JUPITER, Fla. – Dick Scott took over as the Marlins’ farm director after the 2017 season and he remembers being here in his first Spring Training at Roger Dean Stadium, trying to get a sense of what there was in the farm system he was hired to supervise.

There wasn’t a ton, though the rebuild had begun with the Christian Yelich trade that brought in an influx of talent having gone through right before that 2018 Spring Training. He’s seen the transformation firsthand since that point as the Marlins have gone from a weaker system to one of the best in all of baseball.

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“I think we’re considerably stronger, and that has a lot to do with our most recent Drafts and players we’ve acquired in trades,” Scott said. “We’ve also done a good job of identifying players who were put on waivers, or signing six-year free agents, and I don’t want to discount our Latin American effort, but I think mostly the trades and the Drafts have gotten us a lot better.”

When he first walked in the door, Scott and others new to the organization thought there was some pitching depth, but the crop of hitters was a little light. That Yelich trade brought in toolsy players like Lewis Brinson and Monte Harrison, then more came last year in trades and a strong 2019 Draft.

“I think that’s vastly improved with the trades we made last year, getting Jazz Chisholm, Lewin Diaz and Jesus Sanchez,” Scott said. “Plus we had a Draft full of players like JJ Bleday, Peyton Burdick and Kameron Meisner, among others. We’ve added a lot of good players.”

That’s not to say Miami's pitching hasn’t improved also. But sometimes you can get better from within. When Scott first started, he didn’t know much about lefties Braxton Garrett or Trevor Rogers and right-hander Jordan Holloway, because all three had injury setbacks. Rogers made it back in 2018, but it wasn’t until after the season that Scott really got a sense of what they had. And then to see them at instructs and more so in 2019, it was as if a pitching gift had been bestowed on the organization.

“All of a sudden, we have these three new pitchers here,” Scott said. “Our first evaluation was that our pitching was pretty good and we weren’t even counting any of those three guys because we hadn’t seen them. It’s like making a trade for guys. Holy cow, we have three more studs coming into this already solid group of pitchers here. It’s really exciting.

“All of those guys are going to be fine. That first year coming off of Tommy John, it’s all about can I get through 20-25 starts healthy without worrying about the elbow?' I talked to Garrett recently after he threw a live BP in big league camp and asked him how he was feeling, and he said it was the best his arm has ever felt.”

Prospect we’ll be talking about in 2021
Peyton Burdick had a very big career at Wright State, including hitting .407 as a junior, leading to him being a performance-based third-round pick of the Marlins as part of the organization’s continuing effort to bring in more bats. His pro debut was nothing short of extraordinary (.307/.408/.542), as he was chosen the MVP of his Midwest League team even though he didn’t get there until late June. Scott doesn’t think the team’s No. 14 prospect will be a one-hit wonder, either.

“This guy is just a bulldog,” Scott said. “He’s a combination of a grinder and being skilled. He came into minicamp last year after he was drafted, and as soon as he took BP, it’s a different sound. He’s strong. “Then the thing that really caught my eye was when it was his group’s turn to go shag, he’s out there getting every ball he can off the bat. I’m thinking, ‘OK, is this just eye wash the first day?’ No, it’s like every day. I like the way he plays, he’s very focused and driven and he has that mentality that he’s not going to be denied. I think he’s going to have a big year.”

Camp standout
When the Marlins acquired Jazz Chisholm from the D-backs in the Zac Gallen trade, he was a little lost at the plate, hitting just .204/.305/.427 with a 33.8 percent strikeout rate, albeit with 18 homers in 89 games. When Scott, general manager Mike Hill and CEO Derek Jeter paid him a visit post-trade, they could tell he was struggling a bit, though the confident prospect certainly didn’t want to admit it.

“He was hooking everything,” Scott said about Chisholm’s at-bats. “We all talked to him about trying to use the middle of the field. It was a new organization and here’s Derek Jeter. It was a lot of chatter but he didn’t feel the confidence. It was more chatter than confidence.”

The Chisholm in big league camp, his first Spring Training with the Marlins, has been different. Scott sees confidence and, perhaps more importantly, sees him working on his approach at the plate.

“He’s been swinging it well, his BPs have been good,” Scott said of Chisholm, who has gone 3-for-11 with a double in Grapefruit League action. “He’s a strong guy. The ball jumps off his bat, and that’s to the opposite field as well. He’s looked very good here in camp. He’s had good at-bats in games and made some nice defensive plays. He’s a tooled-out guy; it’s just a matter of getting it under control and getting it consistent for him to play in the Major Leagues.”

Something to prove
Victor Victor Mesa came into Spring Training in 2019 with a lot of fanfare and high expectations, largely because of the attention brought to a guy who had signed a $5.25 million bonus, a franchise record for the organization for a hitter. To say he didn’t live up to the hype in his first year would be an understatement. The outfielder had a .527 OPS in 2019, then did hit .271 in the Arizona Fall League, but without much impact (.626 OPS). Scott thinks that’s going to change in 2020.

“Honestly, he was overwhelmed by what was going on here. It wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t played in a year and a half. I don’t care who you are, if you’re out that long, it takes a while. He went to big league camp and I honestly think that in his mind, he didn’t think the players were going to be as good as they were.

“It took him a while to get comfortable here, but towards the end of the year, it was much better. We got him to Double-A, he went to the Fall League. I think he’s going to have the year we anticipated. He feels so much more comfortable now about who he is and what he needs to do.”