In the 2023 MLB Draft, the Miami Marlins took two big swings.
Those swings cost a combined $8.6 million to acquire a pair of talented high school pitchers. Only one has worked out so far.
To be fair to the Marlins, one has worked out in a big way: Thomas White, a southpaw, is the No. 17 prospect in all of baseball.
The other selection, Noble Meyer, isn’t ranked in any top-100 prospect lists.
MLB.com’s writers revisited the selections in a new article on Thursday. The premise was this: Two years ago, they expected Meyer to be the top prospect in the Marlins’ system by this offseason. Instead, it’s White.
“The Marlins spent a combined $8.6 million to land the best prep right-hander (Meyer) and left-hander (White) in the 2023 Draft, but only the latter has lived up to expectations,” MLB.com writes. “The 10th overall pick out of an Oregon high school, Meyer still has a plus slider but has seen his fastball and control regress significantly, leading to a 4.70 ERA and 114/70 K/BB ratio in 105 1/3 innings in High-A during the last two seasons.”
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Meyer’s chances aren’t totally done of succeeding, but he’s certainly got some work to do.
White, on the other hand, looks like he’ll be a front-end starter in the major leagues, potentially sooner rather than later.
There’s always risk in drafting high school pitchers. There’s simply so much development for them to do.
When the Marlins picked two in such high-profile moves, it was never likely that both reached their full potential.
The fact that White seems on path to reach his is still quite a win for Miami.
