Miami Marlins Top 53 Prospects

White was one of the top pitchers on our offseason Top 100 list. He has endured an injury-plagued 2026: He missed time this spring with an oblique strain, and is now likely out for the season recovering from a capsular sprain in his shoulder. While healthy, he flashed the dominant stuff — and underbaked control — that characterized his profile entering the year. The injury is a bummer, but for now we don’t see it as a career-altering setback, and have made minimal changes to his report.

White has been a tantalizing projectable lefty for a minute now, and the way he looks fully realized adheres to the rule of three. First, he’s grown into a jacked 6-foot-5, 240-pound build while maintaining fluidity all the way down to a loose, and also fairly long, arm stroke. Second, he touched 100 mph last season and held 94-97 through 89.2 innings, while fashioning a shorter, harder, mid-80s version of his sweeper that carved hitters to a 48% miss rate. Finally, he racked up 145 strikeouts across a season that saw him pitch across three levels, ending up at Triple-A, where his fastball was still whizzing by bats with major league experience. Combine that with a changeup that is firm, but that he kills a tremendous amount of spin on and also reliably locates out of danger, and White is a 21-year-old left-hander who has three pitches playing like 60s or better at Triple-A. He wasn’t quite as overpowering in his 18.2 innings at Jacksonville this spring, but he still struck out 32.7% of opponents.

Despite decent athleticism and a loose arm swing, White has been a below-average strike-thrower over the last couple of years. He ran a sub-10% walk rate in 2024, but got stuck in his back leg a lot throughout the past year and change, which has put a serious crimp in his delivery extension. The shorter stride is very difficult to time up with White’s longer arm action, and he’s often late into the firing position. In the long run, White’s operation is athletic enough to buy into the idea that he can sync up his upper and lower halves. If he doesn’t, his stuff is still nasty enough to be a frustrating mid-rotation starter. With a return to good health, there’s no reason he can’t make his debut sometime in 2027.

Mack is among the top catching prospects in baseball even though a shaky hit tool likely makes him more of a six- or seven-hole bat than a two-way star. He’s a stellar defender and could grow into plus power at maturity, which is why he projects as an impact player even though there’s a chance he’s a sub-.220 hitter.

There’s an old saw about bat wraps: “If it’s behind the head, you may be okay; if it’s over the helmet, no way.” Mack’s, unfortunately, resembles the latter. Even though his levers aren’t long and the bat is fairly quick once it’s moving, it just takes him so long to get going that it’s really tough for him to cover the upper part of the zone on fastballs. This is exacerbated by a tendency to swing and miss on spin. It all leads to a hit tool that’s well below average, and an offensive profile reliant on the long ball. Fortunately, Mack can do that: His swing is geared to drive low pitches. His power is already above average, and he’s young enough to get to another half tick as he fills out.

Mack has excellent hands behind the plate, and they show up in all facets. His wrists are strong, and he effortlessly funnels pitches from beneath the zone and off the corners back toward the center of the plate. He’s a good ball blocker with a knack for keeping his body in front of the ball and then scooping it cleanly with the glove anyway. And the speed at which he’s able to transfer the ball and fire a strong and accurate throw down to second has led to one of the top caught stealing rates in the league. He’s also reportedly a good clubhouse presence who works well with the staff. Like a number of first-division backstops these days, it’s a power-and-D skill set. Mack has tread water in his debut thus far, and if he’s able to get to a little more power than he’s mustered to this point, he’ll reach this projection.

A monster junior season at Oregon State helped Arquette play himself into the top 10 of last year’s draft. In addition to big numbers at the plate, he established himself as a viable shortstop prospect after having mostly played second base as an underclassman at Washington. He entered pro ball with a chance to hit the sweet spot for an infield prospect: athletic enough to stay at short with the frame and build to hit for power.

Arquette has exciting offensive upside for a shortstop because of his present pop and long-term power projection. At 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, he’s larger than Corey Seager and Carlos Correa. Arquette’s forearms were still pretty skinny on draft day, and it looks like he’s started to fill out in a productive way in pro ball. While some of his swings look awkward, and he has some vulnerability to elevated fastballs, Arquette does a few things we like at the plate. He has a fast bat, he can manipulate the path, he’s starting to get to more pull side damage, and he’s still making pretty good contact despite his long levers. His measurable power is nearly 60 grade already, and there’s legitimate 30-homer upside in him if he can reliably lift the ball against elite pitching.

Arquette is on the patient/passive line at the plate. Statistically, he’s got a lot of markers that suggest passivity: a high take rate, significant uptick in chase with two strikes, and (more last year than this) a low swing rate on balls over the heart of the plate. Watching him in some of his Double-A games, though, his swing decisions mostly looked appropriate. He’s definitely patient and could afford to turn it loose a little more often on fastballs, but I see his approach as more something to monitor than a glaring issue.

Defensively, Arquette is an odd but viable fit at shortstop, at least for now. While he isn’t especially rangy, particularly to his backhand, he gobbles up a lot of territory in only a couple of steps, and in a way that usually gives him a clean hop to field. He compensates somewhat for his range limitations with a strong arm and, when he needs to, a quick side-saddle release.

Arquette got off to a late start after undergoing groin surgery in February, and he’s also missed a little time nursing a sore wrist. On a possibly related note, when he’s been on the field, his numbers have been more okay than good. I’m inclined to mostly give him a pass on the production. While we’re cognizant of the risks his size presents on both sides of the ball, we still really value the ceiling here, as Arquette has All-Star upside if everything clicks for him at the plate. We had him ranked near the back of our Top 100 list over the winter, and from our perspective, it makes sense to keep him just about where we had him then.

Milbrandt was the third of three seven-figure signings for Miami in the 2022 draft, and he’s firmly established himself as the best of the lot. After a so-so first year and a half in the system, the righty started to miss bats in High-A last year. He’s throwing a tick harder this season and also landing quite a few more strikes. He’s reworked his delivery in a couple important ways that should allow him to continue doing that, and between that progression and pretty good stuff, I have Milbrandt projected as a starter with mid-rotation upside.

Milbrandt still has an overhead motion, but he’s increased the tempo of it significantly in recent years. It also looks like he’s shortened his arm stroke. It’s still a partial circle, but the path looks shorter and his arm a tick quicker than when he was in A-ball. The important part is that he’s repeating it well and has made significant strides in his ability to hit the glove with his fastball. He’s also got pretty good command of his slider, though not as much with the rest of his arsenal.

The stuff itself is good. Milbrandt sits in the mid-90s and touches 98 with his fastball out of a three-quarters or slightly higher slot. He has great feel for spin and three distinct breakers. He has a hard cutter that scrapes the low 90s, a two-plane slider, and a 12-6 power curve; like many Marlins pitchers, his curveball is thrown hard and has no hump out of the hand. All three of these pitches flash plus, and the cutter in particular has made minor league hitters look foolish.

Still, there are some risks here. Milbrandt doesn’t have much of a change, for starters. He throws one occasionally but lacks feel for it, and the pitch often sails arm side on him; one gets the sense that this is an offering he’ll need to play around with. His feel for the zone is clearly better than earlier in his career, but in each of his last two starts, his velo and command started to dip around the fifth inning. That’s okay for now, as he still doesn’t have a ton of experience working deep into games, but you can also imagine how the combination of those things could make him more of a five-and-dive guy than a workhorse. Regardless, this is an arrow-up arm, one with a good chance to pitch in a big league rotation, with closer upside in relief if things don’t work out as a starter. With this update, he moves into the Top 100.

