3 of Marlins’ top-ranked prospects off to exciting starts in 2021

With the Minor League Baseball season back on track, there’s plenty of Marlins action to enjoy besides watching the MLB team. Fish affiliates enjoyed a strong opening month to 2021—each of them enter play on Tuesday with winning records.

Narrowing our focus to the organization’s 30 best prospects (as ranked by MLB Pipeline), three young men have been especially impressive so far during the MiLB campaign. Let’s see who they are...

RHP Max Meyer

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Double-A: 5 GS | 23 IP | 8.61 K/9 | 3.13 BB/9 | 0.39 HR/9 | 1.04 WHIP

Meyer, the third-best prospect in the organization, was selected third overall in the 2020 MLB Draft and hadn’t thrown an official professional pitch until May 5, 2021. What he’s done over 23 innings in Double-A has just been impressive.

The 22-year-old righty has started five games so far and allowed a run in only one of them (5 ER on May 11 vs White Sox’s affiliate). The other four outings were scoreless ones. In total, he’s 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA and a .195 BAA.

Meyer has surrendered 16 hits and five earned runs, though half of those hits came in that outing against the Birmingham Barons. In fact, since that performance, he’s thrown 14 scoreless frames of seven hits, five walks, and 15 strikeouts.

OF Jesús Sánchez

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Triple-A: 22 G | 88 PA | .410/.443/.771 | 1.214 OPS | 7 HR | 21 RBI

Even though things have cooled down a bit for Sánchez as of late in Triple-A, he still finished May with video-game numbers.

Sánchez (#6 prospect) has racked up 34 hits over 83 at-bats and has shown his massive power at the plate plus his speed on the basepaths. He’s compiled three doubles, three triples, and seven four-baggers with 21 runs batted in. Everybody has taken notice, including Baseball America.

A good thing about him in 2021 is that he’s destroying lefties more than ever with a .464/.500/1.000 slash line (16 plate appearances), which sometimes can be difficult for left-handed hitters. Sánchez might be on his way to returning to the big-league team any day now.

OF Griffin Conine

High-A: 24 G | 101 PA | .274/.386/.571 | .958 OPS | 6 HR | 20 RBI

Conine (#18 prospect) is picking up where he left off in 2019 and looking like a pretty complete hitter in his third season as a minor-leaguer (his first as a member of the same organization where his father played). Just in 24 games, he’s driven in 20 runs and collected 23 hits, along with three doubles, two triples, and six dingers. Additionally, Conine has drawn 15 walks, one of the biggest reasons for his .386 on-base percentage.

Though he didn’t start off well, the 23-year-old is in the midst of a scorching hot streak at the plate. He has recorded hits in 10 consecutive games (May 20-30), a span in which he’s posted a .378/.455/.703 slash line with three home runs and 12 ribbies.

More ranked prospects who have started off great: LHP Jake Eder, RHP Eury Pérez