The 2009 season for the VSL Mets have come to an end. Very little fan fair follows the action here, since most of these kids should really still be either in high school, or in some kind of extended camp learning the basics fundamentals of the game.
What you do is walk away with a few names that have obviously earned themselves a visa in the off-season, to be assign to either of the rookie teams, the GCL Mets, of Kingsport.
Here’s this year’s big five:
VSL Mets:
DH/C Nestor Moreno - .320/.381/.393/775in 244 at bats, 33-R
RF Andres Perez - .311/.356/440/.796 in 241 at bats, 5-HR, 44-RBI
CF Breiner Soto - .298/.330/.436/.766 in 188 at bats, 30-R, 11-SB
C Albert Cordero - .285/.336/.438/.774 in 208 at bats, only 4-E
SP Ernesto Yanez – 7-1, 2.34, 1.15 in 14 games, 10 starts
Don’t get excited. We sent a much more dominating group last year,
none of which have produced better numbers that they did in Venezuela; however, stick these names in the back of you head. You should see them again in some form of Latin Winter ball, and on one of the stateside rosters in March 2010.
We’re also getting to the point in the season where we should star recognizing individuals who have stepped up and proven their value to the future of this team. Let’s face it, Savannah has an outside chance for the playoffs and all the other teams suck ass at this point in the season, so let’s move on to the players.
I’ve never seen Zach Lutz play one inning, but I have to tell you, he wins hands down when I ask some of the Mets minor leaguers who has the most talent in the lower levels, with a bat.
Lutz was a 5th round draft pick in 2007 out a small college named Alvernia, in Reading, Pa. Normally, I hate draft picks from small schools because there’s no real way to evaluate them Simply put, their stats are pumped up from playing shit teams in small conferences. Call me old school, but you can bat .350 in the Big 10, you get my vote over batting .450 for North West Disco Technical College, in Bumfuck, Egypt.
Going into this season, Lutz seemed to be trying to be the next Shawn Bowman, by injuring himself even more than Bowman has playing third. In 2007, he broke his foot on opening night, and in 2008, he came up lame three times, with ankle problems, lower back problems (a la Bowman), and a strained quad.
But, when healthy, he hit. Lutz finished the 2008 season, for Brooklyn, and his stats, in 72 at bats were 333/.442/514/.956. This year, for Lucy, he’s kept his health and, in 286 at bats, he is .297/.394/.469/.863, with ten home runs and 56 runs batted in.
Yes, he’s already 23, but his lifetime stats now include an .867 OPS.
Folks, this is your 2010 B-Met third baseman, and if the Mets didn’t have a guy named David Wright playing their, the press would be all over this prospect.
Trade bait? Major.
Future Mets 3Bman? Only if David moves to first, but that’s reserved for Ike Davis, followed by Wilmer Flores.
This is a good problem.
1 comment:
Zach Lutz can flat out rake, period. The reason he went to Alvernia has something to do with the fact that his father Yogi Lutz (great baseball name) has almost 600 career wins there and Zach started his frosh year and dominated for years thereafter. And Zach is the "good kind" of coach's son, meaning that he has a great work ethic and knows the ins and outs of the game.
He has some of the best backspin coming off of his bat that I have ever seen, and it helps create great loft, i.e. home run power
Having played against Evan Longoria in the Cape and in pro ball, I think the comparison is legitimate given their approach at the plate. Quiet hands and great bat speed. If he had hit 100 points lower and hit half as many HR's in college at a division I school, I find it hard to believe he would have lasted past the 2nd round in the draft
I need to give credit where credit is due to Shawn Bowman though...anybody else with his injury history would have been released and the Mets would have cut bait a long time ago, but they see his potential. Bowman has some of the best reactions at 3rd that I have ever seen and he's another guy who can pound the ball when healthy. Like you said Mack, not the worse problem to have, too many top tier 3rd base prospects
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