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Miami Marlins Nick Masset makes fans night after stolen ticket mayhem

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After purchasing Lexus President Club tickets (Pretty Expensive) at Nat’s ballpark on Stubhub.com yesterday afternoon, Marlins advocate Jason Tate thought he was finally going to live his dream – Purchasing two tickets for his girlfriend and himself to sit in the Luxurious all-inclusive section right behind home plate (its like winning the Lotto). Unfortunately, when Jason got to the park to watch Marlins batting practice, he nor his girlfriend could get through the gate. They were directed to the Ticket service center at Nationals Park, where they were told that the tickets they purchased were put on Stubhub.com with a stolen credit card and the tickets were voided by Nationals officials. The couple was now told, that if they wanted to attend the game they would have to buy tickets at the gate to be admitted (after receiving no info/refund from Stubhub for their Lexus President seat purchase).

After being completely deflated, dreams crushed, the couple was determined to see the game no matter how far away – buying two cheap nosebleed seats in CF. Jason of course, was still determined to get as close to his team as possible and make the best of a bad situation, so the couple left there far out sits to hang around the Marlins bullpen for the evening.

Even with the deflated feeling, the couple fought the frawns of what could have been to get behind their teams, especially Jason, who spent the whole night lounging by the bullpen to motivate his team. Even with Giancarlo Stanton at the plate in the 9th with two outs and a full count, Jason was pumping up Nick Masset saying, “Take it to them! Stanton’s going long here, be ready!”. Words like that were echoed throughout the Marlins Bullpen all night, as Jason stayed determined to make the best of it.

Unfortunately, Stanton struck-out to end the game, giving Masset no chance to shine in the bottom of the ninth, but that didn’t stop Masset from shining in the eyes of a fan. After the last out was called Nick Masset took the stage, ending the couples night on a positive note:

Editor’s note: I want to thank Nick Masset for being a class act and a great representation of what being a baseball player is all about. Of course its about winning and being the best, but as some often forget its about the fans – the one’s who support you no matter how many games you lose or win, no matter how wet, how cold and how hot. Thank you Nick Masset, A.J Ramos, Bryan Morris, Sam Dyson, Mike Dunn, Steve Cishek and the rest of the Marlins bullpen for proving why everyone should be a Marlins fan. I hope one day I can watch you guys mow down the competition from behind home plate!

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2015 Minor League Report, Arturo Rodriguez, Blake Anderson, Brad Haynal, Miami Marlins

2015 Miami Marlins minor league depth: Catcher

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Yes, it’s true – Baseball Prospectus and the rest of Major League Baseball have dubbed the Miami Marlins the second to last minor league system in the big leagues. But are they wrong? The Marlins did trade away their 2013 first round draft pick (fifth overall) in Colin Moran midway through the season last year to the Houston Astros for players named Jarred Cosart and Kike Hernandez – who has since been traded away again this off-season. Hernandez wasn’t the only youngster on the move though, as the Marlins continued to back up the moving truck, sending top pitching prospects Andrew Heaney to the Los Angeles Dodgers and righty Anthony Delscalfani to the Cincinnati Reds. The Marlins received just one high-ceiling prospect in return, major league doormat-ready reliever Kendry Flores from the Giants. If you combine those roster moves with the loss of mid-level catching prospects Austin Barnes and Chad Wallach, and then look at the Marlins aggressive approach to making minor league promotions, it’s easy to see why Baseball Prospectus and the baseball world in general see the Miami Marlins weak on the farm.

Given that everything I stated above is true, and you find yourself sitting there wondering what I’m going to say next, don’t be concerned. It’s my mission to doubt the doubters and dive deep into the Marlins organizational depth charts, in hopes of proving the nay-sayers wrong by finding hidden gems.

This week I will be diving into the Marlins depth at the catcher position. We already know that Salty will start behind the dish for the Marlins and Mathis will back him up while touted Marlins top prospect J.T Realmuto will play the waiting game.  So let’s look at the best of the rest, because three catchers do not constitute a franchise.

