James Marinan

[Tom Servo]

Figured we could have a thread here for our newest farm addition, who will be reporting to Billings, seperate of what this deal means for the big league club.

Marinan was taken in the 4th round last year and got twice the slot amount to break his Miami commitment. MLB.com had him at #65 overall last year before the draft, here was their writeup:

Every Draft class has what's known as "pop-up" guys, players who may not have registered over the summer or even early in the spring, but then take a leap forward performance-wise, sending scouts scurrying to see them and driving them up Draft boards. Marinan was the perfect example of that in Florida as a spike in velocity raised his profile considerably.

Early on, the big right-hander had been throwing in the 87-91 mph range. He first jumped on the radar when he lit up the radar to 92-96 mph, and sat mostly 94-96 in a two-inning relief stint against powerhouse American Heritage. That put him on a must-see list and when more than 50 scouts arrived to see him throw against lefty standout Jake Eder, his stuff was just as good. He currently throws a hybrid breaking ball that gets stuck in between a slider and curveball, but looks more like the latter with some bite when it's on. Marinan will mix in an occasional changeup, but it's far behind the other two pitches. He stays around the strike zone and should have average control and command in the future.

Marinan's size and arm strength -- he'll show a 70-grade fastball at times -- kept scouts pouring in as the Draft approached. His ability to put together multiple strong outings has moved him into top-three-round consideration.

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2017?list=draft

[dougdirt]

Not sure that Aneurys Zabala needs a thread of his own, but he's a guy that can hit 101 MPH.....

[JaxRed]

Just got up from nap. This was first place I went. Was trying to figure out what the heck you guys were talking about....

[RED VAN HOT]

Not sure that Aneurys Zabala needs a thread of his own, but he's a guy that can hit 101 MPH.....

Always glad to see the Reds get pitchers who can hit, especially those that can hit the high heat.

[Revering4Blue]

I found this detailed scouting report with game video from last Fall.

http://baseballcensus.com/2017/10/13...on-video-2017/

[CRDB40]

Fangraphs had two potential 60+ pitches for Marinan on last year's draft notes (fastball, slider).

Then this from their prospect lists this year:

Marinan is 19, 6-foot-5, and touches 96. His curveball/slider is average.

Also this from last year's draft chat (Longenhagen):

Dodgers take James Marinan, RHP, Park Vista HS (FL)
#52 o nmy board. The strong-bodied Marinan has experienced an uptick in velocity over the last six months and gone from sitting in the upper-80s to sitting 91-94 and touching 96. While his amorphous breaking ball lacks definition, there's some feel for spin there and most scouts think at maturity it will be an average or better slider. Marinan generates good extension and has a great arm action that might portend more velocity and a better changeup.

Excerpt from Baseball America:

Marinan slowly but surely progressed from there, reaching the mid 90s with his fastball, touching 96 and flashing late life down in the strike zone. Marinan's slider flashes the sharp spin to project as at least an average offering, and he shows the ability to backdoor it to lefties or use it as a chase pitch away from righties. Marinan is a strong athlete with a clean arm action and a stable, repeatable delivery.

[klw]

I found this detailed scouting report with game video from last Fall.

http://baseballcensus.com/2017/10/13...on-video-2017/

Looks like he has good stuff but he looks very uncomfortable on the mound. At the start of setting up each pitch, he seems to be really over thinking where to stand and to hold himself. It is not a natural thing for him. I wonder if it was new to him or they were reworking his setup some how.

[IndianaRed]

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/inst...r-dylan-floro/

Marinan is a bit more stable. He has a four-pitch mix glued together by a low-90s sinker and average change that flashes above. He can throw an average curveball for strikes, and the slider can miss bats away from righties when located. He could end up with a bunch of 50s, maybe a 55 changeup and command, and become a solid No. 4/5 starter.

Additional notes and video contained in the link

[REDREAD]

Probably the best guy they ever got for "pool money" .
Hope they get more guys like this, if they have any pool money left.
Much rather get a guy like this than some AAAA guy.

[RED VAN HOT]

MLB.com added him at 17 in the Reds prospect list.

[Tom Servo]

I wanted to throw a little attention Marinan's way. You may or may not recall he was the guy the Reds got when they traded Dylan Floro, and for quite a while that looked like a mistake. Even up until a month or so ago, in fact. But something strange happened in Marinan's last several starts of the season, it was like a switch flipped. In his first 10 starts he was his normal and, quite frankly, bad self. He had a 6.58 ERA and only 39.2 innings to show for those 10 starts. Lots of walks, not many strikeouts, all around poor results. But in late August he finally started striking out more guys than he was walking (a novel concept) and put together 5 appearances (one in relief followed by 4 starts) where he threw 25 innings of 0.72 ERA baseball with 28 strikeouts. And his two best games in this run actually came after getting a promotion to A+ from A ball.

It's a small sample size for sure, but between bringing him along slowly as a teen and Covid his entire career has mostly been a small sample size. What's not small is his size, listed at 6-5, 239lb. Here's hoping whatever he did at the end of 2021 carries over.

[WrongVerb]

Could he be some team's rule 5 pick?

[Tom Servo]

Could he be some team's rule 5 pick?

I guess it's possible if some scouts were bowled over by what they saw but I'd think it's rather unlikely, personally.

[HokieRed]

I've wondered about his Rule 5 status. Will he have to be protected?

[camisadelgolf]

I've wondered about his Rule 5 status. Will he have to be protected?

If he's not protected, he will be exposed.