Which Marlins Top Prospects Will Make a Big League Impact in 2026?

What was once seen as one of the bottom-feeding farm systems in all of baseball has seen an incredible revamping from top to bottom through new leadership stemming from the hire of Peter Bendix.

Looking back into the history of players to have come up through the Miami Marlins system, you will find All-Stars like Giancarlo Stanton, José Fernández, Christian Yelich, and J.T. Realmuto, to name a few. What seemed as if it was a consistent churner of Major League regulars had taken such a downfall since those days.

Luckily for Marlins fans, that is no longer the case.

Through a series of acquisitions made by Peter Bendix since his arrival in Miami, he has brought a resurgence to the Marlins’ farm system, which was in desperate need of a complete overhaul. Just in his first season as the President of Baseball Operations, he made north of 20 waiver claims. Not to mention his willingness to deal via the trade market, firing off eight trades to date in the few days leading up to each trade deadline.

Needless to say, while the moves may not be blockbuster deals, his sustained, yet aggressive, approach is a significant reason why 2026 will show the baseball world that the finished product of the “retooling” period will bring winning baseball back to Miami.

Where Do They Currently Rank?

As per Just Baseball’s latest Top-100 Prospect List that was updated in November, the Marlins had four players appear, none of them ranking below 55.

The four prospects to appear on the list were Thomas White (No. 18), Joe Mack (No. 26), Robby Snelling (No. 30), and 2025 first-round pick Aiva Arquette (No. 55).

The only player of the four who isn’t a product of draft and development would be Snelling. Although, if you were to look back at where Snelling was ranked amongst the industry at the time of his trade to Miami, you’d see his professional career up to that point had soured a lot of prospect evaluating platforms. A lot of credit has to be given to the Marlins’ new development staff and what they were able to help Snelling unlock when he arrived.

As we approach the start of the 2026 season, coming off a year where the big league club exceeded everyone’s expectations, fans are going to quickly become familiar with a handful of prospects who are likely to debut at some point during the upcoming season. This article is going to highlight those players and what they may expect to see from them.

Rankings listed next to each player highlight where they appear on the Top-100 and where they appear on the Marlins Top-15 Prospects list from December of 2025

Thomas White – LHP (No. 18/No. 1)

It sure does seem as if the Marlins struck gold when they took High School starter Thomas White in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Standing at 6-foot-5, White’s future outlook looks about as bright as any other pitcher in the minor leagues.

In 2025, he made it all the way to Triple-A Jacksonville, where he made a combined 21 starts and pitched to a 2.31 ERA. In those 89.2 innings, he struck out 145 batters, while only walking 51, holding opponents to a .174 batting average against.

He has a repertoire that consists of four above-average pitches, including a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, a sweeping curve, a devastating changeup that serves as his go-to against right-handed hitters, and a seldom-used slider he deploys just when he wants to create more deception and a different look from his other breaking ball.

The Marlins’ 2025 rotation was pieced together as admirably as an organization could do, given all of the injuries sustained throughout the year. A projected 2026 rotation headed by Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, and Edward Cabrera is arguably one of the most promising trios in all of baseball. Add in their top pitching prospect at some point in the second half of the year and you are surely set to witness what could be one of the best five-man rotations in all of baseball.

Joe Mack – C (No. 26/No. 2)

Fresh off being added to the Marlins’ 40-Man roster, Joe Mack is looking to be, as Just Baseball writer Shaan Donohue referenced in this article on the young catcher, the skeleton key to the Marlins’ next winning ballclub.

In today’s game, it is incredibly rare to find a catcher, let alone a prospect, who impacts the game at a high level the way our No. 2 Marlins prospect can. Mack entered the 2025 season coming off a year where he mashed 24 home runs. He swiftly followed that up with another 21-home run season this past year in 112 games. Not to mention the fact that he also threw out 34% (2024) and 33% (2025) of runners attempting to steal.

With the noted shortcomings of Agustin Ramirez’s game on the defensive side, Mack makes up for it, and then some. It is well documented that the Marlins will look to get Ramirez reps at first base, as well as serving as the team’s designated hitter. Lucky for them, the addition of Mack to the MLB roster is only going to bring a boost to both sides of the ball.