Snelling was a multi-sport athlete in high school, earning acclaim as both a quarterback and linebacker, before an outstanding season on the mound earned him a first round selection and a $3 million signing bonus in 2022. He moved through San Diego’s system quickly and reached Double-A as a 19-year-old in 2023, then was traded to Miami as part of the Tanner Scott swap in 2024, a season in which Snelling and the Padres tinkered with his stuff and delivery to mediocre results. During the 2024-25 offseason, he went to an Atlanta facility called Maven and made changes that led to a nearly three-tick velocity spike across his entire repertoire. His fastball averaged 94 mph across the entire 2025 season, and he touched 99 in a bullpen-day relief appearance during the Triple-A title game.

Snelling also repositioned himself toward the first base side of the rubber and looked more comfortable and in control of his body and release, which may have been what led to a huge rebound in his strike-throwing. He was able to locate all four of his pitches throughout 2025 and was totally dominant from mid-June on — 14 starts, 81.2 innings, 103 strikeouts, 1.21 ERA, 0.97 WHIP — including after a promotion to Triple-A Jacksonville.

Though his secondary pitches lack dynamic movement, Snelling executes them consistently; he lands his breaking balls in the zone for strikes and keeps his changeup down. His fastball is his best bat-misser (30% miss and chase on a heater is 70-grade performance), and he may end up working less efficiently in the bigs as he elevates fastball after fastball in key moments. Snelling’s competitiveness and drive have been considered round-up aspects of his prospect profile since he was in high school, and that continues. He made his debut earlier this season but, unfortunately, he blew out almost immediately. Hopefully we’ll see him back on the mound some time in 2027.

Arana signed for $30,000 in the 2025 international class, which makes his recent ascent to Low-A — and extraordinary early performance there — all the more remarkable. In his first 12 games, Arana is hitting .311/.456/.467, with a homer, three steals, and as many walks as strikeouts. It’s an exciting development for a small-ish player who still had much to prove, even after he laid waste to the Dominican complex last season.

At the plate, Arana’s hand-eye coordination and feel for the barrel stands out. He takes a short stride, loads, and then swings with a direct path to the ball and late loft in his swing. He hits the ball out front and has shown a knack for driving it in the air to the pull side. He rarely misses a fastball and has shown a capacity to make mid-at-bat adjustments against pretty good Low-A breaking balls. His contact rate has dipped from just about 90% on the complexes to the mid-70s in Jupiter, which is still fine and totally appropriate for a player his age acclimating to a new level. Arana isn’t especially strong or powerful and doesn’t project to grow into a lot of damage, but he also isn’t punchless and should grow into at least relevant, if not fringe-average, power down the line.

Defensively, Arana is mature beyond his years. He has good feel for the hop, a well-calibrated internal clock, and impressive situational awareness. He’s able to make plays while leaving his feet, he can checks runners back to bases with the poise of a veteran, and he knows how and when to use the turf to skip a throw to first quickly. He isn’t the fastest mover, his arm is only average right now, and he’ll occasionally spike his side-saddle throws in the dirt. But even with those strikes against him, it isn’t out of the question that he plays a reliability-over-range short, and he should fit well at either second or third if he has to slide down the spectrum.

While Arana isn’t the world’s most projectable player, he offers a very intriguing blend of hit skill and defensive stability. Were I scouting for a club, I’d put an everyday grade on him without hesitation. He clearly has that kind of ceiling, but given his distance from the big leagues, and modest upside for a Low-A star, it behooves us to stay a little cautious from a value perspective and keep him in this tier for now. He’s a candidate to make the offseason Top 100 if he continues to rake like this in A-ball.

All pitching injuries are a bummer, all the more so when a talented arm seems to be figuring things out and is on the precipice of making a big leap in his career. Such was the case with Benitez, who was off to a fast start in the Florida State League before he was removed from a start in early May. He soon underwent arm surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.

Prior to the injury, Benitez was dealing. His velo was up a tick this year, comfortably 92-95 and touching 97 with his sinker. Both his slider and change have late depth and were nearly impossible for Low-A hitters to handle. It’s unusual for a young pitcher to have good feel for both a change and a breaking ball, and the former’s development in particular is a notable year over year progression: The swinging strike rate on the pitch jumped from 15% to 22%, and the chase rate exploded, from 23% to 36%.

If Benitez is able to return with his stuff intact, he’ll instantly be a Top 100 candidate. This is a well-built lefty with at least average arm strength and two secondaries that project plus or better. His delivery is a little gumby-ish, and like seemingly every pitcher in this org, his arm path is on the long side for a starter. But while Benitez isn’t a marksman, he isn’t wild either, and it wouldn’t be shocking if he threw more and better strikes as he gains experience. The injury is a blow, but this remains one of the best arms in the system and he’s a high-interest follow in 2027.

Just 23 years old, Caissie has lived a notable baseball life already. His titanic power has made him a prospect since he was an amateur in Ontario, and his upside was enticing enough for the Cubs to acquire him in exchange for Yu Darvish before he had played a professional game. He then hit the ground running in Chicago’s system and leapt to Triple-A as a 21-year-old. Despite pretty good production there, he spent more than a year and a half with Iowa before the Cubs finally summoned him to the big leagues late last summer. He played in just 12 games and was then dealt to the Marlins in the Edward Cabrera deal. After a strong start to the season, Caissie’s production has faltered in Miami alongside a 40% strikeout rate.

Caissie was always likely to be a predominantly three true outcomes kind of hitter. He can work a count and will take his share of walks because he has both a) elite power, the kind that pitchers are loath to challenge, and b) a shaky hit tool. Despite electric bat speed and a compact swing, Caissie consistently ran strikeout rates north of 25% throughout his minor league career. He isn’t great at recognizing breaking balls, but perhaps the bigger reason is that he’s a rotational hitter with an early leak that pulls him off the plate and limits his ability to cover the outer half, especially on lefty spin. Sure enough, he’s struck out in 16 of his 28 plate appearances against southpaws this season.

It’s starting to look like big league pitchers might just be too good at taking advantage of the holes in Caissie’s swing, outside and at the very top of the zone, for him to profile as a regular. As a bigger guy, he may need a beat to get used to big league pitching, and the Marlins have every reason to stay patient with him, even amidst the slow start. At this point, though, he looks more like a platoon player, because the strikeouts are stacking up in a way that makes him unlikely to hold down an everyday role. We’ve slid him down half a grade from where we had in the offseason in response, putting him outside the Top 100 as he graduates.

Santana was a popup prospect a few years back, a relatively unheralded international signing who exploded onto the map after a velo breakout in pro ball. He blew out in early 2024, and Tommy John surgery cost him significant chunks of both that and the following season. It’s not uncommon for players returning from TJ to need a spell to find their control and command again, and that seems to be the case here, as Santana has walked about a quarter of the batters he’s faced. The good news is that the stuff is intact. He’s again sitting in the upper 90s and touching 101 while overmatching hitters with his plus, upper-80s slider.

