San Diego Padres witnessing big jump from Hunter Renfroe

Baseball Prospectus sums up the Miami Marlins’ farm system thusly: “There are good systems, there are poor systems, then there’s 50 pounds of effluence, and then there’s the Marlins.”

That’s a scathing review, but it’s true. The Marlins don’t have a single player ranked in either BP’s top 101 prospects or MLB.com’s top 100 prospects. But while the system as a whole is an eyesore, there have been some bright spots.

Outfielder Austin Dean isn’t going to compete for a batting title in the Southern League, but he’s posted a respectable .282/.363/.442 line entering Thursday. He also has his highest walk rate (11.0%) and his second highest slugging and on-base percentages. He is having a bounce-back season after a down 2015 that saw him hit .268/.318/.366.

Pitcher Austin Brice has a 1.99 earned run average and opponents are hitting just .205 against him. That ERA is good for sixth in the SL and his 2.60 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the highest of his career. His fielding independent pitching of 3.57 suggests rough days are ahead, but he’s riding high now.

Coming into Thursday’s game, second baseman Brian Anderson was hitting just .212 over his last 10 games. Despite the rough stretch, he was still hitting .304/.376/.446 this season. This is his second stint in the Florida State League, and he’s doing much better this time around after slashing .235/.304/.340 in 2015.

Pitcher Cody Poteet, a fourth round pick in last season’s draft, pitched six scoreless innings Monday and allowed just three hits and three walks. The outing pushed his ERA to 2.95 in the South Atlantic League and was his second scoreless start in a row.

Next: A slow rebuild in the minors