upon being selected, the Marlins forwent sending Miller to short season Batavia and instead sent him to full season A in Greensboro. This was music to Miller's ears as it was a short 80 mile trek from his home in Greensboro and an even shorter 50 mile hike from Chapel Hill, meaning he would continue to be surrounded by his friends and family and could keep reaping the benefits of his college coaches' expertise. "Being close to home was such a blessing," Miller said. "Having my parents and other family/friends at a lot of games was a really cool environment to start my career in." Feeding off the in-person support of his family and friends, Miller, despite being over a year younger than the average South Atlantic League player, started his big league career by slashing .322/.385/.416. He tore up the basepaths, stealing 21 bags in 27 attempts and scored 42 runs, quickly solidifying himself as the Grasshoppers' leadoff hitter. Though he admits there was a noticeable leap in the opposition's skill level that he had to adjust accordingly, Miller credits the successful start to his big league career to the time he spent facing some of baseball's top rising stars in the ACC such as fellow 2017 first rounder Brendan McKay (Tampa Bay) and 2016 second rounder Connor Jones (St Louis) and picking the brains of his star rotational teammates, Astros' 2017 first rounder Jacob Bukauskas who owned a 3.06 K/BB at UNC and Cardinals' 2016 third rounder Zac Gallen who posted a 3.67 K/BB in Tarheel blue. "The competition level was definitely a step up from college ball but I think the ACC helped prepare me for mostly everything I faced this past season in Greensboro," Miller said. "I wasn't really familiar with many pitchers or players in the SAL, so it took a little bit of time to adjust to how different teams and pitchers like to throw. There are some really good players in the SAL and it was fun being able to compete against them all for a few months." A contact-or-bust singles swinger, Miller uses his plus-plus jets to collect extra bases. He exhibits fantastic plate vision and patience via a knowledge of the strike zone well beyond his years, allowing him to work at least deep and usually favorable counts. Miller's swing is one of the quickest in Miami's system. Using his excellent vision, he is able to wait out the break of a pitch and follow it all the way to the back of the glove. When he engages, Miller's swing flashes through the zone straight and narrow. His split stance allows him to step both in and out to his contact point and allows him to barrel up virtually any pitch on either side of the zone. All of that sounds and is great. But if you ask Miller himself, his mechanics are so soundly second-nature that he isn't concerned with them. Instead, he approaches his at-bats with a very simple, refined attitude. "My approach is pretty simple in the box. I just try to be on time and hit a ball hard up the middle of the field. I think always staying to the middle of the field puts me in a good position to succeed because it helps me hit any pitch at any location in the strike zone," Miller said. "Also, when I mishit a ball I have a good chance of beating it out with my speed because the middle guys have to move the most and sometimes make far throws on the run." Where Miller wants to do the most of his offensive damage and where he believes he can disrupt the game most advantageously is on the bathpaths. "When I'm on the bases I'm always trying to steal," Miller said. "I always want the defense to be on their toes and feel pressured, which can also help my teammate in the box get a better pitch to hit if the pitcher and catcher is concerned with throwing me out." Miller uses that same speed to cover ridiculous ground in the outfield, making him one of the best range defenders in the system, rivaling the likes of teammate Aaron Knapp and former/future teammate Corey Bird. If the Marlins' current system is rich with one thing it's speedy, top of the order outfielders. However, due to left-handedness, his pre-pro pedigree and his untenable patience and the fantastic beginning to his career, Miller may have the highest leg up on all of them. While the recently turned 22-year-old only competed in 57 games worth of affiliated action last year and while he will have to prove that he can endure a full season's worth of games, due to his coming virtually out of nowhere, turning into a first round draft pick, skipping short season ball and becoming one of the Greensboro Grasshoppers' most valuable players, Brian Miller earns our Minor League Player of the Year Award. We expect this will be the first of many times you hear his name this coming year. He should start the season in Greensboro (after a possible spring training invite) but with continued success, could move up to A+ Jupiter by the midseason mark.

There's an old saying that goes, "When it's your time to go, it's your time to go." No one disproves that statement better than Jose Fernandez, a young man so full of life it seems a sin and 365 days later, still seems impossible that it was taken from him and that this seemingly innocent, playfully childish and infinitely joyful soul is no longer turning everything he touched from a baseball to other's lives to pure gold. On the afternoon of September 22, 2016, my girlfriend surprised me with an early birthday present: tickets in Diamond Club at Marlins Park. For those unfamiliar with the stadium, these are the all-inclusive seats directly behind home plate that can and usually do cost upwards of $200 a game. From the seats, you can easily peer down into the Marlins' third base dugout. As players started filing from the clubhouse, a young group of autograph seekers sitting just above the canopy called to each of their heroes. While some stopped to sign a few and exchange a quick pleasantry, Jose Fernandez went above and beyond expectations. Not only did Fernandez ink every peice of memoribilia presented to him from one side of the dugout to the other, he invited fans who asked for a photo with him to traverse a small set of steps to the right of the dugout and just to the left of the backstop screen. This wasn't just a case of catching Jose on a good day; this was who Jose was: a man who wanted to share the happiness and joy life in America and in baseball had given him with as many people as possible. There is little doubt that seeing that joy in others, making their day, creating smiles and hearing laughter was more paramount to Jose Fernandez than his own well-being. Watching Jose on the mound and in the media, you became a fan. After one two minute interaction with him, you felt like family. The effect he had on others was just as incomparable as his stuff on the mound. After the National Anthem was sung and he returned to the dugout, Jose took up his normal alter on the right side of the bench in his high chair against the railing. This two minute span between the anthem and first pitch was the most use that chair would get. You see, even though he only physically took the field once every five nights, his teammates took him to the field with them every single night. The first to get to his feet when the ball was hit deep, the first to raise his arms when a big out was about to be recorded and the first in line to greet a teammate with a congratulatory celebration on their triumphant return to the bench, Jose was invested in every game just as much as he was invested in his own starts. There were no days off. This is who Jose was: a man who cared about the success of others as equally if not more than he was concerned with his own virtue. The Marlins took Jose with them to the mound those nights, they have done so every day since last year's tragedy and they will do so forever. That's the legacy he would have wanted and the legacy he has successfully created. Even in the afterlife, Jose Fernandez has remained successful. After all, I don't even think Jesus Christ himself could touch that slide piece. However, as selfless as this man -- the same one who, as a teenager, jumped into the middle of the ocean to save his mother from drowning -- was, he was still a human being. And human beings make mistakes. When I heard the news of Jose's choices that night after his start was pushed back and after he had a disagreement with his girlfriend, I was admittedly awash with emotions, confusion and anger included. Those same emotions overcame me months later when the toxicology reports were released. However, on both occasions, I refused to let one night of bad decision making trump a lifetime of altruistic nobility. Retire the number, build the statue, name the street, make a spot for him in the Hall Of Fame. He's more than earned it. He more than deserves it. One year and I can rewind the events of that day and week in my head with perfect accuracy. How I refused to believe the news when it was first reported, how it was confirmed to me by a former member of the board of directors who frequented my place of employment, the usual party-like atmosphere of the ballpark being replaced by that of a funeral on September 26, every tear I shed into the concrete underneath my seat in right field at the sight of every player donning '16', at the sight of Dee Gordon barely being able to round the bases following his lead off homer and at the visual of 30+ Marlins hats left on the field by Jose's brothers on the spot where he was king, I can tell you about it all. What I can't tell you is when this wound will heal or if it ever will. As fresh as it still is, it cuts even deeper when I think of the pain in the hearts of Jose's family including his beloved Abuela and his mother. It seers when I see the face of Penelope Fernandez, a child who will grow up never knowing her father and how miraculous he truly was to know. The search for solace is never an easy quest but one place where young Penny and the rest of the Fernandez family can go is to the memories of Jose being the best at everything he set out to do from dominating his craft on the mound to being a good teammate to being a good friend to being a good son and grandson. And there is no doubt he would have succeeded just the same as in fatherhood. As fans, Jose's extended baseball family and the innumerable masses whose lives Jose touched, we can find peace in knowing that by never taking one hour of any day for granted and by filling each one with as much joy and happiness then projecting that unto others, he lived well beyond his years and his spirit will live on in each of us that came to know just how incredible he was forever. To the greatest baseball player I've ever had the distinct privilege of getting to know, of getting to watch grow, of getting to watch dominate the game both on the field and off, continue to rest well. You were good, kid. You were good.