The obvious question is whether Santana can ever learn to throw strikes. As a group, I tend to be skeptical of complex-level pitchers with no feel for location, as they mostly don’t develop viable control. Santana may not either, but he has a lot of markers that make me think he could be an exception. He’s a good athlete, he’s long levered and may need extra time to grow into his limbs — especially given the missed time — and his delivery looks pretty fluid. This isn’t a kid throwing with an impractical level of effort just to light up the Trackman. There are things to clean up: He doesn’t repeat his motion especially well, he sometimes overthrows, and the way he tends to lean back during his leg lift seems to push him off kilter. Think of all the times you’ve heard a commentator or pitching coach talk about “staying balanced over the rubber” — Santana isn’t doing that consistently.

All told, Santana is arguably the most volatile arm in a system full of them. The blend of arm strength, spin ability, and athleticism is really intriguing, enough so that he’s all the up here on the list even with some pretty obvious present deficiencies in his profile. Check back again in a year; he could be in the system’s top 10 or off the main section entirely.

Defrank entered 2026 with no small amount of fanfare. He was one of the top pitchers of the 2025 international class and had a big first season in the DSL, where he posted a 3.19 ERA with good control and a 24% strikeout rate. Even better, Defrank gained a few ticks after signing, and he sat in the mid-to-upper 90s and touched triple digits with two projectable secondaries. Unfortunately, this is looking like a lost season for the powerful Dominican righty. He’s on the 60-day injured list with a right biceps tendon injury, and while he hasn’t needed surgery, he’s going to be on the shelf for at least a few more weeks.

A few minor traits to keep in mind here: Defrank doesn’t have particularly good fastball shape, and he’s a pronator who may need to do some experimenting to find a useful breaking ball. Between that and the injury, there are a few things you can round down on if you’re so inclined. Still, let’s not overthink this too much. This is a large, athletic pitcher with big arm strength who flashes a plus secondary already. The comparison is imperfect but Hunter Greene once offered a similar package of arm strength, injury concerns, and a shaky breaking ball; as with the Reds ace, Defrank is no sure thing, but he has a chance to hit pretty big if everything clicks.

Lewis was the centerpiece of the return for Ryan Weathers, a powerful outfielder with a chance to hit 25 home runs at maturity and a prayer of staying in center. Once an unheralded 13th-rounder out of a small Division I school, the 23-year-old has taken well to pro ball. In Pensacola this year, he’s essentially replicating his strong production from the A-ball levels last season: .225/.307/.479 with 13 bombs in 58 games.

Lewis has a fast bat. Oddly for a power hitter these days, he does a lot of his damage on balls up in the zone. He loads his hands low and quietly, and then snaps his hips open with real venom when he decides to pull the trigger. When he gets out in front of a fastball, he can hit it a long way, and without completely selling out for the power. The concern here is that Lewis is going to strike out too often anyway. He isn’t overwhelmed by any one pitch, but rather swings and misses a fair bit at all of them. His K rate is 31.1% this year, up from 23% in 2025, and his contact rates have correspondingly dropped (71% to 68% overall, 78% to 75% in zone) alongside. Those aren’t huge dips, but there aren’t a whole lot of big league regulars who make contact less often than that. There’s a chance he just doesn’t square up big league stuff often enough to profile as a regular.

The stakes are especially high because Lewis isn’t a lock to stay in center. He’s playing up the middle about two thirds of the time and does things well there — he plays hard, he’s good near the wall, his reads and routes are fine — but he lacks the speed and thus the range teams prefer at the position. It’s not that he can’t handle it, it’s just that most teams will have a superior option, at least defensively.

That leaves us in a weird spot with Lewis. There are evaluators who see the power, production, and small school background and think he just might be a regular as he further acclimates to high-level pitchers. I see the case and wouldn’t be shocked if he grows into that kind of player; were I scouting for a team and asked to place my bets, I’d give him a 30% shot or so to do it. The more likely outcome is a rock solid power-first fourth outfielder.

Mosquera is yet another high-octane, six-figure international pitcher in the lower levels of the Marlins system. He’s only thrown 50.1 innings since signing, but boy have they been impressive. He quickly proved himself too advanced for the FCL this spring and is off to a fast start with Jupiter.

Mosquera is an explosive athlete with a high-effort delivery. He isn’t out of control, but he has a recoiled finish and he’s only a 50-50 bet to finish the pitch with his cap still atop his head. Still, he’s throwing strikes and showing a nascent feel for location. Mosquera’s two main pitches are going to overwhelm low-level hitters. His fastball sits 94-97 and touches 99 out of a low-three-quarters slot; when he locates to the top rail, hitters tend to be behind and/or under it. He doesn’t consistently execute his slider, but when he locates down and to the arm side, it’s practically unhittable with 70-grade bite and late depth. He’s not throwing his change much, and the development of that pitch is one of his biggest developmental goals over the next few years. Between the lack of a present third pitch and his delivery, the relief risk here is pretty high. At this point, though, Mosquera is showing two plus pitches with enough feel for the zone to still consider him a starting pitching prospect. He has mid-rotation upside and would be a high-leverage relief candidate if a length role ultimately isn’t in the cards.

Caba was the centerpiece of the return in the Jesús Luzardo trade. After an underwhelming Low-A campaign in 2025, the 20-year-old has been a productive hitter in Beloit, batting .255/.104/.440, good for a 124 wRC+, with a healthy 1836% walk rate and a career-high five homers already.

The undersized Caba has a similar swing from both sides of the plate. He loads deep, leaks the hip early, and takes a mighty uphill cut. As is the case for most players who swing like this, he’s vulnerable to the soft stuff, and his once-elite contact rates have come down to Earth in High-A. It’s not out of the question that he learns to better harness his swing, or at least better pick his spots to turn it loose, but regardless, this is going to be a tame offensive profile.

He may get the chance to play everyday anyway because the glove is quite good. He’s a boisterous defender, prepared and ready to spring into action in any direction. He combines good glovework with range and a flair for the spectacular when he leaves his feet. Does he have the howitzer or seemingly mutant range to be a top-of-the-scale defender? We’ll see. For now, we’ll project a 70 and tip our caps if he grows into more. I don’t see quite enough bat to elevate Caba into the Top 100, so instead he projects as a second-division starter or elite defensive utility option.

Meyer strained his shoulder in spring training and just made his first rehab start last Thursday, which means there isn’t a whole lot to add here from our report last July. He remains an intriguing pitching prospect with a starter’s frame and ease of operation on the mound. The strikes haven’t followed yet, though, as he’s been wild throughout his career, including in High-A last year when he mostly worked in short, three-inning outings. He also mostly hasn’t had the upper-90s velo he had in high school (though he sat 96-97 in his one rehab inning). Both Meyer’s change and slider flash plus, so if he’s able to work in that velo range full-time and take significant strides with his command, the no. 2 or 3 starter projection he once carried is still in play. At this point, though, the relief risk is substantial. Meyer is valued here as a no. 4 or 5 starter with late-inning upside in relief. Needless to say, the range of outcomes is pretty wide at this juncture.

