With a young nucleus including the likes of Hanley Ramirez, Jeremy Hermida, and now Andrew Miller, the Florida Marlins appear ready for life after Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. If that isn’t a solid enough core, just wait until you see what the Marlins have cooking down on the farm. With already household names like Cameron Maybin and Chris Volstad paired with the likes of Matt Dominguez and a breath of young arms, things could be looking a lot worse out on the Miami horizon.
| Our Top 5 Florida Marlins Prospects at the end of the 2007 Season | ||||||||||
| No. | Player | Pos | Notes | Age | Level | |||||
| 1 | Cameron Maybin | CF | 5-tooler went .316/.409/.523 in '07; will be given chance to open '08 in bigs | 20 | MLB | |||||
| 2 | Chris Volstad | RHP | 6-foot-7, 190-pounder is an extreme groundball pitching prospect | 21 | AA | |||||
| 3 | Matt Dominguez | 3B | One of the best defensive 3B draft has seen recently; bat carries pop, too | 18 | SS | |||||
| 4 | Aaron Thompson | LHP | 2005's No. 22 overall pick boasts Volstad-esque GB rates: 59% in '07 | 20 | A+ | |||||
| 5 | Brett Sinkbeil | RHP | Injuries have kept No. 19 overall in '06 pick away from regular playing time | 22 | A+ | |||||
| * Ages are as of 12/17/07 | ||||||||||
| ** Level is the highest level the player has reached | ||||||||||
| *** Our rankings combine a player's ceiling with the odds that he'll reach it and favor recent production | ||||||||||
| <<< Discuss these rankings | ||||||||||
1. Cameron Maybin, CF (4/4/87)
The beginning of Cameron Maybin’s 2007 baseball campaign may have gotten underway in the Florida State League (A+), but by season’s end, the 20-year-old phenom had already punched his ticket to the majors. A native of Ashville, N.C., Maybin posted a .316/.409/.523 vital line in 323 MiLB at-bats, playing in just six Double-A contests before taking his first stab at the Detroit Tigers’ starting lineup. But the talented outfielder won’t be roaming the field for Detroit again anytime soon after being sent to the Florida Marlins as a centerpiece – alongside Andrew Miller – of the Cabrera-Willis deal. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder struggled in his limited big league sample (.143/.208/.265 in 49 at-bats), but reports out of Florida suggest that Maybin will be given the chance to show he’s the Marlins’ centerfielder of the present as well as the future.
2. Chris Volstad , RHP (9/23/86)
At first glance, Chris Volstad and his 1.43 WHIP from a season ago aren’t too impressive. (Enter double take here.) A 6-foot-7, 190-pounder, Volstad is about as good of a groundball pitching prospect as they come. Taken No. 16 overall in 2005, the Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) H.S. product posted a stellar 57% GB rate in 126.0 frames of work in High-A this season, but that rate worked its way down to 51% in 42.2 Double-A innings. If Volstad can relocate his High-A groundball prowess – or maybe even the striking 62% rate he held in 2006 in Single-A – who knows? The Marlins could possibly be sitting on the next Roy Halladay.
3. Matt Dominguez, 3B (8/28/89)
Taken No. 12 overall in June’s draft, Matt Dominguez wasn’t even the best player on his high school team. While the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder may have attended Chatsworth (Calif.) H.S. with No. 2 overall selection Mike Moustakas , Dominguez has a plenty big enough skill set of his own. Dominguez is one of the best defensive third basemen that the draft has seen in a while, and his bat carries some pop, too, although he did struggle in his pro debut (.158/.183/.246 in just 57 short-season at-bats). But once he’s seeing professional at-bats on a regular basis next season, there’s little debate that Matt Dominguez will become known as far more than the second-best player on his high school ball club.
4. Aaron Thompson , LHP (2/28/87)
Aaron Thompson doesn’t strikeout many batters (16.7% K/PA). And the faster you can move off of that point, the faster you’ll be able to see everything else that 2005’s No. 22 overall pick brings to the table. A native of Santa Fe, N.M., Thompson posted a Volstad-esque 59% groundball rate in High-A a season ago. The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder also allowed just 35 walks in 115.0 frames of work (7.0% BB/PA), yielding a 1.36 WHIP. If he can continue to keep the ball down as he pushes through higher levels, Thompson could pair up with Volstad to give the Marlins quite the lefty-righty groundball combo for years to come.
5. Brett Sinkbeil , RHP (12/28/84)
Brett Sinkbeil has the potential to become a quality big league starter – if he could show it. A 6-foot-2, 170-pounder, Sinkbeil and his quality fastball and plus slider were tabbed with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2006 draft to one day take the hill for the Marlins. But Sinkbeil has had problems staying on the hill, suffering from everything from elbow concerns to a herniated disc. When healthy, the Missouri State product posted 1.22 WHIP and 3.50 K/BB rates in 79.0 innings a season ago. If he can continue to post numbers such as these in the future with the same frequency that he has hit the training room in the past, Sinkbeil could be looking at a bright big league future after all.
Honorable Mentions:
As if they didn’t have enough quality pitchers present in the Top 5 portion of this list, the Marlins have three other deserving young arms to keep close watch on: Ryan Tucker (RHP, 12/6/86) and Gaby Hernandez (RHP, 5/21/86) experienced success in High-A and Double-A a season ago, respectively, while Sean West (LHP, 6/15/86) missed the 2007 campaign following surgery to repair a torn labrum . 2006 first rounder Chris Coghlan (2B, 6/18/85) and 2007 second rounder Mike Stanton (OF, 11/8/89) also merit mention from the offensive side of the equation.
Adam Loberstein can be reached at aloberstein@projectprospect.com.