This past month, the Marlins gave troubled starter Tom Koehler (1-5, 55.2 IP, 7.92 ERA, 1.72 WHIP) a change of scenery by trading him north of the border to the Blue Jays for a virtual unknown, Osman Gutierrez. I teamed up with Matt Weber and Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter to scout and place a potential value on this 22-year-old righty. Gutierrez, a native of the Dominican Republic, was part of the same international draft as part of the same international draft that brought the likes of Yu Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes, Rougned Odor and Roberto Osuna to Major League Baseball. He was signed by the Jays at a time where their GM Alex Anthoupolous had money burning a hole in his pocket. "From when Anthopoulos was hired in late-2009 until the hard restrictions on amateur spending with the 2011 CBA came into force in 2012, the Blue Jays were really aggressive in the spending in the draft (heavily skewed to high school pitchers) and internationally." Matt told me. Matt's claim is backed up by the fact that Toronto, in the international draft alone, spent upwards of $20,000,000 in that three year span. Gutierrez himself, a late round pick, cost Toronto upwards of $200,000. In the coming years, while his fellow international selection names like Osuna and Hechavarria and his minor league teammate stateside draft names such as Syndergaard, DeSclafani and Nicolino quickly established themselves as legitimate prospects and began a quick journey through the minors, Gutierrez, due to both his still teenage years and the pure rawness of his talent, remained in rookie ball in the Dominican for three years and rarely saw the mound in the first two. However, after holding down an impressive 1.91 ERA in 47 innings and 10 starts in 2014, he was able to make it to North American ball by his age 20 season, quite average for a player of his B type caliber and quite advantageous considering the amount of high priced talent the Jays were currently circulating. Clearly, the organization saw something in this kid. Gutierrez came to the US in 2015. It was then during his tenure in the GCL that his reinvention began and coaches got to work on teaching him how to pitch strategically rather than allowing him to continue leaning on simply blowing his stuff past the opposition, a transformation many amateur picks undergo in order to make it as a professional. For the very immature Gutierrez, it is a process that has been lengthy and one that is still going on today. In 2015 and 2016, Gutierrez responded fairly well to his coaches and to the changes. Despite his ERA being victimized by a heightened .330 BABIP, he held holding down good combined control numbers including a 2.91 BB/9 and an 8.67 K/9 and a solid FIP that came in under the 3.70 mark as he began to establish a good breaking ball, piggybacking his fiery heat. "In his July 23rd start, he touched 96 a couple times on the stadium gun, with a mid-80s breaking ball. So there's some quality stuff to go along with the good stat line," Matt wrote on Bluebird Banter back in 2016. "[He's] done everything you want to see: missed bats and worked ahead of batters, and been able to finish them off while still being quite efficient." This season, the 22-year-old made the jump to full season ball. In his first 13 starts with the Lansing Lugnuts Gutierrez -- there's no getting around it -- struggled mightily. On July 21, after a particularly dreadful 3 inning, 6 run, 4 walk, 2 K start, his ERA sat at a hideous 10.13 via an equally dreadful 2.08 WHIP and .295 BAA. Matt chalks the ugly start to his career in full season ball up to an inability to work ahead and a failure to place his pitches, issues that, if not for a serious lack of depth among the Lansing staff, would have landed him either in the pen or back in rookie ball. "The struggles until recently were very simple: lack of control and command. He often struggled mightily to throw strikes, got himself behind in counts and into lots of jams, and then got hit hard when he came in the zone," Matt said. "That he kept a spot in the rotation at all with mostly due to injuries to other players meaning Lansing had little other choice." All of that out of the way, there's something to be said for how Gutierrez has performed recently. Since the aforementioned disaster outing on July 21, the Nicaragua native bounced back by allowing just 14 runs over his next 30 innings pitched (4.20 ERA) which spanned five starts, including a career outing on August 2 in which he went 7 innings, allowing just four hits, one walk and striking out 10 Bowling Green Hot Rods. In his second start with the Marlins' organization, Gutierrez came within one K of matching that total. Both of his first two Muckdogs starts were of the quality variety, lasting six innings each and consisting of four hits and one earned run. Our colleague at Bluebird Banter says that Gutierrez's recent success has been due to his slider taking another step forward and turning into a plus-plus offering and the fact that overall, he is throwing with a lot more confidence. "He's been vastly improved the last last couple months, including a couple of really dominating outings. One of he keys has been that his slider's been a lot better, giving him an out pitch. One of the Lansing broadcasters was talking recently about how the coaches wanted him trust his stuff more, not try to be so fine. And against low-A hitters, his stuff should be plenty." If given time to develop his changeup that is distinctly a mix in offering at the time being, Gutierrez, still 22, could make it as a starter. However, given the fact that the fastball/slider combo thrower dumbs down his velo to the low 90's range in order to make it deeper in starts and the fact that he is a minor league free agent after next season, Matt and I both agree that he profiles best as a late inning reliever. "There will be some impetus to move him along," Matt said of Gutierrez's situation. "He should start next year in high-A regardless but if moved to relief, he could get to AA." In a straight up trade for a troubled starter who barely touched B-type status as a prospect looking at finishing out his career as a swing man, the Marlins could have done a lot worse than a ceiling 4-5 starter, floor late relief/closing option. I give Michael Hill a passing grade on this trade, one of few he's turned in in his tenure as President of Baseball Ops. Look for Gutierrez to participate in the offseason winter leagues overseas before starting 2018 in Jupiter.

Ben Meyer: A Golden Gopher with a golden arm and a golden future. The Minnesota alum spent the past 30 days continuing to prove himself worthy of those titles, tossing to a 1.01 ERA via a 0.79 WHIP and in so doing, earned himself another accolade: Fish On The Farm's July Prospect Of The Month. Monthly StatsSeasonal Stats35.2 IP, 1.01 ERA, 0.79 WHIP100.1 IP, 2.06 ERA, 0.94 WHIP39/3 K/BB, 10.0 K/9, 0.75 BB/9121/21 K/BB, 10.9 K/9, 1.88 BB/9.188 BAA, .266 BABIP, 73.3 LOB%.204 BAA, .298 BABIP, 76.8 LOB% Benjamin K. Meyer was born on January 30, 1993 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In his high school days at Totino-Grace, Meyer lettered in both baseball and basketball but upon his graduation, Ben, who comes from very athletic bloodlines, followed in his father's footsteps rather than his twin siblings and gave up the court in favor of the mound. In 2012, he became a second generation University of Minnesota pitcher proceeding his dad, Bob and by so doing, made a childhood dream reality. "I wanted to do the same [as my dad] ever since I was younger," Meyer said regarding toeing the rubber for the Golden Gophers. Although he became a quality basketball player late in his amateur career, Meyer says he didn't fully acquire the physical size for it until his high school tenure was finished which made him focus more on and gain more of a passion for baseball. "I was a late grower, so I was better at baseball at a young age," Meyer said. "I wasn't done growing until my freshman year of college, so my basketball skills developed later in my high school career." Even though his basketball days are behind him now, Meyer credits his time on the hardwood to his ability to adjust to his body, remain well conditioned and most importantly for him, keep baseball fresh and exciting. "I think it's important for kids not to specialize in one sport too early to keep from burning out," Meyer said. "Basketball helped me become a better all around athlete which correlates to success on the mound." Focusing solely on baseball, Meyer quickly became the anchor of the Golden Gophers' bullpen, holding down a 2.37 ERA via a 1.08 WHIP in his first 38 collegiate innings. This all came after he dropped two subpar offerings from his arsenal and rapidly developed two brand new pitches that backed up his low 90s cut fastball more advantageously. Meyer credits his Minnesota coaches for immediately turning him in to an effective collegiate arm and for starting him down the road to becoming a professional rotational arm. "When I got to college I switched out my splitter and curveball for a changeup and slider," Meyer said. "I worked a lot with my college pitching coach to improve their consistency and make them look more like my fastball out of the hand to keep hitters off balance. I've also found a bigger need for the changeup at the pro level as hitters bat speed is quicker." In his sophomore year, Meyer began the transition to the rotation, playing in 15 games and starting eight, doubling up his inning count from the year previous. The increased workload showed a bit as his WHIP rose .2 points and he gave up 2 more hits per nine than the year previous but he still held his ERA under 3 (2.80), improved his BB/9 by .45 points, tossed two eight inning shutouts and one complete game shutout, proving he belonged in the rotation. The Golden Gophers staff took notice of Meyer's overall successful tenure as a starter and made him one full time in his junior year. Despite taking on an even bigger workload and putting by far the most stress on his arm he ever has, tossing in his conference's third most innings (98), Meyer placed sixth in the Big 10 in ERA (2.39), 12th in WHIP (1.13) and fifth in strikeouts (67). His K total combated the only area where the high inning total showed any effect on him, his heightened but still respectable walk rate (2.57). That career high BB/9 was completely offset by his career low 7.62 H/9. After starting the Big 10's second most games in his junior season, Meyer once again proved his durability by tossing in 14 more in his senior year. However, that same season and his draft year, Meyer's stats became the victim of circumstance when the Big 10 modified their official baseball in an attempt to increase offensive production. Although his great control persisted (7.29 K/9, 2.46 BB/9), the result for Meyer was a 4.31 ERA by way of a H/9 over 9 and a HR/9 over 1.00, causing his draft stock to plummet. In hindsight though, Meyer says the change was an advantageous for him in that it allowed him to hurdle over some common struggles for young professionals at an earlier age. "My last year of college they lowered the seams on the baseball. This made it more similar to a minor league baseball, which was a good transition for me," Meyer said. "It taught me to pitch more effectively down in the zone and forced me to mix my pitches a little more." Meyer admits he sweated through the draft process as he watched the rounds pass him by, hoping to not have a bad case of deja vu from the year previous when he was not selected. His relief came on the final day in round 29 of 40 when he got his call from Stan Meek and the Marlins. "The last day of the draft was definitely the longest day of my life as well as one of the most exciting, especially after I didn't get drafted after my junior year of college." Meyer said. "I was just hoping for an opportunity and was very grateful when the Marlins called saying they were going to take me." After seven innings in the GCL and five in Greensboro, Meyer lived out the rest of 2015 in Jupiter pitching against competition a year and a half older than him. That fact along with the wear on the 22-year-old's arm (he racked up a total of 120 innings pitched, by far a career high), led to a 1.54 WHIP via a 9.13 H/9 and 11.7 BB% but thanks to a 76% LOB%, Meyer was able to hold down a 3.18 ERA, which was very respectable when all things are considered. His overall successful cup of coffee with Jupiter that year planted a good seed within the organization as he found himself just outside of its top 20 prospects. Meyer lived out 2016 in Greensboro where he began his transition to starting as a