Marlins hand out 2021 Minor League awards
MIAMI -- The Marlins on Sunday honored their Minor League Award winners for the 2021 season at loanDepot park. The organization boasts a Top 5 farm system, according to MLB Pipeline.
Dominican Summer League MVP: Yiddi Cappe (No. 15 prospect)
Cappe, who signed with the Marlins in January, slashed .270/.329/.402 with 17 doubles, nine stolen bases, one triple and two homers in 55 games. The 19-year-old Cuban-born shortstop led the DSL Marlins in extra-base hits and RBIs.
Florida Complex League MVP: INF Ian Lewis (No. 26 prospect)
Lewis began his professional career by batting .302/.354/.497 with 10 doubles, nine stolen bases, an FCL-leading five triples and three homers in 43 games. The 18-year-old Bahamian predominately played second base, with some time at third base and shortstop.
Low-A Jupiter MVP: OF Victor Mesa Jr. (No. 18 prospect)
In his first full season, the 20-year-old slashed .266/.316/.402 with 21 doubles, 12 stolen bases, 11 triples and five homers in 111 games. The Cuban-born outfielder was among the Low-A Southeast leaders in average, RBIs (71) and doubles, while leading in triples and hits.
High-A Beloit MVP: OF Griffin Conine (No. 21 prospect)
Conine, the son of "Mr. Marlin" Jeff Conine, finished second in the Minors with 36 homers, including 23 for the Snappers. The 24-year-old earned a promotion to Double-A, though between the two levels he struck out 185 times in 108 games.
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Double-A Pensacola MVP: OF Peyton Burdick (No. 14 prospect)
The 24-year-old set a Blue Wahoos single-season record with 23 homers before being promoted to Triple-A Jacksonville. In his first full season, he slashed .231/.376/.472 in 106 games for Pensacola. Burdick also received Minor League Player of the Year honors.
Triple-A Jacksonville MVP: 1B Lewin Díaz (graduated from prospect status)
Díaz hit .248/.327/.518 with 15 doubles and 20 homers in 74 games for the Jumbo Shrimp with a few Major League callups in between. Entering the season finale, the 24-year-old had four doubles, one triple and eight homers in 39 contests.
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Pitcher of Year: RHP Eury Pérez (No. 6 prospect)
The 18-year-old went 2-3 with a 1.61 ERA in 15 starts for Low-A Jupiter before earning a promotion to High-A Beloit, where Perez posted a 2.86 ERA in five starts. Across 78 combined innings, he struck out 108 batters for a 0.89 WHIP in his first professional season.
Service Man of Year: INF Nasim Nunez, Low-A Jupiter (No. 13 prospect)
Student of Year: RHP Yeremin Lara, Low-A Jupiter
Staff Member of Year: Jose Ceballos, defense coach, Double-A Pensacola
"It was a crazy year," said Geoff DeGroot, director of Minor League operations. "None of us really knew what to expect, a lot of unknown going into the season. No. 1 priority was, 'Let's get a full season in.' So our guys had the opportunity to play and develop playing games. I think the one thing we saw is that both on the pitching side and the position-player side, all of our guys improved throughout the year. It was just constant development, where our hard work and everything finally started to show up. About halfway through the season, these guys really started to take off, so it's really a credit to our entire development staff, all of our coaches for their relentless work, and all of our players as well for their resiliency. All these guys here today just did an incredible job this year."