Ekness spent his underclass seasons at Lamar University before transferring to Houston for his draft spring. He was thrust into the bullpen after signing with Miami, and his stuff jumped immediately. Ekness generates upper-90s velo with moderate effort, and his low slot and drop-and-drive delivery give the pitch a challenging uphill angle. He has two breaking balls with a similar, and sometimes slightly overlapping, appearance. The sweepier one is arguably a 70 at its best, but the pitch’s long break — Eckness has great feel for spin — is an obstacle to precision. It tends to wind up glove side, and in the dirt if he overthrows it. The curve is more north-south and tends to finish arm side. He commands the fastball noticeably better than his breakers.

That last part is something to monitor, as strikes are the only thing standing between Ekness and a late-inning role. He’s a good athlete with plus arm strength, a plus breaking ball, and a deceptive release, all of which suggest he can get into the zone more often and that he’ll be able to live there without getting shelled. His minor league walk rate was north of four per nine, though, and that needs to come down a bit if he’s going to reach this projection, which is that of a seventh- or eighth-inning reliever.

De Leon was acquired from the Cubs in the Edward Cabrera trade. To say he’s a toolsy flier is technically accurate, but doesn’t quite do him justice. This is a plus athlete with plus present power and the kind of tapered frame that suggests more juice is possible at maturity. After striking out just shy of 29% of the time on the complex last summer, De Leon has put the ball in play significantly more often this year, including in his first week and change of action at Low-A. There’s still plenty of hit risk here: De Leon leaks the hip early, has a long, upper cut swing, and takes a massive hack. Even in its improved state, his zone contact rate is south of 80%. He’s a middle shooter and his performance on spin has not been very good; this in particular might not get much better without toning the swing down, at least a little.

Defensively, De Leon has played all four corners as a pro, mostly first and third base. In what little footage of him at the hot corner I’ve seen, he looks capable of at least trying there, and fast enough for an outfield fallback if it isn’t a great long-term fit. Regardless, the bat is doing the heavy lifting for this profile. He’s off to a very good start in his Marlins career, and is an arrow-up power bat.

Here’s something about the Salas family: All three Salas brothers were notable amateur prospects, and all three were aggressively pushed into full-season ball soon after signing. Ethan played most of his age-17 season in Low-A and has been promoted at a breakneck pace throughout his career, Jose reached Low-A as an 18-year-old in his first domestic season, and Andrew skipped both complexes after signing for $3.7 million in the 2025 class. All three eventually ran into trouble, Salas the youngest most notably. He hit .186/.319/.245 in his first spin in Jupiter, was even worse this go around (his wRC+ dropped from 74 to 51), and was recently demoted to the complex squad.

It’s clear why Salas was a coveted amateur prospect. He’s a loose athlete with body control, plus wheels, and a little physical projection ahead of him. He has a hitterish presence in the box. He’s a switch-hitter with a quiet setup and a gorgeous connected swing with a lofted path from both sides of the plate. There’s a maturity to his approach, pitch recognition, and swing decisions that belies his young age. You can see why the Marlins were tempted to put him on the fast track.

But for all of the good here, Salas lacked the physicality for his station, particularly last year when his 90th-percentile exit velocity was 93%. That was the lowest figure among all Low-A regulars last season, eight ticks behind what is average for the level. He’s hitting the ball harder this year, but his bat is still slow and his present power remains 20 grade; he’s simply getting the bat knocked out of his hands by more advanced pitchers.

Salas has been better since his demotion, which is more than a bit of a relief, considering that it’s age-appropriate competition. He’s also looked quite good at short, where his range, clean actions, and accurate arm seem like they’ll be a good fit even if he loses a half step as he fills out. Still, it’s fair to wonder how much projection Salas has ahead of him. On the one hand, he’s still just 18 and has an enviable blend of skills and athleticism; were he in high school and playing with metal bats against overmatched peers, he’d probably look like a really appealing draft target. But the best high school prospects, even at premium positions, tend to have a little more strength than Salas does right now, and it’s not like he’s a rail thin kid with no exposure to pro-level strength and conditioning or nutrition: He weighs 180 pounds, and his family runs a prominent baseball training facility. This isn’t to say I don’t like him, or that I don’t think he has a shot to grow into regular. Rather, taken together, Salas looks more like an intriguing slow burn than a top shelf prospect. He’s a nice player to have in the system, but it’s time to pump the brakes for a little bit here.

Fulton was Miami’s second-round pick in the pandemic draft and signed out of an Oklahoma high school for $2.4 million. He’s enormous, and for a guy with long levers, he has a short and direct arm stroke. The lefty is a downhill thrower with a high release out of a three-quarters slot. He generates mid-90s velocity without much effort and flashes three average or better secondaries. The curve is his bread and butter, a hard breaker with horizontal action and no hump out of the hand. The slider is tighter, and while he telegraphs it with his arm and body speed, he gets above-average fade and sink on his best changeups. It’s a starter’s mix of arm strength and arsenal depth.

Despite that, Fulton projects to the bullpen. He’s tightly wound and a fringy athlete, and both his command and control are below average. There’s a chance that, like many longer-levered pitchers, all of that will get better with reps, and to be fair, Fulton has missed a lot of time. He’s undergone Tommy John surgery twice, once in high school, and again as a pro in 2023. One could also argue that the injury history is its own concern, and that all parties would be better served by pushing the 24-year-old into shorter stints and trying to get him to the majors quickly while everything’s in working order. I tend to side with the second perspective. A shift to relief could make Fulton’s stuff quite loud, and I’d rather try to see if he can fill a seventh-inning role than hope the command comes as a starter. For what it’s worth, his six big league innings have come out of the bullpen.

Alderman was one of the heroes of Ole Miss’ CWS championship club in 2022 and was drafted in the second round a year later. Where there’s a power metric, Alderman leads the org in it: He has the system’s top hard-hit rate (64%), max exit velocity (115 mph), and EV90 (110). In games, his power spans from pole to pole. He’s homered 16 times in his first 62 Triple-A games and has hit .297/.359/.565 overall at the level.

Despite that production, the big question here is how much Alderman will hit. It’s hard to imagine him hitting anywhere near .300 in the big leagues, as he’s an aggressive hitter with a sub-70% contact rate at Triple-A. Spin in particular gives him trouble. He’s an open strider, and has a hole low and away, a vulnerability further exacerbated by his tendency to chase off the plate down there. Fastballs present a different problem, as Alderman’s pronounced barrel tilt and long swing almost always leave him late, and he barely ever pulls a heater. He has enough juice to mishit balls out the other way anyway, but it’s a little concerning that he’s tardy on the 90-mph heaters common at Triple-A. Still, Alderman’s contact data isn’t that bad, particularly for a guy with 80 juice.

Defensively, Alderman’s just fair in right field. It’s not from any lack of effort, as he’ll get his uniform dirty, but he’s a tightly wound guy with below-average wheels and a little trouble reading line drives. It’s all about the bat here, and Alderman’s is dangerous enough for him to grow into a flawed-but-potent everyday player. The median outcome is as a short-side platoon guy and weapon off the bench.

