Analyzing the Marlins' 2023 Rule 5 Draft picks

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Today is Dec. 7, 2023. Opening Day isn’t until March 28, 2024.

The Winter Meetings were relatively quiet across the board, but there is plenty of time for the Marlins and other clubs to make moves. I recapped where things stand for Miami here, but I didn’t get a chance to dive too much into the Rule 5 Draft.

The Marlins didn't select anyone during the Major League phase, but they chose five players in the Minor League portion, where Miami has had recent success (Dane Myers, 2022; Charles Leblanc, ’21). Remember that the organization lost a handful of prospects in Deadline trades to acquire MLB talent for the postseason chase, so this was a chance to fill out the system.

“I think it's the confidence in our pro scouting group, too,” director of Minor League operations Hector Crespo said. “I think anybody that was on that list that they had, we wanted to make sure that if there was a spot for them, we could inject in the system. I think it's confidence, and then obviously when you lose good players, you want to bring in talent as well. So kind of a mixture of both.”

Here’s a breakdown of each player:

1B/OF Yeral Martinez, 21 (NYM)
2023 stats: .239/.328/.399 with 13 doubles, two triples and nine homers in 86 games at Single-A
Crespo’s take: “He was No. 1 on our list, so it was pretty cool to get the No. 1 guy on our list. An intriguing power bat. We’ve seen him a bunch in the Mets’ system. Saw him in St. Lucie, had enough of him hitting home runs off of us, so it was nice to inject a power bat like that into the system and [we're] really excited to see what he possesses.”

OF Marty Costes, 27 (HOU)
2023 stats: .252/.366/.389 with nine doubles, four triples and two homers in 53 games at Triple-A
Crespo’s take: “[Assistant general manager] Oz Ocampo has some familiarity with him with his time there, so [he] spoke really highly of him, but [he] had some good performance in Triple-A this year. Extremely good swing decisions (24 walks, 36 strikeouts) and bat-to-ball [skills], so that was good just for our depth in the outfield in the upper levels.”

1B/3B Sean Roby, 25 (SF)
2023 stats: .239/.306/.474 with nine doubles, two triples and 14 homers in 65 games between Rookie, High-A and Double-A levels
Crespo’s take: “I might be really excited about Roby just because I've seen some of the swing characteristics and the power. Third base, first base, but I just think power bats is something that we're a little bit of in need of, so I was happy to get him.”

LHP Adam Laskey, 25 (CHC)
2023 stats: 3.14 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 17 walks in 48 2/3 innings at High-A; 1.00 ERA with 15 strikeouts and two walks in nine innings in the Arizona Fall League
Crespo’s take: “Our scouts liked him a good bit seeing him pitch in the AFL. Strike-thrower, three-pitch mix, with above-average ground-ball rate.”

RHP Julio Dilone, 23 (SEA)
2023 stats: 9.00 ERA with 25 strikeouts and 19 walks in 18 innings across 16 outings at Rookie level
Crespo’s take: “Power arm, 97-98 [mph] for the Mariners. Had some scouts see him there towards the end of the Arizona League. Intriguing fastball characteristic, so if we can get him to be more in the zone, which with our pitching development and how well those guys go about their business, hopefully, he can strike fire.”