Deep Blue Marlins Prospect Weekly: Williams Dominates at Double-A, Lombard's Power Keeps Popping
By Eric Simmons ·
Deep Blue Marlins Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Marlins farm system.
Five Homers, Eleven RBI, and a Scouting Profile That Needs a Second Look
Max Williams (AA, DH, Rank: 53) had the loudest week in the system by a wide margin. Across 27 plate appearances at Pensacola, he went 9-for-26 with five home runs, a double, and 11 RBI, striking out just once. The raw damage total is stunning, but the context makes it genuinely difficult to process: he is a 50 power grade bat who now has 15 home runs across three levels this season, six of them coming in 32 plate appearances at Double-A. He was a contact-and-on-base profile when the year started, with his hit tool and strike-zone feel doing the carrying. The power was always supposed to be a fringe-to-average piece of the package, present enough to damage a mistake but not the engine that drives the profile.
Over his last 30 days at High-A, he is slashing with a .663 slugging mark and nine home runs in 94 plate appearances, numbers that do not fit neatly into any read of his scouting report. His combined season line across Jupiter, Beloit, and Pensacola sits at .330/.395/.632 with 15 home runs, 37 RBI, and a 9.3 percent walk rate in 205 plate appearances. The swing rate has ticked up to 56.1 percent in the recent stretch, which is aggressive territory, but the contact rate at 69 percent has held steady and the strikeout numbers remain manageable at 16.6 percent on the season. What he is doing does not match the 50 power grade on his card, and the honest answer is that no one fully knows yet whether this is a mechanical adjustment, a stretch of ball-in-play luck, or a real upward revision to his ceiling. He projects as a second-division left fielder with moderate power and solid on-base skill. The last month looks more like a lineup threat than a depth piece, and at 22 years old he has time to make that case stick.
Lombard's Low-A Power Outage Keeps Going
Jacob Lombard (A, SS, Rank: 3) put together another short but violent week at Jupiter, going 5-for-12 with three home runs and six RBI in just 12 plate appearances. The strikeouts are still a part of the story: four punch-outs in those 12 trips, and a 44.6 percent strikeout rate over his last 30 days that is impossible to ignore on an 18-year-old bat. But the power output over that same span is equally hard to set aside. Over his last 30 days, he is slashing .234/.324/.500 with five home runs and 16 RBI in 74 plate appearances, which is a 60 power grade showing up on the field right on schedule for a player whose athleticism, bat speed, and physical projection are all already present.
Lombard is a plus runner with a 55 hit tool and a legitimate everyday shortstop profile, and none of that changes based on a hot week. The contact rate at 65.2 percent in the recent stretch reflects what evaluators have already flagged: swing-and-miss against quality velocity and breaking balls that challenge him up and out of the zone. He has 39 strikeouts in 99 plate appearances on the season, a rate that will need to come down as he climbs. For now, though, he is an 18-year-old in full-season ball posting five home runs in 30 days while staying at shortstop, and the combination of speed, athleticism, and raw power places him comfortably as the organization's third-ranked prospect for a reason. The contact development is the work ahead. The tools are already there to see.
Quick Hits
- Brayden Taylor (AAA, 3B, Rank: 23) · had one of the cleaner weeks among Triple-A position players, going 5-for-21 with two home runs, a double, three RBI, and five walks across 21 plate appearances at Jacksonville. His 21st home run of the season, and his patience at the plate was the real headline: a 23.4 percent walk rate at Triple-A on the season reflects genuine zone feel, not a passive approach. The last 30 days show a .514 slugging mark in 84 plate appearances alongside a 15.5 percent walk rate, a stretch that represents the better version of his 2026 offensive profile. After a .173 average in Double-A last year, the full-season combined .265/.385/.495 line is the rebound everyone was waiting for.