Genao is one of the many international amateur pitchers who the Marlins have signed for six figures in recent years. After crushing the Florida complex in 2025, Genao has been one of the better starters in the Florida State League this summer. He’s working nearly five innings per start, and has notched a 3.50 ERA with a 25.1% strikeout rate and a 6.1% walk rate.

Genao has good arm strength and plus feel for spin. His arsenal is a nightmare to try to classify precisely — his pitch data is categorized differently depending on the source — but this is a case where the most important thing to note is that he’s got a couple of ways he can fire a breaking ball, and the hardest ones are missing bats. Genao works with both fastballs, and his sinker has run a negative launch angle on contact this year, while his slider has missed bats at a plus rate. The break on that pitch is long and, unusually for an upper-80s breaking ball, up out of the hand in a way that I think he’ll need to play with. It’s working for now, though, and he has plenty of runway to refine his spin shapes. The search for a viable change soldiers on; he’s not throwing his split much and he understandably lacks feel for the pitch.

Genao has calmed his delivery during his time in pro ball; the “hat-removing head whack” Eric described in last year’s report is no longer part of the equation. This doesn’t make him a lock to start — the arm path is pretty long, his open stride may give hitters a good look at the ball, he’s just an average athlete, and he doesn’t have a viable changeup yet — but his odds of sticking in the rotation are up year over year. I’m still projecting him as a reliever, but Genao is an arrow-up arm with a no. 4 ceiling who looks like a future contributor in some capacity.

Hernández was once a monster international prospect, a $3 million bonus guy who torched the DSL as a 17-year-old. It’s still easy to see why he was once a Top 100 prospect: He’s high waisted, loose, twitchy, and has plus power and a plus arm. His production, and prospect stock, have taken a more modest turn since, however. A long swing and a propensity to swing and miss — he’s constantly off balance against breaking balls and often late on high heat — have dampened Hernández’s hit tool projection and ability to drive the ball consistently Still, he’s a prospect, enticing enough to get the Marlins to prioritize his inclusion in the Edward Cabrera deal this offseason.

Hernández’s glove at short might be enough to get him to the big leagues all on its own. He’s rangy, with quick actions and the aforementioned strong arm. He can make plays in the six hole, and while his glovework seems to deteriorate a tick at the edge of his range, he handles the routine stuff well enough to project as an above-average defender. That and a little thump form the basis of a utility projection. He has a chance to grow into a little more if his approach matures and/or he can find a way to get the ball in the air more often.

Cova signed for $1.5 million in the 2024 international class. He was an athleticism bet at the time, and while it took him a beat to graduate from the complexes, he’s done so in a way that reflects his physical maturation: His measurable power increased significantly from 2024 to 2025, and he’s been able to lift the ball much more frequently as he’s gotten stronger, all while making a lot of contact. He’s off to a slow start in Low-A (he was only promoted about two weeks ago), which is not unexpected, as the jump from the FCL to full-season ball is a significant step for a teenager.

As you might expect from a player who hits a lot of fly balls and line drives, Cova has an uphill swing. He has to swing hard because his bat isn’t very quick yet, but he has the kind of body I’m inclined to project on. Defensively, he’s playing a mix of center and right field. An above-average to plus runner, he has the wheels to play center and projects average there, though he may need to slide to a corner depending on how he fills out. If everything comes together here, Cova has everyday upside, a low-key five tool player akin to Leody Taveras at his peak. If he slows a little, or if his feel for contact sags against better arms, or he doesn’t grow into a ton more strength, he’ll be more of a fourth outfielder. Consider the former the ceiling, the latter the realistic projection.

More than most clubs, the Marlins like to invest in six-figure pitchers in the international market. Pena, who signed for $400,000 in the 2025 class, is one of the highest-upside arms to come out of the Dominican Republic in recent years. He has a ton of interesting traits. He’s long, lanky, and still growing into his massive limbs. Like Eury Pérez, he’s able to generate elite velocity with very little effort. He also can really spin the ball. Taken together, these are the kind of ingredients worth gambling on, even absent a lot of feel for pitching or finding the strike zone. That’s important to keep in mind when you glance at Pena’s numbers, which aren’t pretty for a second year running. In addition to all the walks, his delivery is still very inconsistent, with markedly different release points and extension from pitch to pitch, and noticeably different slots across his arsenal. Taking the good and the bad together, the range of outcomes is extreme here, and while it’s appropriate to be patient as Pena grows into his body, it’s also fair to feel a tad concerned about his lack of progress thus far. He’s still in the category of high-interest, high-upside prospects, but I’ve shaded him down the list this year.

Jones is the second of the four former Yankees prospects who arrived in exchange for Ryan Weathers. There are a few peculiarities in his skill set. He’s a speedy center fielder — he stole 51 bases last year and is on pace for that again — who’s allergic to hitting the ball on the ground. Unlike most guys with a sub-30% groundball rate, he isn’t especially potent; we have to project to get him to fringy raw power. The roster use case for Jones becomes pretty self-explanatory if he can develop into a plus center fielder. His speed, reads, and routes all look good on tape. Somewhat oddly, glovework is a potential round-down trait, as he’s dropped a couple balls toward the edge of his range. He looks like a fourth or fifth outfielder.

Matheus is the third player we’ve encountered on this list who got here via the Ryan Weathers trade. He’s a switch-hitting infielder who can handle second and third base just fine, but looks a little stretched at short. At the plate, he has a tick more bat speed as a righty, but he can move the barrel and flatten the path from both sides. While he didn’t look especially projectable at the time of the trade, Matheus is hitting for a little more power this year, which is supported by a two-tick climb in his EV90.

Defensively, Matheus has good instincts at third base. He reads the hops well, and he seems to know when to air out a throw and when to skip it across. His arm is accurate but otherwise light for the left side, and even though he hasn’t played there a ton as a pro, second base might be his best fit. Matheus ultimately does enough things well in all facets — he’s also a pretty good base stealer — to fit on a big league bench, even as an imperfect defender at short. He has a second-division regular’s ceiling, and the uptick in power has increased his chances of profiling in that manner.

Cannarella was selected toward the back of the first round last year, 43rd overall. He fractured his wrist in April and missed a month, but he showed no ill effects upon his return — he hit .404 in his first 12 games back — and was promoted to Double-A at the start of June.

Cannarella’s eye-popping numbers in Beloit understandably have fans excited: He hit .394/.439/.577 with three homers and a 12.2% strikeout rate in his 19 games there, good for a 157 wRC+. This is a case where it doesn’t pay to scout the stat line, however. Cannarella’s swing is conservative and geared for contact. He’s barred, lets the ball get deep, and generally inside-outs it to left. Everything hit hard goes up the middle or the other way and, with his raw power, I have a hard time seeing him get to much damage swinging like this. He’s made a ton of contact as a pro, and I think he’ll continue to do so, but I also expect he’ll strike out more often as pitchers with better breaking stuff (he whiffs on spin more than twice as often as on fastballs) lure him out of the zone (his chase rate increases markedly with two strikes).

