Marlins prospects get their day to shine in spring training limelight
JUPITER
Friday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium was all about the prospects.
MLB this spring training held a new event called Spring Breakout during which all 30 clubs will assemble rosters with 20-25 of their best prospects to take on prospects from other organizations.
The Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals played their game on Friday, with the game televised on MLB Network and 19 of the Marlins’ top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline taking part in the event.
“Really exciting to get the chance to highlight our best prospects in the system,” Marlins director of minor-league operations Hector Crespo said before the game, adding that players felt “a lot of excitement and a lot of pride to represent the organization the right way. It’s a really cool day and I love this experience for the guys and getting to be on a national television network at such a young age.”
Here are notable performances from the seven-inning game, a 3-2 Marlins win.
PITCHERS THOMAS WHITE AND NOBLE MEYER
The Marlins could have flipped a coin as to who was going to start on the mound Friday between right-hander Noble Meyer and lefty Thomas White. They were the Marlins’ top two picks in the 2023 MLB Draft and are the top two prospects in the organization.
Miami opted for White to pitch the first inning, and he impressed with a scoreless frame. White did not allow a hit and worked around a one-out walk with three strikeouts. Two of the strikeouts — Victor Scott II swinging to begin the inning and Pedro Pages looking to end it — came on White’s curveball. The other was Thomas Saggese swinging through a 95 mph fourseam fastball.
As for Meyer, he got two quick groundouts in the second before losing his command. The next five batters reached base via a walk, bloop single and then three more walks before he got the Cardinals’ Masyn Winn to fly out to right field.
The other five Marlins pitchers who took part, in order of appearance, were right-handed pitchers Jacob Miller (Miami’s No. 13 prospect), Karson Milbrandt (Miami’s No. 6 prospect), Ike Buxton (Miami’s No. 26 prospect), Nigel Belgrave (Miami’s No. 28 prospect) and Anthony Maldonado (Miami’s No. 19 prospect).
OUTFIELDER GRIFFIN CONINE
Conine, the son of Mr. Marlin Jeff Conine, had the big swing for the Marlins.
He muscled a firstpitch, middle-in sinker from Cardinals righthanded pitcher Max Rajcic (St. Louis’ No. 14 prospect) a projected 405 feet to left-center field to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.
He followed that up with a two-out RBI single up the middle in the fifth inning against Cardinals righty Tekoah Roby, St. Louis’ third-ranked prospect.
Conine, a left-handed power hitter, had made an impression on Marlins manager Skip Schumaker as a non-roster invitee to big-league spring training.
“Griffin has been showing some real tools in this camp,” Schumaker said, adding that Conine is “handling himself really well up here. [He’s hitting] lefties and righties. He’s playing a good defense. He has the arm to play right field, there’s no doubt about it. It’s an interesting profile, there’s no doubt. And as a lefthanded bat, we don’t really have too much power in this organization, and I think he definitely provides that.”
FIRST BASEMAN TROY JOHNSTON
Johnston, the No. 18 prospect in the Marlins’ organization, hit an RBI single to open scoring for the Marlins in the third inning on Friday.
It was the latest exhibit in Johnston’s hitting ability.
Johnston led minorleague baseball with 116 RBI while also hitting .307 with a .948 OPS, 26 home runs, 102 runs scored and 24 stolen bases through 134 games split between Double A Pensacola (83 games) and Triple A Jacksonville (51 games).
Johnston impressed during big-league camp with a .357 average (5 for 14) with four RBI, with the only thing slowing him down was a rolled ankle that kept him out of game action for about a week.
OTHER NOTABLES
Infielder Yiddi Cappe (Marlins’ No. 7 prospect) had two hits and a stolen base.
Catcher Paul McIntosh (not among Marlins’ top-30 prospects), who served as Miami’s designated hitter in the game, had a single and a double.
Catcher Will Banfield (Marlins’ No. 23 prospect) didn’t have hit but looked stellar behind the plate as he navigated four young pitchers — three 19-yearolds (Meyer, Thomas, Milbrandt) and one 20year-old (Miller) — through the first half of the game before Joe Mack took over behind the plate for the final three innings.
Outfielder Victor
Mesa Jr. (Marlins’ No. 4 prospect) was originally slated to play in the game but was removed from the roster because of a minor left ankle injury, Crespo said.