- Cristian Hernandez (AA, SS, Rank: 32) · went 7-for-18 with two home runs, a double, three RBI, and three walks in 18 plate appearances at Pensacola. The power is a noticeable uptick from his profile: a 45 power grade with 13 home runs across 480 plate appearances at Double-A this season. A 60 runner with a 55 field grade and enough arm to stay at shortstop, Hernandez's carrying tools have always been the glove and the legs, with 34 stolen bases on the year backing that up. The over-the-fence output this week does not rewrite the scouting picture, but a 10.8 percent walk rate and improving swing decisions give the offensive side a real foundation.
- Ryan Ignoffo (AA, C, Rank: 51) · went 5-for-15 with two home runs, a double, three RBI, and two walks in 15 plate appearances at Pensacola. The week was a bright spot in what has otherwise been a difficult stretch: his last 30 days show a .196 average and a .268 on-base percentage in 57 plate appearances, well below the pace he set earlier in the season. A 50 hit tool contact bat with a 79.7 percent contact rate on the season, the underlying bat-to-ball skill is still there; the power just does not project as a consistent weapon for a catcher who sits at 45 in that category. The two homers this week were his fourth and fifth of the year in 305 plate appearances.
- Eliazar Dishmey (AA, RHP, Rank: 40) · threw four innings at Pensacola, allowing five hits and three earned runs with one walk and four strikeouts. A rougher outing by his own standards, but the season context at Double-A remains strong: a 3.30 ERA and 32.4 percent strikeout rate in 71 innings at that level, a significant step forward from his A-ball numbers in 2025. His combined 2026 line across both levels sits at a 2.92 ERA and 33.3 percent strikeout rate in 104.2 innings. The command has been cleaner this year, with the Double-A walk rate dropping to 10.2 percent; one bumpy afternoon does not change the arc of what has been a productive developmental season for a 21-year-old arm.
- Manuel Genao (A, RHP, Rank: 28) · turned in five innings of two-run ball at Jupiter, scattering four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. His last 30 days have been the most encouraging stretch of his season: a 2.04 ERA and 31.4 percent strikeout rate in 17.2 innings across four starts, with the walk rate creeping up to 12.9 percent but the results staying positive. His season ERA at 3.67 and 25.2 percent strikeout rate in 108 innings reflect a back-end starter in progress, a 20-year-old sinker-ball arm building innings and experience at an age-appropriate level.
- Carlos Sanchez (A, C, Rank: 6) · went 2-for-10 with a double, two RBI, a walk, and four strikeouts across 10 plate appearances. He is a switch-hitter with 10 home runs between Jupiter and Beloit this season, but a combined .187 average and 23.3 percent strikeout rate in 240 plate appearances reflects the contact concerns that anchor his 40 hit tool grade. The last 30 days have been better at the plate, with a 21.4 percent walk rate and manageable strikeout numbers, but the hard contact has not come consistently. He is 21 years old, and the power flashes are real enough to keep watching; the swing-and-miss is the development question.
- Aiva Arquette (AA, SS, Rank: 4) · went 8-for-29 with a home run, a double, two RBI, and three walks in 29 plate appearances at Pensacola, a week that does not move the needle much given the limited extra-base production. She carries a 60 power grade and a second-division projection at third base, and the power has shown up across the season: 12 home runs in 291 combined plate appearances between High-A and Double-A. Her last 30 days show a .319 average in 102 plate appearances, so the contact has been there; the walk rate at 4.9 percent in that span is the concern for a profile whose ceiling depends on getting to the power in good counts. Eight strikeouts in 29 trips this week keeps the swing-and-miss conversation active.
- Maximo Acosta (AAA, SS, Rank: 49) · was placed on the seven-day injured list by Jacksonville on September 8, with no confirmed diagnosis available. He had appeared in seven games in the 14 days before the placement, going 2-for-22 in 26 plate appearances with one home run and six strikeouts. The season at Triple-A has been a difficult one: a .143 average and .236 slugging mark in 180 plate appearances, with the contact and on-base production well below what the assignment would require. The IL placement adds another interruption to a year that has not gone as planned.