The Miami Marlins announce their Arizona Fall League roster: An Overview

The Arizona Fall League rosters have been released this week with a lot of intriguing prospects on each team. There are six teams full of prospects from Major League teams that will play starting October 6th. I’ll be writing an article and making Twitter posts about each team’s roster. This will cover the prospects from the Miami Marlins who are on the Mesa Solar Sox this fall. The team will consist of players from the Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bays Rays, and New York Yankees as well.

Miami Marlins:

Aiden May RHP: After being picked in the competitive balance round between the 2nd and 3rd round of the 2024 draft May started the season on the injured list after having elbow surgery he eventually returned for his first professional season. Starting in the complex league where he looked unhittable with a 1.32 ERA and a 40% strikeout rate in only four starts of 6.2 innings. He then was promoted to Low-A where he pitched 20.2 innings to a 3.05 ERA and 5.05 FIP. He struck out out less batters and his walk rate jumped to 15.7%. Coming out of the draft it was said he had the best slider in the draft. In college it has some of the highest horizontal breaks for a college pitcher at 19 inches and a 49.2% whiff rate. He uses that slider mostly as a sweeper and throws a harder slider at 88 mph mostly as a cutter. He also rounds it out with a fastball that sat at 94 mph but topped out at 97 mpg and a sinker that topped out at 98 mph. He also has a changeup that sits in the high 80s and topped out at 92 mph. It was able to get a 42.7% whiff rate, almost better than the fastball. He has some of the best stuff in all the minor leagues and will be super fun to watch this fall.

Xavier Meachem RHP: A very underrated reliever prospect in the Marlins system Meachem has looked great at almost every level but has struggled this season. Even though he had a 2.63 ERA through forty eight innings in High-A this season he lost his strikeout ability. In the past he’s struck out more than 28% of batters a season but in High-A this season it dropped to 18.2% while his high walk rate remained. Even with these struggles he was promoted to AA Pensacola but has not only pitched 1.1 innings. Going off of his Statcast data from Low-A last season Meachem has a fastball that sits in the mid 90s and has great rising action with a 16.7 

IVB and it got a great whiff rate at 45% in only 11.2 innings I’ll add. His top secondary is a slider with great movement that he uses as a chase pitch. He also has a changeup that he’s able to throw for a strike but rarely throws it. Hopefully he can fix whatever problem has led to less whiffs and strikeouts this season.

Karson Milbrandt RHP: After starting the year in the injured list after some fluid was found in his arm he’s been very effective this season. This season throughout three levels he’s pitched to a 3.00 ERA with a 3.17 FIP. He made one short start in Low-A before making nineteen in High-A pitching 77.1 innings and then was promoted to AA where he made two starts and looked really good. Milbrandt has a solid arsenal that he’s still refining, starting with a fastball that sits in the mid 90s and tops out at 99 mph with great spin and has great arm side movement. He adds a slider that has average movement but is one of his only secondaries he can consistently throw for a strike. He also throws an upper 80s cutter which mostly helps him against left handed hitters. At times he’ll throw his curveball and changeup, the curveball has looked great at times but doesn’t fit well with the slider and can have too much depth causing hitters to lay off it entirely. His main problem has been a spotty command which improved this season as he walked slightly less but threw more strikes upping his CSW% from 25.5% in 2024 up to 29.4% this season. This could be due to a 4% jump in his whiff percentage but he was still able to throw more called strikes than the season before. One of the top arms in the Marlins organization and will be a big draw this fall. 

Darwin Rodriguez RHP:  After spending the last three seasons mostly in the Dominican Summer League Rodriguez was finally promoted to the Complex League at the end of last season and pitched eight innings to a 12.38 ERA. This season he has mostly spent on the injured list with an undisclosed injury before finally being activated on August 26th. He was able to make four appearances in Low-A and pitched 3.2 innings before the season ended and had some promising outings. In the first three appearances Rodriguez looked good finishing 3.2 innings giving up only one hit and no runs while walking two and striking out four. His last outing he was awful not getting an out in the 8th inning where he walked four and hit a batter giving up three runs. He only threw eight strikes out of twenty six pitches. That outing matched up with the command issues that had been bothering him throughout the DSL and in his few games in the Complex League. Going off his Statcast data from his couple of Low-A outings Rodriguez has a solid fastball that sits around 94 mph and has an induced vertical break of 17.2 inches. He also has four secondary pitches with a slider, cutter, changeup, and curveball. The slider and cutter have great spin and generated the most whiffs of his arsenal. He only had a zone% of 35.1% and didn’t have a single pitch other than his fastball that he threw for a strike more than 29% of the time. Definitely a 20 year old reliever that has the potential to have solid stuff and make the majors but his command problems are very serious and could hold him back. 

This is the only photo I could find of Dominguez obviously unknown

Starlyn Caba SS: Acquired last December from the Phillies in exchange for Jesus Luzardo, Caba has struggled a bit in Low-A this season. He sprained his thumb and missed more than two months and struggled to hit after coming back hitting .205/.298/.260 in July his first month back from injury. In August and through the end of the season he hit .278/.350/.375 with a 111 wRC+. He’s had elite plate discipline walking more than he’s struck out at every level of his career. He also makes elite contact at 88.5% in the zone and a 87.7% total. His problem is his obvious lack of power. He’s only hit three home runs since starting organized ball and that aspect of his game is basically nonexistent. He makes up for it in the field and on the bases where he stole fifty bases last season and fourteen this season through his injury riddled fifty one games. His glove is said to be one of the top, especially at short stop in the minors and could lead to him becoming a Gold Glove defender at the Major League level. A fun player to watch climb as he’s only 19 years old.

PJ Morlando LF: The 16th overall pick in last year's draft had a very injury riddled first professional season this year undergoing elbow surgery before the season and a hamstring injury the rest of the season. His short season last year after the draft was also ended by a stress reaction in his back. He had some of the best power in the draft especially coming out of high school and has shown it at times this season. In the 52 games he was able to make in Low-A this season he had a .226/.361/.353 slash line and a 112 wRC+. He didn’t show the in-game power all the time, only hitting five home runs but the raw power was definitely shown at times. He was known for having solid contact skills in high school but struggled in Low-A with only a 77.6% contact rate in the zone and a 30.2% whiff rate. He was very patient walking 15.4% of the time and only swung 39.7% of the time. He likely will need to be more aggressive to become a true power hitter if that’s the development path the Marlins want to take him through. He was adjusting his swing throughout the season and will likely have a different adjustment this fall. Still a very high ceiling prospect. 

Fenwick Trimble OF: Another pick from last year’s draft Trimble was taken in the 4th round out of James Madison University and quickly rose to AA Pensacola in his first professional season. After starting the season in High-A he slashed .284/.407/.422 for a 144 wRC+. He was then promoted to AA and in his first week he strained his hamstring and didn’t return for two months. Still from the middle of July on he was very solid in the AA lineup hitting .237/.355/.395 for a 127 wRC+. He’s more of a line drive bat to ball hitter who’s not going to hit a ton of homers. He also has a great knowledge of the zone, rarely chasing and walking 13.8% of the time this year. He adds some speed on the bases with 31 stolen bases this year and is able to player average at every outfield spot.

Thank you for reading for shorter breakdowns check out my Twitter @drew-durstock. Each day I'll release a new team's prospect breakdown.