While Jesús Sánchez got off to a torrid start at Triple-A Jacksonville, the same could not be said for JJ Bleday at Double-A Pensacola. In the first month, Bleday slashed .141/.284/.235 in 24 games. It was not what MLB Pipeline's No. 15 overall prospect envisioned entering 2021, but it didn't deter him or the Marlins.

"It's so early. It really is. They have so few at-bats, and we can look up a couple of weeks from now and it could just as easily be Jesús is now struggling and JJ and [Peyton] Burdick and these guys are just going off," director of Minor League operations Geoff DeGroot told MLB.com last month. "It can change that quickly, and these guys know that. They're in a really good place, and the good thing about all of them is that you know they're continuing to work."

On Monday, Bleday was named the Double-A South Player of the Week after slashing .318/.375/.682 with two homers and five RBIs. He has hits in five of six games this month, and four of his nine extra-base hits this season have come in June. It's as though DeGroot spoke it into existence -- or perhaps it's simply because the 23-year-old Bleday is talented and the long baseball season has its ebbs and flows.

With general manager Kim Ng in attendance on Saturday for Pensacola's 4-1 win over Mississippi, Bleday missed on the changeup his first two times at the plate. An antsy Bleday then made an in-game tweak, realizing he was too early and pulling off a little bit. It worked, as he connected on a hanging changeup and sent it over the right-center-field wall for a two-run homer in the sixth inning.

"I've been feeling pretty good; I've been feeling confident," Bleday said. "I made a few adjustments and just been kind of trusting my swing a little bit more and doing my best to attack the right pitches and stay in the zone and execute. Just being a little earlier, make sure I'm on time and trusting that my hands are going to get to that spot. Wherever it's pitched, trusting the direction and staying on the inside part of the ball."

Even during his early-season struggles, there were signs that Bleday could snap out of it. He could take solace in hard contact as well as reaching base without the benefit of a hit. In May, he walked in 13 of 24 games, notching multiple free passes in four of them. In June, Bleday has just three strikeouts in 24 plate appearances.

"I think quality of contact is a big one -- how hard they're hitting the ball and how consistently hard they're hitting the ball," DeGroot said. "I think how often they're striking out, how often they're walking is a pretty good indicator, and what their swing decisions are at the plate. Are they swinging at good pitches? Are they expanding the zone on bad pitches? I think those are all things that we look at, as well as video, seeing what the actual swing mechanics and timing and everything looks like."