Highlighting top Marlins prospects for '09

We are breaking down the top five prospects for each organization for 2009, taking into consideration: games, at-bats, innings and major-league service time. We expect these players to have rookie status remaining heading into next year.

According to MLB rules: "A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the major leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a major league club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list)."

Note: Statistics are those at each stop in the minors this season and age represents how old they will be on opening day 2009.

Florida Marlins

When you draw less then 5,000 fans for some weekday games, you have to have a farm system that keeps churning out affordable big league players. While we have hated some of their early offseason trades, they at least have some more talent working its way to the majors. A slew of rookies can step in this season and contribute, but many of the top prospects are too young and raw to really star. Hopefully, if they arrive, the Marlins can keep them around long enough to make it through the arbitration years -- unlike Mike Jacobs, Scott Olsen, Josh Willingham and Kevin Gregg.

1. OF Cameron Maybin, 21

We thought he was going to be an impact Fantasy player in his first year in the Marlins organization, but they wisely chose to bring him along more slowly. He should have a center field job to lose this spring and has the potential to be a 10-20 player if he wins the spot in camp. He will be a favorite for NL Rookie of the Year honors.

2. SP Sean West, 22

The Marlins churn out at least one potential front-line starter every year it seems and this year's favorite we figure will be West, who missed all of the 2007 season after surgery on a torn labrum. That tends to be a tough surgery to recover from fully, but West sure looked good in his first season in high Class A. He will open the season in Double-A, but like so many arms the Marlins called upon in 2008, he could make the jump to the majors by mid-summer. He is not quite as good as Chris Volstad, but he will be a nice consolation prize to prospect speculators in NL-only leagues.

3. OF Mike Stanton, 19

Stanton struck out a lot in low Class A, but how in the world can you ignore that power? You can't. What you should ignore, though, is Stanton in non-keeper leagues at this point. The teenager is promising long term, but there is very little chance he is a factor with the Marlins in 2009, and maybe not even 2010 at this point. Watch him as a prospect flier, because right now he looks like a masher that can be a big-time superstar. There just will be a waiting period on him.

4. 1B Gabby Sanchez, 25

Sanchez is not overwhelming as a first base prospect for Fantasy at this point, but the Marlins appear confident he can challenge for the starting job vacated by Mike Jacobs. Dallas McPherson and Jorge Cantu are likely also in the mix, with one of them capable of playing third base, too. Sanchez has pop in his bat, but we are thinking he is similar to Daric Barton of the A's -- meaning, he will need time to be a reliable option at the deepest position in Fantasy.

5. 3B Matt Dominguez, 19

Stanton's teammate was overlooked some this season perhaps, but he certainly warrants attention as a prospect. The 2007 first-round pick out of a California high school -- a teammate of Royals top prospect Mike Moustakas -- had a strong first season in the system. Baseball America's early comparison has him as the next Ryan Zimmerman or Mike Lowell, and that's some company.

Best of the rest: OF John Raynor, OF Scott Cousins, 2B Chris Coghlan, 1B Logan Morrison, SP Jeff Allison, C Kyle Skipworth, RP Jose Ceda, SP Eulogio De La Cruz, OF Brett Carroll, SP P.J. Dean, OF Isaac Galloway, SP Hector Correa, SP Aaron Thompson, SP Brett Sinkbeil, SP Graham Taylor, 2B Jake Smolinski, C Brett Hayes, OF Greg Burns, RP Todd Doolittle, SP Kyle Winters, SP Brad Hand, SP Dallas Trahern, RP Chris Leroux, RP Corey Madden, OF Jai Miller, RP Jesus Delgado, C Chris Hatcher, OF Thomas Hickman, SP Edgar Olmos, SP Curtis Peterson, RP Harvey Garcia, RP Jacob Marceaux and SP Pete Andrelczyk.

2008 rookies to exhaust eligibility: SP Chris Volstad, C John Baker, SP Burke Badenhop, SP Ryan Tucker, 2B Emilio Bonifacio and 2B Robert Andino.

Last year's top five here: SP Volstad, SP Gaby Hernandez (traded to SEA for Arthur Rhodes), 2B Coghlan, 1B Sanchez and OF Carroll.

You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball prospect questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Marlins prospects in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.