Marlins complete MLB First-Year Player Draft, make 30 selections in rounds 11-40
MIAMI – The Miami Marlins today completed the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft, making the club’s final 30 selections in Rounds 11-40. Over the past three days, the Marlins drafted 41 players, including using their first five picks on position players. It was the second consecutive year (third overall) that the Marlins selected five position players to begin the Draft in Franchise history (also, 1998).
Miami began the 2019 Draft by selecting outfielder JJ Bleday from Vanderbilt University with the fourth overall pick. The Club then drafted outfielder Kameron Misner (35th overall) from the University of Missouri and infielder Nasim Nuñez (46th overall) from Collins Hill HS (Suwanee, Ga.) to cap the first day of picks.
Bleday, 21, is 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, and bats and throws left-handed. He was rated by MLB.com as the best outfield prospect in the 2019 Draft. Bleday was named 2019 SEC Player of the Year, and is one of four finalists for the 2019 Golden Spikes Award. As a junior this season, he is hitting .353 (85x241) through 62 games, with 75 runs scored, 13 doubles, a triple, 26 home runs, and 68 RBI. His 26 home runs set a Vanderbilt single-season record and led Division-I Baseball entering the NCAA tournament.
Misner, 21, was rated by Baseball America as the sixth-best outfield prospect (26th overall). As a junior this year, he posted a .286 (59x206) average with 10 doubles, 10 home runs, 32 RBI, 54 walks and a .440 on-base percentage in 57 games. Nuñez, 18, is a switch-hitting shortstop and was rated by Baseball America as the 43rd overall prospect in the 2019 Draft. He participated in the 2018 Perfect-Game All-American Classic and was featured in the MLB Breakthrough Series, a program focused on developing players on and off-the-field through seminars, mentorship, and scout evaluations.
Miami drafted outfielder Peyton Burdick from Wright State University with its first pick of Day 2. Burdick, 22, batted .407 (87x214) with 18 doubles, three triples, 15 home runs, 72 RBI, and 60 walks in 59 games during his redshirt junior season at Wright State. He was named 2019 Horizon League Player of the Year as well as a second-team All-American.
The Marlins opened Day 3 with the selection of RHP Anthony Maldonado from Bethune-Cookman University in the 11th round. Maldonado, 21, has gone 19-11 with a 3.22 ERA in 41 appearances (39 starts) over his three-year college career. His 97 strikeouts in 2019 were tied for the most in the MEAC.
In total, the Marlins drafted 18 pitchers, 10 infielders, nine outfielders, and four catchers.
