MiLB Opening Day: What to know, how to follow Marlins minor league affiliates in 2019

The first off day of 2019 for the Miami Marlins is the first on day for their full-season minor league affiliates. The New Orleans Baby Cakes (Triple-A), Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Double-A), Jupiter Hammerheads (High-A) and Clinton LumberKings (Low-A) each play games on Thursday.

Courtesy of MiLB.com, here are some of 2018’s most electric highlights from Marlins prospects:

With the signings of the Mesa brothers, the nice talent haul received in the J.T. Realmuto trade and several bonafide starting pitchers returning from Tommy John surgery, the quality of the Marlins farm system now ranks 13th in Major League Baseball, according to Baseball America. What a pleasant change of pace from the previous several years when the system lacked both depth and high upside.

Fish Stripes will be chronicling every step of the 2019 MiLB campaign with traditional articles, social media posts and podcasts. The latter was introduced officially on Wednesday with the launch of Earning Their Stripes and A-Ball with Erik Oas.

Opening Day rosters have been announced with in-depth analysis provided for you on ETS Episode 1, plus even more thoughts and predictions from Daniel Martinez here.

Marlins Communications

The latest Top 30 lists from Baseball America and MLB Pipeline are loaded with players who have been acquired since the late 2017 Marlins ownership change. Those names are shown in blue. (Sandy Alcantara graduated from prospect eligibility last weekend.)

The greatest strength of the organization right now is pitching depth. Probable starters for each affiliate through the end of the week are listed below:

Thursday

Triple-A New Orleans: RHP Zac Gallen

Double-A Jacksonville: RHP Robert Dugger

High-A Jupiter: LHP Trevor Rogers

Low-A Clinton: RHP Chris Vallimont

Friday

New Orleans: RHP Hector Noesi

Jacksonville: RHP Jorge Guzman

Jupiter: RHP Edward Cabrera

Clinton: RHP Josh Roberson

Saturday

New Orleans: RHP Nick Neidert

Jacksonville: RHP Dustin Beggs

Jupiter: LHP Will Stewart

Clinton: RHP Humberto Mejia

Sunday

New Orleans: RHP Joe Gunkel

Jacksonville: RHP Jordan Yamamoto

Jupiter: RHP Jordan Holloway

Clinton: RHP Peyton Culbertson

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Most Marlins minor league games—particularly at the Double-A and Triple-A levels—are available to watch on MiLB.TV. A season-long subscription costs $49.99.

You can also monitor the box scores and play-by-play details for free on the MiLB First Pitch app or this scoreboard on the Minor League Baseball website.

Finally, make sure to follow @fishstripes on Twitter; there will be updates and observations that don’t necessarily make it on the main website.