pro. It was a bit of a learning curve for Meyer as he went 0-8 in 10 starts with a 4.23 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. He was much more effective out of the pen. Throwing in eight more innings as a reliever as opposed to a starter, he held down an ERA a full point lower (3.10), walked one less (10 vs 11) and striking out nearly twice as many (60 vs 34). However, Marlins didn't give up on the prospect of one day seeing Meyer in their big league rotation. After beginning the year regaining his confidence tossing out of the Grasshoppers' bullpen where he held down a 2.15 ERA and 0.95 WHIP, the Marlins brought Meyer back to A+. There, Meyer has started 10 of his 16 games appeared in and rewarded the confidence the organization has shown in his ability by producing a 2.03 ERA by way of a 0.93 WHIP, marks which rank second and first in the Florida State League among qualified players (>70 IP). Within that same group, Meyer's 28.7 K% and 23.4 K/BB% each rank second. Even though he divulges that all of the moving around between the rotation and bullpen was a bit tedious, taxing on his body and wracking on his nerves, Meyer, ever the "big picture" guy, says the experience was a major catalyst in making him the pitcher he is today, able to pitch in any circumstance, understanding the mind of a hitter and mastering the art of pitch selection and location. "Moving to the bullpen after college was a big transition for me because I was only in the bullpen for my freshman year of college. I had to learn how to warm up quicker, and come into the game with a different mentality," Meyer said. "When I moved back into the rotation in 2016, the biggest adjustment for me was learning to throw on a 5 day rotation vs the college 7 day. It took some time to get my body to bounce back quicker. This year, my velocity has been up a little bit, which has helped, and my slider has been more consistent than it was last year. I have had more confidence in my slider to throw in more situations and keep hitters off balance." The impetus behind Meyer being allowed to experience all the things he has, learn from them and grow so quickly has been excellent health. In his entire baseball career, even though the stress on his body has doubled and sometimes even tripled, Meyer has never made a trip to the disabled list and has never been out of action for more than a few days. In addition to his overall fantastic athletic background imparted on him at birth and fully realized very early in his amateur career, Meyer attributes his good health to good fortune, staying active every day, and to the medical regimen assigned to him by the attentive Marlins' medical staff. "I have been very fortunate to stay healthy over the years," Meyer said. "The Marlins have a great arm care program that I follow between starts, as well as running every day and staying on top of our strength program has helped keep my body and arm healthy." The fact that Meyer once succeeded as a basketball player is evident as he stares down his opposition from his towering 6'5", 180 build. Meyer maintains his height advantage over hitters as he winds up from a straight up-and-down stance but creates deception as he planes his pitches in downhill. Viewing the strike zone from a birds eye, overhead angle, Meyer commands it wonderfully with all of his pitches, something he has done his entire career, something which he is very satisfied with and the basis of his confidence as a hurler. He plans to ride that confidence to the upper levels of the minors and beyond. "I have always prided myself on my command of 3 pitches and ability to work ahead in the count. I would rather give up a hit than walk somebody and give them a free base," Meyer said. "It's definitely tougher as the competition gets better as the strike zone shrinks, and hitters get better eyes, but it comes down to trusting my stuff and preparation." Meyer will rarely touch any higher than 94 MPH with the fastball but his plus plus secondaries both of which he created in college and has established during his great minor league run more than make up for it. He throws all three of his pitches with the same arm speed which adds to his nearly impossible to pick up motion and mixes them beautifully which makes him nearly impossible to time or wait out. As a result, Meyer works quick tidy innings and limits pitches. Six of his 10 starts, including four in a row in July, have been quality outings. Meyer's best pitch is his go-to slider which sits in the 82 MPH range, has hard bite and which he likes to run in on the hands of guys inducing plenty of whiffs. He will also bury it in favorable counts and due to the late break, get guys fishing. The Meyer changeup sits in the 86 MPH range. Due to its good depth and his shortened stride to the plate, it is one of the more deceptive pitches in the Marlins' system right now. As with all of his pitches, Meyer will throw it in any count but he shows an affinity for pitching off of it. The change sets up Meyer's "show me" fastball, a 9o-94 MPH offering which he can run to either corner and which he likes to put in the eyes of hitters in two strike counts. In most cases, a three pitch arsenal isn't translatable to Major League rotational success but in the case of Meyer, who throws all three pitches interchangeably with similar arm speed and great control and command, he should be able to succeed with it. If not, judging by how quickly he established two brand new pitches, he has the ability to quickly re-develop and fall back on the split change and 11-6 curve that he threw as a high schooler. A battle tested thinking man's thrower, Meyer sets up as a 4-5 inning eating rotational option and floor bullpen anchor in that same capacity. With similar success in the upper minors which he stands to break into soon, the 24-year-old should be fast-tracked to his MLB debut, realizing not only his dream but fulfilling a family legacy. But for now, Meyer, as per usual, as staying level headed and letting the process work itself out. "Playing in the big leagues would obviously be a lifelong dream of mine. I've put in a lot of hard work, and still have a ways to go, so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself," Meyer said. "I'm just trying to stay day to day and get better each outing." Meyer should make the jump to AA next season.

Adjustment and perseverance. If there are two words that sum up the career of Chris Mazza, these are them. Despite having to adjust to pitching after spending most of his amateur career as a shortstop and although he had to persevere through some difficult mental and physical circumstances including ignoring his doubters and naysayers, coming back from a serious injury and being released by his first team which nearly forced him to contemplate life after baseball, Mazza did it. He overcame. Today, he is one of the best starting pitchers in the Southern League, on the verge of realizing his Major League dream. The latest of his fantastic exports this season is a month of June in which, despite some more rough luck proven by a .322 BABIP, he limited damage, stranding 83% of his runners and holding down a 1.04 ERA lowering his seasonal ERA to 2.71 sixth best in his league. Mazza's June not only continued to prove his ability to pitch effectively but proved once again his ability to rise above. For those reasons, he is our June Prospect Of The Month. Monthly StatsSeasonal Stats26 IP, 1.04 ERA, 1.46 WHIP79.2 IP, 2.71 ERA, 1.23 WHIP14/10 K/BB, 3.5 K/BB%51/23 K/BB, 8.5 K/BB%.277 BAA, .322 BABIP, 82.5% LOB%250 BAA, .287 BABIP, 76% LOB% Chris Mazza was born on October 17, 1989 in the San Francisco area as not-so-distant relative to Joe DiMaggio. He has wanted to follow in the Hall Of Famer's footsteps ever since he could pick up a baseball. "He was my grandmother's cousin," Mazza said. "I've wanted to play since I was 6 years old." Mazza attended high school at Clayton Valley High in nearby Concord where he barely reached a nonathletic 5'6", 120 pounds and struggled statistically, hitting just .238/.322/.266 in his junior and senior years, causing him to go recruited. So Mazza took his talents to nearby Menlo Oaks College where he spruced (pun intended) up and began realizing his true potential. After making the team in tryouts his freshman year, Mazza became the college's all time leader in home runs and triples. In his junior year, Mazza would usually start games at his normal shortstop but would be called upon to pitch in save situations. Doing so, he posted a team low 2.37 ERA, and 19 saves, another school record thus making him a prominent fixture in Menlo's first ever Conference Title run. Following his success leading both the offense and defense that year, Mazza, for the first time ever, garnered the attention and selection of clubs at a variety of levels, including prestigious collegiate schools, independent ball and affiliated ball. One of those clubs was the Minnesota Twins who drafted Mazza as a pitcher in the 27th round of that year's MLB Draft. Although a mixture of flattered, excited and nervous, was faced with what he describes as a very difficult decision in terms of where to and how to continue his baseball career. But with a bit of guidance and some motivation provided by his Menlo squad mates, Mazza chose to accept the Twins' offer. "It was a really tough decision to make because we had just won our league and made it to the conference tournament for the first time in school history. It was also tough because I had teams that looked at me to play shortstop and that's really what I wanted to do because wasn't 100% ready to give up playing shortstop and becoming a pitcher only," Mazza said. "But after having a long talk with teammates, my high school coach Bob Rolsten who played in the Twins organization, and my dad, we came to the decision that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that I didn't really have anything else to prove in college ball. Also my college teammates said they would kick my butt if I came back for my senior year." Mazza broke into his pro career with the rookie ball GCL Twins and Elizabethtown Twins. Even though the numbers looked great over his 18 appearances in his rookie season, (30.2 IP, 2.05 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 28/2 K/BB), Mazza attributes that success to throwing to a similar level of hitters as those he faced in college who were also just beginning to get acclimated to using wood bats. He divulges that despite the solid numbers, he really didn't have a full understanding of what he was doing on the mound. "The biggest adjustment for me was learning how to pitch. When I got to pro ball, I didn't really know how to actually pitch," Mazza said. "In college, I just got on the mound and threw as hard as could. And when you throw in the mid 90's in college, you get away with a lot things." Here Mazza was, virtually a brand new pitcher who was simply taking the mound and putting the stress of throwing as hard as he can with every pitch on his arm with underdeveloped mechanics. Accordingly, just seven starts into his 2013 season, his arm blew out. Despite every effort to avoid surgery, Mazza eventually went under the knife. It cost him more than an entire season's worth of playing experience. "I went on the DL because of an issue with my ulnar nerve. The nerve was popping in and out of the groove every time I would throw cause my arm to go numb. It was like getting hit in the funny bone every time I threw," Mazza described. "At first, we just tried resting it for about four weeks of no throwing. I was in a brace where I could bend my elbow. After that, I started up a throwing program to build my arm up. About three weeks into the throwing program, my arm started going numb again because of the nerve. About a week later, I had to fly up to Minnesota and have surgery to move my nerve. They call it an ulnar nerve transposition. So I ended up missing the rest of the season." Upon returning to the mound on May 26, 2014, Mazza went on to play the best ball of his career. In 25 appearances out of the Cedar Rapids' bullpen, he held down a 2.79 ERA via some of the best control numbers in the league. Striking out 62 and walking just 11, his 25.5 K/BB% ranked 4th in the Midwest League. He also had the second lowest FIP in the league (1.93). However, much like his rookie season, a lot of Mazza's success would come at another hefty price. Unbeknownst to Mazza, he threw the final two and a half months of that season with a broken right wrist. "I fell up the stairs one night during a power outage and broke my scaphoid bone between my hand and wrist on my throwing arm. At first I didn't even know it was broken. I thought I just