Marlins Prospect Weekly: Cannarella's Five-Double Week, Liomar Martinez Spins Five-Plus Hitless Frames
By Eric Simmons ·
Marlins Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Marlins farm system.
Five Doubles and a 15% Walk Rate: Cannarella Keeps Thriving at Triple-A
Cam Cannarella (AAA, OF, Rank: 4) had the loudest week at the plate among Marlins position prospects. Across 24 plate appearances at Jacksonville, he went 8-for-20 with five doubles, two RBI, and four walks, extending what has been a productive stretch at Triple-A. He is a hit-first, defense-driven center fielder with a 55 hit tool and a 60 field grade, and the doubles align with how his profile is supposed to work: gap-to-gap contact, all-fields approach, consistent barrel. Over his last 30 days at Triple-A, he is slashing .293/.430/.387 with seven doubles and a 16.1 percent walk rate in 93 plate appearances, a stretch that has put his plate discipline on full display even as the home run column has stayed empty. His 40 power grade puts a ceiling on what his slugging line will look like, and in the last month that has shown up, but a .430 OBP at Triple-A is a real outcome.
The full 2026 picture across three levels is striking: a combined .336/.436/.530 slash with 13 home runs, 18 doubles, and 52 walks in 367 plate appearances. He spent time at A+ Beloit, Double-A Pensacola, and now Triple-A Jacksonville, and he has hit at all three stops, with his A+ and Double-A slashes sitting north of .344 and .344 respectively. His 42.1 percent swing rate sits firmly in disciplined territory, and a 77.5 percent contact rate backs up the notion that when he does offer, he makes contact. The arm is a genuine limitation and likely keeps him planted in center, which means the defensive value needs to stay intact as he climbs. He is 22 years old at Triple-A with an everyday center-field projection. The conversation about a MLB debut at some point next season feels less speculative with each week he logs like this one.
Martinez Blanks Beloit: The Curveball Takes Center Stage
Liomar Martinez (A+, RHP, Rank: 46) delivered his best start of the season on Saturday, throwing 5.2 hitless innings against a High-A lineup, walking three, and striking out eight. He got nine swinging misses on 88 pitches, with 42 strikes, and did not allow a run. For a pitcher whose season ERA at Beloit sat at 5.38 entering the week, the outing stands apart from most of what 2026 has looked like. His last 30 days show a different pitcher from the one who opened the year: a 2.53 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 37 strikeouts across 21.1 innings in four starts, with a 37.8 percent strikeout rate against batters faced. The walk numbers in that span are still present at 8.5 percent of batters faced, but the stuff has been dominant enough to work around early-count traffic.
Martinez is 21 years old with a four-seamer that sits 94-97 mph and a curveball graded as his best secondary pitch. The curve is the reason those eight strikeouts happened Saturday; when it is on, it gives him a legitimate put-away option that his other secondaries do not consistently provide. The season-long command grade of 45 reflects the real concern: 56 walks in 95.1 innings at High-A is a number that will not survive a Double-A environment without improvement. His changeup at 45 also leaves the profile a bit thin for a starter projection, and the long reliever or up-down outcome from his scouting report is honest. Recent performance has shown more of a back-end starter candidate than an organizational arm. He is young enough that another full year of development could genuinely move the needle on both the command and the changeup. Outings like this one make the long-reliever ceiling feel undersized, at least for now.
Quick Hits
- Brandon Compton (AA, OF, Rank: 21) · drove in six runs on six hits across 27 plate appearances, adding two doubles, two home runs, and five walks. The strikeout total was heavy at 10, which is Compton in a nutshell: the 60 power and patient approach produce damage, and the 45 hit tool produces punch-outs. His 32nd homer of the season pushed his Double-A line to .341/.431/.778 in 47 games. Over his last 30 days at Pensacola he is slashing .337/.435/.765 with nine home runs and 27 RBI in 25 games, a run that has been as dominant as any hitter in the minor leagues. A Triple-A assignment has to be coming soon.
- Brayden Taylor (AAA, SS, Rank: 25) · went 5-for-21 with a double, two triples, a home run, four walks, and two RBI in 21 plate appearances at Jacksonville. The batting average has been rough at Triple-A, .160 on the season at that level, but the 27.5 percent walk rate tells you the approach is intact and the power plays when he connects. He is a 55 power, 50 hit bat who projects to third base, and over his last 30 days he is walking in 25.6 percent of plate appearances while posting a .407 OBP despite a .190 average. The contact consistency is the piece that keeps the profile from fully delivering on its projection.
- Max Williams (A+, OF, Rank: 40) · went 7-for-25 with two doubles, two home runs, and three RBI in 25 plate appearances at Beloit. He has been the most productive bat in the A+ portion of the system over the past month, slashing .340/.398/.638 with eight home runs over his last 23 games. His nine combined home runs on the season, across A and A+, already far exceed last year's total, and the 50 power grade looks conservative right now. He is an aggressive swinger at 51.6 percent swing rate, but a 17.6 percent strikeout rate suggests the aggression is not costing him much yet. The left-field profile is the defensive destination, and the bat is making a strong case to get there.
