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Thomas White Photo: Corey Perrine\/Florida Times-Union\/USA Today Network via Imagn Images<\/p>\n\t\t\t\tThomas White Photo: Corey Perrine\/Florida Times-Union\/USA Today Network via Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Miami Marlins. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as my own observations. This is the sixth year we\u2019re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you\u2019ll see in the \u201cposition\u201d column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.<\/p>\n
A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here<\/a>. A much deeper overview can be found here<\/a>. <\/p>\n All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team\u2019s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other Prospects of Note<\/p>\n Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category.<\/p>\n Upper-Level Bench Bats A third-rounder in 2024, Miller didn\u2019t hit much last year but has found his stroke this season. He\u2019s added a drifty leg kick and appears to be swinging harder. He\u2019s also hitting the ball harder and performing better, but it\u2019s still 40 impact, and he\u2019s no longer making a ton of contact. Green can stand on the left side and does enough well to play a depth role, but he lacks a carrying tool for more. Etzel is a corner bat who\u2019s held his own at Triple-A. He\u2019s a readymade depth outfielder. O\u2019Donnell is a lefty-hitting outfielder drafted out of Virginia in 2023. He\u2019s already risen to Triple-A, but has been in the honorable mention section of our lists throughout his career because of the huge hole in his swing against fastballs up and away from him. Navarreto has had a couple cups of coffee. He\u2019s a glove-first emergency depth option behind the plate.<\/p>\n Newbies This group has all joined the org in the last year or so. Valencia was part of the return for Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez<\/a> at the deadline last year. A finger injury has limited him to just 25 games in 2026 and seems to have had a dampening effect on his power and overall production. He has an ugly swing, with a huge bail out reminiscent of a Little Leaguer afraid of the ball. He can juice a ball down and in, but he hasn\u2019t done so very often throughout his career, and the pitching is only going to get more capable of exploiting the holes in his swing. He has fans, inside the organization and out, but I\u2019m skeptical he can hit. Clemente was Miami\u2019s seventh-rounder last year. In a length role, he\u2019s working with a mid-90s carrying fastball and a couple secondaries, highlighted by his north-south slider. He\u2019s been wild, but he could have two 55s in short stints and has a middle relief ceiling if the strikes tick up in the bullpen. <\/p>\n Everybody loses a little pop when they trade metal for wood, but the gap between Faurot\u2019s power data at Florida State and the pros is almost laughable. Williams, another draftee from Florida State selected one round earlier, also saw a significant dip in his measurable power numbers in pro ball last summer. He\u2019s missed the entire season with a torn labrum. Jasso is the fourth player from the Ryan Weathers deal. He\u2019s a corner infielder who could have an average glove at third and average power at maturity. Good fastballs loom as a major test. <\/p>\n Famous Names Berry was one of the most divisive first-round selections in recent memory. He\u2019s maintained the good approach he\u2019s had since his LSU days, but he hasn\u2019t grown into the power that his backers assumed would translate from college. That said, Berry has turned himself into a versatile defender and is having his best pro season to date. The sum of the parts is enough to play some kind of up-down role. A first-round pick back in 2023, Head\u2019s a good athlete and a plus runner. He\u2019s missed a lot of time with injuries since draft day, and both his feel to hit and positional skills in center remain raw. Johnson signed for $2.8 million in 2024 as a second-rounder. He was a somewhat controversial selection, as some evaluators saw a slower-twitch guy without explosive bat speed. He\u2019s a player who needs to hit, and it\u2019s thus concerning that he\u2019s batting .246 with a 26.7% strikeout rate in his third spin through Low-A. Morlando has battled a ton of injuries since entering pro ball and doesn\u2019t have the same power or hit tool he once flashed as an amateur. He\u2019s struggling in his second stint at Low-A, and even though he was drafted out of high school two years ago, he\u2019s already 21. <\/p>\n Tweeners Hernandez has made starts at four positions as a pro. He takes a big swing for a smaller guy, and he\u2019s nonetheless a hit tool flier with a knack for making decent contact. Were he a better fit at short, he\u2019d be on the main section; he has a chance to hit his way into some kind of utility role. Sanchez is an undersized catcher. He\u2019s hitting for power, but I have concerns about his swing, and his size isn\u2019t a good match for his position. Boyd can run and plays a decent center field. You\u2019d like to see more contact or more power before thinking about a place on the main section of this list; he\u2019s young enough to think it\u2019s possible. Shade looks great in center and has been an elite base stealer at the lower levels, good