jammed my wrist really bad because I could still move it. So I didn't throw for five days then when I started playing it hurt a little bit but not enough for me to say that I can't throw. Plus when I would actually pitch it didn't hurt at all." Then, that offseason, things came another very unfortunate head. "During the offseason, it was still bugging me a little bit until I was working with my dad and I went to hand him up a pile of bricks and my wrist bent back I just collapsed in pain," Mazza said. "So this whole time from when I fell in July to me handing up my dad some bricks I couldn't do a push-up or anything that caused my wrist to bend back because it hurt. But since it didn't hurt to throw a baseball I didn't think anything of it." A few days later, Mazza found himself back in another waiting room with the prospect of once again being absent from baseball for a lengthy period of time very real, if not a forgone conclusion. The diagnosis and treatment curtailed exactly that. "I finally went a got my wrist looked at and got an MRI and the doctor said I had a broken scaphoid nonunion in my right hand. He told me he doesn't know how I was even able to throw a baseball. I just said I've always had a high pain tolerance which in this case isn't always a good thing," Mazza said. "I had surgery in November of 2014 and they had to put a screw in my scaphoid bone to fuse the bones back together. So I had to be in a cast for 6 months because of course the scaphoid bone is the worst bone to break in your entire body because it only has two little veins blood supply so the healing process takes longer." Almost eleven months from when he was last permitted to pick up a baseball, Mazza finally did so again on July 3, 2015, beginning a rehab assignment with the GCL Twins. After five appearances there, Mazza was ready to return to Cedar Rapids, to get back on the horse. However, after just two outings back in single A, he was knocked back off said horse once again when the Twins. Being forced off the mound once again after he had just returned from a second hiatus was admittedly a tough pill for Mazza to swallow, especially after the promise he showed when he was healthy (and sometimes even when he wasn't 100% healthy) but the close relationships he built within the organization including the one he had with his head coach helped keep Mazza afloat in a deep sea of adversity. "When he called me in to his office I had a pretty good idea was getting released," Mazza said. "One thing that helped was Jake Mauer who was my manager for three years in the Twins' organization. Being with Jake for three years, we got to know each other really well and became pretty close. So hearing get choked up as he's telling me he has to release me because they simply don't have a spot for me kept positive that this wasn't the end of my baseball career." Mauer had that same confience that he hadn't seen the last of Chris Mazza and vowed to put in some calls to some independent league teams that he had connections with. But before those calls came to fruition, Mazza got a call of his own. "About a week later, me and my brother are out golfing and we are on the 14th green getting ready to putt and my phone rings and when I answer it Brett West is on the other end and tells me that the Marlins want to sign me as a free agent," Mazza recalls perfectly. "I was so excited. I was getting a second chance." Mazza, who was able to stay professional through two lengthy injuries, the disappointment of being cut and through one of the best and most relieving phone calls he's ever received hung up the phone. From there, the emotion poured out of him and created a scene that must have resembled one from Happy Gilmore. "When I got off the phone I told my brother and he started screaming," Mazza said. "We were jumping around looking like two idiots out on the golf course." After Mazza signed his minor league deal on August 4, 2015 he headed to Jupiter to begin his Marlins' career as a Hammerhead. After he finished out that season by tossing to the tune of a 3.60 ERA with a 1.07 WHIP over 15 innings and following another 15 innings worth of 1.09 ERA, 0.93 WHIP ball to begin 2016, the Marlins would present Mazza with the biggest challenge of his career: transitioning to the rotation and adjusting to life as a starting pitcher. "As I got to about my seventh start is really when I felt the number of innings start to catch up to me and wear my body down. At the time I was just doing the same body maintenance that I did as when I was a reliever. So I just I just had to start doing more, whether it was running more, getting more physical therapy or extra work in the gym," Mazza said. "It was tough because my body wasn't ready for that extra work load. Unfortunately it led to inconsistency the last month and a half of the season. It was a definitely a learning curve but helped me prepare for the offseason. It gave me an idea on how much more I had to get my arm and body in shape so I can take on the innings of a starter." Although he was still relying on the same stuff he used as a reliever, Mazza admits it was tricky having to face hitters more than once and thus having to learn how to select pitches advantageously as he got into more deep counts. However, with some help from his battery mates, he was able to conquer that feat. "Things really didn't change much on my approach to attacking hitters that year. I was only a three pitch pitcher so I still went after hitters the same way," Mazza said. "The biggest thing was not to get stuck in the pitch sequences but I had a lot of help from my catchers with that." As much as Mazza learned from himself and his teammates that year, the best piece of advice he got came from Hammerheads' pitching coach Joe Coleman in spring training. It was then Coleman noticed a hitch in Mazza's game that the Twins never did, an issue that when fixed, would allow Mazza to become a much more effective hurler and will allow him to succeed at the next level. The issue lay in the amount of effort Mazza put behind each pitch, sometimes throwing the ball as hard as he could trying to blow hitters away and the other painting corners and trying to induce weak contact. Coleman informed Mazza that whichever brand of pitcher he wanted to be, a max effort late relief type or a more methodical innings eating back end starter, was acceptable but he could no longer be both at the same time. "Joe sat me down and asked me what kind of pitcher do I wanna be. He said after my first couple outings in spring training it looked like I was trying to be two different kind of pitchers at the same time. The first was the pitcher that want to throw the ball past guys and the being the pitcher that wants to sink the ball and get ground balls," Mazza said. "He told me yeah, I have a plus plus sinker but when I try to throw the ball past guys, it stays straight and doesn't sink. He said if you want to be a guy that throws past guys, that's fine and if I wanted to be a guy that sinks the ball. that's fine too. We just need to pick the guy that you want to be so can have a plan when you are on the mound. Then told me with a sinker like mine, he felt like I would be more successful and have a better chance of getting to the big leagues. So the next day I went up to him and told him that I wanted to be a guy that sinks the ball and ever since then, my career has been going in a positive direction." Following his transitional year in 2016, via the assistance of Coleman and his most extensive year of uninterrupted on field experience, Mazza entered the 2016 offseason with a firm grasp on being part of the rotation as well as his own identity as a pitcher. With that knowledge, he dedicated the next six months to one thing: truly becoming a starting pitcher. "I went in to the offseason last year telling myself that I'm going to get in shape to be a starter. I worked really hard on developing a change-up because it's just a pitch that you need to have as starter. Even though I'm most really on my sinker and cutter I can throw my change-up a few times a game to keep hitters honest." Mazza said. "I also need to thank my strength coach Rob and trainer Cesar who have kept me in shape and kept up with physical therapy to make sure I'm healthy and ready to go." Coleman's ability to recognize and fix Mazza's issue in trying to throw two different styles from pitch to pitch during spring training in 2015 and Mazza's own drive and extra work put in that offseason had him well on his way to becoming an effective starter. But he still had some work to do mechanically and mentally. That's where Jacksonville pitching coach Storm Davis' expertise has come into play. "I've been more consistent in my delivery and being able to make the adjustment when I get out of wack one or two pitches rather then it taking me two or three batters to get back to where I need to be. And that's all because of Storm Davis," Mazza said. "Whether it's looking at film, fixing my arm slot, seeing how hitters are reacting to certain pictures I throw during the game or talking about pitch selection. And when we make a mistake, asking why did we make that mistake and how do we change our approach so we don't make that mistake again and so much more. He's really helped me mature as a pitcher." Through all of Mazza's trials and tribulations whether it be going unrecruited, suffering two major injuries early in his career, being released after he finally began to enjoy some success and so many more factors that would have made a lesser man throw in the towel, Mazza is finally a near finished product this year. The exports of that finished product speak for themselves: a 3.01 ERA that ranks 12th in the Southern League, a 1.29 WHIP that ranks 17th, a 7.0% walk rate than ranks 15th and a 75% LOB% that ranks 13th. All of this has been made possible by a very balanced arsenal which includes his bread-and-butter groundball 90 MPH sinker, a 92 MPH cut fastball that he can ramp up to 94 and which he will throw interchangeably with the sink peice to keep hitters guessing, an 84-86 MPH changeup that is emerging as the secondary pitch Mazza has the best feel for despite his learning how to throw it this past winter and a slider that has lessened to a mix-in offering since his surgery but which he will still bury for strikes in pitcher's counts. Much like the way he has approached his baseball career, Mazza won't shy away from any challenge. He is an in-your-face style pitcher who won't pick at corners but instead comes right after his opposition and dares them to beat him. He can get in trouble doing so at times, giving up baserunners, proven by his 8.5 hits per 9 innings but his ability to keep the ball down almost exclusively and induce groundballs keeps runs off the board and his pitch counts in check. According to Mazza, that bulldog, win-above-all style mentality approach to pitching as well as every other aspect of his life is something that was inborne in him and has, above all else, been his biggest and best companion along the way. As long as he hasn't let the beast run completely wild. "I hate losing. I hate losing more than I like winning. I've always been that way. I don't care if I've given up 10 runs, I want the ball in my hand and I'm not coming out off the game. Even though Storm has told me I gotta keep the bulldog on a leash at not let him run out of control," Mazza said. "I've just always been super competitive ever since i was a little kid. It doesn't matter if it's baseball or tic-tac-toe; I'm going beat you. My mom gets mad at me cause I don't let my six year old nephew win when we play video games together. With the Marlins on the verge of a firesale and Mazza continuing to turn in quality outings, he is on the verge of realizing his Major League dream and in so doing, beating all of those individuals, teams, schools and organizations who thought he would lose. For the 27-year-old and those who have been by his side since the start no matter what, his call to the big leagues will symbolize the biggest win of his life. Without having to actually speak a word, Mazza will tell a lot of people "I told you so." "It's crazy to think about sometimes. I've had lot of people tell me I wasn't able to play at the the next level and the started in high school. I got told I was too small or you good but you're not good enough to play college ball. And when I got to college it was the same thing people would say, "Go to a Division III school, you can't play pro ball."", Mazza said. "I just always had that chip on my shoulder to prove people wrong." Attention all naysayers and doubters: grab your foot and prepare to insert it into your own mouth. Chris Mazza is about to arrive.

