Throw first-pitch strikes.

It sounds rudimentary, but Marlins prospect Noble Meyer saw firsthand how important that will be as he progresses in his professional career. Making his pro debut with the Florida Complex League Marlins, Meyer pitched 1 2/3 innings in a 6-3 loss to the FCL Mets on Saturday morning at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex.

Meyer, who was chosen by Miami 10th overall in last month's MLB Draft, allowed two runs on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk. He estimates throwing around 35 pitches.

"I've had better days," Meyer told MLB.com over the phone. "Was it bad? I don't think so. I think there's a lot of positives to take away. But there's a lot of things I need to work on, specifically first-pitch strikes, locate the fastball. I think I was 0-for-5 or 0-for-6 with first-pitch fastball strikes. But I was 2-for-2 with curveballs, and I've got to be able to blend that pitch in, [the] first-pitch fastball, because that sets up the rest of the at-bat.

"I think winning two out of three of the first three pitches of an at-bat, I want to have myself in a 1-2 count or 0-2 count at best. It was just attacking the zone a little better, that was my big issue. I got behind in the count, got punished for mistakes I made in fastball counts, and I left a fastball over the middle. But overall, the experience was very fun. [For a] professional debut, hard not to be excited about that regardless of how it goes."

The 18-year-old Meyer hadn't pitched in a game since June 2, so perhaps that two-month hiatus accounted for a bit of rust. He admitted to being a bit nitpicky on the corners, which put him behind in counts. His fastball velocity was down a few mph, but that's to be expected as he builds back up.

Since being introduced on July 21 at loanDepot park, Meyer has been throwing bullpens and getting acclimated to life in Jupiter, Fla., where the humid weather is much different than his hometown of West Linn, Ore. After working around a two-out single in a scoreless first inning, Meyer issued a walk and a single with two outs in the second before being pulled for his pitch count. Both inherited runners would score. Meyer learned that when he misses, it can't be over the plate where damage happens.

"I noticed that once I got to the second inning and the pitch count started getting a little higher, that's when I started dropping my arm slot a little, losing my command," Meyer said. "Like I said, there's things to work on. They're fixable. I hope to come out next time and just dominate."

Meyer believes the plan is for him to pitch once a week. Despite his trouble locating, there is a lot to build off of. He threw his curveball three times, had a solid changeup, got swings and misses on his slider -- and even backdoored one for strike three.

"It's a little weird, but I was enjoying it," Meyer said of his debut. "Regardless of how today went, it was awesome. I can't wait to be back out there my next outing. As long as I have that mentality, I'm good."