Hey there Fish Stripes. My name is John, and I, for some reason, am a self-professed Phillies fan. I do sports writing on my own site, philadelphiasportsvoice.weebly.com, which includes a lot of minor-league profiling. I've done it a lot recently with all the deals the Phillies have been making. However, I can only comb through the Phils system so much, so I thought it'd be a decent idea to start branching out to the rest of the league. I decided to start with the Marlins since I am in Florida right now and also they are NL East buds with my Phillies. Everything I write is what I first think of the players based on their scouting reports.

One thing I notice off the bat, there is no lack of pitchers in the top 30. 17 of the top 30 are pitchers, and 7 of them are in the top 10, including the first 4 spots. One arm I am really impressed by is Tyler Kolek, the Marlins 2014 first-round draft pick, and the only Marlin's prospect to land in the top 100 across every team. He is in single-A right now and mlb.com gives him an ETA of 2018. His scouting report has an 80 on his fastball, which he consistently throws at or above 100 MPH at 19 years old. Not only that, the fastball has sinker movement, meaning when hitters get a piece of his heat, it's going into the dirt quite a lot. In addition, he has a curveball with 12-6 movement, which can be devastating in conjuncture with his velocity. On the downside, like a lot of other fireballers, he has trouble with his control. While he has the potential to be an ace at the top of the rotation, he has to get his control down and also develop a tertiary pitch besides the fastball and curve. Even if he can't develop the change or another pitch, I can easily forsee him as a closer for the Marlins pen. That could protect his arm a bit more, but if the Marlins regime wants him as a top of the rotation starter, that is easily within his grasp.

The best bat in the system is the Marlins 2015 1st-round draft pick this year, first baseman Josh Naylor. Even though he is only on in the GCL Rookie League, he is the No. 5 prospect in the Marlins system and in the top 10 best 1B propsects according to mlb.com. His speed is poor and his fielding average at best, but his bat has lots of upside. This is what mlb.com says on his hitting:

It will be Naylor's bat that will be his calling card. He makes hard, consistent contact from the left side of the plate, something that should improve even more as he refines his approach. There is a ton of power in the bat as well, with the potential to be a serious home run threat in the future.

To me, the player in the system that I see with the best odds of succeeding as a starter is LHP Jarlin Garcia. Garcia is No. 2 in the system, and has a plus fastball and above average control on his pitches. His curve has regressed, so he is starting to develop a slider to replace it. At 22 years old, he has plenty of time to work on it. He has an average changeup as well, so he could become a 4-pitch starter in the pros. I like his odds even more than Kolek as while Kolek has the better fastball, Garcia's control is much better and already has 3-4 pitches. To me, he is Aaron Nola-like in that while his control isn't as pinpoint, he has command of three pitches and can develop a 4th if Garcia gets his curve back in working order.

Looking past the top guys, there is some potential in a decent amount of players, but they will need some work. Outfielders Isael Soto and Austin Dean both have average skills across the board, but don't stand out in any particular area. Both are in the single-A level right now, so they have time still to develop. Two pitchers who have made their pro debut in 2015 are lefties Justin Nicolino and Adam Conley. Before this season Fangraphs wrote the following for Conley and Nicolino, respectively.

Conley was cruising along as a 6’3/215 power lefty that hits 96 mph and was on the fast track to being a big league starter. This year, his stuff backed up after he tweaked his elbow, he dialed things down a bit and tried to be too fine. Scouts outside the org aren’t crazy about his arm action or delivery and think it will only get worse. Marlins officials say he’s past the mental block and is physically fine. This season, Conley worked 87-92, hitting 93 mph with a fringy to average changeup and below average breaking ball. That pitcher is an emergency callup at best, but there’s reason to believe that the something close to the old Conley (plus fastball, strike thrower with solid average off-speed stuff) will return with a chance to pitch at the big league level in 2015.

Nicolino came over from Toronto in the big Jose Reyes deal and while his K rate hasn’t been quite the same, his advanced feel for pitching has remained. He works 89-91, hitting 94 mph with a plus changeup, a curveball that’s average at times and at least average command. He pitches more for weak contact and low pitch counts than strikeouts, which should help his performance translate ot the big leagues. His curveball is often below average but is slightly above average at its best; that’s Nicolino’s biggest weakness right now. He may break camp in the big league rotation, but likely heads to Triple-A for more seasoning.

One guy who is far off but I would keep my eye on is Anfernee Seymour. He already has 80 speed and a plus arm, meaning he is a great defensive outfielder. However, the Marlins brass tried him out at shortstop before drafting him in 2014. At low-A this year, he's hitting .292 with a .347 OBP. He can slap around the ball, even though he doesn't have a ton of power. When he gets on base, he is a consistent threat to steal bags, and he can get on base a lot. He has a Ben Revere profile to me, as long as he can develop his raw skills into a good baseball player.

If I had to guess what the system needs, I think there's a lack of power bats, especially if you take out Naylor. Naylor is the only first base prospect, and the only third base prospects are better at defense then they are at offense. These are two positions that are known for power bats. Kris Bryant and Maikel Franco are both young, power hitting third baseman, a type of player the system is lacking. Also, and I know finding catchers with hitting talent is hard, but Blake Andersen is the only catcher in the top 30 for the team and his only average or better skills are on defense. His hitting and speed are below average flashing average maybe. J.T. Realmuto is the best option the team has at catcher for the foreseeable future.

I like a lot of the potential this system has. However, the team doesn't have a real big-name prospect that everyone's hopes can ride on. Kolek is the only guy that Fangraphs gives with a future value of 55. For perspective, Joc Pederson, Kyle Schwarber, and Noah Syndergaard are 60 FV players. Meanwhile, everyone besides Kolek Fangraphs has at a 40 or below. There is still some work to be done through the draft and trading bigger names in order to get this system to producing plus talent again.

If Scott or Mike see this, I just want to let you know I am more than willing to write more for your site if you think I'm good enough.