2016 Team Stats .218/.298/.294 20 HR/133 XBH 651 IP, 5.00 ERA, 1.53 WHIP At the midway point of the season and with All-Star Games are happening all over affiliated baseball, the start of a brand new season is upon us. The short-season single A campgain kicks off this week, including in the New York Penn League and for your Batavia Muckdogs. There, manager Mike Jacobs, a former Marlins' favorite, leads the likes of Thomas Jones, JC Millan, Shane Sawczak and the rest of a young spirited bunch hoping to become that and more.At the midway point of the season and with All-Star Games are happening all over affiliated baseball, the start of a brand new season is upon us. The short-season single A campgain kicks off this week, including in the New York Penn League and for your Batavia Muckdogs. There, manager Mike Jacobs, a former Marlins' favorite, leads the likes of Thomas Jones, JC Millan, Shane Sawczak and the rest of a young spirited bunch hoping to become that and more. After a seven year playing career, Mike Jacobs begins his first season behind the bench at the helm of this year's Batavia squad. Jacobs was known best for his power hitting game proven by his .253/.313/.473 career slash line and 100 career homers, most of which came in his tenure as a Fish. His career year came in 2008 when he slugged .514, 15th in the NL, slammed 32 homers, 14th in the NL and drove in 93 runs, 20th in the NL all while playing in a pitcher-friendly home park, Pro Player Stadium. The Dawgs are already reaping the benefits of Jake's power hitting background. Where last year's squad scored 47 runs via 18 XBH in the entire month of June, this year's squad has already scored 44 runs via 13 XBH in their first five games. Jacobs' staff is rounded out by assistant coach and former Muckdogs' OF TJ Gamba, hitting coach Rigobertio Silviero who enters his ninth season as a Marlins' affiliated coach and pitching coach Jason Erickson, another former NYPL player (for State College as part of the Pirates' orgainzation) and third-year pitching skipper. Lineup 2B Jhonny Santos CF Thomas Jones 1B Lazaro Alonso RF Zachary Daly DH Terry Bennett 3B JC Millan LF Mathew Brooks C David Gauntt SS Marco Rivera [mlbvideo id="1223918783" width="400" height="224" /]Center fielder Thomas Jones is the Marlins' third round draft pick out of Laurens High School in South Carolina. He enters 2017 as the club's sixth ranked overall prospect and third ranked positional prospect. A football standout in high school who earned some of the nation's best overall rankings as a safety and had multiple offers on the table from some of the nation's top football programs including Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina and South Carolina, Jones forwent that career to play baseball in Miami. According to Jones, he used football to improve his athleticism and get his name into the first round of multiple sports' drafts, but it was always baseball he saw himself making his career in. "The decision was easy. I always wanted to play baseball," Jones said of his decision to sign witht the Marlins. "I did well in football which gave me a lot of exposure. Playing football helped me to be quick on my feet. Playing free safety in football and center field in baseball have similar characteristics." The characteristics Jones speaks of include blazing speed that allotted him a 4.31 40-yard dash time as well as 16 stolen bases in 17 attempts his senior year and the overall ability to cover both center field gaps advantageously, fantastic hands that allowed him to easily create turnovers as well as maintain superior bat speed and an extremely athletic frame that let him outmuscle opposing wide receivers, bench 260 pounds and squat 500, and which has scouts projecting him to become a 20+ homer threat as he fills out and matures. Of course, Jones has some things to iron out in order to reach that offensive potential. He needs to add some fluidity and repeatability to his timing and mechanics which currently look slightly stiff at times. He also needs to add some loft to his straight-through swing in order to make the most of his power potential. Jones does well at getting his lower half involved in his approach but he will need to perfect his footwork which currently sees him almost hopping into swings before his back foot pivot, leading to him frequently falling out of the box on his follow-through. While he needs some seasoning, the few hitches in his offensive game are quite understandable for a two-sport athlete and should all work themselves out as he commits all of his time to baseball. Though he admits filling in the holes in his game has been and will continue to be a trial, Jones is trusting the course of action and putting in all the necessary effort to succeed. "All my time is focused on baseball now," Jones said. "I'm training to become consistent with all my tools. It's a process but I continue to grind it out." With plus present speed and power and average defensive skills, all of which stand to improve, Jones has a five-tool make-up which makes it easy to see why he comes into this season as the Marlins' second best positional prospect. However, the intuitive Jones who owned a 3.66 GPA in high school and shows maturity well beyond his years isn't worried about rankings and he isn't going to let anything deter his focus from his modus operandi. "I always keep a positive mind, no matter what," Jones said. "This game is already hard itself. So I don't even think about the outside talk and I just play the game." Yasiel Puig: $42 million, Yoan Moncada: $31 million, Luis Robert: $25 million. You probably remember reading about these massive international deals being reached which instantly turned poverty-stricken Cuban kids and families into multi-millionaires, all for their services on the baseball field. One you probably didn't read about was Lazaro Alonso, a 20-year-old native of Pinar Del Rio who signed with the Marlins for $100,000. Although he didn't receive the fanfare nor the payday his countrymen received upon arriving in America, Alonso hopes, that through hard work, both the money and the adulation will one day come. "I was just a boy in Cuba, with no history," Alonso told El Nuevo Herald. "I have only just started in everything. My life is a book to be written. I hope to make noise soon." Alonso will attempt to get the band tuned up this short season with Batavia. Regarded as Cuba's eighth best prospect last season after he hit .299/.436/.494 as a rookie during Serie Nacionale's 2014-15 season and .395/.495/.535, the second best hitter in Cuba's 23-and-under summer league last year, Alonso is a massive physical specimen, standing 6'3", weighing 230. Accordingly, his best tool is his incredible raw power which scouts contend could someday produce 25+ home runs if in the lineup every day. Alonso's best secondary tool is plus- pitch recognition ability that allotted him more walks than strikeouts in his rookie season. The disciplined plate approach allows Alonso to see a lot of pitches and force oppositions into making mistakes, a trait rarely found in power-first hitters. If Alonso is to fully reap the benefits of his prodigious power and his solid plate presence though, he is going to need to vastly improve the mechanics behind his swing. With his back leg bent and front leg straight, he strides from a very off-balanced load and fails to get his hands and arms linear to the ball. His inability to get ahead of pitches leads to very subpar timing and a very long swing. Alonso also fails to cover the plate, struggling against pitches on the outer half, particularly against lefties, a downfall that doesn't bode well for his future against pitchers at the next level who can go corner to corner. Top to bottom, Alonso's mechanics need a near complete overhaul. He's also currently quite limited position ally due to below average athleticism and speed. Needless to say, Alonso definitely has some work ahead of him, making him one of the rawest prospects in the organization. However, he has already taken a positive first step in realizing his true potential by formulating the understanding that he has a long road ahead of him, accepting it and having the will to learn and grow. "My swing is not perfect, my mechanics in the box must improve a lot," Alonso said. "But I trust that I have the strength to improve." Terry Bennett is a Marlins' 12th round draft pick from 2015 out of Atlantic Coast High School in Jacksonvlle. Before signing with the Fish, the exponentially athletic Bennett accepted an offer to continue playing both football and baseball at FIU. However, when Miami came calling, Bennett didn't think twice. "Baseball has always been my first love & being drafted was always dream for me growing up," Bennett said. "After my senior season of football, I knew that I was done playing. My love for doing it everyday wasn't there." After spending the last two seasons getting acclimated to playing baseball full time in the GCL, the Marlins believe Bennett is ready to make the jump to single A. A .340 senior year hitter in high school and Atlantic Coast's first ever baseball draftee, the 6'0" 205 Bennett, who was also a stout yet sneaky quick running back in the football world, owns a good combination of power and speed. When it has come to focusing solely on baseball, Bennett says he has made the acclimation quite naturally, not forgetting or completely abandoning his roots but also not being accustomed to change. "The transition has been really good. I love baseball so know matter if I'm going good or bad I still want to come out everyday and try to get better," Bennett said. "Football gave me that tough edge so that always comes in handy because baseball can break you down if you aren't tough enough. I've gotten tremendously better from being in high school to now. I also have a lot of room for improvements but the coaches work us hard and know their stuff." The lefty hitter favors the pull variety of hitting but has also shown the ability to go to all fields. Mechanically, everything looks pretty good here. Bennett stands from a straight away stance, triggers with a front foot heel turn and steps into the ball. He keeps his back knee and shoulder linear and his head stationary before he engages a quick lofty swing. The only knock here is that Bennett doesn't load up much on his back foot and instead relies almost completely on his arms at the expense of his looseness and some of his power potential. Also, his back elbow doesn't move far from his body which negates even more of his strength and leads to trouble barreling up. However, these are common mechanical flaws for undergraduate hitters, especially those who play more than one sport. If Bennett can get his lower half more involved in his swing and learn to reach back more on his swing while his body matures and his knowledge of the strike zone improves, he could become a solid middle of the order doubles-first threat with the ability to reach fences at any part of the park. Though his throwing arm has some growing to do, Bennett's aforementioned furious