Lewis Brinson: Should He Open the Season with the Big League Club?

Lewis Brinson has made a name for himself the past few years and is the most exciting prospect in the Marlins farm system at the moment. Brinson, who turns 24 in May, was originally drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 2012 Draft. More recently, Brinson was part of the trade package that got the Milwaukee Brewers, Christian Yelich.

As it stands right now, Brinson is the 18th best prospect in baseball according to both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. Jonathan Mayo, of MLB Pipeline, has him ranked a bit lower as the 27th best prospect in the MLB.

With Brinson being the Marlins best prospect, there is a lot of pressure riding on him to deliver in the future and as it looks right now, he will likely be a huge building block for the Marlins outfield and will play a critical role in how competitive Miami is, in 4 or 5 years. Besides the high probability that Brinson ends up turning into a player that can jack at least 20 home runs every season, many scouts are also very high on the speed that he provides. Speed both on the base paths, in terms of raking up stolen bases, and out in the outfield fielding his position.

Looking down the road, scouts across the industry view Brinson as more of a long-term option in right field simply because of his arm and his ability to cover a lot of ground. Another reason is because many scouts have noted that he has a tremendous throwing arm which would play extremely well out in right field.

Knowing all of this, the bigger question is: Where should Lewis Brinson start this season, in Triple-A or the big leagues? The answer to that is fairly simple, but it all depends on the views of the Marlins front office and their evaluation of Brinson's current talent level. However, based on everything that he's done so far this spring, all indications are that Brinson should make the 25-man roster coming into the regular season.

So far this spring in 24 plate appearances, Brinson is hitting: .409/.458/.773 with 9 hits, 5 doubles, 1 home run, 3 RBI, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. The number of strikeouts over, that limited sample as well as Brinson's minor league track record, size is high, but scouts believe that eventually as he matures, his plate discipline will also follow.

To help illustrate that point, let's take a quick look at Brinson's minor league stats. For example, in 2015 in 455 plates appearances in High-A, Double A, and Triple-A, Brinson recorded 98 strikeouts. If you fast forward to 2016, over the span of 434 plate appearances in Rookie Ball as well as Double and Triple A, Brinson had 87 strikeouts.

The next important thing to look at to determine where Brinson should start to open up this season is his fielding percentages throughout the years. Over 6 seasons in the minor leagues, or 4,067.0 innings, Brinson had a career fielding percentage of .976. In that span, he made 28 assists along with 27 errors. Furthermore, his career range factor-per-9 innings over that time was 2.45. Based on these numbers alone, there is certainly quite a bit to like from a fielding perspective and you have to like the odds of Brinson becoming the next best outfielder in the game eventually.

Turning back to the Marlins roster decision, the best thing to do would be to have him open the season with the big league club. After all, the Marlins fan base doesn't have a lot to cheer about at the moment, as they have watched their big league club, practically strip the team all the way down this winter. Brinson doesn't serve as only a cornerstone moving forward, but an easy player for fans to root for and watch grow up at the big league level. Of course, none of us are inside the Marlins front office so we can't speak for how the organization views him, only how the industry and those of us on the outside view him as fans.

According to the Marlins depth chart, Lewis Brinson is currently listed as the Opening Day centerfielder with Derek Dietrich over in left field and Cameron Maybin in right. Miami also has Magneuris Sierra, who they obtained from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange of outfielder, Marcell Ozuna, but Sierra is going to need more time to groom in the minors since he finished last season playing in Double A. Beyond that, the Marlins also have Broxton Lee, but as is the case with Sierra, Lee finished last season in Double A.

Assuming that the Opening Day outfield consists of Dietrich in left, Maybin in center or right, Brinson in center or right, and one of Broxton Lee or Magnerius Sierra, you have to like some of the talent there in terms of future potential. We already know the ceiling that Brinson has and Maybin is a nice veteran piece, who will likely be flipped at the trade deadline for prospects in return, while Dietrich has the potential to not only play left field, but also second base. Of course, the Marlins aren't going to go far quite yet with an outfield that looks like that, but the future is coming.

Either way, if Lewis Brinson ends up making the 25-man roster out of Spring Training or if the Marlins elect to have him start the year in Triple-A, the Miami Marlins have a very good player on their hands. As stated before, not only can Lewis Brinson be an important building block for the future, he can help Miami start traveling in the right direction and bring winning baseball back to Marlins Park for the first time since 2009 when the Marlins finished with a 87-75 record. After all, that's something that Marlins fans hope for every year and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.