MLB The Show 19: Miami Marlins Player Ratings, Roster, Lineups, & Farm System

Established in 1993 as the Florida Marlins, are yet to win an NL East division title. That might be expected for such a young team, but thanks to the wildcard they have made the playoffs. In 1997 the 92-70 Marlins won a wildcard spot and behind Moises Alou, Gary Sheffield, and Kevin Brown they rolled through the playoffs and into the World Series, eventually beating the Cleveland Indians 4-3.

That triumph, in their first winning season, was a shock and the next season the Marlins suffered their first 100-loss season, seemingly confirming their luck. The Marlins wouldn't finish with a winning record again until 2003, when they would again claim a wildcard spot thanks to Ivan Rodriguez, Derrek Lee, Mike Lowell, and Josh Beckett. The Marlins would beat the Chicago Cubs in the famous Bartman game and go on to make the World Series against mighty New York Yankees, which they would eventually claim 4-2. A second World Series in their second winning season and in just their 11th season...

Since then though the Marlins have struggled. Just four winning seasons despite having players like Miguel Cabrera and Giancarlo Stanton on the roster. They haven't been back to the playoffs since their 2003 victory, and while the team changed their name to Miami in 2012 their level of play has not improved. A recent change of ownership has seen a fire sale of quality and exciting players, leaving the team in full rebuild mode. Can you take over and drive them forward to the playoffs once again?

*All stats correct at time of writing

Team Rating

MLB The Show 19 doesn’t provide a single team OVR to compare ball clubs like other sports games. Instead, you get a team ranking that gives you a placement within the Majors, while there are sub-rankings for various parts of your team like pitching and speed. This has the benefit of showing you exactly where a team sits within the league, but it doesn’t show you the exact gap in performance between two teams.

The Marlins start franchise mode ranked a lowly 29th. Their strength is their 15th ranked speed and 19th ranked defense, but there are plenty of holes here. Their pitching ranks 27th, with their power 26th and contact 25th.

Financially the Marlins are a very small market team. Their team budget of $102 million is tiny, and will make it very tricky to build a competitive roster with free agent signings. There are some pieces on the current Marlins roster that you could build around though. Who are they?

Starlin Castro, Second Base (82 OVR)

Age: 29

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract: 1 year/$8.6 million

Secondary Position: SS

Hitter Tendency: Whole Field

Best Stats: Durability (94), Contact vs L (79), Contact vs R (74), Arm Strength (73), Vision (69), Clutch (66), Fielding (66)

Starlin Castro got his MLB debut with the Chicago Cubs in 2010. He hit .300 with 10 steals and good defense as a rookie, adding some pop with 10 homers and amassing 207 hits in 2011 as he claimed his first All-Star appearance. In 6 years with the Cubs Castro was a .281 hitter and averaged 10 homers a year, but when he moved to the Yankees in 2016 Castro took advantage of the stadium to hit 21 homers. He moved to Miami for the 2018 season.

In The Show 19 Castro has terrific durability (94) and good contact skill (74/79) at the plate. In the field Castro is ok (fielding 66) and has a reasonable arm (arm strength 73, arm accuracy 65), along with nice speed (54). He has solid vision (69) at the plate too as well as good skill in the clutch (66). 

Drew Steckenrider, Relief Pitcher (81 OVR)

Age: 28

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract: 1 year/$575,000 + 1 year renew + 3 years arbitration

Pitches: 4-Seam Fastball, Slider, Changeup, Curveball

Best Stats: K/9 (90), Break (80), Velocity (76), H/9 (76), Arm Strength (75), Clutch (70)

Drew Steckenrider was an eighth-round pick for the Miami Marlins in 2012 and got his MLB debut with them in 2017, pitching 34.2 innings with a 2.34 ERA and 54 strikeouts. In 2018 He was a more involved piece of the bullpen, throwing 64.2 innings with a 3.90 ERA and 74 strikeouts. 

In The Show 19 Steckenrider is a strikeout machine (90) thanks to a nice combination of break (80) and velocity (76). That comes together with solid control (58) and good play in the clutch (70). He does struggle with walks (45) though.

Brian Anderson, Third Base (79 OVR)

Age: 25

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract: 1 year/$575,000 + 1 year renew + 3 years arbitration

Secondary Position: 1B, 2B, LF, RF

Hitter Tendency: Whole Field

Best Stats: Durability (97), Clutch (95), Arm Strength (77), Contact vs R (74), Fielding (73), Discipline (71), Reaction (68), Vision (66), Contact vs L (65)

Brian Anderson was a third-round pick for the Marlins in 2014 and got his MLB debut in 2017, playing 25 games with a .262 average. In 2018 he was an everyday player for the Marlins, hitting .273 with 11 homers, 34 doubles, and solid defense.

In The Show 19 Anderson has terrific durability (97) and is excellent in the clutch (95). He brings solid contact skill (74/65) to the plate along with ok vision (66) and discipline (71). He is ok with the glove (73) and has ok arm strength (77) too.

Miami Marlins MLB Roster

In The Show 19 there can be some small fluctuation in a players OVR from save to save, however the underlying stats are always the same so the production and performance is often equal across saves. We will start our look at the Marlins MLB roster with their position players and then move onto the pitchers.

The Marlin MLB roster has 13 position players and 12 pitchers. That is your 8-man lineup with a 5-man bench and a 5-man rotation with a 7-man bullpen.

