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Marlins Sign Frontier League MVP Taylor Ard

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  • Marlins Sign Frontier League MVP Taylor Ard

    We drafted him in the 35th round in 2010, drafted in the 7th round by the Mariners in 2012. 1B/3B but was an absolute butcher at 3B last year. Righty bat, hit 30 home runs.

    In 2014 (with Arizona affiliates, albeit low A ball) he hit .480/.588/.680 vs LHP.

    Can't find Frontier League splits anywhere.

    In any event, might be wishful thinking but I wonder if this could be a sneaky sign for a Bour platoon. Would just be a couple of mashers.

    The Miami Marlins have signed 2015 Frontier League MVP Taylor Ard after an astonishing breakout season. Ard, who was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 7th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft from Washington State, had the season every minor league hopeful dreams of.2014 saw Ard make his independent league debut appearing in 50 games from the River City Rascals. He was named an All-Star starter for the West Division after batting .338 with nine home runs and driving in 33. He was promptly signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks during the All-Star weekend. The Diamondbacks released him at the end of the 2014 season despite batting over .300 in three different minor league levels. Once again with the Rascals at the beginning of 2015, the newest Marlin had a season to remember, and one that brought him back into the eyes of scouts everywhere. Ard dominated Frontier League pitching for the entire season leading the league in home runs (30), RBI (83), doubles (29) and came in second with a Ruthian OPS of 1.031.
    There is no doubt that at 25 years old Ard is in his prime years. Getting ample playing time will continue to his improvement and come the beginning of 2016, will get another chance to prove he can repeat what he did with the Rascals. 30 big flies and second consecutive All-Star appearance is no fluke. He's a professional who just made and entire organization take notice.
    http://www.examiner.com/article/miam...mvp-taylor-ard

    Rascals third baseman and the 2015 Frontier League Most Valuable Player, Taylor Ard, had his contract purchased by the Miami Marlins organization this month. This is the second time in as many years that Ard has drawn interest from a Major League Baseball Club after being signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks organization in 2014.After hitting .338 with 9 HR and 33 RBI in only 50 games with the Rascals in 2014 and being named an All-Star starter for the West Division, Ard was signed by the Diamondbacks during the All-Star weekend. Ard returned to the Rascals organization in 2015 and picked up where he left off. He was once again named to the FL All-Star team and finished his MVP campaign hitting .313 with 30 HR and 83 RBI. His 30 home runs were the most in a season in the Frontier League since the 2012 season.
    Ard played in all 96 of the Rascals games in 2015 and helped lead the club to their second consecutive Frontier League Championship appearance.
    http://rivercityrascals.com/media/ar...article_id=790
    Originally posted by Madman81
    Most of the people in the world being dumb is not a requirement for you to be among their ranks.
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  • #2
    Eh he's 25 years old and doesn't have stats to show beyond A ball. Find it really hard to judge numbers in the frontier league (unless it is complete domination) when even the best pitchers there are late 20s guys who never got above A ball themselves on other team's farm systems.

    While Bour himself was a bit of a shot in the dark, he had posted OPS' around .800 in AA back to back years (although his significant contact drop in 2013 compared to 2012 is why he was made available) and was a more developed prospect. Even then Bour's 2014 AAA numbers were something even our front office likely didn't see coming.

    I'd love to grab another Bour (similar to how the A's grabbed Canha from us), but I'd need to see some high A success before he becomes a prospect to follow. The numbers are certainly impressive, so who really knows. Does seem a bit like he wasn't given a fair chance with the Mariners, putting up one poor season in A ball and being kicked to the curb. 26 years old and in Jupiter though is just hard to care about.

    That said he's now our #2 prospect... /s

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    • #3
      The best part about the only reason Bour being available is because his numbers dropped is that they only dropped because he hurt his wrist and tried to play through it.

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