athleticism and good jets give him eligibility at all three outfield spots. He's spent most of his time in center field which is likely where he will line up most of the time for the Dawgs this year. Like Alonso, Bennett is another guy who has a lot of growing to do but at just 19 and at the expense of just a 12th round pick, he will not be pressured at all. At this point, he's viewed as a long-term project but his able-bodiedness, energetic attitude and sponge-like brain could allow him to make leaps instead of steps. J.C. Millan's backstory is one which will resonate with many in the Miami community and hit close to home for any Marlins fan who became familiar and got to know the late Jose Fernandez. Millan was born on January 18, 1996 in Havana, Cuba. A middle child in a family of limited means and the son to a father who he rarely saw due to him chasing his own baseball dreams, life wasn't easy for Millan growing up. "Living in Cuba wasn't easy for us. My parents had to work really hard to always find a way for me and my sisters to always have food on the table, especially my mom since my dad was most of the time." During his teenage years, J.C.'s parents came upon the opportunity to relocate some of the family to the United States. Some of the family, but not all. Still, Millan's mother jumped at the opportunity and although life in America wasn't much easier at first, J.C. eventually found comfort. "We had the opportunity to come to the US and my parents never hesitated because they wanted the best life for us and for me and my sister to one day succeed," Millan said. "At first it was hard for us to adjust to the system here, especially me going to a new school, speaking no English and sitting in classes when I didn't understand a word the teachers would say. But as the years passed by, we settled in." Much like Jose Fernandez and his family were faced with and made the difficult decision to leave Jose's grandmother and his entire extended family behind in hostile Cuba in order to better their own lives, J.C. and the Millans parted from one of J.C.'s two sisters and her child, J.C.'s nephew, when they made their trek to Florida, a process and experience which has admittedly taken its toll on him. "It's pretty hard to take sometimes, leaving mostly your entire family behind and not being able to see them every day and instead maybe once every couple years," Millan said. "I would love for them to be here but I don't know if that will ever happen." Before each game, after he takes the field, Millan has made it a ritual to spirtually show gratitude what he has been given these past few years. Then, he audibly recites the same phrase for both his parents who allotted him the opportunity to take that field and for those whom he was made to leave behind back home. "Every game I get on one knee in any position I play and give my thanks to the man above," Millan said. "Then I verbally say, "This game is for my family."" When told the story of how the organization made it possible for Jose's grandmother to flee Cuba and join him in the United States to share in the realization of his dream, Millan, although still a bit skeptical given the still arduous political relations between Cuba and America, is a bit more hopeful of one day playing on an MLB diamond in front of his entire family, including his sister and nephew who, for the time being, remain in Havana. "I feel like it's impossible for my other sister and nephew to be here right now," Millan said. "But it would mean everything in the world for them to be here with us, and I wouldn't know how to thank them for that." Millan, a 6'0" 185 pounder attended Brito Academy in Miami before spending a season at Broward College where he hit .324/.407/.443/.850, placing fifth in BA, third in OBP, fourth in SLG and third in OPS. His 18 steals ranked second in his conference and his .846 BB/K by way of a 26/22 K/BB also ranked third. From there, he took his talents to the GCL. There, as he got his first taste of big league ball, his stats weren't nearly as glorified but as long as he was learning, Millan wasn't concerned with them. He enters this year in Batavia with the same mindset: control what he can control and not get too far ahead of himself. "I learned a lot at Broward as far as always being prepared before at bats and always have a plan when i go to the plate," Millan said. "GCL wasn't the year I wanted to have numbers wise but I'm not worried much about how my numbers were as long as I felt I was competing every single at bat and not getting overmatched. I have the same mindset coming into this year with the Muckdogs: compete every at bat, be on time and get a good pitch to hit. That's all I can control. From there on, the ball will take care of itself." From a wide split stance that stretches to both ends of the box, Millan bends his plant leg and straightens his front leg as he leans over the strike zone, leading to a preloaded approach. He forgoes a timing trigger by being able to determine location and exhibit patience well beyond his years. The swing itself generates plenty of contact via the use of his quick hands but the timing needs to improve, specifically on breaking pitches where it can get a bit long. On the basepaths, Millan has the speed and ability to wreak havoc. A long striding runner who gets good jumps, what he lacks in power he makes up for by turning any on-base chance into extra bases with his legs. That same speed serves Millan well in the field where he can play a pluthera of positions. He has eligibility at all three outfield spots, second base and third base and he will play all of them and then some in the same night, as long as it keeps him on the field. "I feel comfortable at all three outifled spots but I feel like I have worked really hard in the infield to be where I am," Millan said. "I can play second and third with no pressure but I'll play any position that keeps me on the lineup every night, even if I have to pitch an inning or catch a whole game. Whatever it takes to be on the lineup, I'll do it." Thankfully for Millan, his skill set as a singles-first bat with good speed and good range to both sides of the field projects him best as a top of the order second baseman. After a challenging start to life which born in him the need to grow up and mature fast, things are finally beginning to go Millan's way. With success in Batavia, he should get the chance to finish out the year in Greensboro and get a look at the full-season level. As long as Millan's road has been to this point, he still has a long way to go in perfecting his game and reaching the upper minors but a few years to him probably sounds like a few minutes. The right mindset and will to succeed should carry him a long way to pulling on a Marlins jersey sometime in the 2019-2020 range. Pitching Rotation 1. Sam Perez 2. Edward Cabrera 3. Alejandro Cabrera 4. Alberto Guerrero Sam Perez is a Marlins' fifth round pick from last year out of Missouri State University. Exclusively a reliever over his four year collegiate career with the Bears, Perez tossed to a 3.31 ERA and 1.15 WHIP via fantastic control numbers including a 9.33 K% and a minuscule 2.75 BB%. But the Marlins saw something more in Perez than a late inning reliever. Last year in Batavia, they eased him into starting as he got the ball to begin a game in eight of his 16 appearances. Usually a long, strenous and difficult process and frequently a failed experiment, Perez, despite having to modify his game quite extensively, got through the transitional process to the rotation quite smoothly, holding down a 3.72 ERA by way of a 1.38 ERA. "The adjustment to the rotation wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but it was somewhat stressful at first mainly due to the mindset," Perez said. "Out of the bullpen, you would get a signal to start throwing and you would try to get hot as fast as possible. In your head it's, "okay, who's up to bat, who's on deck, go, go, go, get hot." Being in the rotation you have so much time you have to make sure to pace yourself in the pregame warmup." Another big change for Perez as part of the rotation has been pitch selection. A zone pounding interchangeable fastball/slider thrower with a very infrequently used changeup out of the pen, he has had to develop the changeup to the point where he can throw it with just as much confidence as the slider and more frequently than it. In order to keep stress down but also keep his velocity consistent, he's also had to learn how to set hitters up with the fastball rather than just coming right after them. Despite being a lot to tackle, it seems Perez has his recipe for success forumulated. "As a starter I am throwing more fastballs instead of high stress pitches. The goal for most starters is usually to get as many outs as possible with your fastball and use your offspeed pitches when necessary," Perez said. "But I would say that fastball and changeup usage go hand in hand with trying to go deeper in games. My velocity hasn't suffered in order to go deeper in games. My pitch selection is what should allow that. Throwing a pitch with full conviction is a must for all pitchers, starters included, therefore my velocity has remained the same. The ability to be an efficient pitcher is what should help me go deeper in games." It's a testament to Perez's work ethic the strides he's been able to make with his changeup which less than a season ago was nothing more than a mix-in waste pitch. Since, it has become arguably as good as his bender, and, at 82, a perfect companion to his mid-90s heat. Thrown with the same arm speed as his slider, he effectively keeps hitters guessing, no matter how many times through the order he goes. Perez attributes his success as a starter and ability to get deeper into games to that pitch. "The changeup is a must for any starting pitcher. This is a big change from the bullpen because you attack hitters with your best stuff as soon as you're in the game. As a bullpen pitcher you're lucky if you go through a lineup once. That's why my changeup wasn't used as often as my slider: I wasn't having to think of how to approach hitters more than once. The only times I threw changeups out of the bullpen was in a hitter's count and they were expecting a fastball over the plate," Perez said. "I feel as though my changeup has good movement and enough speed differential to help my fastball play even better. I have great confidence in my changeup and that allows me to throw it in any count to any batter, right or left. In order to become the most successful starting pitcher I can be, my changeup will be thrown more often in order to make the fastball more effective. For me as a starter I use the changeup to help set up the fastball and induce ground balls." With an obvious great understanding of how to effectively eat innings despite coming up as a reliever and his ability to make great strides with his changuep, Perez has successfully molded himself into a future 4-5 starter and the ace of this year's Muckdogs staff. With a good 95-82 velo mix, a tricky slide step to short