With an improved farm system and a need for MLB progress comes a Marlins balancing act

The Miami Marlins have finally gotten to the point where they have decisions to make.

They’re two years into their rebuild under the Bruce Sherman/Derek Jeter ownership group and their minor-league system has been replenished with talent. A large contingent of players Miami sees as key to its success are projected to make their major-league debuts over the next two seasons.

“You’re talking about our future,,” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said Tuesday at the second day of MLB’s annual winter meetings.

But sooner than later, the future is going to have to become the present.

The honeymoon period is only going to last so much longer. Improvements need to be addressed in order to avoid another 100-plus-loss season.

And with a relative surplus of rising prospects, that means Hill and the Marlins have a juggling act on their hands and decisions to make.

Which players do they prioritize keeping as part of the long-term plan?

And which ones could ultimately become trading chips down the road or potentially in the near future as they continue their goal to add another impact position player or shore up their bullpen?

“We’re not afraid to make trades, obviously, if it makes sense for us,” Hill said. “I don’t think that’ll change.”

They have the pieces.

The Marlins have six of baseball’s top 100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline. Their top five — pitcher Sixto Sanchez (No. 22 in MLB); outfielders JJ Bleday (No. 29), Jesus Sanchez (No. 51) and Monte Harrison (No. 83); and shortstop Jazz Chisholm (No. 54) — have all entered Miami’s system under the new leadership group. All but Bleday, Miami’s 2019 first-round pick, could play in the big leagues at some point this year.

But their possible trade chips extend beyond those top players.

Exhibit A: Jerar Encarnacion.

The 22-year-old outfielder who the Marlins signed as an international free agent in 2015 has quickly morphed into one of the Marlins’ top power-hitting prospects. He hit 16 home runs and drove in 71 runs last season over 135 games split between the Class A Clinton Lumberkings and Class A Advanced Jupiter Hammerheads.

He followed that up by impressing at the Arizona Fall League, finishing the month-long fall league hitting .271 with four home runs, 20 RBI and 11 runs scored over 70 at-bats and sealing the Salt River Rafters’ championship with a go-ahead grand slam in the title game.

In one year, he went from a no-name minor-leaguer to the club’s No. 17 overall prospect — which still only ranks him as the seventh-highest outfielder in the Marlins’ system.

“Whenever you go to the premium prospect league in baseball and you perform, you’re going to increase your value,” Hill said. “He has been a name. ... I think people recognize that our system is really deep and they can stay away from our top 15 and still ask for a very good player. That’s the part of just managing your players.”

Exhibit B: Easton Lucas.

The Marlins drafted the 23-year-old pitcher out of Pepperdine in the 14th round of the 2019 MLB Draft. He posted a 3.63 ERA with 41 strikeouts against just nine walks in 34 2/3 innings in his first taste of professional baseball, mostly at short-season Class A Batavia.

Five months later, the Marlins traded the Day 3 draft pick to the Baltimore Orioles for versatile infielder Jonathan Villar and provided an immediate upgrade to their major-league lineup for the 2020 season.

“You just never know how other organizations value your players,” Hill said. “... One thing that we always challenge our guys is that there’s always big leaguers on Day 3. You don’t know where they are. You don’t know who they are, but they’re guys that will either play in the big leagues for you or in the case of Lucas may allow you to access a piece that will help your major-league club.”

As for the prospects the Marlins keep, the goal is to find that balance between giving them an opportunity and making sure they’re ready for what it takes to play at the MLB level.

“We want to do what’s right by our prospects and give them time to develop and mature so that they can be the players that we think they can be,” Hill said. “At the same time, we need to win games at the major-league level.”