Andrew Heaney may not be a household name for anyone not in a dynasty league or hardcore Miami Marlins fans (however many there may be), but he could very well become a name that fantasy baseballers will want to know for later this year.
Background
Heaney, a left-handed pitcher, was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 24th round back in 2009 coming out of high school, but he did not to sign with the team and went the college route instead. He went to Oklahoma State and it proved to be a most fortuitous decision.
Heaney really struggled in his first couple of years in college. As a freshman and sophomore, Heaney managed just 106 strikeouts to 47 walks and was used as both a starter and reliever. He turned his situation around and his junior year was absolutely outstanding, making 15 starts and pitching 118.1 innings (yes, nearly eight innings per start). His K:BB ratio skyrocketed from 2.26 through his first two years to 6.36 over his final season.
After his third year of college, the Marlins drafted Heaney in the first round of the 2012 draft and sent him immediately to Rookie ball. It’s clear the intention that Miami has for him as 31 of his 32 appearances since being sent to Rookie ball have been starts.
Every scouting report I can find says essentially the same thing about Heaney: He has a deceptively good fastball because he’s about 6-foot-2 and weighs well under 200 lbs. Despite this, Heaney can still hit about 93 MPH on the radar gun with his fastball, settling around 90 MPH with it on most pitches. Also, the scouting reports indicate that he has natural, arm-side movement on his fast ball which means he’s essentially throwing a two-seam fast ball every pitch. That kind of movement can be lethal when combined with his other pitches, a big reason being because he has a three-quarter delivery that can hide his pitches.
His other pitches include a slider and a change-up. The slider can most be readily described as a slurve – a combination slider/curve – and doesn’t have the sharp break that some other pitchers have in their repertoire. That’s probably irrelevant if he can control it, which can be difficult with his inconsistent break that has been noted before. From what I’ve been reading and watching, Heaney’s change-up is probably his third pitch and doesn’t have the movement it should considering he has a fast ball with the same kind of movement. The problem with using a change-up in conjunction with a sinking/two-seam fastball is that if the movement isn’t dramatic, hitters behind the fastball will be right on the change-up. He’ll have to sharpen that change to really become an effective starter. Future teammate Henderson Alvarez has run in to this problem and since coming to the Marlins from the Toronto Blue Jays, Alvarez has all-but-abandoned his change-up.
The movement Heaney has on his fastball is very good and he can make hitters look ridiculous with that slider (slurve?) that he throws as a strikeout pitch. There aren’t many two-pitch pitchers that last very long as a starter, though, so if he really wants to stick around as a good starter, that change-up needs work.
With all that said, Heaney still has pretty good control (usually) of his pitches – he has not had a BB/9 greater than 2.6 at any level he’s achieved so far – and he’s shown some strikeout ability at all his levels. He’s already showing his elite talent at Double A Jacksonville so far this year, posting a 2.19 FIP (2.31 ERA) with a K:BB ratio of 3.7. In 72.2 innings at Double-A spanning two seasons, he has a 2.60 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 3.16 K:BB ratio.
Fantasy Outlook
There had been some thought that he might make his way up to the big club sometime in the middle of the summer, mostly because the Marlins were not supposed to be good this year. Alas, as of time of writing, the Marlins are tied for first in the division and have a better record than the Cardinals or the Dodgers. A big reason for that is that the Marlins are fifth in the National League in starters’ ERA at 3.22. They (again at time of writing) have four starters with an ERA under 3.00 (Koehler, Eovaldi, Fernandez, Alvarez). That final spot is being occupied by Jacob Turner right now.
The point here is that if the Marlins don’t move Turner out from the fifth starters’ spot, Heaney will have no value this year. It appears the rotation is fairly locked so if Heaney does get the call sometime in July or August, much like Toronto’s Marcus Stroman, it’s probably straight to the bullpen.
If Heaney is called up with the intention of starting, this is a very valuable name for later in the season (write this one down, Head-To-Headers). As of today, the Marlins and the Nationals are the only NL East teams to be in the top half of the National League in runs scored. He gets to pitch against the Mets and the Phillies with a fantastic home park. While he figures not to be an ace in the future, in a five- or six-start spurt, he could produce ace-like numbers against the subpar offenses in this division.
He should be owned already in dynasties and he’s not a pitcher to really get over-excited with in re-drafts. With that said, if he gets the call this year (he still has just 72.2 innings at Double-A) and it’s to start, he will be in a very good situation to succeed down the stretch of the season. There isn’t even a guarantee he will appear in 2014, though, so don’t get click-happy on the waiver wire just yet.