arm right handed delivery, and the aforementioned similar arm speed on all three of his pitches, Perez can still live all around the zone without getting hit too hard. He will need to improve his command and ability to get his stuff to the corners and not catch as much of the plate as he matures to the upper minors but that should all come as he logs more innings. At 22, Perez should be among those called up to Greensboro at short season's end. With continued success there, he could be pushed rather aggressively to A+ and beyond, making him a candidate to contribute to the pitcher-needy Marlins in some capacity by 2019. Shane Sawczak, a local kid out of Lake Worth and former student at Palm Beach State, was selected by the Marlins in the 19th round of last year's draft. As Sawczak puts it, he was thrilled just to be drafted but to be drafted by his hometown team which has allowed his family to continue to share in his dream on a regular basis, turned the moment from great to amazing. "Being drafted in general was a dream come true, but being drafted to the Marlins was an incredible feeling," Sawczak says. "I would like to thank the organization for giving me the opportunity to pitch for them. I just got lucky I'm from south Florida. I grew up watching and attending the Marlins games with my family. It gives me better opportunities to see my family still and get to train and prepare myself for the upcoming season." After the draft, an energetic and pumped up Sawczak spent 2016 stifiling hitters to the tune of a 1.93 ERA via a 1.13 WHIP and 26/13 K/BB in 17 appearances for the Muckdogs. After getting a look with the Grasshoppers to end 2016, he is back with Batavia to begin this season as the anchor out of the bullpen. He is one of quite a few returnees that make up the core of this year's Muckdogs squad, a core which Sawczak describes as kindred, making showing up to work every day comfortable and fun. "This year, the Muckdogs have a special bond," Sawczak said. "We all have spent a year together and are having fun playing together on the same diamond. We all have each others' backs and we pick each other up." Sawczak relies on mid-90s moving heat, an 84-86 mph changuep and an upper 70s breaking ball. He pounds the zone with the fasbtall which he has found success with at the lower levels but he will need to learn to place the breaking stuff to succeed in the upper minors. If he can, Sawczak lines up as a quality late reliver based on a lively fastball with projectable secondaries. Keep him on the radar as a future closer. Projected 2017 Team Stats 39-41 .245/.322/.336 38 HR/157 XBH 647 IP, 4.26 ERA, 1.42 WHIP

Woah, it's Nelly! Not only is it befittingly his Twitter handle, it's the exact phrase the South Atlantic League, its scouts, the Marlins' organization and anyone who follows it are exclaiming regarding James Nelson's season to date. One look at the stats including his absolutely unprecedented month of May, it's easy to see why. Monthly StatsSeasonal Stats.372/.425/.540.338/.404/.50034/10 K/BB45/17 K/BB5/1 SB/CS5/1 SB/CS Nelson was born on October 18, 1997 in Rex, GA and attended Redan High School in nearby Stone Mountain. Other than the budding Nelson, Redan is famous for producing MLB talents such as Wally Joyner and Brandon Phillips. As Nelson relates to, Redan is a place that is very proud of that past and their long-tenured heritage and Raiders players, including Nelson, coaches and parents quickly learn that. Rahter than just being part of for four years, they are part of a brotherhood forever. "Baseball tradition at Redan is probably the best I've ever been a part of," Nelson said. "It was all about winning and being a part of a family." After his graduation in 2015, Nelson was selected by the Red Sox in the 18th round of that year's Draft. However, Nelson forwent signing with Boston to attend junior college in Cisco, Texas in an attempt to raise his draft stock. "Going to Junior college was probably the biggest and best decision I could've made to be honest," Nelson said. "I don't think I got enough exposure in high school as far as seeing the pitchers I did." Despite his great high school tenure, Nelson only hit four total home runs in his junior and senior seasons. In his one year at Cisco, a bulked up Nelson hit 17. After going off the board 531st overall a year prior, some scouts had Nelson going off the board as early as round 12. The Marlins selected Nelson with the 443rd overall pick in round 15 thus making his decision to attend Cisco a success. This time, Nelson forwent the rest of his college career to sign a pro contract at the age of 19, another big choice and another one he and his family does not regret. "Baseball is what I loved to do and I believed I was ready to take on the next level," Nelson said. "My family was proud. Everyone thinks it was a great decision and I get all the support I need." Upon his arrival in the professional ranks last season, Nelson supported evidence that he was indeed ready to make the jump. In 43 games in the Gulf Coast League, he hit .284/.344/.364. His BA ranked 15th in the league and his OBP ranked 20th. Among his impressive countable stats were 24 RBI and a 7/3 SB/CS. Despite appearing at the plate just 162 times, the Marlins were impressed enough to promote Nelson to full season ball at the ripe age of 19, 2 1/2 years younger than the average Sally League player. After a bit of a feeling out process in his first eight games in April when he hit .207/.324/.345, Nelson absolutely exploded in May, responding and rewarding the Marlins' vote of confidence by becoming one of the best hitters in the league and a sure-fire choice for the upcoming All-Star Game. His ridiculous month of May consisted of a .372/.425/.540 slash line along with 8 doubles, a triple, 3 homers, 17 RBI and a 5/1 SB/CS. Overall this season, Nelson's .338 BA ranks third in the Sally, his .404 OBP ranks fourth and his .500 SLG ranks ninth. He ends the month of May riding a 17-game hitting streak. So how has this teenager with just a year's worth of college experience and 43 games worth of pro experience under his belt, responded so well to playing against the best competition that he ever has gone up against while being under the pressure and microscope that goes along with being regarded as the club's 10th best prospect and how will he keep it up over the course of a 140 game season, three times as many games as he's ever played in in a single year? Simple: he won't change a thing and most importantly, he will not get too far ahead of himself. Because after all, whatever level you're at and wherever you are or aren't ranked within the organization, the game remains the same. "It's baseball, man. I'm just taking it day by day, making sure I'm staying healthy and staying on top of my game," Nelson said. "I just take it one at bat at a time. If I don't get it done one at bat, just get it done the next, and also keeping my routine I've been doing is a major deal as well. It's all about playing baseball, it's the same game, just with better competition. The biggest thing is focus, if you don't focus you won't succeed how you want to." If there was a knock on Nelson's offensive game from his days in the GCL it was his production against lefties which he hit at just a .231/.286/.269 clip. This season, again, against much more advanced competition, he has remedied that by hitting southpaws at a .388/.492/.694 pace. Once again, Nelson credits what he believes is the end-all, be all, vision. After that, it has been his ability to stay inside the ball a lot more consistently that has made the difference. "All about the focus," Nelson said "From last year to this year, I think my middle-oppo approach has gotten a lot better and I am actually driving the ball to right field and I think that was a big advantage against lefties, especially this season" Nelson has accomplished all of these offensive accolades over the past two years while also learning how to play a new position, third base, where the Marlins believe his growing frame, plus power and strong arm will be better suited in the long run. While learning the hot corner has been and will continue to be a process for Nelson, he doesn't mind; as long as he's on the diamond. "I took the news [of the switch] great. If they see me playing there in the future then I'd be happy to be there," Nelson said. "Any way I could help the team. I love shortstop, but as long as I am on the field, I'd play catcher." Nelson's at-bats are a sight to behold. After the 6'2" specimen stares down his opposition from a straight vertical stance, he times his swing with a front leg trigger that is less reminiscent of a batter and more so of a pitcher. From there, there's only one word to describe him: explosive. Stretching his arms all the way back for as much power as possible while somehow maintaining extremely good balance and very rarely, if ever, falling off to either side of the plate, Nelson's bat is barely recognizable as it whips through the zone with uppercut action. After exhibiting some of the best bat speed within the organization, he stays through the ball with two hands on the bat and two eyes down all the way and looks the ball off the barrel, keeping him from pulling off. Mechanically, everything looks close to perfect for the still-maturing Nelson, making him a near lock to become a 20+ home run hitter. While on base which Nelson has been a ton this season, he has more than above average speed, especially for a guy his size. Add to that the ability make great reads and you have the acumen of a 20+ base stealer. As a GCLer in 2015, he stole seven bags and was caught three times. In less games this year, he has already swiped five while being caught just once. If there has been one consistently below-average area of Nelson's offensive game throughout his career it's been his ability to walk, common for any power-first hitter but not an area which Nelson is willing to go to the wolves. He has proven that by walking more in less ABs this season compared to last season and which he hopes to improve even further by advancing and utilizing his plate vision, no matter the situation. "The biggest thing is not wasting at bats, bearing down and getting the job done with runners on or not," Nelson said. "If they are gonna give me a walk, I gotta take it and not press." Nelson will be the first one to admit he is far from a finished product and he has work to do. However, the 19-year-old who will not even turn 20 for another two months, defines the word 'athlete', has a baseball IQ well beyond his years, and is already on the verge of a call-up to A+. With 20/20 club type talent, the ability to hit for both average and power and great fielding instincts, footwork and hands, he is a 5-tool type talent that could arrive in the majors as early as 2019. But for now, the extremely modest and level-headed Nelson ins't worried about that. "Baseball is a crazy sport man," Nelson said. "I'm just trying to trust the process, so I'm just doing me." Keep doing you, James. If baseball is crazy, you've found the remedy.

