Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Open 2026 With Two Top Pitching Prospects on Roster

Robby Snelling, one of baseball's top five left-handed pitching prospects and the arm who led every minor-league lefty with 166 strikeouts in 2025, opened Jacksonville's 2026 Triple-A season on a roster that also includes Thomas White, the Marlins' top prospect and the No. 1 left-handed pitching prospect in baseball. Having two of the sport's five best southpaw prospects on the same Triple-A staff is an organizational accomplishment that doubles as a legitimate pitching staff.

White begins the year on the injured list with a grade-one right oblique strain. His 2025 was a rapid ascent across three levels: a 2.31 ERA across 89.2 innings at High-A Beloit, Double-A Pensacola, and Jacksonville before he represented the Marlins at the All-Star Futures Game. The oblique sidelines him at the start, but the organizational plan calls for a careful ramp rather than a lost season, and his return to the Jacksonville rotation will be the most closely watched development story in the system.

Snelling carries the staff in White's absence. His 2.51 ERA across 136 innings last season backed up the strikeout volume, making him the clearest first call from Jacksonville if Miami needs a left-handed starter at any point in the first half.

The depth chart beyond pitching begins with catcher Joe Mack, the Marlins' No. 5 prospect and baseball's No. 7 catching prospect. Mack led the Jumbo Shrimp with 18 home runs in 2025 while slashing .257/.338/.475 across Double-A and Triple-A. His arm is an immediate selling point at any level: he threw out 28 of 88 attempted base stealers, a 32 percent caught-stealing rate that profiles as playable in the majors right now.

Kemp Alderman rounds out the four Top-30 Marlins prospects on the Opening Day roster. His breakout at Double-A led to a late-season Triple-A audition he used decisively, hitting .303 with seven home runs in 21 games. Raw power that shows up in small Triple-A samples tends to accelerate front-office timelines.

The veteran layer carries its own organizational weight. Jacob Berry, whose walk-off hit produced Jacksonville's Triple-A National Championship last season, returns for another run. Left-hander Braxton Garrett, who missed all of 2025 recovering from revision elbow surgery involving an internal brace on the UCL, opens 2026 in Jacksonville as he rebuilds toward a full workload. Garrett Acton, Bradley Blalock, Ethan O'Donnell, and Daniel Johnson make their Jacksonville debuts, adding the moveable depth that allows the Jumbo Shrimp to absorb summer call-up losses without conceding a pennant race.

Jacksonville won the 2025 Triple-A title with a roster designed to develop and compete simultaneously. The 2026 version runs the same structure: White and Snelling at the top of the pitching depth chart, Mack as the first phone call when Miami needs a catcher, and enough flexibility through Berry, Garrett, and the newcomers to stay in contention through whatever the season demands.