Defensively, Cannarella’s tape prompts more questions than answers. He’s fast and clearly has the wheels to play center, but his reads and routes aren’t good right now, and don’t match his amateur reputation as an elite go-getter out there. He doesn’t seem to see the ball well off the bat, particularly on line drives, and not just the ones hit right at him. He isn’t especially aggressive either, laid back on sinking liners in front of him and slow to play balls off the wall. He may well improve significantly, and the limitations of my tools may mean that I’m just not seeing the full picture of what he looks like in center, but it seems relevant that Miami already has him playing a fair bit in the corners. I get a little antsy about being light on an early pick so soon after the draft, but if there’s a carrying tool for more than a reserve grade here, I’m not seeing it.

Serna is a little guy who swings and plays hard. He has a full, rotational cut in a way that guys his size didn’t really take even a decade or two ago. His barrel control is pretty good considering the effort level, and he projects to get on base enough and hit for sufficient doubles power to get his glove on a roster. With the leather, he’s quite good. He’s an above-average shortstop with range and a solid-average arm, but it’s what he put on tape in center in the Mexican League last year that really blew me away. He’s rangy, reads line drives off the bat well, and hauled in just about every sinking liner hit in his vicinity. It’s really impressive, particularly given how little he’s played out there, just a few dozen games as a pro. There’s no reason he couldn’t be a superutility player with the flexibility to play six positions as needed, and he could play for quite a while even if the bat’s pretty light.

Born in Puerto Rico, Arroyo went to high school in Florida and began his college career at UF as a two-way guy. After barely seeing the field in Gainesville, he transferred to Pasco-Hernando State College in Florida for his second year, crushed the Northwoods League the summer of 2024, and then transferred to Virginia. He continued to play both ways with the Cavs (he pitched 12 innings), but it’s his bat that enticed the Marlins.

Arroyo is a huge guy with a powerful swing, projectable pop, and significant hit tool risk. He can hammer a fastball down and in, but his feel to hit is otherwise raw, and spin in particular looms as an obstacle. He hasn’t played much high-level baseball or spent much time focusing solely on hitting, however, so this is a player to stay patient with. The Marlins and their fans have had to exercise that patience already, as Arroyo has only played two games this year after being placed on the 60-day IL in early April. There’s thus little change to last year’s draft report, which is that of a high-upside, low-floor power-hitting flier.

Kempner went to high school in San Jose and took a little less money than he could have gotten elsewhere to become a Giant. After missing all of the 2024 season with a fractured foot, he performed well in the AFL in 2025 and the Marlins traded for him that winter. He struck out the world in Triple-A to start the season and was recently promoted to the big leagues.

Kempner’s a barrel-chested sidearming reliever with a build similar to Ljay Newsome. He works with a mid-to-upper-90s tailing fastball and a sweeping slider that flashes plus; he’ll also mix in an occasional cutter. He’s not especially precise, but Kempner is pretty good at keeping his flat heater up and to the arm side, and directing his slider to the other half of the plate. He’s an optionable reliever at the very least, and could grow into a more stable mid-leverage role if he’s able to throw strikes at a better clip than he did in the minors.

White was an unheralded 12th-rounder back in 2021. He blew out not long after signing and didn’t make his debut until late in 2023. At the time, he was scraping the low 90s with a soft breaking ball, a strike-thrower despite his lever length who was getting by on his ability to pound the zone and avoid damage. Three years and a lot of time in the weight room later, he’s now bumping 98 with an average slider. It comes with plus-plus extension out of a high slot, and he’s retained the control that initially made him a prospect alongside. After several years of modest strikeout totals in the low minors, he suddenly fanned 30% of opponents in his first seven outings at Double-A Pensacola. That, a 3.9% walk rate and a 3.00 ERA were enough to convince Miami he was ready for a promotion to Jacksonville.

While White looks like a useful arm in some capacity, it’s not clear what his role will be. His arsenal is thin — he has a fading change, but it’s gotten hit pretty hard this year — and advanced bats have given him a rough introduction to Triple-A. It’s worth tinkering with a curve, a split, a different grip, or anything else that might give him a third viable pitch because White otherwise has a lot of really interesting ingredients: He’s stretched out, he has plus velocity and control, and he has outlier size. As is, he projects as a perfectly fine multi-inning reliever. For those who really want to go nuts, Doug Fister was once also a mostly anonymous, fastball-reliant, 6-foot-8 late-bloomer.

Acosta came to Miami from Texas in the Jake Burger deal prior to the 2025 season. He made his debut down the stretch last August and was briefly an impact player, as he homered three times in his first five contests. That’s not really his game, though, as he has below-average raw power and is more of a singles and doubles hitter.

Acosta has a great body. He’s athletic, he can run, he can play shortstop, and he appeals to scouts and managers because he’s a focused and fiery presence on the field. At the plate, though, he’s neither strong nor particularly hitterish. He’s passive and doesn’t seem to pick up spin well, which has led to a strikeout rate north of 25% at Triple-A — too much for a guy with his profile to project as a regular. Oblique and thumb injuries have kept him on the shelf for most of the 2026 season thus far, but when healthy, he looks like a readymade low-variance utility prospect.

I try not to just copy and paste from last year’s reports much, but sometimes the analysis and verbs in Eric’s blurbs are too sharp to waste. So, with minimal supplementation, let’s run it back. Martinez’s curveball might be the best individual pitch in this system and is one of the better pure curveballs in all of the minor leagues. It has breathtaking depth and bite in the 75-80 mph range, and often leaves hitters totally frozen. It’s generating a whiff rate of 50% so far in 2026, which is in line with what you’d expect of an elite pitch. His slider is missing nearly as many bats and has nasty break as well; this is a guy who knows how to spin a ball.

Martinez is a good athlete with a lubricated delivery, and he’s throwing a little harder this year. He reliably gets his fastball over the plate, often for quality strikes at the top of the zone that set up his curveball. The heater doesn’t have great traits otherwise, though, and has been vulnerable when he leaves it out over the plate. It’s worth continuing to develop him as a starter in the hopes that his command takes a significant step forward or that he finds a good change to round out the arsenal.

Payne was a late-round draftee in 2024 and signed for a modest $235,000 bonus. He torched the FCL and then held his own in a handful of Low-A starts in his first pro season. He only needed four more outings in Jupiter for the Marlins brass to decide the lefty needed a challenge and dispatch him to Beloit. There, he’s struck out 11 per nine and managed a career-low 6.7% walk rate — but also surrendered 11 homers in 38.2 innings.

Payne has a prototypical starting pitcher’s size and build. He looks stronger year over year — and is throwing a tick harder alongside — and there may yet be room for more growth. Finding a way to get a few extra ticks looms as the central challenge here. Payne has visually intriguing stuff: His curve has long break with good depth, and both his slider and change are missing bats. Nothing in the holster comes with a lot of oomph, though, and he isn’t a crisp enough strike-thrower to survive with a low-90s fastball and low-80s slider. He’s thus something of a projection bet. If Payne grows into several more ticks of velo as he matures, he has a backend starter’s ceiling. But throwing even a little harder could be enough to get him into some kind of relief role.