Best of the Rest

Arturo Rodriguez

Call me crazy, but I really like what Arturo brings to the Marlins organization. After signing a minor league contract this off-season, this 6’0″ 235 lbs. Monterrey, Nueva Leon, Mexico native has the build and the bat to make an impact this season. At age 23, he is a long shot to raise through the Marlins prospect ranks, but he put up solid enough contact and power numbers in 2014 with the Toros de Tijuana and Sultanes de Monterrey teams of the Triple-A Mexican League to be ranked above Miami Marlins 2014 first-round CBA pick Blake Anderson.

ARIn the 93 games played in the Mexican League, Arturo started 62 games behind the plate – throwing out forty percent of runners attempting to steal on his arm. He also had 15 starts at first base with a perfect fielding percentage. Not only does his bat show promise, so does his defensive abilities. This makes Arturo Rodriguez a strong candidate to watch in the Marlins minor league system this season.

Blake Anderson

As mentioned in the Arturo summary, Anderson was the 36th overall pick drafted in the first-round CBA by the Miami Marlins out of West Lauderdale HS in Collinsville, Mississippi. Fresh off his 19thbirthday Anderson will look to improve his numbers from his first taste of pro ball.

BALooking at his first year statistics at the plate it’s easy to see what scouts already know: he was drafted for his 6’4″ tall frame, an absolute hose for an arm, and his strong glove hand framing pitches. We all know the fast track to the big leagues for prospect catchers is based on their defensive ability, and Anderson has plenty of ability. The thing to watch though this season will be the comfort and improvement Anderson shows as he handles the bat at the plate. As his body matures and produces more power in his bat we might just have a Baltimore Orioles Matt Wieters comparable player down the line.

Brad Haynal

Brad is a 6’3″ 215 lbs. right-handed swinging 18th round draft pick of the Miami Marlins and the only catchers besides Chris Hoo selected in the 2014 Amateur Draft to have collegiate experience. He played for San Diego State University and this should give him a leg up on the rest of his competition. After crushing the ball his first 30 games for the Batavia Muckdogs, he was quickly promoted up to Low-A Greensboro to end the season splitting time with another 2014 draft selection in catcher Chris Hoo. Take a look in at his stats from 2014:

BH

It’s easy to see why Haynal could easily become a hidden gem for the Marlins. Even if he can’t hide behind his tall frame, Haynal offers advanced defensive abilities behind the plate that no one else in his draft class came in with, with the possible exception of Blake Anderson. It’s Haynals bat though that will carry him up the ranks. Already 23 years-old, he needs to  accelerate his time frame to make adjustments at the minor league level if he hopes to crack the big league roster one day. He is defintely another solid candidate to watch out for this season.

Other Notable Catcher to Watch

Roy Morales/6-foot-1, 210 pounds/Drafted 2014 in the 12th Round out of Colegio Angel David HS, PR.

Chris Hoo/5-foot-9, 190 pounds/Drafted 2014 in the 27th round out of Cal Poly.

*Please feel free to read this article in its original form at http://www.fishstripes.com/2015/3/19/8254347/2015-miami-marlins-minor-league-depth-catcher

Jason Tate writes for SB Nation-Fishstripes (A Miami Marlins News Website). Follow his blog at http://www.marlinsrising.com and on twitter @MarlinsRising.

Miami Marlins

30 Teams in 30 Days: Miami Marlins

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Parsons Report

30teams30days marlinsBy:  Stephen Parsons

In 2014 the Miami Marlins flirted with a winning season as they finished with a 77-85 record.  They finished well behind the division champion Washington Nationals at 19 games.  However they finished just 2 games back of the 2nd place team Atlanta Braves and New York Mets.  A busy off season in Miami has Marlins fans thinking 2015 could be a year filled with excitement and competitive baseball.

The first order of business that Miami conducted in the off season was locking up slugger Giancarlo Stanton to a long term deal.  The two sides agreed to a massive 13 year deal for $325 million.  The deal is back heavy so the Marlins have some flexibility to get better now and pay more of the contract later on.  Stanton put together the best season of his career.  He hit for a .288 batting average with 37 home runs…

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Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins

Letting the Numbers Talk: Does Giancarlo Stanton Even Care?