There's bad, then there's Junichi Tazawa in 2017 bad. One of the best relievers in the league in 2015 has become anything but this season, leading him to be placed on the "disabled" list just a month and a half into the year. However, it appears as though his "injury" may just be a bad excuse for what has turned out to be a signing just as heinous as Tazawa's exports in a Miami uniform. Through 15 games, Tazawa owns a 6.60 ERA bt way of a 6.84 FIP and a 4.8% walk rate. His 26.7% ground ball rate is the eleventh lowest in baseball. If those figures aren't alarming enough, he also owns a lowly .195 BABIP meaning he has been very fortunate not to give up even more damage. In 2015, Tazawa held down 4.14 ERA via a 3.05 FIP and an extremely low 1.99 BB% all while having pretty bad luck on balls in play (.349 BABIP) at hitters' haven Fenway Park. Last year, he had a much more Fenway-like 15.8 HR/FB ratio of 15.8 and a more neutral BABIP of .292. However, he regulated himself by striking out nearly 10 hitters per 9 innings (9.79) and inducing ground balls at a 40% rate and stranding 79% of his runners. This season though, in the much more pitcher friendly Marlins Park, the wheels have completely fallen off. The question is why? The Marlins are using the excuse that Tazawa is injured, saying that he has rib cartilage inflammation. While there may be some truth to the fact that Tazawa recently tore something in his rib cage, it's hard to believe they would ever let him take the mound if he was suffering from the main symptom of costochondritis which is chest pain. Accordingly, there must be another explanation for the way Tazawa has struggled for the entire season. Pitching coach Juan Nieves spoke more closely to that reason when he said Tazawa needs time off not for his chest, but for his head. "He needs time off to make a mental adjustment," Nieves said. That would definitely be a great place for Tazawa to start. From there, he can work on fixing his mechanics. In order to compare an effective Tazawa to whatever this is he has become, here is a stop motion image of his fastball circa 2014 and one of his fastball this year. Out of respect for any sort of injury Tazawa might have suffered recently, the second image is of a fastball he threw to a virtually powerless Yuli Guriel that got taken for a grand slam during his first outing of the season when he was pretty much undoubtedly 100% healthy, right out of camp. In both images, the same pitch is being called for and thrown: fastball in. Tazawa has maintained similar velocity from then until now but the command is night and day. The reason for this appears to be that, probably not purposefully, Tazawa is throwing from a higher plane and arm slot which he cannot control. At the apex of his leg kick which has gone from high to even higher, it is easy to notice that Tazawa's glove is also much higher in the air his arm is at a much more horizontal angle and a lot closer to his body. This is where Tazawa's problems begin and stem from. From there, they get even worse. Where he used to swing his arm nearly straight horizontally behind his back while keeping the top of his hand facing the hitter, hiding his grip on the ball advantageously and leading to a fluid turnover of his palm, this new windup leads to Tazawa having to drop his arm straight down vertically, giving hitters a clear view of the baseball and his fingers followed by him barely getting his arm fully extended backward and a rotation of his wrist that looks forced. Where Tazawa used to almost literally sit back on his pitches, leaning all the way back on his back leg to the point that he almost falls over before powering through his delivery, he is now almost completely relying on his arm, barely transferring any weight whatsoever. This leads to him flying open to the third base side before overthrowing his pitches and throwing off his release points. The end result of all of those factors are pitches that miss his targets and wind up way out over the plate. Opposing hitters are taking full advantage of this version of Tazawa, being patient early in counts, allowing Tazawa to get behind in the count early (he has a first pitch strike percentage of just 60%) and staying patient allowing them to work themselves into a favorable hitter's count (he gets into just as many 3-0 counts (6.2%) as he does 0-2 counts), virtually disabling Tazawa's once-filthy offspeed secondaries and making him rely on the fastball/forkball changeup combo which accounts for 79% of his pitches thrown. Between them sitting on his stuff and Tazawa misplacing it, guys are making contact at an 80.5% rate, including a 90% rate on pitches inside the zone, both career highs for Tazawa and recording swinging strikes 8.3% of the time, a career low. Deception and the ability to get in guy's heads are completely gone from Tazawa's game as he is only generating chase swings outside the zone at a 28.2% rate, another career worst. Not only are hitters making contact often against Tazawa, they are making loud contact. The average Tazawa pitch leaves a hitters' bat at 89 MPH and goes 210 feet. The latter of those figures is the 21st-highest average distance in baseball, proving Tazawa has been lucky to not give up even more homers and thus an have an even higher HR/FB% which currently sits around 14%. Hitters are barreling up against Tazawa once in every five of their ABs. All of this proves that thanks to his .195 BABIP and the fact that he's pitched in mostly pitcher friendly parks, Tazawa has been arguably the luckiest man in baseball not to have an even higher WHIP than his already mediocre 1.33 mark and his absolutely horrendous 6.60 ERA. Even more fortunately for Tazawa and most unfortunately for the Marlins is that he has job security. Tazawa is under contract for the remainder of this season as well as next season. With it becoming more and more unlikely that he will opt out after this year due, the Marlins, who are paying him $6 million a season until 2019, need to hope Tazawa gets his stuff right ASAP. Upon his return from injury, Tazawa will almost certainly get a rehab assignment in the minors. What the Marlins do with Tazawa immediately after that will be a good barometer of where they are in the towel-throwing-in process for the year. If they are still playoff hopeful, Tazawa will work out his issues in the minors. If not, he will be allowed to do so with the Marlins, likely leading to more fans' pain and suffering. Wherever he attempts to work out his woes, the Marlins better hope for the sake of not wasting $12 million that he is able to do so because right now, Tazawa isn't worth 12 Yen (10 cents American).

Monthly Stats Seasonal Stats .330/.376/.372 .330/.376/.372 18/5 K/BB 18/5 K/BB 5/2 SB/CS 5/2 SB/CS Jupiter Hammerhead's outfielder Stone Garrett came into 2017 as the sixth ranked prospect in the organization. But through 22 games, Garrett's Jupiter teammate, fellow outfielder and owner of a similar surname has been the one playing up to that title. Introducing our April Prospect of the Month, Kyle Barrett. Kyle Barrett, a Georgia native, was born August 4, 1993 and spent his college days in Wildcat blue at the University of Kentucky. There, he spent three seasons amassing a .324/.386/.391 slash line with an 8% walk rate and 21 steals in 34 tries, beginning to lay the foundation for the type of bat he is currently becoming. Playing in the same conference as current top MLB prospect Andrew Benentendi, in his junior year, Barrett finished seven spots underneath the league leading Benentendi in BA, hitting .354. He also appeared just inside the top 10 in his freshman year when he hit .349. Following the 2015 collegiate season, Barrett entered the MLB Draft and was selected 446th overall in round 15 by the Marlins. He signed on June 19 of that year and took his talents to Batavia to begin his big league career. However, the excitement of being drafted and the prospect of making a quick first impression soon came to a grinding halt. In his fourth game with the Muckdogs, Barret broke his right hand, an injury that cost him the rest of the year. Going from the high of being drafted only to, after just 11 ABs, land on the DL for an extended period was an experience Barrett admits was very frustrating. "I was pretty crushed," Barrett said. "I worked so hard my whole life to get drafted and it happens and I start my career off on the wrong foot." Even though Barrett was able to return for the start of the 2016 season and although he made the jump to full season ball strictly on a confidence vote by the team, he still wasn't completely over the injury. Despite rehabbing during the offseason, the strength in his dominant hand still hadn't completely returned and it showed. In his first 22 games as a Grasshopper, Barrett went just 12-72 with a 17/6 K/BB. For Barrett, it was probably the lowest he's been mentally in his baseball career. "It really affected me that off season because I really wasn't able to hit without being pain free," Barrett said. "I got the opportunity to go to Greensboro that year and I really struggled at first because I was out of baseball for nine months." However, despite a disappointing start to his career that lasted 11 months and must've seemed like 11 years, the pure talent of the grinder Barrett finally prevailed. On May 29, he went 3-5 with a walk and scored two runs in a 6-2 Greensboro win. It began a stretch in which Barrett would reach via a hit in 55 of his last 79 2016 games, a stretch in which he went 88/282 (.312 BA). "I finally got some mechanical things adjusted and the success and confidence came," Barrett said. After ending that season hitting .282/.333/.345, very respectable considering how the year started, Barrett got his second call up in as many years which was, all things considered, spectacular. This season with the Hammerheads, a 100% healthy Barrett has once again become the guy the Marlins drafted out of UK. Hitting at the top of the order, he has gotten on base in 20 of his 22 games and collected at least one hit in 19. He's slashing .330/.376/.372 with a BA and an OBP that rank among the top 10 in the Florida State League. It may have taken him a little longer than he would have liked, but through determination and perseverance through adversity, Barrett has now fully arrived on the Minor League Baseball scene. Barrett was able to overcome the disappointing start to his career not only because of fantastic raw talent but also because of the understanding that in baseball, like any sport, it's not about how the game knocks you down; it's how long you let it keep you down that really counts. "Baseball is full of ups and downs and how you overcome adversity," Barrett said. "You can't let one bad game from the day before affect the next game." Not only is Barrett's bat exporting similar results to those he provided during his time at Kentucky, he is making them happen via the exact same approach and mechanics. Barrett and his coaches agree: if it isn't broken, why fix it? "My approach has stayed the same since I was in college so I'm really comfortable with it," Barrett said. Because of that comfort and the confidence he has in his game, Barrett is playing stress-free despite knowing that he is a few months of similar play away from a call-up to AA. "There's no pressure to keep hitting like this at all," Barrett said. "I don't look too much ahead on whether or not I'll get called up; instead, I control what I can control and I make the most of it and don't take anything for granted." During an average Kyle Barrett AB, there is rarely a strike that goes by without him getting at least some part of the bat on it. A stout 5'11", 185, the lefty hitter minimizes an already small strike zone via an extremely quick snap swing which gives him the ability to wait out the break on pitches, select one he likes and drive it. At the very least, the result of a Barrett swing is almost always some sort of contact, even if it is just to foul off a tough pitch and the result of his ABs, nearly all of which last at least five pitches, either end with him on base or at the very least, with him inside of a pitcher and catcher's heads, setting up his next chance. While most of Barrett's hits go for base hits, he does have some hidden gap-to-gap power which allotted him 12 doubles in his final year in college and has already led to four two-baggers this season. As the 23-year-old completely reaches his ceiling, that number should increase. On the base paths, Barrett exhibits great instincts on top of plus speed. Last year in Greensboro, he swiped 17 bags in 22 chances. This year, Barrett is already 5/7 in stolen base attempts. Barrett puts his plus jets to good use in the field as well where he makes good reads off the bat, runs good routes and exhibits an above average throwing arm. With a swift singles first swing, some disguised strength, good speed and good outfield prowess, Barrett appears to be nurturing a skill set similar to Chris Coghlan and his personal hero, Brett Gardner. Excellent on-field play coupled with an outgoing personality and a sound head for the game make Barrett a great teammate and an extremely easy guy to root for. An all-around great athlete, it isn't out of the realm of possibility for Barrett to reach the bigs by next season. * This is Kyle Barrett's second time being named Prospect Of The Month.