Marlins To Promote Griffin Conine
The Marlins will promote outfield prospect Griffin Conine before their game against the Rockies on Monday, the team announced. Conine is the son of two-time World Series champion Jeff Conine, known to fans as Mr. Marlin and widely considered one of the better players in the franchise’s history. The younger Conine, 27, is enjoying a solid season at Triple-A Jacksonville (19 home runs, .825 OPS). He will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Drafted by the Blue Jays in 2018, Griffin Conine joined the Marlins organization in 2020 as the player to be named later in a trade that sent Jonathan Villar to Toronto. He earned a promotion to Triple-A last August, and while he struggled at first, he has looked much more comfortable there this season, bringing down his strikeout rate and continuing to show off the power that has always been his strongest tool. The lefty slugger has hit especially well over the past three weeks, batting .310 and walking in 12.1% of his plate appearances. He has an .859 OPS and 127 wRC+ since August 3.
According to Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, Conine will not play every day. That said, the Marlins would not have called him up if they weren’t going to give him a good amount of playing time. Miami already has two lefty-batting corner outfielders on the roster – Jesús Sánchez and Kyle Stowers – but Conine could see plenty of reps as a DH against right-handed pitching.
The Marlins have not yet announced any corresponding moves, but De Nicola reports that the team will place shortstop Xavier Edwards on the 10-day IL, thereby opening a space for Conine on the active roster. Edwards, who is suffering from lower back pain, underwent an MRI yesterday. The scan came back negative, but evidently, the club believes he needs more time off his feet.
The Marlins will also need to free up space for Conine on the 40-man. Miami’s 40-man roster is currently overflowing after the team claimed right-hander Mike Baumann earlier this afternoon.
Amateur Draft Signings: 6/20/18
Previously reported near-agreements for Angels first-rounder Jordyn Adams and Cubs first-rounder Nico Hoerner have now become official, according to a pair of reports from Jim Callis of MLB.com and Jon Heyman of FanRag Sport (Twitter links). Adams will take home a $4.1MM bonus that tops his slot value by roughly $700K, while Hoerner receives the full-slot value of $2.724MM, as The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney said was likely when reporting the deal to be close.
Here’s an update on some notable signings from the top few rounds of the draft (rankings referenced are courtesy of Fangraphs, MLB.com, Baseball America and ESPN’s Keith Law; Fangraphs and MLB.com scouting reports are available to the public free of charge, while the others require subscriptions):
- The Indians have signed supplemental first-rounder Lenny Torres, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Callis adds that he’ll receive a $1.35MM signing bonus, which falls just under $400K shy of his overall slot value at No. 41 overall. Fangraphs (39) and Law (40) ranked Torres most aggressively, praising a fastball that touches 97 mph but both also acknowledging that his current lack of command and his size lead to some risk that he’s bullpen-bound and won’t last as a starter. Fangraphs notes that he’s flashed an above-average to plus changeup in the past, while Law writes that he could eventually have an above-average curve as well. He’d been committed to St. John’s but will enter pro ball instead.
- Callis also tweets that the Rockies agreed to terms on a $2MM bonus with supplemental pick Grant Lavigne. That comes in $296K above his $1.704MM slot value at No. 42 overall. A high school first baseman out of New Hampshire, Lavigne is listed at 6’4″ and 230 pounds already at the age of 18. Law ranked him 60th and praised his feel to hit and plus raw power, wondering if he’d have gone higher in the draft had he played in warmer weather where he’d face better competition. Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo write in their report that he’s a better runner than would be expected, though his speed is still a bit below average.
- The Blue Jays announced that they’ve signed second-rounder Griffin Conine, and Callis adds that he’ll receive the full $1.35MM slot value of his No. 52 overall selection. Somewhat remarkably, Conine ranked 50th on all of the pre-draft rankings listed in the intro above. The son of former Major League All-Star Jeff Conine, Griffin starred as an outfielder at Duke, where he hit .286/.410/.608 with 18 homers, 15 doubles and a pair of triples and walked in 15.5 percent of his 278 plate appearances. Conine had first-round potential (top 10, per Law) heading into the season but struck out at the worst rate of his college career (26.6 percent) and dropped accordingly. He’s limited to the outfield corners and has plenty of raw power and a strong arm but concerns about his hit tool.