How Good Is Met Prospect Pitching?

How good is Matt Harvey pitching in his first season of professional baseball? Good... VERY GOOD... IMPOSSIBLY GOOD! He's truly exceeded all of my expectations for what a first year prospect would be capable of. Beyond Harvey, the Mets have Jeurys Familia who's stats might even surpass Matt's, Zack Wheeler who's ceiling is SUPER high, Darin Gorski who looks like he's rolling through the FSL and Jenrry Mejia... who's a little injured.

Full Name: Matthew Harvey

Born: 03/27/1989

Birthplace: New London, CT

College: North Carolina

Height: 6' 4"

Weight: 210

Bats: R

Throws: R

FSL: 76 IP, 2.37 ERA, .238 BAA, 1.197 WHIP and... 92 Ks
EAS: 51.2 IP, 4.35 ERA, .268 BAA, 1.316 WHIP and... 59 Ks

If you remove his first 3 AA starts from the equation...

EAS: 39 IP, 2.77 ERA, .282 BAA, 1.128 WHIP and... 45 Ks

Looking at his most recent 7 starts alone, he looks to be mastering AA hitters with relative ease. Harvey has maintained his good K-Rate and low walk rate and really looks ready to enter AAA as early as the start of 2012. (Mind you, the difference between AA and AAA is slight and the Mets could keep him in AA anyway.)

Full Name: Jeurys Familia

Born: 10/10/1989

Birthplace: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Height: 6' 3"

Weight: 185

Bats: R

Throws: R

FSL: 36.1 IP, 1.49 ERA, .171 BAA, .798 WHIP and... 36 Ks
EAS: 72.2 IP, 3.47 ERA, .237 BAA, .867 WHIP and... 84 Ks

So... we have Matt Harvey and he looks like a stud, but Familia... he's got a WHIP well under 1.000 and he's actually improved his K-Rate from A+ to AA. Familia is easily read to move up to AAA NOW, but there is little reason to make the move. If he keeps his WHIP that low I can't see him staying away from Flushing for much beyond the first months of 2012.

Full Name: Zachary Harrison Wheeler

Born: 05/30/1990

Birthplace: Smyrna, GA

Height: 6' 4"

Weight: 185

Bats: R

Throws: R

CAL: 88 IP, 3.99 ERA, .224 BAA, 1.375 WHIP and... 98 Ks
FSL: 20 IP, 2.70 ERA, .253 BAA, 1.250 WHIP and... 23 Ks

I'm not on the band-wagon as much as SOME people. I see the tremendous potential but I'm not as sold on him. I'll point to his WHIP as the reason why. He walks too many players. With a .224 BAA his Whip SHOULD be quite low. It's not though. Even now that he's been with the Mets and improved his walks substantially he's just allowing too many base runners. Right now I think he could stand to start the year back in the FSL, BUT he's definitely star material.

Full Name: Darin Walter Gorski

Born: 10/06/1987

Birthplace: Mount Joy, PA

College: Kutztown U

Height: 6' 4"

Weight: 210

Bats: L

Throws: L

FSL: 127.2 IP, 2.26 ERA, .217 BAA, 1.034 WHIP and... 131 Ks

Why is Gorski still in A+ baseball? Because Robert Carson, Brandon Moore and Collin McHugh haven't pitched well enough to be promoted or poorly enough to be demoted. Gorski has no room in AA but... he's headed there next spring. It's hard to see why Gorski isn't as hyped a prospect when you look at the stats. The answer is that he doesn't have the same GAS as the top three. On the flip side... he IS a lefty and that counts for something. I'd easily slot him amongst the top five pitching prospects in the Met system.

Full Name: Jenrry Manuel Mejia

Born: 10/11/1989

Birthplace: Tabara Arriba, Dominican Republic

Height: 6' 0"

Weight: 205

Bats: R

Throws: R

If Jenrry had not gotten hurt he'd be in the Met rotation right now. Because he did get hurt the consensus opinion (not mine BTW) is that 2012 ends up being a rehab year for Mejia. I don't buy that for many reasons. Not the least of which is that he should be coming back towards the front half of the season and Tommy John tends to not have a negative effect on velocity. Sure he'll have rust but I put his timeline pretty close to Matt Harvey's for making his way up to Flushing (again in his case).

How many teams can boast 5 pitchers of this caliber with major league ETA's of 2013 or sooner? In short... Met prospect pitching is VERY GOOD and has me more than a little excited.