Top Marlins Prospect Has Promising Relief Outing in Arizona Fall League Game

The Miami Marlins are positioned in a great place heading into the 2026 season, with lots of young talent to build their franchise around in the long term, but also a ton of current players who have showcased strong production, which will help in the short term.

With a farm system full of high-quality prospects, they have a future that looks to be extremely exciting, so long as they are able to develop these players.

Their ability to turn Kyle Stowers into a franchise cornerstone certainly has moved up their timeline quite a bit, and now, they enter the offseason with more excitement than they have had in a while. While they have had competitive veteran rosters previously, this is the most they have had a roster overperform in quite some time.

With prospects set to continue working their way up to the MLB, things just look even better because of that. A name who continues to work his way up through the system is pitcher Karson Milbrandt, the Marlins’ third-round pick back in 2022. The young righty starting pitcher made it to Double-A in 2025 and looked great there in the two starts he has made, and now, he is in the Arizona Fall League looking to continue his success.

Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

Milbrandt, Miami’s No. 18 prospect currently according to MLB Pipeline, has been a little bit hit or miss when it comes to his overall production in the Arizona Fall League this season. So far, he has a 4.82 ERA, 1.393 WHIP, 18 strikeouts, seven walks, six hits allowed and two home runs allowed. His strikeout stuff has been outstanding; his big issue has just been allowing hard contact.

That strikeout stuff was on full display in his recent appearance against the Surprise Saguaros, where in 2.2 innings of relief work, he had seven strikeouts, one hit allowed, two walks allowed and one earned run.

He is exactly the type of player a team wants as a long relief option, or potentially down the line a spot starter. His strikeout production is promising, and while he allows a decent amount of walks and hits, he managed to punch out batters so often that it almost evens out the vast majority of the time. If he can continue to build off a 1.69 ERA in Double-A through two starts, he could be someone they look to bring up to Triple-A around the All-Star break in 2026.