De Los Santos has huge juice and is a tantalizing flier for scouts and clubs evaluating Triple-A. The big guy’s bat has stalled since arriving at Jacksonville, though. He’s a .253/.310/.436 hitter in more than 1,000 plate appearances at the level now, and he hasn’t consistently driven the ball since he’s left Reno (he was traded to Miami in a deal for A.J. Puk in 2024). Two things seem to be behind the sluggish production. The first is that De Los Santos has a bad approach. He’s aggressive, but often indiscriminately so. His chase rate, high to begin with, surges with two strikes, and he’s often helpless against breaking balls. The swing itself is another area of concern. He has a big move and a long swing: It’s a fast bat when he gets going, but it isn’t a cut conducive to mid-flight adjustments. Seventy power is 70 power, and De Los Santos is still young, not yet 23. There’s time for him to develop into a platoon bat. The safer projection is as an up-down guy with damage off the bench. He briefly debuted earlier this year.

White made his debut last month and had the misfortune of running into Juan Soto; hopefully he’ll get a chance to lower that ERA soon enough. White isn’t a big guy, but he throws over the top and has a high release point anyway. His is an up-tempo and high-effort delivery — if you’re curious about what “recoil at finish” looks like, go check out his arm swing — so his command will likely always lag behind his control, which has been about average for most of his minor league career. He throws a straight mid-90s four-seamer with carry, a pitch that pairs well with his north-south breaking balls. They work well together, almost like changing speeds on a fastball. The slider is the out pitch, the tighter, harder, and better of the two. He’ll also mix in an occasional split, a work in progress that could give him an arm-side weapon if he can consistently find the handle on it. He’s a ready-made optionable bullpen arm with a middle relief ceiling.

Ignoffo was once Miami’s Mr. Irrelevant, a $75,000 senior sign in the 20th round. On this list, he’s ahead of most of the draft class, thanks to average pop and good control of the running game behind the plate. At the plate, he’s making good contact despite a bottom-hand dominant swing that could eventually pose problems against good fastballs upstairs. He has approximately average raw power by both his max exits and EV90s, but his bat can be slow to the zone, and he doesn’t bring the pop into games much; he looks like more of a singles and doubles hitter with a decent approach than anything else. On the bases, Ignoffo has some Josh Naylor in him, in that he’s slow but has always swiped more bags than you’d think based on his speed. Defensively, he’s thrown out a quarter of base stealers this year, thanks to a quick and high transfer and an accurate arm. He’s relatively new to catching — he never did it in college and has only about 1,500 pro innings under his belt — and still has room to improve as a framer and blocker. Ignoffo is a fun player, and he projects as a second or third catcher, albeit one who will likely have a fairly short window at the highest level, given that he’s nearly 26 and still at Double-A.

Castro is a corner outfielder with projectable power. When a guy like this needs a second lap on the Dominican complex, you’re hoping he overwhelms the level in his second stint, and Castro did just that in 2025 when he set a DSL record with 16 homers in just 52 games. He has a projectable frame, present bat speed, and a swing geared for pull-side lift. Despite moderately concerning contact data, he’s clearly capable of bringing his impact into games, and this may be a case where the hit tool is actually okay, he’s just made the contact-for-power tradeoff early in his career. Unfortunately for a player already a little behind the development curve, Castro is missing the entire season recovering from a shoulder injury. The power here is intriguing enough to keep him on the main section, even though he won’t see the stateside complex until he’s 20.

Ortega is an undersized catcher with great feel for contact and the strike zone. He’s posting a walk-fueled 143 wRC+ in his second spin through Low-A — he has 22 walks and 14 strikeouts in 131 plate appearances so far — with plus contact and in zone contact rates. Defensively, sub-2.00 pops to second are the norm, thanks more to a quick release than a strong arm. It’s always tricky to assess over video, but it seems like he’s got pretty good instincts back there. For just one small example, there was a recent game in which he saw the runner on second get a great jump on a double steal, and instead of throwing to third, he successfully went after the trail runner instead.

A lack of pop means that there’s not much wiggle room for Ortega to profile if the hit tool runs out of steam against better pitching. Provided that he’s able to keep making (relatively) hard contact, he has the bat-to-ball and catch-and-throw skills to project as a good club’s third catcher.

Olmstead signed for just $25,000 back in 2023. It’d be unfair to say he’s gloved his way to Triple-A — he had a league average line or better at every stop until Jacksonville last year, and has a walk-fueled 103 wRC+ this year — but Olmstead’s primary contributions come on defense. He has experience at second, third, and short, where he’s an above-average defender with a quick first step, reliable hands, and a strong arm. At the plate, he’s mostly a singles hitter, but he’ll take his walks and has just enough pop to make pitchers think a little bit before they decide to get him out with a breaking ball down and away. Olmstead’s use case would expand a fair bit if he could really run, but he isn’t a burner — if anything, his speed plays down on offense, as he takes a beat to get out of the box on grounders. He has a utility player’s ceiling.

If you think Trimble has a fun first name, you should know that he has a brother named South, a collegiate ballplayer himself. This Trimble has steadily climbed through the Marlins system since signing for $550,000 in fourth round of the 2024 draft. Fenwick has average power and is young enough to add another half tick. His pop almost exclusively comes down and in, as he has a grooved swing geared to tug pitches in that region. A mature approach — he has good pitch recognition skills and a feel for which pitches he can drive — helps mitigate the damage elsewhere. Defensively, Trimble is still playing center occasionally but doesn’t have the speed for it, and instead looks like an average to tick above corner outfielder. It’s the skill set of a helpful, though not load bearing, outfielder who can shuffle on and off the roster as needed.

Pintar has lived a full prospect life. He enrolled as a walk-on at BYU before hitting his way into the lineup as an underclassman. A shoulder injury marred his junior campaign and pushed him into the fifth round despite a desirable power/speed blend on the middle infield. His days on the dirt ended not long after he signed, as a nasty broken ankle pushed him into the outfield upon his return. He took to center well, and enticed the Marlins to trade for him as part of the return for A.J. Puk. Now 25, Pintar is an average-to-slightly-above defender in center and is plus in a corner. His bat is light for everyday duty, and he doesn’t have the outstanding, plus skill or tool that would help me project him as a consistent reserve. He instead looks like a fifth outfielder and is in line to debut later this season.

Compton was the third of Miami’s seven-figure signees last year, a toolsy outfielder with a boxy build and a shaky hit tool. He has some of the best power in the system and a fairly low-maintenance cut, which makes his lack of power at High-A somewhat surprising. His swing is grooved in a way that tends to leave him under fastballs and above spin, and he’s currently running whiff rates in Spencer Jones territory. Compton will need to hit because even though he can run, this isn’t a frame likely to hold on to speed all that long, and his feel for a corner isn’t great in any case. Still, it’s worth staying patient here and seeing if he can develop enough hit skill to play an impact-oriented platoon role of some kind at maturity.

Valor signed for $550,000 back in the 2023 international class. He was and is a twitchy center field prospect with speed and projectable power, the latter of which he’s starting to grow into. His exit velocities are up this this, though his ability to bring his power into games is not. Valor has a steep swing path and doesn’t see spin well, and is vulnerable against heat up top and spin low and away. He’s projectable enough that I’m keeping him on the main list for another cycle, but the game’s hard enough with one of those foibles, much less two. He’s a toolsy flier with a platoon ceiling.

