The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

RANKED as one of the top prospects in the Miami Marlins organisation, this summer could present a major opportunity for Anfernee Seymour to progress within the franchise.

Seymour saw his stock rise after a successful season for the Marlins in rookie play and he rose as high as No.26 on the Marlins 2015 Prospect Watch list by MLBpipeline.com.

In his first minor league season he hit .245 in 98 at-bats for the Marlins’ Gulf-Coast League affiliate while leading the team in stolen bases with 11. He recorded 24 hits, scored 24 runs with three RBI and an on-base percentage of .333.

In his 26 games, he appeared in 15 at outfielder and nine at shortstop.

The 19-year-old Freedom Farm product and former student at St Augustine’s College was drafted out of American Heritage in Plantation, Florida. He was taken by the Marlins with the 197th pick in round seven.

The highly touted outfielder received an over-slot signing bonus from the Marlins worth twice his slot value of just over $200,000.

The rankings follow the guidelines laid out by the new collective bargaining agreement. Players are graded on a 20-80 scale for future tools - 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average.

Seymour was given a grade of 40 by MLB Pipeline, with his highest grades including a “Run” grade of 80, “Arm” grade of 60, and both “Field” and “Hit” grades of 45.

Regarded as the fastest prospect in the Marlins minor league system, the 5’11” 168-pound Seymour was most productive at the plate with singles and registered a season ending .338 BABIP in 112 plate appearances.

Locally, the new Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium set to be completed in 2015, the infrastructure will create a myriad of opportunities for local players, baseball development and the country’s sports tourism product.

Seymour is one of a number of rising prospects that has baseball enthusiasts anticipating the Bahamas becoming a force at the international level with scores of Bahamian baseball talent flourishing at the high school, collegiate and professional level.

Seymour said the building of the new stadium will create improvements to the game in terms of development and giving the elite players a place to train in the offseason.

“It’ll be a pleasure to me, because I was once young looking up to guys like Albert [Cartwright] and Antoan [Richardson], Greg [Burrows Jr], Geron [Sands] and those guys. I watched them play at the old Andre Rodgers stadium, so it’ll be a pleasure for me to be a part of this group of young guys playing in the new stadium, which hopefully will be built pretty soon,” he said. “It looks really good, I’ve been in the United States I’ve seen many different fields and this definitely has the potential to be on par with those facilities.”

The Bahamas will look to make its return to the international baseball arena this summer as one of five teams confirmed thus far for the World Baseball Challenge, to be hosted in Prince George, British Colombia, Canada, August 14-23.