Jake Marisnick & Anthony DeSclafani: Deep League Wire

It’s a fishy edition of the deep league waiver wire and the first time I’m heading back to the National League after my last three posts recommended two American Leaguers. The Marlins have been aggressive about promoting prospects, which is great for fantasy leaguers in that they keep on providing us with a new shiny toy to analyze.

Jake Marisnick | OF MIA | CBS 8% Owned

After being squeezed out of a starting job again due to a young and crowded Marlins outfield, Marisnick is getting an opportunity again after Christian Yelich was placed on the DL with a lower back strain. The hope is that Yelich will return as soon as he’s eligible, but back injuries are always tricky, so it’s no sure thing. And if Marisnick performs well, there’s always the chance he sticks around as a reserve until injury strikes again.

It’s easy to forget due to all the young talent the Marlins have been trotting out that Marisnick is actually one of their top prospects. Our own Marc Hulet ranked him second in the organization this off-season. He possesses that intriguing blend of power and speed that fantasy owners salivate over. Unfortunately, he severely lacks patience at the plate, as his walk rates in the minors have been rather poor. That limits his offensive value in real life and could hurt his chances of becoming a starter in the long-term.

However, he’s made acceptable contact, has double digit home run power and has the speed to steal over 20 bases over a full season. His BABIP marks have jumped all over the place in the minors, so it’s hard to gauge where he might settle in the Majors. But it’s unlikely he’ll be a real asset in batting average. The power/speed blend is enough though to make him relevant in deeper leagues for as long as he’s getting starts. Once Yelich does return, he could still earn a bit of value in NL-Only leagues.

Anthony DeSclafani | SP MIA | 4% Owned

DeSclafani was one of the beneficiaries of the Marlins’ recent housecleaning efforts. The 24-year-old right-hander was ranked as the team’s sixth best prospect and has posted solid, albeit unspectacular, skill rates in the minors. DeSclafani was up for two starts in the middle of May before being demoted, but don’t let that 5.56 ERA fool you. Although it’s obviously a tiny sample size, the 9/2 K/BB ratio and 3.73 SIERA suggest that he pitched just fine over those two starts.

In those first two starts, DeSclafani was essentially a two-pitch pitcher, complementing his fastball with a slider. There seems to be some confusion over his actual repertoire. The BIS data (in the “Pitch Type” section) believes he just throws a slider. However, PITCHf/x thinks he threw both a slider and a curve ball, while Brooks Baseball argues that he only throws a curve and not a slider! Which is it boys?

The BIS data and Brooks both agree that he thew the changeup about 5% of the time, though PITCHf/x disagrees. Anyhow, the scouting report mentions that his changeup continues to lag behind and given how infrequently he threw it over those two starts (whether 5% or barely 1% of the time), it would appear that he still hasn’t perfected it.

He’s in a home park that suppresses homers and is backed by an offense that has surprisingly scored the sixth most runs in baseball. So all of a sudden pitching for the Marlins is actually a good situation to be in.