Things We Love to See: Promotions

There has been a lot of movement in the Marlins system over the past week or so, and yesterday was probably the biggest day of them all. Six moves were made involving Marlins Top 30 prospects, so let’s take a quick look at the breakdown.

New Orleans Baby Cakes

Alcántara Optioned Back to AAA

I mentioned yesterday the late breaking news that Sandy Alcántara had been optioned back to AAA New Orleans. After the news came out an explanation was put out and there are basically two main reasons this move was made. The first of which is that the Marlins want Alcántara to work on his fastball command, something that he struggled with in three rehab starts with High-A Jupiter. The other reason most likely has to do with MLB service time, and saving control over Alcántara before he hits arbitration. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Alcántara back to the bigs in September when rosters expand, but the fact that the Marlins sent him back to the minors for some final fine tuning does not surprise me at all.

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

Tommy Eveld Arrives from the Diamondbacks

At the trade deadline on July 31, the Marlins sent reliever Brad Ziegler to the Arizona Diamondbacks and received 24-year-old reliever prospect Tommy Eveld. Eveld is a South Florida boy, he was raised in Coral Springs and attended USF, and was putting up some very nice numbers in the D-Backs system this year posting a 1.11 ERA and 10.40 K/9 rate. Eveld has made two appearances so far since being assigned to AA Jacksonville and has not allowed a run in two combined innings, striking out four. He’s a solid relief prospect that could be very valuable to the Marlins bullpen going forward.

Jupiter Hammerheads

Bryson Brigman Comes Over from Seattle

Brigman was acquired from the Mariners, a third trade with the Mariners in 12 months, along with International Free Agency pool money in the Cameron Maybin deal at the deadline. Brigman is another athletic middle infielder that the Marlins seem to be creating a stockpile of, and was named the Mariners organizational MVP in the first half of the season by Baseball America. BA is higher on Brigman than Pipeline, but Pipeline did slot him in at #28 in the Marlins Top 30. Brigman held a .304/.373/.391 slashline in the Mariners system this year, which is very respectable for another one of these glove-first guys the Marlins have. His athleticism will keep him in the middle infield, but his weaker arm means he’ll most likely end up at 2nd rather than shortstop.

Jose Devers Up to Jupiter

Devers’ promotion was mentioned in yesterday’s return post and he got the start last night for the Hammerheads. He went 1-4 with a walk and an RBI which he drove in on a sacrifice groundout. Seeing Devers be productive in a run scoring situation is a very nice sight to see, and seeing him put together a nice end to the season in Jupiter could bode very well for how he’ll do there as a 19 year old in a full season in High-A. Devers and James Nelson on the left side of the infield in Jupiter is very possibly a look into the future of the Miami Marlins.

Tristan Pompey Continues to Tear Through the Marlins System

Yesterday I said there’s a good chance Pompey sees some time in Jupiter to end the year, and for once I didn’t jinx it and cause everything to go horribly wrong. It’s no surprise that Pompey hit well in the lower levels of the system considering the production he put together in the SEC in college, but seeing him move through the system this quickly is absolutely tremendous. I look forward to seeing how Pompey looks as pitching continues to improve, but the Florida State League has been known to be pretty hitter-friendly so he could very well continue to impress. A good end to the season and a nice offseason for Pompey and all of a sudden we’re looking at him flirting with AA Jacksonville in his first full season in pro ball.

Greensboro Grasshoppers

The Rookies Skip Batavia

This was probably yesterday’s most exciting promotion as all three high-school rookie draft picks the Marlins selected went directly from the GCL to Low-A Greensboro. Connor Scott, Osiris Johnson and Will Banfield all got the call to the Grasshoppers yesterday, which should prove to be their first real test in the minor leagues. Obviously considering how well the 17-year-old Johnson was hitting in the GCL, his promotion makes a ton of sense and it will now be intriguing to see how he handles his first real look at professional level pitching. Scott and Banfield may be a little early for a promotion like this, but considering the adjustments they made after early struggles there is definitely an argument to be made for their promotion to come now. The other argument is that these guys were most likely going to start in Greensboro next year anyway, so what’s the harm in giving them a chance to work out the kinks at the end of the year before entering their first full year in Low-A next season.

All of these moves are incredibly exciting for the entire organization and will continue to give us a peek into the future of the Marlins. Congratulations to all of these guys on this great accomplishment in their lives, and I look forward to continuing to follow their development here on “Things We Love to See.”