The Marlins optioned top prospect Cameron Maybin to Double-A Carolina yesterday.

"What I told Cameron in the meeting was we don’t think any different of him," President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest said. "He came as advertised. We’re really happy with him. When he’s ready, he’ll show us and he’ll be out in center field.

"He just needs to refine a few things and needs additional at-bats at the minor league level to work through some of those things, and then hopefully he’ll be our center fielder for a long time."

The move to keep Maybin in the minor leagues makes sense for the Marlins. While Maybin has tremendous tools and hit .304/.393/.486 in 350 plate appearances last year with high Class A Lakeland, he has just 79 plate appearances above high Class A. The Marlins should win around 70 games this season and aren’t likely to contend for a playoff spot, so there’s no need for them to rush Maybin (who turns 21 on April 4) to the majors to start his service clock and accelerate his path to salary arbitration and free agency.