Yelich, Marisnick To The Show
Yelich and Marisnick Get The Call
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
As announced this past Tuesday, Marlins top prospects Christian Yelich and Jake Marisnick have been called up to the MLB squad. The move the call both up came as somewhat surprising news, but the Marlins have a recent history of being aggressive with their young talent, as shown this year with Jose Fernandez. The Marlins have made it clear that Yelich and Marisnick will be getting regular starts in Miami, as both have started in every game since their call up. Yelich is the more high profile of the two prospects, but not by a wide margin. A consensus top twenty prospect heading into Opening Day this year, Yelich has had an injury plagued campaign. He started off the year with a foot injury, and missed games due to an abdominal strain later in the season. When Yelich wasn’t on the shelf, he put up fairly productive numbers for the Marlins Double A affiliate, the Jacksonville Suns. Yelich hit at a slash line of .280/.365/.518, with the latter two numbers being the most impressive. While Yelich’s average dropped around 50 points from 2012’s season, his on base percentage remained impressive and his slugging percentage was up just a tad. 26 of Yelich’s 54 hits went for at least two bases, and he had just three less homers than all of his 2012 campaign in about 200 less at bats. tage remained impressive and his slugging percentage was up just a tad. 26 of Yelich’s 54 hits went for at least two bases, and he had just three less homers than all of his 2012 campaign in about 200 less at bats. In his debut, Yelich started in left field and singled in his first three at bats. He finished the night 3/4 with 2 RBI’s. Yelich hasn’t been as impressive since, but is still hitting .280 over his first 6 games. Jake Marisnick came into the season as a borderline top 100 prospect, after a disappointing 2012 campaign in which he only hit .249. However, Marisnick looks like he is back on the right track this year, as he hit .294 with 12 homers in Double A. However, Marisnick has not enjoyed the same success in the MLB thus far, mustering up just 2 hits in his first 22 at bats. It is still way too early to make any major judgments on either players future. The Marlins could have one of the best outfields in the MLB in a couple years, as Yelich, Marisnick, and recently demoted Marcell Ozuna all have the potential to be above average outfielders in the MLB. Pair two of them with Giancarlo Stanton, and a very nice outfield could result.
Baez Shows Off the Power
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Top Cubs prospect Javier Baez has been on fire as of late, having hit 7 homers over his last 10 games, along with 4 over his last 4 games. Since his promotion to Double A, Baez is off to a bit of a slow start, hitting only .232 in 20 games. Power doesn’t seem to be a problem at all, but the average could use a boost. It seems Baez is beginning to adjust to the new level, as he has hit .296 over his last six games. Baez has immense potential, and could become an impact player for the Cubs from the left side of the infield. He may have to shift to 3B from SS to accommodate Starlin Castro, but Baez has the type of talent that the situation may reverse itself, forcing Castro to change positions to accommodate Baez. Javier likely won’t see the majors this year, but he should be up sometime next year, whether it be Opening Day, the All Star Break, or September.