Entering this Minor League Baseball season, JJ Bleday was considered by many to be the very best hitting prospect in the Marlins organization. When you’re ranked that highly and you struggle so heavily for an extended period, it’s normal for people to start freaking out.
That was the case for Bleday, playing for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos at Double-A. The former first-round draft pick (No. 4 overall in 2019) was supposed to perform well from the beginning. Health permitting, he was projected to debut for the big league club during the middle of the season.