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Shitty Baseball Graphs

Join us as we use numbers to answer the questions all baseball fans ponder but don’t know how to solve. Our proprietary formulas let us make sense of the mounds of data out there on the inter-webs so we can tell you how to feel about some of your favourite players in the MLB

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This off season Giancarlo Stanton signed the richest contract ever in North American sport. A possible $325 million over the next 13 years of his life. We don’t have to run the numbers on that one to know it’s an ass tonne of money. It has almost unanimously been proclaimed as a great signing for the Marlins club who are looking to compete(ish) this season (just check our predictions of the NL East). But does that mean that it was a good signing over all? We’ll have to ask the numbers about that.

As we’ve previously established

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Giancarlo Stanton, Jarred Cosart, Miami Marlins

Cosart standing out, Stanton primed for huge season

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The Fish Pond

JUPITER, Fla. — Spring Training games have been going on for about a week. With so many players filtering in and out of the lineup each day, it’s difficult to keep track of what really matters.

Here’s basically what you need to know about the Marlins right now:

* Scouts are raving about right-hander Jarred Cosart, who is making a push to be the No. 2 starter. “Top of the rotation stuff,” scouts say.

* Miami hasn’t announced it’s Opening Day starter, but the safe assumption it will be Henderson Alvarez. The rest of the rotation is shaping up as Cosart, Mat Latos, Dan Haren and the fifth starter — Tom Koehler, Brad Hand or David Phelps.

* Still worried about Giancarlo Stanton? Don’t be. Don’t pay attention to his Spring Training numbers, they mean nothing. Right now, Big G isn’t tentative in the box. There is no lingering issues…

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Miami Marlins

Marlins Rising Recap: Rice and Harvey implode as the Marlins explode winning 7-4

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In a star studded starting pitcher’s duel between the Mets Matt Harvey and the Marlins Henderson Alvarez runs surprisingly came cheap early on. The Marlins offense rod the early hot streak at the plate for the rest of the game, finally breaking the game open in the 7th inning against the Mets reliever Scott Rice plating 5 runs off him and leading the Marlins to a 7-4 swing fest victory over the Mets on a sunny Wednesday afternoon at Roger Dean Stadium.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Mets 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 10 3
Marlins 0 1 1 0 0 0 5 0 X 7 11 1

Red’s Recap

Marlins Rising

Bryan Morris

Working a scoreless 6th inning, while freezing Matt Den Dekker for a called third strike and breaking off the slider to strikeout the Mets 2014 #1 draft pick in Michael Conforto. Allowing one ball in play, that was a weak pop up to Jeff Baker at 1B by Brandon Allen. Just doing what he do!

Pat Urckfitz

Teams pay millions for a lefty-reliever to pitch to one lefty a game, and no Urckfitz doesn’t get paid to close that much. What he did do though, was his job. One batter, one strikeout and one dinner bought by Carter Capps for saving his implosion on the mound. Butt tamp engaged!

Christian Yelich

2 for 2 at the dish, smoking a hard grounder and line drive to LF to collect two singles on the day. Nothing else to say except, we expect him to hit and he did. Keep making us proud CY!

Reid Brignac

Taking it to the Mets again this spring, going 2 for 3 at the plate, with two seeing-eye singles, one of which came in the flood gate opening 7th off Scott Rice driving in Justin Bohn for his solo RBI on the day. Someone has no intentions of playing for the Zephyrs.

Don Kelly

If he wants to make the team, it will be as a clutch pitch hitter from the pine. Doing just that yesterday, centering a ground ball up the middle for a single with bases loaded bringing home all three runners aboard. Way to rebound from the last meeting with the Mets, you won’t stay hot at the dish, you won’t!

Marlins Falling

Carter Capps

Yes Capps, we all know you throw cheese, but would it kill you to locate? Walking four batters, allowing one earned and striking out one over .2 innings pitched just isn’t going to get it done.

Brad Hand

Fighting to be the only starting lefty on the staff, he didn’t help himself yesterday. Pitching two innings, gave up two hits, a run scored while walking two batters. We’re pulling for you Hand, so try pulling for yourself!

