Dodgers Blue Heaven: Dodgers Pick Pitcher James Marinan in the Fourth Round

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Dodgers Pick Pitcher James Marinan in the Fourth Round - Welcome to the Blue!

Selected at the #4 spot for the Dodgers, 130th overall, is right-handed pitcher James Marinan. He is the first high school player chosen by the Dodgers. James is 18 years-old, stands 6' 5", is 220 lbs., and recently committed to the University of Miami. Although, I don't think we have to worry about him not signing. He recently expressed his delight on twitter (@marinan_james) at being selected by LA.

Beyond blessed and excited for the opportunity to pursue my dream and become a LA Dodger!!!
— James Marinan⚾ (@marinan_james) June 13, 2017

Below is a video on Marinan, via MLB.com:

Video Link:

Per a Dodgers press release:

The Dodgers selected their lone high school player in the fourth round, taking right-handed pitcher James Marinan from Park Vista Community (FL) High School. During his senior season, the Florida native pitched two complete-game shutouts and went 8-1 with a 0.84 ERA (6 ER/50.0 IP) while striking out 66 against just 12 walks. Marinan was ranked the 58th overall prospect by Baseball America in this year’s draft.

Per MLB's prospect report:

Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Curveball: 50 | Changeup: 40 | Control: 50 | Overall: 50

Every Draft class has what's known as "pop-up" guys, players who may not have registered over the summer or even early in the spring, but then take a leap forward performance-wise, sending scouts scurrying to see them and driving them up Draft boards. Marinan was the perfect example of that in Florida as a spike in velocity raised his profile considerably.

Early on, the big right-hander had been throwing in the 87-91 mph range. He first jumped on the radar when he lit up the radar to 92-96 mph, and sat mostly 94-96 in a two-inning relief stint against powerhouse American Heritage. That put him on a must-see list and when more than 50 scouts arrived to see him throw against lefty standout Jake Eder, his stuff was just as good. He currently throws a hybrid breaking ball that gets stuck in between a slider and curveball, but looks more like the latter with some bite when it's on. Marinan will mix in an occasional changeup, but it's far behind the other two pitches. He stays around the strike zone and should have average control and command in the future.

Marinan's size and arm strength -- he'll show a 70-grade fastball at times -- kept scouts pouring in as the Draft approached. His ability to put together multiple strong outings has moved him into top-three-round consideration.

Below are more links focused on the newest Dodger draftee:

Per Rowan Kavner at Dodger Insider; "After Wong, Marinan highlights bevy of pitcher picks on Day 2."

“He was a guy we targeted throughout the draft as a chance to be a premium high school starter,” Gasparino said. “We like his delivery. We like his arm action. We think he’s trending up. So, we put him in the same kind of class as Dustin May or A.J. Alexy from the last couple of years. We’re hoping he’s that kind of talent range.”

Per Eric Stephen at True Blue LA;"MLB Draft 2017: Dodgers pick RHP James Marinan in 4th round."
Per Dustin Nosler at Dodger Digest; "Dodgers select Connor Wong, James Marinan and Riley Ottesen in Rounds 3-5."
Per David Hood at True Blue LA;"2017 MLB Draft profile: James Marinan, Dodgers’ 4th-round pick."
Per Doug Freeman at Prep Baseball Report; "FL 2017 DRAFT SPOTLIGHT: RHP JAMES MARINAN."

He is listed at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and is every bit of that. He has long legs and lands consistently in line, especially from the windup. He did rush at times in the stretch and saw the velocity drop a bit to 91-93. He also featured a slider that had quality shape with late action when he got extension at 75-80 mph. He also showed a feel for a changeup that he threw to both right and left-handed hitters at 82-85 mph. Overall, he has a strong frame with a clean arm action and offspeed that projects to be at least average.

In honor of his selection by the Dodgers I decided to make a fantasy Baseball cards of him. I used a couple photos taken from Wells Dusenbury/Sun Sentinel and the 1983 Fleer Baseball card design.

UPDATE: I thought I'd mention that James Marinan has a couple cards available in Leaf's 2016 Perfect Game Baseball card set. See both of them below. As you may know, this set focuses on several hundred of the top high school prep stars to have participated at a Perfect Game showcase event that year.