There isn't a lot of offense in the Marlins lineup. What there is will come from the bats of Starlin Castro (contact L 79, contact R 74), Pedro Alvarez (power R 78, power L 74), Jorge Alfaro (contact R 74, clutch 69). They are supported by Brian Anderson (clutch 95, contact R 74), Miguel Rojas (vision 88, contact R 67), and Curtis Granderson (discipline 93, power R 73).

The Marlins do have some solid gloves in the field. Jorge Alfaro (arm strength 99, fielding 64) and Bryan Holaday (arm accuracy 89, fielding 77) are a nice combination behind the plate. Miguel Rojas (fielding 77, reaction 71) and JT Riddle (fielding 73, arm strength 72) can make the middle infield and Brian Anderson (arm strength 77, fielding 73) is good at third.

The Marlins starting rotation is not good. Trevor Richards (break 92, stamina 74) tops the rotation but he is far from a real #1 option. Wei-Yin Chen (stamina 75, break 69) is the #2 but he's more suited to a long relief role. Jose Urena (velocity 91, break 80) has some potential, as does Pablo Lopez (stamina 84, break 75). Dan Straily (stamina 80, break 77) will need to eat innings to earn his #5 spot in the rotation.

The bullpen is anchored by Drew Steckenrider (K/9 90, break 80) but he can't pitch every day. behind him is veteran Sergio Romo (break 78, K/9 77) and Caleb Smith (break 96, velocity 70) as well as Adam Conley (velocity 82, break 73). Both Smith and Conley have the stamina to take over a game early and pitch multiple innings which is nice. Tayron Guerrero (velocity 99, K/9 74) is a flamethrower with little control while Austin Brice (velocity 73, break 66) will struggle and Elieser Hernandez (stamina 68, velocity 57) is your long man.

Lineups

MLB The Show 19 gives you 4 lineups to set. They are against right-handed pitchers with and without the DH and against left-handed pitchers with and without the DH. As the Marlins are in the National League most of their games will be without the DH.

Against righties without the DH The Show 19 puts 2B Starlin Castro in the lead-off spot, with SS Miguel Rojas and 3B Brian Anderson next. LF Curtis Granderson hits #4, followed C Jorge Alfaro, 1B Neil Walker, RF Gabby Guerrero, and CF Magneuris Sierra. With the DH JT Riddle enters the lineup and hits #8.

Against lefties without the DH the top three are the same, but Pedro Alvarez comes in at 1B and hits #4, followed by Alfaro and new RF Peter O'Brien. Granderson and Guerrero round out the lineup. With the DH Gabby Guerrero leaves the field and Sierra takes the CF spot and hits #9.

These lineups are ok, but we can do better to help maximize the runs from this offense.

We need Pedro Alvarez's power in the lineup despite his poor contact ability, so against righties he takes over 1B from Neil Walker, who moves into his secondary position of RF and Magneuris Sierra is demoted to the bench. Starlin Castro still leads off but Brian Anderson will hit #2, with Curtis Granderson next and Alvarez hitting #4. Miguel Rojas drops to #5 and is followed by Jorge Alfaro, Walker, and Gabby Guerrero. With the DH JT Riddle comes into the lineup and hits #8 but will play 2B while Castro DHs.

There isn't much spare impact against lefties on the bench, so the best we can do is shuffle around the order. Castro and Anderson still lead the order, but Alvarez will hit #3 now, with Alfaro next and and then Peter O'Brien. Rojas hits #6, followed by Granderson and Guerrero. With the DH Neil Walker will come in and hit #9.

Farm System

The Minor Leagues can be frustrating in MLB The Show 19. The fluctuations in OVR also happen in potential, which massively effects young players. There is also a lack of some real life prospects which means you can’t just lean on your favorite scout to do the work for you. The underlying player stats are still the same for Minor Leaguers though, and that means there are some useful players in the Marlins farm system.

Alejandro Cortez, Left Field (71 OVR)

Age: 21

Potential: C

Throws/Bats: L/L

Secondary Position: CF, RF

Hitter Tendency: Whole Field

Best Stats: Baserunning Aggressiveness (85), Contact vs R (76), Speed (72), Clutch (71), Vision (68), Stealing (67), Durability (65)

The Marlins need all the offensive help they can get, and one prospect who isn't too far away from being able to provide that is Alejandro Cortez. The young lefty already has good contact skill (76/58) and is good around the bases too (speed 72, stealing 67). He has good vision (68) for a young player and can hold his own with the glove (arm strength 61, fielding 56).

Brandon Quintana, Starting Pitcher (61 OVR)

Age: 18

Potential: C

Throws/Bats: R/R

Pitches: 4-Seam Fastball, Slider, Changeup, Splitter

Best Stats: Break (80), Stamina (71), Fielding (65), Arm Strength (64), H/9 (64), Velocity (63)

The Marlins need talent in the starting rotation, and Brandon Quintana could provide that. The teenage prospect already had good break (80) and nice stamina (71). He has good control (54) for such a young pitcher and ok velocity (63) too, all of which should improve with time in the Minors and help his poor strikeouts (30)and HR rates (40) improve.

Henry Campos, Starting Pitcher (60 OVR)

Age: 19

Potential: B

Throws/Bats: R/S

Pitches: 4-Seam Fastball, Slider, Changeup, 12-6 Curve, 2-Seam Fastball

Best Stats: Break (90), Stamina (86), Velocity (73), K/9 (65), H/9 (56), Clutch (51)

Another potential starter for the Marlins is Henry Campos in AA. He already has impressive break (90) and stamina (86) as well as good velocity (73). The only major downside is a general lack of control (49) but he has time to improve that and once he does you should consider him for a call-up.

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