Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan was a little known commodity entering the 2009 season. Coghlan is a former first round draft choice (36th overall, 2006), who has progressed through the Marlins’ system with relative ease, but nothing about his career statistics has pointed to super stardom.

Coghlan has slowly but surely added some premium tools to his repertoire, most notably at the plate, where he was hitting .344 with 3 home runs and 22 RBIs with Triple-A New Orleans at the time of his May 8 callup. More importantly, however, were his nine stolen bases in 10 attempts - the real key to his fantasy potential.

Coghlan is a nice hitter, the kind of guy who has a good feel for the strike zone and consistently puts the ball in play. It would be optimistic to say he has 15-home run potential in the major leagues, but it is very realistic to suggest he’s a .300 hitter who can steal 25 bases and provide reasonable numbers elsewhere.

Coghlan is getting a chance to showcase his skills now for the Marlins, getting rewarded for his hot start and potentially earning playing time at second base, third base and left field. There are enough Marlin hitters struggling right now to think that Coghlan can go from a platoon player to full-timer sometime in the next few weeks.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez confirmed that thought in a Miami Herald story Thursday, indicating that Coghlan would soon be starting against both left-handers and right-handers and saying, “We’re to a point where if he hits, he’s going to play.”

That’s a pretty strong likelihood at this point, so scramble to the waiver wire and at least see if Coghlan can fit in your team’s outfield mix. He should qualify at multiple positions, but we’re betting on him winning the left field job and hitting near the top of Florida’s lineup the rest of the season.