Top Marlins prospect Meyer spins gem in High-A debut

They say it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond, but for the second time in the past two days, one of the top Marlins prospects joined a larger talent pool in the form of High-A Beloit. Noble Meyer, the organization’s top prospect, made his first start for the Sky Carp on Saturday night, following Thomas White’s debut on Friday.

Meyer impressed in Beloit’s 4-2 loss to Dayton at ABC Supply Stadium, allowing just two hits and no runs over five innings. After working around a single and a hit-by-pitch in the first, he struck out the side in the second and finished his outing with six strikeouts in total.

"I showed up to the field and got prepared like I normally do," Meyer said. "I kind of tried to take away the fact that I was in a different league and a different state. I tried to keep my mentality as 'stick to what I was doing before.' First inning, a little jitters, and then second inning, I felt like I was back to being comfortable again."

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In other words, it was more of the same for Miami’s 2023 first-round Draft pick. After he was selected 10th overall out of Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore., Meyer made his pro debut with the FCL Marlins. He earned a late-season promotion to Single-A Jupiter for a Florida State League playoffs run and then returned to the level to start 2024.

In his last start with Jupiter, he struck out a career-high 11 batters -- it was the latest in a string of six starts during which Meyer has allowed only one or no earned runs. This all amounted to a 2.65 ERA over eight games at Single-A and an impressive .149 batting average against in the 19-year-old’s first full season of professional baseball.

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Birds of a feather flock together, and that has certainly been the case for the newest members of the Sky Carp. Thomas White, Miami’s No. 3 prospect, was selected right behind Meyer in Competitive Balance Round A of the 2023 Draft. The two have been on the same team ever since, save the 14 days that lapsed between Meyer’s and White’s assignments to Jupiter last season. The fellow 19-year-old paved the way at High-A, collecting six strikeouts of his own in his Beloit debut on Friday.

“It’s a great idea to have us moving up together. We’ve gotten really close,” Meyer said. “We made the drive up to Beloit from Florida together, so we got some good bonding time.”