end-of-roster skills that may not be enough to compensate for a light bat. Lewis is a speedster who can run into a ball once in a while. He\u2019d be a better roster fit if he played a premium position. <\/p>\n Reliever Nightclub Belgrave is a low-to-mid-90s-and-a-slider reliever. It\u2019s a pretty good hook, a low-80s sweeper with long break that flashes plus. He\u2019s never been a great strike-thrower, though, and while his stuff doesn\u2019t look terribly different this year, he isn\u2019t missing many bats with it. We\u2019ll tuck him down here until he gets right. Miller was a very exciting two-way athlete with big league potential as both a pitcher and an outfielder. He was seen often in the U.S. (usually at tournaments in Florida) as an amateur, and signed with the Marlins for just shy of $1 million in January of 2023. He hit and pitched in his first pro season, then only hit in his second (he K\u2019d around 40% both years), and has pitched exclusively since. He\u2019s only made one appearance on the Florida complex this year, and his velo was down a tick. He\u2019s raw for obvious reasons, but at his best, he pairs mid-90s velo with a slider that flashes above average. <\/p>\n Ralston is a 28-year-old minor league vet. He works straight over the top and with an arm stroke that makes me shoulder hurt. His fastball and slider are pedestrian (though he\u2019ll touch 95), but his split is at least plus with devastating late sink. He throws it half the time, and the whole package is just funky enough to work. Schomberg is a low-slot, spin-to-win righty. He\u2019s spent most of his career in a length role; we\u2019ll see if he throws meaningfully harder in shorter stints. Martin touches triple digits and flashes a plus north-south slider. He needs to throw more strikes to reach the main section of this list. Reynoso is working out of the High-A bullpen. He\u2019s a high-slot, low-release righty who touches the upper 90s and has a couple sharp breaking balls. He might be too wild to profile. Sellinger is a Double-A lefty who turns 27 later this year. While he can touch 95, he leans on his slider, which has an elite spin rate. He doesn\u2019t always execute the pitch and his control has been just fair throughout his career, but 3,000 rpms is 3,000 rpms. He\u2019ll have teams checking in on him until he hangs \u2019em up. Laws is primarily a fastball-slider pitcher. He\u2019s been hit hard, but he\u2019s throwing in the mid-90s, the stuff looks okay in a vacuum, and if he picks up a few ticks in short stints, there may be something here. <\/p>\n Complex Follows Da Souza touches the mid-90s and flashes a good curve. He\u2019s still 16, so he\u2019s eons away, but he has the size, arm strength, and athleticism of a big leaguer, and he\u2019s off to a good start in his pro career, with nine punchouts and no runs allowed in his first two starts. To rank, or not to rank, that is the question with so many of these DSL pitchers with strong and erratic arms. In Garcia\u2019s case, he touches 97 and has feel for spin, enough so that he\u2019s a priority follow on the complex. Hernandez is a lefty who matches that rough description. After missing most of the last calendar year, he just returned from the 60 day IL in the last week. He was another of those six-figure international signees. Mu\u00f1oz was one of Miami\u2019s top signings in the 2026 international class. He\u2019s a power-over-hit left side infield prospect who is putting up big exit velos for his age, but also swinging and missing a lot. If he ends up needing to move to third base, the strikeouts will be a bigger problem.<\/p>\n Paulino is a barrel-chested righty with upper-90s velo and a tight slider. He\u2019s not especially projectable, and he\u2019s walking more than a batter per inning in the FCL. Brachi came over to Miami from the Rays last winter in exchange for Victor Mesa<\/a> Jr. He\u2019s a utility infield prospect with contact skills, plus wheels, and a knack for getting hit by pitches; it\u2019s happened 31 times in his brief career thus far. Encarnacion is a 20-year-old southpaw on the complex. He\u2019s physically projectable, touches 100, and flashes a plus slider. That\u2019s great, but he\u2019s also walked 35 guys in 17.2 professional innings, and at some point you have to hit the barn. Tolentino is a slow-burn catching prospect. He hit well in the DSL in 2025 but is striking out a lot on the Florida complex, and he\u2019s got a long way to go as a receiver. The risk on both sides makes him more of a flier prospect than one of the org\u2019s top catchers. Machado is a lean utility prospect who\u2019s repeating the DSL. He has the speed and athleticism to stay at short, and has main section upside if he fills out enough to develop even 40 power. <\/p>\n Length Arms May was a compensatory pick who signed for $900,000 in the 2024 draft. He\u2019s a sinker-slider-change length arm. The change, and to a lesser extent the slider, miss bats, but the overall package is underwhelming, and it\u2019s fair to wonder if there\u2019s an out pitch for better hitters. Monteverde briefly debuted last year. An upper-80s fastball limits the utility of otherwise shapely stuff. He could spot start. Mendez has been loitering in Low-A for awhile, where he\u2019s starting to miss quite a few bats. He doesn\u2019t have big secondaries, but he\u2019s a lefty with viable arm strength and the pitchability to