1/10/12

Mets – Brandon Nimmo, Darrell Ceciliani, Jason Bay, Mr. Met, Reese Havens





1-3-12 - mets360  - 4. Brandon Nimmo, OF, Rookie ball, .211/.318/.368 in 44 PA - I don’t like ranking players with little to no professional experience. But it’s silly to pretend that Nimmo isn’t one of the club’s top prospects. It would not surprise me if he ended up being the most valuable player currently in the farm system. The strikeouts are certainly a concern from his brief pro debut. But he also hit 2 HR in 29 ABs in the Gulf Coast League, giving some indication of the power he possesses. By now you know that his high school did not have a baseball program, but Nimmo ran track and played football as a prepster, giving hints to his all-around athleticism. There’s talk he will skip the short-season New York-Penn League and open 2012 in full-season ball. If so, this time next year we’ll have 400+ ABs with which to properly evaluate Nimmo.

mtsmerized  - 35. Darrell Ceciliani (CF) This speedy 21 year-old, lefty swinging center-fielder, who the Mets made their 4th round draft pick out of Columbia Basin Community College (Wash) in 2009, is still very raw, and if he does reach the majors, it won’t be before 2014. This past year he was the Savannah Sand Gnats everyday center-fielder. In three full seasons, (two short season, and this one) he has amassed 800 lifetime minor league AB’s, with a lifetime .283 BA. He has a .358 OBP, and a .403 SLG%, but his problem so far has also been too many K’s. His K/BB ratio reads: 173/78, and for a lead-off hitter those numbers need to improve. If he can become a better contact hitter, he has the speed and ability to stay in centerfield.

I want to believe in Jason Bay, and I want to believe he finally made an adjustment in September and can now be a valuable part of this lineup. However, because he was largely awful for the better part of two seasons, it’s so hard to put any faith in his abilities going forward. Don’t get me wrong – there were certainly a lot of positives to take away from his strong finish last year. For the first time since he joined the Mets, he had quick hands through the zone and appeared to attack pitches middle-in, which allowed him to pull balls down the line with consistentcy and authority. He also wasn’t waiving at the outside pitch; he either laid off those pitches or drove them up the middle. The question is: Was this a renaissance of sorts or an aberration? http://www.metsblog.com/2012/01/08/the-future-for-jason-bay/

Mr. Met, the red-stitched Übermensch born without a first name, has experienced so much as the giant head of the Mets: good years, but many bad ones, World Series celebrations and late-season collapses. Jose Reyes but Vince Coleman. Tom Seaver but Aaron Heilman. Gil Hodges but Art Howe. Imagine, then, Mr. Met as Sisyphus, muscling his head up the steep hill of tough Mets history. That’s his life and his plight. And in that, he is in 2012, perhaps more perfectly than ever, a symbol of the club. The Mets have stunk on the field. The club’s owners have been accused of benefiting unjustly from one of history’s great frauds. The franchise’s finances — with a world of debt, a slashed payroll, ever-shrinking attendance — are imperiled. Even its new $800 million stadium has been deemed a flawed structure that hurt the team it was built to showcase http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/sports/baseball/ever-the-optimist-mr-met-keeps-his-head-up.html

1-8-11: - http://nybaseballdigest.com/2012/01/07/most-intriguing-mets-prospects-in-2012/  - 1) Reese Havens (2B) – If not for constant injuries he would already be entrenched at second base. Average defender with a short and powerful stroke at the plate. Also possesses good strike zone knowledge. If healthy, he will be the second baseman in Queens by the time 2012 is over.

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