Who is Max Meyer?

22-year-old Max Meyer was selected third overall by the Marlins in 2020 and is ranked the No. 3 prospect in the Marlins system and No. 22 in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline. Here's everything you need to know about the young right-hander.

FAST FACTS
MLB organization: Marlins
Birthdate: March 12, 1999 (Age 22 in 2021)
Primary position: SP
Height/weight: 6-foot, 196 lbs.
Bats/throws: Left/right
Hometown: Woodbury, MN
School(s): Woodbury (Min.) HS; University of Minnesota
Drafted: 3rd overall, 2020 (by MIA)

His professional debut was just about perfect

Meyer's pro debut may have been delayed when the Minor League season had to be pushed back a month, but it didn't seem to bother him. In his first start with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Meyer did not allow a hit until the fifth inning and faced only one batter above the minimum.

He's already a University of Minnesota legend

Meyer was drafted 3rd overall in the 2020 Amateur Draft from the University of Minnesota. Only one other Gopher in program history has been taken so early - Twins legend Paul Molitor. In terms of Big Ten history, the pair trail only Mark Mulder, who went 2nd overall from Michigan State in 1998.

His ties to the Twins don't end with Molitor

On March 6, 2020, just before his final college season was cut short, Meyer struck out 15 Utah Utes, becoming the first Minnesota Gopher to do so since former big leaguer Glen Perkins did it in 2004. It wasn’t an isolated performance, either - Meyer entered that game coming off a start in which he’d fanned 14 North Carolina batters.

He hit one home run in college - and his timing couldn't have been better

Meyer has a great arm, but he might also have a flair for the dramatic. His first and only career home run as a Gopher? A walk-off against North Dakota State.

He was named to Team USA's Collegiate National Team - twice

Meyer was a member of the Team USA Collegiate Baseball National Team as a freshman and a sophomore (2018-’19). He was one of only three players to be named to a second consecutive National Team roster in 2019, alongside Arizona State’s Spencer Torkelson, who would be drafted 1st overall by the Tigers in the 2020 draft, and NC State’s Patrick Bailey, who went 13th to the Giants.

He's been good for a long time

Meyer definitely didn't come out of nowhere. In his senior year at Woodbury HS in Woodbury, MN, he had a 0.79 ERA and struck out 111 batters in 79 1/3 innings. In his freshman year of college, he served primarily as the Gophers’ closer, and tallied a school-record 16 saves before moving to the rotation as as sophomore. In his abbreviated three-year college baseball career, he put together a 2.07 ERA, .182 opponents' batting average, and struck out a whopping 31.5% of batters he faced (187 of 594).

Hockey is still his winter sport

His athleticism doesn’t stop with baseball. A true Minnesotan, Meyer also played hockey in high school, and spent much of the 2020 offseason playing pond hockey back home in Woodbury.