potentially work some kind of length role. <\/p>\n System Overview<\/p>\n There are a lot of players here. Both in the trade and international markets, Peter Bendix and Co. have prioritized acquiring a high volume of interesting players in lieu of one top talent. That strategy was readily apparent throughout my evaluation here, as well over 100 names were considered for the list. The Marlins want depth and they sure have it. <\/p>\n Remarkably, they\u2019ve built one of the deepest farm systems in baseball while drafting pretty poorly, at least in the early rounds. Their top pick in the 2022 draft, Jacob Berry, is not on the main section of this list, and neither are their only seven-figure guys from 2024, PJ Morlando and Carter Johnson. With another top 10 selection last year and the sixth-highest bonus pool in the draft, Miami was able to dole out eight bonuses of $500,000 or more, but Aiva Arquette is the only one of the group I\u2019m particularly enthused about. They haven\u2019t whiffed on every early rounder \u2014 Joe Mack and Thomas White were large-bonus guys \u2014 and it\u2019s certainly possible that I\u2019ve botched the eval on some of these players. But for a team that generally drafts high, and one that won\u2019t spend in free agency, reliably hitting big in those spots is crucial for their chances of contending for a playoff spot, and they haven\u2019t executed often enough in recent years. <\/p>\n The Marlins have a couple of interesting pitching tendencies worth touching on. Let\u2019s start in Latin America, where Miami tends to spend big on arms in a way that bucks the general trend. Most teams are wary of this demographic, as the bonus pool is a finite resource, and these kids are just so far away from the big leagues, both in time and physicality, that the attrition rate tends to be high. Some teams don\u2019t invest much at all in pitching internationally, but the Marlins take a different tack, and tend to sign at least a few six-figure pitchers per class. It\u2019s obviously a risky play, but I kind of like it. There\u2019s value in zigging while everyone else zags, and it\u2019s not like there aren\u2019t any high-upside arms loitering about: Kevin Defrank, Manuel Genao, Keyner Benitez, Eiver Mosquera, Adrian Pena all have arm strength and an ability to spin the ball. They won\u2019t all stay healthy or throw strikes, but if even one or two of them does, they offer the kind of star upside on the mound that the Marlins won\u2019t ever acquire in a trade or on the open market.<\/p>\n Miami has an unusually high number of pitchers who throw really good curveballs. This tends to be a harder pitch to develop than the slider, but the team\u2019s acquisition and pitching group seems to have found the secret recipe. This list features several pitchers with good feel for spin throwing a hard curve without any hump, and I\u2019m pretty sure that Liomar Martinez is the only pitcher I\u2019ve projected an 80 curve on all year. <\/p>\n On a less upbeat note, we have to talk about the injuries. It\u2019s almost hard to find a pitcher on this list who isn\u2019t out with, or returning from, a major arm injury. Every club sees their fair share of hurlers succumb to a UCL tear, but in Miami, it\u2019s practically a rite of passage. The Marlins target velocity, they have a lot of pitchers who work with a high degree of effort, and they throw a ton of breaking balls, so it\u2019s not shocking that there are some casualties here. But even by the standards of modern development, this feels like a lot of major injuries, and on the org\u2019s end, it\u2019s perhaps worth taking a hard look at their processes to see if there\u2019s a way to reduce that number. Were I an amateur pitching prospect, a glance at the list of injured pitchers here would have me a little worried. <\/p>\n At the end of the day, though, this is a good system. There\u2019s depth and upside, bats and arms, power, hit tools, and good defenders galore. The Marlins\u2019 self-imposed financial limitations make it hard for the org to win, but at the very least there\u2019s enough talent here to keep the lights on and stay competitive for a while. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas White Photo: Corey Perrine\/Florida Times-Union\/USA Today Network via Imagn Images Below is an analysis of the prospects…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-311793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Gage Miller<\/a>, INF
Payton Green<\/a>, INF
Matthew Etzel<\/a>, OF
Ethan O\u2019Donnell<\/a>, OF
Brian Navarreto<\/a>, C<\/p>\n
Esmil Valencia<\/a>, OF
Jake Clemente<\/a>, RHP
Drew Faurot<\/a>, 2B
Max Williams<\/a>, OF
Dylan Jasso<\/a>, INF<\/p>\n
Jacob Berry<\/a>, INF
Dillon Head<\/a>, OF
Carter Johnson<\/a>, INF
PJ Morlando<\/a>, OF<\/p>\n
Jesus Hernandez<\/a>, INF
Carlos Sanchez<\/a>, C
Emaarion Boyd<\/a>, OF
Colby Shade<\/a>, OF
Ian Lewis Jr.<\/a>, INF<\/p>\n
Nigel Belgrave<\/a>, RHP
Janero Miller<\/a>, LHP
Jack Ralston<\/a>, RHP
Will Schomberg,<\/a> RHP
Colby Martin<\/a>, RHP
Juan Reynoso<\/a>, RHP
Jack Sellinger<\/a>, LHP
Carson Laws<\/a>, RHP<\/p>\n
Evan Da Souza<\/a>, RHP
Hamlet Garcia<\/a>, RHP
Abraham Hernandez<\/a>, LHP
Ronny Mu\u00f1oz<\/a>, INF
Jose Paulino<\/a>, RHP
Angel Brachi<\/a>, INF
Kifraidy Encarnacion<\/a>, LHP
Almen Tolentino<\/a>, C
Johan Machado<\/a>, INF<\/p>\n
Aiden May<\/a>, RHP
Patrick Monteverde<\/a>, LHP
Julio Mendez<\/a>, LHP<\/p>\n