Hey Mack. One of the first things I look at when I look up the info on any prospect is his age. A lot of the Dominican kids are signed early at age sixteen and seem to play short season ball until they're 18. What do they do for the other 8 or 9 months? Also, my view is to be aggressive with these guys. Why keep them plugging away at the same level, while using up their youth, hoping for results? Sink or swim. Take a guy like Savannah's A-Rod. He's 20, has power, and has played in the system for three years and isn't in high A ball. He might even play another year in Savannah. By the time he makes Queens, this kids who has been in Mets' control since he was 16, will be 25. That just seems crazy. I always wondered that a player's lack of production was because of frustration due to his lack of movement in the system. Bobby Parnell was a lousy pitcher in the beginning of 2010 and didn't become productive until his call up. Gary Cohen had the same idea that I had. I don’t know, it just seems crazy to me to sign a player at 16, and not see the return on the investment for 8 or 9 years. There’s not much fanfare for 25, 26 year old rookies. I believe the same goes for draftees. Its all baseball, keep the line moving, kick out who can't play, and let's see what we got. It worked for Mike Leake, Strasburg, Winfield. Who knows?
Mack:
Morning Chuckie.
Boy, I could spend hours on 16-year old prospects.
Most of my readers are seasoned Mets fans, so I’m not sure if they remember what it was like to be 16-years old. I remember it, because I graduated high school at that age. I can’t tell you how young that was to be thrown out to the world, and I can’t even imagine what it would like to be playing baseball for the Savannah Sand Gnats. But, that was exactly what Omar Minaya did to a handful of Latin prospects that should have been taking the garbage out for their mother instead.
I have asked a couple of these players face to face if they graduated high school. All of a sudden, no one could speak English anymore.
I guess playing baseball at 16 is better than shoveling shit in the Dominican, but the last thing the Mets or any other team should do is rush these kids. There is no “8 or 9 year” development program, but there shouldn’t be the kind of sped up program that players like Juan Legarus, Wilmer Flores, Frankie Pena, Jefry Marte, or Ruben Tejada were put through. The vast majority of these kids don’t develop any faster; they just under-perform at a level they shouldn’t be playing.
I like what Sandy & Company are doing this year with the draft picks. He’s opening most of them with the GCL Mets so they can stay close to the training complex and be evaluated for their next step.
I would suggest the Mets do the same thing with any young Latin prospects (Eudy Pena, Elvis Sanchez, Vincente Lupo). Get them out of their homeland and put them on a two-year training program. Keep them in Florida for both seasons and then turn them loose, either with Savannah or St. Lucie, at the ripe old age of 19. We’re not talking more than five players a year that stand out from the others.
(Regarding the off-season, they go home or are assigned to the Mets complex in the Dominican Republic. It’s a state of the art facility with a field the same dimensions as CitiField.)
“A-Rod” (Aderlin Rodriguez) is playing in Savannah because he hasn’t even learned to play the game yet. He has a great swing but can’t keep his BA above .250. So, he should be promoted? Oh yeah, he fields like a horse.
Every player is different regardless of age. Tejada at 16 was a much better player than Pena. If you slow everything down, including the high schoolers you draft, your system with balance out in 2-3 years and you will punch out 2-4 prime cuts every year.
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