The Bradenton Marauders’ roster has become really stacked with talent, especially with the recent additions of Lonnie White Jr. and Yordany De Los Santos.
Some of the system’s brightest, and most potential filled prospects are currently playing in Single-A. It might be easy to overlook some recent college draft picks.
Nick Cimillo began the season with the Marauders, but played sparingly during the month of April, with just eight games played and 17 at-bats.
Bradebton tries to come back late and Nick Cimillo provides the pop. His deep double was almost a grand slam. They get a pair anyway to close the lead to 7-4 in the 8th #clutch pic.twitter.com/l8BV0TcySo
— Florida Prospect Report (@FLProspectPod) June 29, 2023
As the season has progressed, he’s played in more games, and you can see the gradual improvement, as his OPS has climbed in each completed month since April.
April – .847
May – .851
June – .923
It wasn’t a huge leap from April and May but really stood out in the month of June, with an overall slash line of .268/.369/.554 while hitting 10 extra base hits (3 HR, 7 2B) along with 11 RBI.
While he was a catcher, and spent a little time behind the plate in the FCL last year, he’s primarily been the team’s first baseman this season.
He’s been joined recently by Josiah Sightler, college pick from the 2022 draft class out of South Carolina. Beginning the year on the injured list, Sightler recently returned and spent six games in the FCL before joining the Marauders.
Whereas Cimillo needed a few games to get going, Sightler hit the ground running, picking up nine hits – two of which are home runs – in his first five games at Single-A.
Meant to post this the other day. The second of two home runs in a game for Josiah Sightler. Since joining Bradenton he’s been on a tear. #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/1kaxRD5Hon
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) July 5, 2023
Both players are towering presences in the batter’s box, standing at 6’3” a piece, and have provided an added amount of power to the lineup.
So far this season, the two have combined for 95 batted ball events, and have an average exit velocity of 88.8 mph – which equates to about major league average.
Of those 95 BBE, 36 (37.8%) have been hit at 95 mph or harder, above the major league average currently. They’ve also put together a 7.3% barrel rate and have posted a .676 average on hard hit balls.
Maybe Sightler and Cimillo aren’t the most traditional prospects, being college senior signings playing in Single-A, but they are controlling what they can control, and sometimes that ends up being enough to get you a push going forward.