Mack could be battling with the next member of this list as the first prospect to debut for the Marlins this season.

Robby Snelling – LHP (No. 30/No. 3)

There was a real argument back in September that Robby Snelling should have been the starter to get called up when rosters expanded. Especially considering the bounce back he had from what was a disappointing 2024.

Snelling was awarded the honors of being named the Marlins Minor League Player of the Year after a season where he pitched to a 2.51 ERA across 136 total innings between Double- and Triple-A.

Now, heading into spring training, Snelling is going to have a chance to not only stamp his name in the Marlins future rotation, but actually break camp as one of the five named to the team’s 2026 starting rotation.

It truly was a bumpy road for the lefty in the emerging 2023 season, his first in professional baseball, then to quickly suffer significant struggles in the Padres system in 2024 before being part of the package that sent him to Miami for Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing.

Now, as I had stated earlier in this article, Snelling could be the first prospect to debut for the Fish.

Oh, he also took the time to sit down and chat with the team on The Call Up back in May!

Kemp Alderman – OF (NR/No. 6)

Kemp Alderman was one of the more impressive prospects, not just in the Marlins’ farm system, but in all of the Southern League. After being named the Southern League Player of the Week three separate times this past year, he was awarded the honor of being named an All-Star.

Alderman now enters the 2026 season as one of the more intriguing power bats in a system for an organization that’s been longing for some slug for some time now.

The power-hitting outfielder hit .285/.338/.482 with 22 home runs, 70 RBIs, and a 135 wRC+ in 130 games across Double- and Triple-A in 2025. Not to mention him having the highest 90th percentile exit velocity in the minors of players with at least 100 games played.

As it currently stands, the Marlins seem to have their starting outfield set with Griffin Conine, Jakob Marsee, and Kyle Stowers from left to right. However, if the reports of Conine getting reps at first base this spring are real, plugging in a right-handed bat, let alone one that would also add much-needed slugging to a lineup, would be well-received by the big league coaching staff.

Karson Milbrandt – RHP (NR/No. 7)

Not only was the 2025 season a success for Karson Milbrandt, but the fact that he was able to double down on the strong performance into becoming one of the more impressive performances in the Arizona Fall League bodes well for his chances to spend time in the Miami rotation this upcoming season.

The Marlins ran into a slew of injuries to their starting rotation last season. With Perez still working his way back from Tommy John, Braxton Garrett continuing to deal with lingering injuries, and Ryan Weathers missing the majority of the year, the Marlins were using depth arms like Janson Junk, Valente Bellozo, and Adam Mazur, to name a few.

Thanks to full player buy-in to the new organizational development overhaul, Milbrandt is the latest product of what the Marlins have been able to unlock out of the previous regimes’ “project” arms. Across three levels this year, he pitched to a 3 ERA in 22 games started with an 11.3 K%.

The right-hander deployed an improved fastball/slider combination that did nothing but improve his prospects as a backend starter in a big league rotation. If the Marlins were to unfortunately *knocks on wood* run into similar injury woes, look for Milbrandt to make his MLB debut in the coming year.

Fenwick Trimble – OF (NR/No. 12)

After three strong years at James Madison, Fenwick Trimble was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 MLB Draft. It was just in his first full professional season that he showed himself to be one of the higher floor bats in the whole Marlins system.

Headlined by his well above-average plate discipline, Trimble fits the “jack of all trades” profile with his approach at the plate. While none of the hitting metrics are going to jump off the page to those who just browse the box score, it is his overall game that could make him a long-time big leaguer.

In 84 games played across two levels in 2025, Fenwick hit .253/.372/.402 with seven home runs, 31 (!) stolen bases, a near 14 BB%, and a 131 wRC+. Marlins fans were quick to become fans of Jakob Marsee as soon as he debuted last year. While he likely fits more of a corner outfield spot going forward, Fenwick mirrors a similar profile to that of his organizational-mate, Marsee.