Beyond Owen Caissie, the Marlins acquired a prospect once compared to A-Rod and Manny Machado, plus a power-hitting teen.
The centerpiece of what the Miami Marlins got in return for Edward Cabrera is Owen Caissie, but he wasn’t the only one that came over in the deal.
The Marlins also got a top-15 organizational prospect that once drew comparisons to past and present stars, and an 18-year-old who is just starting his professional baseball journey.
The former is Cristian Hernandez, a 22-year-old who has been compared with Alex Rodriguez and Manny Machado.
Hernandez’s pro career hasn’t gone according to plan, with him slashing just .252/.329/.365 over five seasons, having yet to make it past High A.
But Hernandez is still fairly young, and for Marlins president Peter Bendix, there’s a lot to like.
"I think Cristian Hernández is tooled up, does a lot of things well,” Bendix told reporters via Zoom on Thursday. “Certainly (he) has a lot of things he needs to improve, but he's very young and has a lot of ingredients in place.”
Edgardo De Leon’s pro resume is limited to the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Complex League, where he has a .276/.353/.500 line over 91 games.
Bendix cited De Leon’s power and exit velocity as reasons to be excited.
“When we were able to get a package of these three players that we think can help us this year and beyond, that ended up being what got us over the line,” Bendix said.
Hernandez is Miami’s No. 12 prospect, per MLB.com, which described him as a “solid runner with good instincts.”
“Hernandez has stolen 98 bases in 117 attempts (83.8 percent) in 315 pro games,” reports MLB.com's biography. “He has the quickness and arm strength to play at least an average shortstop, though like most youngsters he needs to improve his defensive consistency. He's more than capable at second base as well and has the tools for third base if needed.”
The Marlins are taking a gamble by trading their top starting pitcher from last season, Edward Cabrera.
But for Bendix, keeping Cabrera would have been a gamble too.
"There's risk with every player in baseball," Bendix said. "There's risk with Edward Cabrera. There's risk with just about anybody. There's no such thing as certainty. I think what we try to do is we try to get players who do things well and also have areas of improvement that we think we can help. That gets to the idea of developing players at all levels, including at the major league level.”
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