76. Stefan Welch – 1B – A+ - 21/yrs.
Welch was signed out of Alice Springs, Australia, and joined the Mets organization in 2007. He played both first base and third base; however, has since become a full time first baseman. In 2007, for the GCL Mets. Welch hit .288/.346/.353/.699.
2008 was spent for a short time with Savannah (.263 in 19 at bats), but most of the season fir Kingsport. Stats: .281/.316/447/.763 in 52 at bats. He also had his first four professional home runs.
From an article while a member of the Savannah Sand Gnats:
Question:. How did the Mets find you?
SW: I signed (at age 16) after a couple of years of school. After I finished school, I came over. We have a six-week camp (annually) that's run by the major leagues. It's pretty much like a spring training, but it goes six weeks in Australia. Then we have national tournaments when we play each other ... There are a lot of scouts.
This year, Welch also spent a short time in Savannah (.239 in 92 at bats), but was sent off to St. Lucie when he couldn’t work himself into the Sand Gnat starting lineup. He started out on fire, hitting .337 in July, but followed that up with a .223 August. His yearly stats for Lucy: .278/.350/.408/.762
His three year minor league totals are respectful: 719-AB, .275/.328/.408/.736, 12-HR, 96-RBI
Welch is a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde type of prospect. On the positive side, he has excellent height, bat speed, and hopefully room to add size and strength although his frame may limit exactly how much on the other hand, he's rail thin right now and has a line drive swing instead of a typical lefty uppercut. His arm strength is average, but his range may be a a little below. He had decent speed, but no length to his stride. With all the positives and negatives in his game, I'm not sure where he fits in over the long haul. He has more of a middle infield offensive skill set, but will have to play a corner position. The question becomes can he advance in an atypical fashion similar to Daniel Murphy with added size and enough versatility to play more than one position? If successful, he has an opportunity to be useful player at higher levels and possibly a big league career.
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/minorleague/bowman_welch_named_to_provisional_YXFs0cMv1PVd6pkYoWweHP
Two Mets minor league third basemen, Shawn Bowman (Canada) and Stefan Welch (Australia), have been selected to be on their respective country's provisional World Baseball Classic rosters. Welch, a 19-year-old from Adelaide, hit .279 with five homers, 37 RBI, a .320 on-base percentage and a .449 slugging percentage for Rookie-level Kingsport and Low-A Savannah.
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/minorleague/bowman_welch_named_to_provisional_YXFs0cMv1PVd6pkYoWweHP
Two Mets minor league third basemen, Shawn Bowman (Canada) and Stefan Welch (Australia), have been selected to be on their respective country's provisional World Baseball Classic rosters. Welch, a 19-year-old from Adelaide, hit .279 with five homers, 37 RBI, a .320 on-base percentage and a .449 slugging percentage for Rookie-level Kingsport and Low-A Savannah.
Forecast: Here’s the rub. The Mets, like most clubs, define a first baseman as a guy that runs slow, can’t field, but knows how to hit the snot out of the ball, especially over the fence, in bounds. Right now, all signs point to Ike Davis for the job for the 2010-2015 seasons, so what happens to someone that has only gone above .400 slugging in one year. Davis is a lock for 2010, Nick Evans will probably be long gone and Welsh has at least three more seasons to pump it up. Look for him to start 2010 in Binghamton, simply because there is no one ahead of him right now.
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