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Florida Marlins won't rush top prospect

The Marlins want young power hitter Mike Stanton to get healthy and improve before promoting him to the major-league club.

 

JUPITER -- A year ago on these same practice fields surrounding Roger Dean Stadium, a 19-year-old Mike Stanton made quite the impression in his first spring with the big-league club.

 

The 6-5, 240-pound right fielder and former second-round pick belted towering shots so far, it became the talk of camp.

 

Coming off two pro seasons in which he has hit a minor-league-best 67 home runs, one might imagine the Marlins might be eager to see what the top prospect in the organization (tabbed the third best in all of baseball Wednesday by Baseball America) could do against big-league pitching come April.

 

But the Marlins -- and Stanton, who turned 20 last November -- aren't in much of a rush.

 

``The whole goal of the spring is to get him totally healthy and ready to play,'' said Jim Fleming, Marlins vice president of player development and scouting. ``I can't say we have any plan for him. He'll probably go back to Double A at the end of the spring and play and see how it goes. We generally kind of let the players let us know when they're ready to move. The biggest thing with Mike is getting healthy and playing better.''

 

And Stanton has no problem with that, especially since he is just beginning to feel healthy again. Last October, while playing in the Arizona Fall League, Stanton said he felt a jolt in his back after taking a swing. It turned out to be a hairline fracture of his vertebrae, an injury Fleming said ``sounds a lot worse than it really is.''

 

After six games and 23 at-bats in which he hit .478 in the AFL, Stanton shut it down and returned home to California where he did nothing but rest and rehab. It wasn't until he arrived in Jupiter Feb. 3, Stanton said, that ``I even began running or doing anything on the field.''

 

``All I could do for a few months was take it easy,'' Stanton said.

 

The Marlins want Stanton to work on several things -- softening and shortening his stride and cutting down on strikeouts. After batting .294 with 12 homers, 39 RBI and a .390 on-base percentage in 50 games with Single A Jupiter last year, Stanton struggled some after being promoted to Double A Jacksonville.

 

In 79 games in Jacksonville, he hit .231 with 16 homers and 53 RBI. But his 99 strikeouts in 341 at-bats and .311 OBP stood out like a sore thumb.

 

``Being patient in at-bats is the No. 1 thing I need to work on,'' Stanton said. ``I need cut down the strikeout to walk ratio and have better at-bats.''

 

His teammates say they've definitely seen a difference in Stanton's maturity. Veteran infielder Wes Helms, who refers to Stanton as `Man-Child,' said what impressed him most about Stanton is ``his character and his mental makeup.''

 

``He doesn't walk around here like he's got 10 years in the big leagues or if he's the man just because some magazine says he will be,'' Helms said. ``He doesn't walk around here like he wants every thing handed to him. He works. He's an overall nice guy who pulls for his teammates. He does all the things you want a young kid to do.''

 

A three-sport star coming out of Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Stanton said he spends most of his time off at camp sitting in his room watching reality TV. His favorite shows? The History Channel's Pawn Stars and TruTV's Operation Repo.

 

``During spring training, we have eight- and 10-hour days,'' Stanton said. ``When I get home, I just like to kick back and watch TV. I like the History Channel a lot because I feel like it's the stuff I would be learning if I went to [uSC].''

 

Catcher John Baker said it's just a matter of time before Stanton starts making regular appearances on TV himself.

 

``You look at him and if he can put it all together, you're talking about a Dave Winfield-type player,'' Baker said. ``He can do everything. What you never know in baseball is how is somebody going to handle it and respond mentally when there are 50,000 people and the lights come on. We won't know until we see him do that. But I guarantee you he gets there.''

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/25/1500998/florida-marlins-wont-rush-top.html

The earliest I even see him getting big league time is probably summer of 2011

The earliest I even see him getting big league time is probably summer of 2011

 

Sounds about right, or maybe opening '12 if we keep Cody for '11.

Good, let Stanton develop his skills in the Minors. Nothing worse than rushing a top prospect and never reaching their full potential.

I think the organization is taking the proper course on this. That said if he's putting up absolute beast numbers in Jax and the Marlins are still in contention I think we'll all see him real soon!

Sounds good to me, plus I'll get to watch him all season in Jax. :thumbup

I think the organization is taking the proper course on this. That said if he's putting up absolute beast numbers in Jax and the Marlins are still in contention I think we'll all see him real soon!

 

I don't think so. Unless Ross, Maybin or Coghlan are doing bad(unlikely) there is no reason to bring him up. The only promotion he will be getting this season if he's dominating AA is to AAA.

I think the organization is taking the proper course on this. That said if he's putting up absolute beast numbers in Jax and the Marlins are still in contention I think we'll all see him real soon!

 

I don't think so. Unless Ross, Maybin or Coghlan are doing bad(unlikely) there is no reason to bring him up. The only promotion he will be getting this season if he's dominating AA is to AAA.

Like the article says, they don't to rush him. That means no Majors this season.

Probably been said before at some point, but just to re-iterate the potential, Frisaro tweeted earlier that "Marlins insiders see Stanton as a future 40 HR, 120 RBI, .270 hitter. Morrison seen as a .310 hitter, 25 HR, 90 RBI guy. Exciting prospects."

Probably been said before at some point, but just to re-iterate the potential, Frisaro tweeted earlier that "Marlins insiders see Stanton as a future 40 HR, 120 RBI, .270 hitter. Morrison seen as a .310 hitter, 25 HR, 90 RBI guy. Exciting prospects."

 

Yeah, I read it when he posted it. That's some amazing numbers...and I do think Morrisons RBI's will be in the 100's. Specially when you have Coghlan, Maybin, Hanley(no specific order) batting in front of him.

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