Could Marlins have batting champs in MLB and minor leagues? Arraez, Edwards have a chance

What Luis Arraez is doing in his first season with the Miami Marlins has been well documented. Even if he fails to become the first player since Ted Williams in 1941 to finish a season with a .400 batting average, he’s still well on pace to win a batting title, which would make him the first player in MLB history to win a batting title in consecutive years but in different leagues.

Down in the minor leagues, meanwhile, a top Marlins prospect is also in the race for a batting title in his first season with the organization.

Xavier Edwards, acquired this offseason along with relief pitcher JT Chargois in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for a pair of pitcher prospects, has been one of the steadiest bats not just in the Marlins organization but across all of minor-league baseball with less than two months remaining in the season.

Through games played Sunday, the switch-hitting Edwards, ranked as Miami’s No. 10 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, leads all qualified hitters across all four full-season levels of the minor leagues (from Single A to Triple A) with a .373 average over 76 games with the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. He also has six home runs, 41 RBI, 69 runs scored and 29 stolen bases in 32 attempts.

Edwards’ batting average is 11 points higher than any other player who has primarily played in Triple A this season. Across all of the minor leagues, only one other qualified hitter has a batting average of at least .370: San Francisco Giants outfielder prospect Wade Meckler, who just got promoted to Triple A this week after spending time in both High A and Double A this season.

And Edwards’ production has picked up mightily over the past month.

Since July 3, Edwards is hitting .453 (53 for 117) with five doubles, one triple, four home runs, 24 RBI, 30 runs scored and 16 stolen bases in 18 attempts across 27 games for the Jumbo Shrimp. He has at least three hits in 11 of those 27 games, including a staggering 6-for-6 performance for the Jumbo Shrimp on Saturday.

His batting average on the season jumped up 30 points this week alone after going 18 for 26 with two home runs, nine RBI and seven runs scored across six games.

Edwards, an alum of North Broward Prep in Coconut Creek who turns 24 on Wednesday, has had two brief stints in the big leagues this year. He hit .381 (8 for 21) with one double, two RBI and four runs scored in nine games played with the Marlins.

He’s primarily a contact-oriented, table-setter type hitter but he got away from that style last season as he tried to hit for more power. Edwards said he has been trying to get back to his old form so he can be “that kind of player that’s exciting to watch.”

The Marlins’ message to Edwards since acquiring him is to play to his strength, using his bat-to-ball skills and speed to lead to success.

Of course, having the prototype for contact hitting in Arraez helps with sending that message. Arraez enters Monday leading MLB with a .375 batting average, 32 points higher than his closest competition in the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. (.343).

“It’s been great to have Arraez having success [because] it’s an easier message on our end,” Marlins director of minor league operations Hector Crespo said last month. “We can tell these guys ‘Hey, this is someone who’s doing it at the big-league level and getting the notoriety he deserves. Let’s continue that course. This is what separates you guys.’”

How Noble Meyer looked in pro ball debut

Right-handed pitcher Noble Meyer, the Marlins’ first-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft last month, made his professional debut on Saturday for the Marlins’ rookie-level Florida Complex League affiliate.

The 18-year-old, who was on a pitch count after not playing in a live setting for more than two months, threw 1 2/3 innings against the FCL Mets, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Meyer worked around a two-out single in the first inning and then got two quick outs in the second before giving up a single and a walk to end his day. Both of those runners scored after Meyer exited the game.

His next start is scheduled for Saturday.

Noble Meyer’s quest to be ‘best version’ of himself continues as Marlins’ first-round pick

This and that

▪ Through his first two weeks with Double A Pensacola, infielder Jacob Berry, Miami’s 2022 first-round pick and No. 2 overall prospect, is hitting .265 (13 for 49) with five extra-base hits (two doubles, one triple, two home runs), 10 RBI, eight runs scored and three stolen bases. Berry has safely reached base in nine of 12 games with the Blue Wahoos, including six of his past seven.

▪ Catcher Joe Mack, Miami’s No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, had his first multi-home run game with the organization on Sunday with the High A Beloit Sky Carp.

▪ Among Miami’s 2023 position player draft picks, outfielder Jake DeLeo (sixth round pick out of Georgia Tech) is had the most early success. He is hitting .306 (11 for 36) with an .825 on-base-plus slugging mark, one home run, seven runs scored, five RBI, and seven stolen bases in seven attempts with Single A Jupiter.