Prospect: OF - Sean Ratliff

Sean Ratliff OF L L 6-3 225 2-24-87 Stanford University

The Mets drafted Ratliff in the 4th round of the 2008 draft.

From Baseball America:

Stanford's top talent, junior outfielder Sean Ratliff, might have worked into the first-round mix with more polish at the plate. His 18 homers ranked fifth in the Pac-10, he runs well for his 6-foot-3, 225-pound size, and he has enough arm to hit 92 mph off the mound. It's a prototype right-field profile, but Ratliff has an unorthodox swing with holes in it, and he swings and misses a lot. His 72 strikeouts tied for second-worst in Division I entering regional play
From the Stanford website:

As A Junior In 2008: On the 2008 Wallace Award Watch List • Leads the team in homers, RBI, and triples (4) • Hitting .285 with 17 home runs, 54 RBI and six stolen bases • Had a torrid career-high-tying 13-game hit streak from March 8 - April 5, going 22-for-51 (.431) with five doubles, two triples, seven homers and 22 RBI • One of three players to have started all 53 games • Homered four times over three-game span (May 4-6) • Has one of the team's three grand slams during the 2008 season (5/4 at San Jose State) • Has made three appearances on the mound, pitching 3.0 innings for a 2-0 record and a 6.00 ERA.

From MLB.com:

Hitting Ability: He's not a pure hitter, not being consistent enough from at-bat to at-bat.

Power: He's got pretty good power and showed home run pop to the pull side.

Running Speed: He grades out as average, at best.

Base running: He handled himself OK on the bases.

Arm Strength: He wasn't tested in this game, but he's shown a strong arm as a guy who's done some pitching.

Fielding: He's playing CF now and looks OK, but he may not be able to stay there in the future.

Range: He has average range in center right now.

Physical Description: Ratliff is a big, strong, left-handed hitter.

Medical Update: Healthy.

Strengths: Power bat, with home-run potential.

Weaknesses: Inconsistency. He hasn't shown the ability to make consistent contact.

Summary: College power hitters are always going to draw interest, even inconsistent ones.

Ratliff hasn't always been able to make consistent contact, but he manages to show enough to remain intriguing. A center fielder for now, the team who thinks he'll turn his sometimes power into something frequent enough to man a corner spot will take a chance on him

In 2008, Raliff hit .229/.300/.388 for Brooklyn, in 201 at bats.