20-year-old Marlins prospect paving a unique path through Minors
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This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
For an organization that has featured four pitchers on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list (Thomas White, Robby Snelling, Karson Milbrandt and Kevin Defrank) this year, a lesser-known arm received the Marlins’ inaugural Pitcher of the Month honor as part of their Next Wave Awards.
Left-hander Nate Payne recorded a 16 K/9 rate, a 2.50 ERA and a 1.167 WHIP in four games (three starts) for Single-A Jupiter in April. His performance also warranted an early-season promotion to High-A Beloit.
“I was just filling up the zone, and that leads to me getting ahead in the count, into two-strike counts, which then leads to strikeouts and limiting walks, and striking out a lot of guys leads to great success,” Payne told MLB.com last month.
This is exactly what Payne, who ranks as the Marlins’ No. 20 prospect, envisioned when he went against the grain two years ago.
Selected in the 18th round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, Pa., Payne elected to begin his professional career rather than go to George Mason University and boost his stock to become a higher pick next time.
“It was always a dream just to play pro ball, and I figured skipping out on college would get me one step closer to the ultimate dream of playing in the big leagues, and I figured possibly I could get up there quicker,” Payne said.
Payne pitched for both the Florida Complex League Marlins and Single-A Jupiter in 2025 as a 19-year-old, combining for a 3.20 ERA and an 11.7 K/9 rate across 56 1/3 innings and 17 starts. Payne, now 20, opened his 2026 campaign with the Hammerheads and carried that over.
According to MLB Pipeline’s scouting report, the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder can spin two breaking balls (curveball, 60 grade on 20-80 scale; slider, 60 grade) to rack up whiffs and chases from his three-quarters delivery. His changeup (45 grade) is a work in progress and needs to be thrown more for strikes. While his fastball velocity (low 90s) won’t light up the radar gun like others, it has improved each year and has another metric that stands out.
“My fastball is pretty high vert, averaging probably around 18-19 vert, so that helps get some swings under it,” Payne said. “Trying to throw it harder this year than last year. Last year, wasn't throwing it as hard as I am now, and so that's helping again create more whiff.”
Like nearly all prospects, Payne experienced growing pains at a new level. Though he has a 4.44 ERA and a 1.224 WHIP in nine starts, he is trending up at High-A Beloit. Payne has completed six innings in each of his last three starts, allowing just four runs for a 2.00 ERA. He has struck out 23 batters and walked only five in that span.
After seeing how White flew through three levels in 2025, Payne wants to model himself after the Marlins’ top prospect (No. 22 overall) -- just with a different arsenal.
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“The beginning of the season, the ultimate goal is always to put myself in a good spot to then eventually make it to the big leagues,” Payne said. “My goal at the beginning of the season was to end this year in Double-A at least, and that's still the goal. I've gotten one step closer to it being in Beloit, and I just want to continue to do good here and dominate here and get one step closer and get to Double-A by the end of the year, so then next year I'm knocking on the door.”
Not too bad for a guy who should be balancing college courses and baseball.
“I play on Xbox with my friends, and we have group chats and stuff like that, so they're always talking about doing class work and doing homework,” Payne said. “I'm always saying I can't relate, and I'm glad I can't relate, because I don't want to do schoolwork.”