- Matthew Etzel (AAA, LF, Rank: 48) · went 5-for-17 with two doubles, two home runs, and six RBI in 17 plate appearances with three walks. The two-homer week pushed his season total to 15 at Triple-A Jacksonville. He is a 45 hit, 45 power bench-profile outfielder whose 60 speed and on-base ability are the carrying tools, and the power output this year has been a pleasant surprise for a profile built more around patience and range. His season OBP at .349 with a 12.8 percent walk rate is consistent with what he showed last year across multiple levels.
- Ethan O'Donnell (AA, CF, Rank: 32) · had an efficient week in the system: 5-for-14 with two home runs and four RBI in 14 plate appearances. His seventh homer of the season was at Double-A Pensacola, against a backdrop of a 15.1 percent walk rate at Triple-A earlier this year. He is a 50 hit, 40 power profile who projects as a fourth outfielder, but the last 30 days at the Double-A level show a .250/.370/.456 slash with four home runs, which is more thump than his grade suggests. The contact rate at 69.1 percent combined is the limiting factor for any ceiling expansion.
- Jared Serna (AAA, SS, Rank: 54) · was limited to 13 plate appearances but made them count, going 4-for-9 with a double, two home runs, and three RBI. His 12th homer of the season at Jacksonville was notable given a 40 raw power grade that does not project meaningful home run production. His season slash at Triple-A sits at .223/.307/.383, and the quad-A projection attached to his profile reflects the limited carrying tools. But four home runs over his last 17 games suggest he has found something in his swing lately.
- Fenwick Trimble (AA, OF, Rank: 49) · collected four hits across 15 plate appearances with a double, a home run, four RBI, and two walks. His 55 hit tool and 40 power grade frame him as a contact-and-speed outfielder, but he is sitting at 15 home runs on the season at Double-A Pensacola, which is already well above what his power grade projected. Over his last seven games, he has slashed .273/.385/.591 with two home runs and just two strikeouts, one of the cleaner stretches of his season from a contact standpoint.
- Victor Ortega (A+, C, Rank: 56) · went just 2-for-9 at the plate in 15 plate appearances this week, but drew six walks to keep his on-base value intact. The six walks are very much on brand for a catcher who owns a 20.9 percent walk rate combined this season across A and A+. He is a 45 hit, 35 power profile, but his .308/.471/.485 combined slash and 83.2 percent contact rate are making evaluators pay attention. Over his last 13 games at the A level, he has slashed .424/.600/.576 with 16 walks and just seven strikeouts in 50 plate appearances.
- PJ Morlando (A, OF, Rank: 19) · homered twice in his 13-plate-appearance week, going 4-for-12 with two doubles, a homer, and an RBI. The raw pop is real, with a 60 power grade, but the 28.6 percent strikeout rate and 65.3 percent contact rate are the friction in the profile. Over his last 20 games, he is slashing .256/.310/.462 with four home runs while striking out in 35.7 percent of plate appearances. He is 21 years old and still in Single-A, so there is time, but the hit tool at 45 has to close the gap with the power for the profile to fully deliver.
- Manuel Genao (A, RHP, Rank: 50) · allowed two earned runs on four hits over five innings, walking four and striking out five. The walk total was the rough part of an otherwise competitive outing. Over his last 30 days, Genao has been among the better starters in the A-ball portion of the system: a 1.86 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 22 strikeouts in 19.1 innings across four starts. His season ERA at Jupiter is 3.77 with a 6.9 percent walk rate, and the sinker at 94-96 mph gives him a genuine foundation pitch. He is 20 years old and improving; the back-end starter projection has legs.
- Nate Payne (A+, LHP, Rank: 44) · turned in 5.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts, generating 20 swinging misses. The 20 whiffs on 91 pitches is a meaningful number for a 91-93 mph lefty, and it explains why the strikeout rate at 31.5 percent combined holds up despite modest stuff grades. His last-30-day walk rate of 16.3 percent of batters faced is a concern and consistent with the 45 command grade attached to his profile. The season ERA sits at 3.65 combined across A and A+, and the stuff plays; the path to a back-end starter outcome runs directly through tightening the walk numbers.
- Josh White (AAA, RHP, Rank: 47) · was placed on the seven-day injured list at Jacksonville on August 25, with no confirmed diagnosis. His last appearance came August 22. White had been one of the more reliable arms in the Jacksonville bullpen, posting a 2.41 ERA across 56 innings in 36 appearances. The timing, late in a full-season workload for a reliever who had already logged significant innings, may be precautionary, but nothing official has confirmed that. His brief MLB stint in 2026 went poorly in a small sample, but the Triple-A track record is strong.
- Dax Fulton (MLB, LHP, Rank: 28) · was recalled from Jacksonville on August 25. Through 19 starts at Triple-A he posted a 5.06 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 58.2 innings; the MLB numbers show a 4.20 ERA across seven appearances and 15 innings. The recall gives the Marlins a southpaw option down the stretch of a lost season, and the development value of big league exposure at 23 years old is real even in a rough context.
- Deyvison De Los Santos (AAA, 3B, Rank: 34) · was recalled to Miami on August 22 and optioned back to Jacksonville on August 24 after nine major league plate appearances. He slashed .333/.333/.444 in that brief cameo. His Triple-A season line sits at .280/.345/.489 with 19 home runs and 18 stolen bases in 409 plate appearances, a genuine power-speed combination that keeps him in the MLB conversation despite the rapid return to Jacksonville. The 60 raw power is the carrying tool, and the full-season home run total at Triple-A already exceeds last year's output at that level.