Dishmey is the youngest pitcher on Pensacola’s staff and also a recent Southern League Pitcher of the Week, a neat little combination. He’s had a breakout 2026, fueled by a 35.9% strikeout rate (up from 26.7% last year) in a mix of High- and Double-A action. While not all that physically projectable for his age — the 21-year-old is mostly filled out and not particularly loose or twitchy — Dishmey offers an intriguing blend of stuff and mid-minors success. His fastball plays ahead of the number, and both his long breaking curve and fading change project above average. A long arm path and the aforementioned athletic limitations prevent us from going nuts on the command forecast, and thus the topline grade, but you can see a few paths forward. It isn’t out of the question that Dishmey grows into enough control to work once through an order, and you can also imagine him throwing harder with better breaking stuff in short stints. He looks like a future low-to-mid-leverage contributor in some form.

While the Marlins invest in a lot of high-bonus pitchers in the international market, they’ve also found a couple diamonds in the rough. Montero signed for just $35,000 in January of 2025, but he quickly established himself as a real prospect. In 11 starts, he fanned 30.1% of opponents and ran a tidy 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio. This is not the most physical or projectable athlete — Montero is a smaller guy without overt room for mass and strength — but the present stuff is good enough to list him here as a fastball/slider starter prospect. Last season, he sat 92-95 mph and topped out at 97 with plus vertical break. His sweepy, low-80s slider missed bats, though he tended to telegraph it and will need to get a little more suave for it to play like it’s projected here. He’s unfortunately had no opportunity to build on his strong debut season, as he’s missed all of the 2026 campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery. We’ll see how it looks next year, hopefully on the Florida complex.

Volini is yet another pitcher in this system who gets late depth on a plus curve. His slider is similarly shapely, and he’s enough of a strike-thrower to project him as a length arm. His velo is generally in the low 90s, though he’s had outings where he’s been in the upper 80s this year. That puts Volini right on the tipping point between a no. 6 depth starter or multi-inning arm projection and someone a little further down on the depth chart. We’ll stay optimistic for now. Guys with a plus trait get the benefit of the doubt, and it really is a lovely curve.

Tineo is a tall lefty with a starter’s build. After a rough few outings in Beloit to open the season, he was shipped back to Jupiter, where he’s dominating the Florida State League, albeit with too many walks. The southpaw comes out of the gate sitting 94-96 (he’ll tail off a bit over the course of an outing) with a projectable breaking ball. Technically classified as two pitches, his sweeper and slider have remarkably similar shape, just at a different velo band. While Tineo has a few other pitches in the holster, he’ll probably wind up leaning on some form of fastball/breaker in short stints at maturity, as he has a ton of relief markers in his delivery. He’s a little stiff, his back leg collapses as he rears back, and he has an extremely long arm path. There’s a chance he grows into an upper-90s fastball, though, and if there’s a plus slider to go with it, that’ll make him a prospect even if he’s a little wild.

Castillo is a pronator with a sinking and tailing mid-90s fastball. It’s the kind of heater that would’ve made me go “Wow, look at that thing boomerang!” 10-15 years ago. As we’ve collectively learned more about pitch shapes, it’s become clearer that these particular ingredients aren’t quite as valuable as they are fun to watch. Castillo’s change is more effective, with big tail and a little sink; he flashes an average slider as well. The righty has a classic pitcher’s frame, but he’s a little stiff and his open stride limits his deception. Still, this is a good arm with a couple projectable secondaries, and the Marlins will have something if the stuff jumps in relief.

Shepardson signed for just shy of $900,000 in the 2024 draft. He spent the bulk 2025 on the complex, where he pitched effectively, mostly thanks to a revamped slider that flashed plus. While Shepardson has average arm strength, the shape of his fastball isn’t great, and it got hit around last season (it wasn’t tailing quite as much at this year’s Spring Breakout Game, for whatever that’s worth). He’s thrown a handful of changeups and has a loose enough arm swing to project on the pitch, even though the ones he’s put on tape are pretty underbaked. He’ll miss the entire 2026 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s a developmental starting pitching prospect, kept on the radar by that nasty slider.

Solarte is a big-framed, lefty-hitting infielder who, like a growing number of Venezuelan players, has already gotten experience playing pro ball there against older players. His swings can get a little out of control, but he’s so tall that this might quiet down as he continues to grow into his body. While scouts didn’t see him as a shortstop over the long haul — some have projected him to third base, and he got reps at second during summer league ball in Venezuela — Solarte looks quicker than where we had him pegged on signing day, and has put plus run times on tape in early DSL action. The ceiling on his left-handed power is exciting, though concerns about the viability of his hit tool and where he’ll land on defense keep him down in this tier for now.

Miller had among the best present arm strength/breaking stuff combinations of the 2022 draft’s high school pitchers, and the Marlins gave him $1.7 million to eschew a commitment to Louisville. He hasn’t had that kind of velo as a pro, though, and so while he has the control and arsenal depth to turn a lineup over, he doesn’t quite have the arm strength or outlier command for the job. His sinking change flashes plus, and he could have an average fastball and power breaking ball in short stints. He projects as an optionable reliever who could flex in and out of multi-inning work.

The Cardinals selected Pushard with the 11th pick of the Rule 5 Draft this past December. He broke camp with the Redbirds and made his debut before a patellar injury put him on the shelf. He made a handful of appearances after his return, but was designated for assignment at the end of May and sent back to the Fish earlier this month.

Pushard has taken the slow lane to get to this point. Teammates with Jeremy Peña at the University of Maine, he spent six years in college and was an undrafted free agent signing back in 2022. Though not especially athletic — he’s a big, slower-twitch guy with a long and somewhat stiff arm path — Pushard has always thrown strikes. The stuff is mostly average. He sits in the low-to-mid-90s with a hard slider and a distinct curve. Neither is going to reliably generate a ton of chase down and out of the zone, and Pushard is more of a groundball pitcher than a strikeout guy anyway, but there’s big league utility in pitchers who can get quick outs without walking the world. He looks like a low-leverage, up-down reliever.

Forrester arrived from Pittsburgh as part of the return for Bryan De La Cruz in 2024. Old for his level early in his career, Forrester burst out of the blocks in Double-A this spring — .302/.471/.566 with eight strikeouts and 16 walks in 70 plate appearances — and has since bounced between Pensacola and Triple-A. He hits out of a low crouch with a short, low-ball swing. He’s selective but not passive, and tends to run deep counts. Fringy power likely renders him more of a pesky hitter than a good one at the highest level, but he’ll make pitchers work for their outs.

Both Pittsburgh and Miami gave Forrester reps as a catcher over the past few seasons — he played first and third base in college — and the Marlins have shifted him behind the plate full-time in 2026. He’s raw back there, as one might expect of a backstop with 77 career professional starts. He has a strong arm and quick release, which leads to quick (sometimes very quick) pop times, though he’s pretty scattered. He’s still at square one as a blocker, as he tends to either stab at the ball or jump out of his crouch on balls in the dirt. It’s also early days for Forrester as a receiver, though he’s got a strong wrist and is capable of funneling pitches up in the zone toward the heart of the plate. Taken together, this has the look of a viable, if slow-burning experiment. The pop times and some of the framing form the basis of the aggressive defensive projection above. Forrester may need more Triple-A seasoning than your average bear, but assuming the glove comes along, he has the look of a third catcher.