Earning Their Stripes Episode 8: 2019 MLB Draft special

June 3 is right around the corner! Danny and Ian tell you about Cal first baseman Andrew Vaughn, prep shortstop C.J. Abrams, Vanderbilt outfielder JJ Bleday and the other leading candidates who the Marlins will consider selecting with the No. 4 overall pick in the MLB Draft (5:29), plus some under-the-radar and outside-the-box alternatives (20:38). They break down realistic targets for the Fish in the subsequent rounds—competitive balance round pick No. 35 (27:42) and second-round pick No. 46 (36:40)—then share their “perfect” scenarios if they were in charge of the front office on Day 1 of the draft (43:00).

Enjoy Episode 8 of ETS!

Hector Rodriguez has been focusing on a different prospect each week in our draft profiles article series. Background info, scouting reports, highlights and more.

The Marlins have a $13,045,000 bonus pool to be spent on their picks from the first 10 rounds. That includes No. 4, No. 35, No. 46, No. 82, No. 111, No. 141, No. 171, No. 201, No. 231, No. 261 and No. 291. Position players figure to be a much higher priority than pitchers.

Although the franchise expects to be in a similar position again next summer, there are no guarantees. This is a critical opportunity to flood the farm system with controllable young talent capable of contributing to the next contending Marlins team.

The Fish Stripes podcast is home to Miami Marlins shows Fish Bites, Earning Their Stripes and A-Ball with Erik Oas. All new episodes are posted to FishStripes.com/podcasts. You can also find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Megaphone, PlayerFM or wherever you normally get your pods from.

Follow Fish Stripes (@fishstripes), Danny (@all_right_Miami), Ethan (@GatorBait_Ethan) and Ian (@FlaSmitty) on Twitter. Full coverage here at FishStripes.com.