Marlins Making International Presence Felt
Image credit @Underdoggraphix
In the past, the Marlins have been inactive in the international market and that hurt the club significantly. Not signing top prospects limited depth throughout the organization and depth is key to sustainable success for any club.
However, the new ownership group is making it a priority to be active in the international market. Just this last offseason the Marlins made a big splash. They signed two top prospects in brothers Victor Victor Mesa and Victor Mesa Jr.
Controlling owner, Bruce Sherman, stated that the team is looking at real estate to “build a world class academy” and build strong relationships with some of the best young players in the world. (Credit to @DuseReport)
Bruce Sherman on the importance of the #Marlins academy in the Dominican Republic:
"It's extremely important. We're going to spend money. We told people we're looking at real estate and we're going to build a world class academy. It's critical."
— Wells Dusenbury (@DuseReport) February 19, 2019
In doing so, the team connects with players early. Therefore they are not overpaying for them when they’re eligible to sign. The more money you have to spend on prospects, the more players you can pay which leads to more depth in the organization.
Top Prospects
Recently, MLB Pipeline released it’s “Top 30 International Prospects” list and there are two players the Marlins are expected to sign. *List Below*
The signing period for the 2019-20 international class begins on July 2. Here's the new Top 30 Prospects list, which @MLB teams are the favorites to land the top players & more: https://t.co/GbnePsLefP pic.twitter.com/aQ0g2xZ9MD
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 8, 2019
Number 10 overall prospect Jose Salas and number 24 overall prospect Junior Sanchez.
Salas is a 6’1 150 pound sixteen year old shortstop from Venezuela. He has impressive bat speed as well as impressive strike zone recognition, giving him two very important tools needed to be successful at the plate.
Sanchez is a 6’0 160 pound sixteen year old shortstop from the Dominican Republic. He has plus bat speed with good timing, rhythm and a mature approach for his age when he’s in the batter’s box. He has a gift for barreling up balls and has a strike zone awareness that’s elite for his age.
One more prospect the Marlins can sign is the number 7 overall prospect Yiddi Cappe. Cappe is a 6’3 175 pound shortstop from Cuba. He has advanced bat to ball skills as well as a knack for making hard contact to all fields at the plate. Like the other two prospects listed above he also has plus strike zone recognition.
It may be uncertain whether he’ll sign this upcoming period but it appears he has some sort of agreement with the Marlins already in place, judging by his Instagram bio. He later removed his bio. (Credit to @MiamiAlejandro)
Yidi Cappe deleted his bio ?? . His agent must have caught on to #Marlins twitter pic.twitter.com/VihPlTpks0
— Alejandro (@MiamiAlejandro) May 9, 2019
