System Audit: Florida Marlins
December 07, 2006
Systems Audit:
Florida Marlins
1. Sean West, LHP, A. Lots of potential for the 20 year old. He's shown signs that he's learnig how to pitch by adjusting his game to batters, which is something he struggled with, or didn't need to do, in 2005.
2. Chris Volstad, RHP, A. The second of five pitchers from Greensboro (A, SAL) on this list is perhaps the most developed. He has been able to produce solid numbers for his league and most importantly shown little points of weakness in splits. He has fairly good command and good stuff. He doesn't make the mistakes pitchers tend to do at A, like letting things snowball or hitting a wall in the fourth or fifth inning.
3. Brett Sinkbeil, RHP, A. Struggled with a promotion from A- to A during the year but he made adjustments and began to correct some problems his coaches identified. He suffered an oblique injury during college but that has proved to be of no concern thus far in his professional career. Plus fastball whch he relies heavily upon.
4. Gabriel Hernandez, RHP, A+. He's got great stuff and good command. He was acquired from the Mets and has been a solid pickup for the Marlins. He pounds the strikezone and is relentless, but that causes him trouble too as he tends to get raked in the later innings.
5. Aaron Thompson, LHP, A. Thompson lives and dies by his breaking ball and his command. His fastball and changeup aren't great but his command, complimented by his plus curve makes an effective combination, for now. He'll need to work on developing those pitches in order to move up but when he does he will be a very effective, efficient pitcher.
6. Henry Owens, RHP, MLB. Take note of this: Owens is 27. You will not find me putting anyone else who's 27 on a prospect list and certainly not as high as #6. He has a laundry list of question marks about him but I think he will be a very solid setup man. He had an elbow injury, was a Rule V draft pick, repeated A+, twice but has managed to keep his head above water. He brings a 97 mph fastball and rarely deviates from that. As a result of the velocity and good movement, it is hard for batters to make contact. For his career he has averaged just over 5.00 hits per 9 while striking out well over 12 per 9.
7. Jose Garcia, RHP, MLB. In his first professional season this 21 year old cruised from A+ to AA to MLB. He's fairly hittable and serves up gopher balls too often to really be effective as a ML pitcher but he's on the right track. He threw over 170 innings this year which tends to mean two things, he be a workhorse or he is an injury risk. I tend to go with the first in most cases and this is no different.
8. Ryan Tucker, RHP, A. Good, hard thrower but he needs to work on his control more to reduce the free passes and home runs.
9. Tom Hickman, CF, Rk. Speedy and talented centerfielder who needs to work on hitting lefites better and hitting the ball to the opposite field.
10. Henry Vanden Hurk, RHP, A+. Vanden Hurk is a tall righty with good stuff but not so good control. He didn't pitch much in 2006 due to an injury but the reports that I've heard are that there is no lingering affects and should be set to pitch in 2007 at A+, Jupiter. Must add some deception to his pitching and work on control before he's ready to face advanced hitting.
Flier. Christopher Coghlan, 3B, A-. Coghlan will not subplant Miguel Cabrera or make losing him acceptable to Fish Fans but he's got some good potential.
Future Lineup (arrival date)
C: Miguel Olivo
1B: Mike Jacobs
2B: Dan Uggla
3B: Miguel Cabrera
SS: Hanley Ramirez
LF: Josh Willingham
CF: Reggie Abercrombie
RF: Jeremy Hermida
Pitching Rotation
1: Dontrelle Willis
2: Anibal Sanchez
3: Sean West (2008)
4: Chris Volstad (2009)
5: Scott Olson
Bullpen
Closer: Taylor Tankersley
Setup: Henry Owens, Logan Kensing
Middle Relief: Sergio Mitre, Jesse Garcia
The Marlins aren't loaded. Not by any means. But every starting position player on their team is under 28 and their pitching is young as well with just two pitchers on the roster over 25. Their young farm system, and young parent club allows them to stockpile talent before depleting it to fill gaps at the ML level. If ever there was a case of too much pitching, it would be the Marlins. Two position players make my top 10+flier.
System Grade: C+
Posted by Koby Schellenger: Dec 7 at 8:49 PM
Fantasy Baseball 
Anyway, the Mets will be posted Sunday and soon after that I'll start getting some top 10 by positions up.
I see him more in long relief. He'll get a chance to start off and on but I don't think he'll stick in the rotation for long.
Long relief or out of the system, in my opinion. Obviously injuries play into this, and there's a lot of speculation in judging the development of players like West and Volstad, but I think Johnson's potential is about 6th or 7th in the system right now.