Offseason Fish—10/15/19

For many players within the Marlins organization, baseball never stops. Just like last year, Fish Stripes will be consistently updating the whereabouts of your favorite Fish during the offseason. At FishStripes.com/offseason, you can find updates on them, including stats, highlights and (small sample size) analysis.

Arizona Fall League

• RHP Vincenzo Aiello—7.04 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, 8 K in 7.2 IP
• RHP C.J. Carter—12.79 ERA, 2.21 WHIP, 5 K in 6.1 IP
• INF José Devers—.200/.200/.200, 0 RBI, 1 SB, 7 K in 20 AB
• OF Jerar Encarnación—.289/.353/.533, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 18 K in 45 AB
• OF Víctor Víctor Mesa—.302/.340/.349, 3 RBI, 3 SB, 5 K in 43 AB
• RHP Nick Neidert—1.62 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 17 K in 16.2 IP (4 GS)
• LHP Alex Vesia—0.00 ERA, 0.41 WHIP, 11 K in 7.1 IP

The AFL East Fall Stars beat the AFL West in Saturday’s Fall Stars Game, 4-2, with contributions from three Marlins prospects. Neidert started on the mound and worked two scoreless innings, including four strikeouts. He utilized his four-seamer, two-seamer, changeup, slider and curveball with a peak fastball velocity of 92.5 miles per hour.

Mesa went 0-for-1 and started in center field. He suffered a right knee injury in the third inning after colliding with teammate Josh Lowe and had to be removed from the game. Thankfully, the 23-year-old walked back to the dugout under his own power.

Vesia recorded the first two outs of the eighth. He still hasn’t allowed a run in AFL competition, and his overall scoreless streak dates back more than three months.

Outside of trying to impress with game stats, the AFL is an opportunity for players to showcase their tools in front of a broader audience. In the eyes of Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline, Mesa possesses the best arm in the league, while Neidert’s changeup and control earn high marks. ESPN’s Keith Law came away very underwhelmed by Mesa’s “atrocious” hitting approach (subscription required). Law even expressed doubts about his running ability, though the aforementioned knee injury may have played a role in that.

Meanwhile, Encarnación returned to action on Monday plenty motivated by his Fall Stars snub, blasting his third AFL home run (and first to the opposite field). He ranks among the league leaders in total bases and runs batted in.

Andre Fernandez of The Athletic reports that the injury keeping José Devers off the field is a sore hand. Fernandez provides more details about Devers’ 2019 season here (subscription required).

Dominican Winter League

• C Wilkin Castillo—.333/.333/.333, 1 RBI, 1 K in 3 AB
• 1B Lewin Díaz—.200/.273/.300, 3 K in 10 AB
• 3B/SS Joe Dunand—.000/.000/.000, 1 K in 6 AB
• RHP Kolton Mahoney—0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 5 K in 3.0 IP
• 1B/OF Peter O’Brien—.222/.417/.222, 3 K in 9 AB
• RHP Cody Poteet—7.71 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, 2 K in 2.1 IP

Águilas Cibaeñas teammates Mahoney and Poteet are treating winter ball like an audition for 29 other MLB teams. Both figure to be left unprotected by the Marlins heading into the Rule 5 Draft despite coming off productive regular seasons.

RHP Tayron Guerrero is on the Tigres del Licey active roster this week. OF/IF Rosell Herrera is inactive for Gigantes del Cibao. Neither have made a LIDOM appearance yet.

Mexican Pacific League

• Santiago Chávez—.000/.333/.000, 3 K in 4 AB

Chávez has returned to his home country to get additional reps with Charros de Jalisco coming off a campaign where he worked well with the Double-A Jacksonville pitching staff, but couldn’t hit a lick. Prior to the 2019, he had been in the Oakland Athletics organization.

Chávez can test free agency again this offseason.

MiLB Gold Glove Awards

Víctor Víctor Mesa and Jesús Sánchez took home 2019 Rawlings Gold Glove honors for their defense at center field and right field, respectively. Much like the MLB version of the awards, it’s an inexact science, but both are well deserved in this case.

They are the first Marlins prospects to win MiLB Gold Gloves since Marcell Ozuna (RF) in 2012.