Follow Jason Tate on twitter @MarlinsRising and at http://www.marlinsrising.com to receive news and analysis on the Miami Marlins. Also, make sure to check back in tomorrow at www.marlinsrising.com to get your full marlins recap of whose stock is rising and whose is falling.

Miami Marlins

Marlins Rising Recap: Phelps Shines in the Marlins 13-2 over the Mets

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1:10 PM ET, March 9, 2015

Tradition Field, Port St. Lucie, Florida

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
MIA 0 6 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 13 12 0
NYM 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 7 1

W: D. Phelps ; L : Z. Wheeler

Game Recap:

David Phelps comes out pounding the strike zone, proving again why he is still a contender for the 5th spot in the Marlins rotation. While the  Marlins offense waited patiently enough allowing Zach Wheeler to make his own mistakes, sparking the Marlins to a comfortable 13-2 victory over the New York Mets on Monday afternoon at Tradition Field.

Marlins Rising:

David Phelps

  • 9/12 1st pitch strikes, 2 K, 3 H, 1 ER, NIL BB in 3 IP; pounded the strike zone all day resulting in one 3-Ball count all afternoon summing up his use of all 51 pitches. Shine on Baby!

Phelps dealing up David Wright

Aaron Crow

  • Allowed 1 Hit over 2 IP; Mowed down the Mets hitters with a hammer-time curveball.

Nick Masset

  • 3/3 1st pitch strikes, 0 H, 0 K, 0 ER, 0 BB; as plain Jayne as we like to see it coming out of the pen. This guy is raising brows in a hurry so far this spring.

Andrew McKirahan

  • Despite starting the 9th shell shocked giving up a lead-off walk, followed by a double off the wall. He let is his sack drag by regaining focus to K 2 out of the next three batters and freeze runners in scoring position.

Reid Brignac

  • 3/4 at the plate, coming up clutch early driving in 4 runs with two singles, and hitting a third single in his final at bat just to make it look easy. Pimpin ain’t easy!

One of Brignac’s many singles on the day

Jordany Valdespin

  • 2/4 at the plate, a weak hustle single and a laser rip down the RF line for a triple combining for 3 RBIs on the day. Showing serious bench junkie potential.

Valdy’s infield Single

Valdy’s triple down LF Line

Avery Romero

  • 1/2 at the plate, HUGE yoke style bomb hit over the LF wall in 1st Despite chasing dust on a curveball in the dirt during his 2nd AB, that HR stats why he is where he is. Stay Hot Kid!

Avery’s 3-Run Bomb

Marlins Falling:

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

  • 1/3 at the plate, besides smoking a single the opposite way through the 6 hole, he looked his same defeated self at the plate K’ing twice in his first two plate appearances on down & in sliders. Can someone teach Pedro Cerrano how to hit a curveball?

Salty & The Whiff

Don Kelly

  • 0/3 at the plate, looking the usual old being burnt up inside for 2 k’s early in the game while everyone else is drawing walks or driving people in, he was reserving a sit on the Triple-A bus for the upcoming season.

Michael Dunn

  • Escaped location problems tossing a shut out 7th inning getting knocked for just one hit. The curveball though, couldn’t catch the chalk on either side of the plate. You’re not irreplaceable, just saying!

Upcoming: Miami vs. Nationals today at 1:05 PM, also make sure to check back in daily at www.marlinsrising.com to find out which players stock is rising and whose is falling for the Miami Marlins.

David Phelps, Miami Marlins

David Phelps Takes The Loss At Arbitration Hearing

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When David Phelps sat down with the Miami Marlins Front Office last month, he was asking for a 1 year deal that would pay him around $2 million for the season.

A deal of that magnitude was never considered by the Marlins organization, sending Phelps to his Arbitration Hearing, where again he came out a loser. Phelps requested $1.875 million from the arbiter hearing his case, but was quickly denied his number and forced to settle for a 1-year deal worth $1.4 million.

Time will tell if Phelps is actually worth the 1.875 million is was asking for, as he will start this season battling for the 5th spot in the Marlins opening day rotation. More than likely he will end up as a long reliever, with the occasional spot start here and there based on how he does coming out of the pen in 2015.