Since my days in the minor leagues, I have read plenty of these Top 10, 25, 50, 100 lists of Mets Minor Leaguers. Some written by Baseball America, some written by our good buddy Mack @ Mack's Mets, some written by anonymous bloggers...the one thing all of these lists fail to include (besides my name) is some kind words to say about those minor league veterans who may not project to be future MLB All-Stars but are clearly good enough to earn a paycheck for 5, 6 or sometimes even 7 years in the system.
Lists in years past have praised the likes of Mike Devaney, Corey Coles, Brett Harper, Todd Privett, Matt Durkin, Aaron Hathaway, Greg Cain, Blake Eager, Dan Stegall...whether it be because these guys were coming off of one solid season, or perhaps their draft status merited a write-up, or maybe they had tools out the @$$, these guys got to see their name in print (Navin Johnson anyone?) while solid minor leaguers continued to produce year in year out without as much as a peep from the press.
I could also make this post about Tim McNab, because the same applies, but the guy I'm thinking about is Josh Petersen. If I tried to count, I could probably name 15 guys who were once WELL ahead of Josh on the organizational depth chart, yet as each year passes, they have all been released for one reason or another while Josh still shows up to the field every day and continues to help the organization field teams. Josh recently hit his first AAA home run which may seem insignificant, but give the guy credit, he went undrafted back in 2004, and by my count, only 9 guys from the entire draft class are even playing professional baseball anymore...9 out of 50, and only two are currently in the big leagues (Phil Humber & Nick Evans), and Josh is still in AAA hitting dingers. And was he ever mentioned as a guy who could potentially suit up at Shea? Probably not...
The guy is 6-3, 215, plays multiple positions and can hit the ball, yet has never gotten 300 ab's in a season...and as much as you can blame the Mets for that, I think it has something to do with the lack of fanfare from people in the know.
So as Mack attempts to name and rank 100 Mets Prospects and provide bios and breakdowns for each (Good luck with that), I hope he saves some room for the DJ Wabicks and Jon Malo's of the world, who despite the low profiles continue to make their teams better and play solid baseball.
Lists in years past have praised the likes of Mike Devaney, Corey Coles, Brett Harper, Todd Privett, Matt Durkin, Aaron Hathaway, Greg Cain, Blake Eager, Dan Stegall...whether it be because these guys were coming off of one solid season, or perhaps their draft status merited a write-up, or maybe they had tools out the @$$, these guys got to see their name in print (Navin Johnson anyone?) while solid minor leaguers continued to produce year in year out without as much as a peep from the press.
I could also make this post about Tim McNab, because the same applies, but the guy I'm thinking about is Josh Petersen. If I tried to count, I could probably name 15 guys who were once WELL ahead of Josh on the organizational depth chart, yet as each year passes, they have all been released for one reason or another while Josh still shows up to the field every day and continues to help the organization field teams. Josh recently hit his first AAA home run which may seem insignificant, but give the guy credit, he went undrafted back in 2004, and by my count, only 9 guys from the entire draft class are even playing professional baseball anymore...9 out of 50, and only two are currently in the big leagues (Phil Humber & Nick Evans), and Josh is still in AAA hitting dingers. And was he ever mentioned as a guy who could potentially suit up at Shea? Probably not...
The guy is 6-3, 215, plays multiple positions and can hit the ball, yet has never gotten 300 ab's in a season...and as much as you can blame the Mets for that, I think it has something to do with the lack of fanfare from people in the know.
So as Mack attempts to name and rank 100 Mets Prospects and provide bios and breakdowns for each (Good luck with that), I hope he saves some room for the DJ Wabicks and Jon Malo's of the world, who despite the low profiles continue to make their teams better and play solid baseball.
That's what I needed... pressure :)
ReplyDeleteWell-written, nice post!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm looking forward to Mack's "keepers" too. Thanks, guys.
Very cool
ReplyDelete