Draft Reviews: Florida Marlins

2008 Draft Slot: Sixth overall
Top Pick: Kyle Skipworth, C, California high school
Best Pick: Kyle Skipworth
Keep an Eye On: Isaac Galloway, OF, California high school (8th round)
Notes: Kyle Skipworth has not performed as well as the club probably would like, but young catchers have a lot to learn – both offensively and defensively, so there is a larger learning curve. Isaac Galloway was given an above-slot deal to sign in the eighth round and he’s shown respectable numbers so far while playing in low-A ball as a 19 year old. He just needs to cut down on the strikeouts and use his plus-plus speed a little more effectively on the bases. Second-round pick Brad Hand (Minnesota high school) had a very nice debut but he’s been brutal in 2009. The southpaw hurler has a 10.23 ERA in six starts.

2007 Draft Slot: 12th overall
Top Pick: Matt Dominguez, 3B, California high school
Best Pick: Michael Stanton, OF, California high school (2nd round)
Worst Pick: Jameson Smith, C, California community college (3rd round)
Notes: It’s far too early to give up on Jameson Smith, a young catcher, but he has limited power and strikes out too much right now. Matt Dominguez continues to be a good prospect, but he has been surpassed by Michael Stanton, one of the top power-hitting prospects in all of baseball. Stanton has shown some improvements this season in high-A ball, while maintaining a good batting average, solid power and cutting down on his strikeouts (from 32.7 K% in 2008 to 26.1 in ’09). Keep an eye on OF Bryan Petersen (fourth round, UC Irvine).

2006 Draft Slot: 19th overall
Top Pick: Brett Sinkbeil, RHP, Missouri State University
Best Pick: Chris Coghlan, 2B, University of Mississippi (Supplemental first round)
Worst Pick: Brett Sinkbeil
Notes: Brett Sinkbeil has been brutal above A-ball. In the past two seasons, the right-hander has allowed 236 hits in 178.1 innings of work. He’s also struck out just about five batters per nine innings during that span of time. Chris Coghlan was a nice grab and should be the club’s second baseman of the future. They don’t have huge ceilings, but the club has found useful part-time (at the very least) players in outfielders Scott Cousins (3rd round), and John Raynor (9th), as well as pitcher Graham Taylor (10th).

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2009 Draft Slot: 18th overall
Draft Preference (2006-08): Prep hitters
MLB Club Need: Starting pitching, Relief pitching, Center field
Organizational Need: Right-handed pitchers, Left-handed pitchers, Left field, Shortstop
Organizational Strength: Center field, First base
Notes: Wow, the organization really loves to take high school prospects out of California. The club has actually not been all that successful with its first-round picks in recent years but it has made up for that fact with subsequent selections. The club could really use some pitching depth in the minors, but it has not had a lot of luck drafting pitchers in recent years. The last good pitching selection was Chris Volstad out of a Florida high school in 2006. That year the club selected four other pitchers before the second round (3 prep, 1 college) and missed on Jacob Marceaux, has seen promising things from Ryan Tucker, but is still waiting to see what it got with Aaron Thompson and Sean West.





Marc Hulet has been writing at FanGraphs since 2008. His work focuses on prospects and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter @marchulet.

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