Marlins prospect updates: Griffin Conine’s home runs, Eury Perez’s return and more
If one thing is certain about outfielder prospect Griffin Conine, it’s that he can hit for power when he makes contact. That has been on display for each of the past two years since the Miami Marlins acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays in 2020 for Jonathan Villar.
And this season, his home run prowess put him in the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos’ record book.
Conine, the No. 25 prospect in Miami’s system according to MLB Pipeline, on Saturday belted out his 24th home run of the season. That number not only leads all Marlins prospects this season, but it also set a Blue Wahoos single-season record, breaking the mark of 23 set just last year by Peyton Burdick.
In two seasons in the Marlins organization, Conine has hit 60 total home runs, with 37 of them coming in 154 games with Double A Pensacola. The home runs, along with 15 doubles and two triples this season, play a big part in Conine’s .796 on-base-plus-slugging mark entering this week, the final of the Double A regular season.
But one of Conine’s biggest problems still persists as well. He has 172 strikeouts in 476 plate appearances this season — a 36.1-percent strikeout rate. It’s an improvement over his 40.1-percent strikeout rate from a season ago but is still a number that he will want to continue slashing down as he climbs the minor-league ranks.
Eury Perez returns
It doesn’t look like Eury Perez missed a beat.
After being sidelined for a month due to a minor shoulder injury, the Marlins’ top prospect and the No. 10 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline returned to the mound Friday and pitched two shutout innings for the Jupiter Hammerheads against the Lakeland Flying Tigers in a 14-1 rout. Perez returned six of the seven batters he faced, four via strikeout. His fastball topped at 99.1 mph, a pitch that induced a swinging strike of Jose De La Cruz, who is ranked as the Detroit Tigers’ No. 28 overall prospect.
On the season, Perez has pitched 75 innings through 17 starts, three innings shy of what he pitched last season in his professional baseball debut. All of his starts prior to Friday’s minor-league rehab outing have come with Double A Pensacola, which still has one week left in its regular season and has clinched a playoff berth.
Dax does it again
Dax Fulton, a 20-year-old left-handed pitcher and Miami’s No. 9 overall prospect, struck out eight batters over five innings for Double A Pensacola on Friday. All three runs he gave up in the outing came on a three-run home run.
Through three starts with the Blue Wahoos, Fulton has struck out 21 batters in 16 innings while posting a 2.25 ERA and a .127 batting average against.
This and that
▪ In his final 24 games with Single A Jupiter after missing three weeks in the middle of the season for disciplinary reasons, Kahlil Watson posted a .258 batting average with a .801 OPS, 11 extra-base hits (five doubles, five triples, one home run), nine RBI and 14 runs scored. He had six multihit games.
▪ Another name to watch at the lower minor-league levels: Yiddi Cappe. The 19-year-old and top signee from the Marlins’ 2021 international free agent class hit .290 this season through 67 games split among the rookie-level Florida Complex League (30 games) and Single A Jupiter (37 games) with 12 doubles, one triple, nine home runs and 40 RBI. He’s a steady defender as well.
