We will start our February Keepers series by listing prospects who received votes to get into the Top 25 but fell short based on our combined rankings.
#30 Camden Maron
2011: (R) .318/.434/.413, 3 HR, 24 RBI, 4 SB (66%), 38 BB, 34 K
After 3 tries at the Rookie Level, Camden skipped Brooklyn and went straight to Savannah where he posted excellent numbers as a 21 year old. His advanced eye at the plate falls right in line with the type of Moneyball team that Sandy Alderson is trying to build and despite not having longball power he has so far shown good gap to gap power. There are serious concerns that his throwing arm may not be good enough remain a C as his already paltry 24% RTO rate from 2011 fell to a flat out awful 13% RTO in Savannah.
Anticipated Assignment: (A+) Port St. Lucie Platoon C
#29 Marcos Camarena
2012: (A) 7-6, 2.92, 6.2 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 1.041 WHIP
2011: (SS-A) 3-3, 3.13 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, 1.168 WHIP
Since coming stateside in 2010, Camarena has been on the "1 year/1 level" pace and has performed well at each stop. 2012 was no different as he was a part of Frank Viola's piggyback crew in Savannah and unfortunately was often the odd man out amongst the top pitching prospects. Even more unfortunate is that he'll continue following those guys and will probably be stuck into the bullpen with no room in the rotation. Camarena's MO is his pin-point control which should carry him to at least AA but he doesn't overpower guys and his secondary stuff is average at best which doesn't profile him well as a reliever. He'll need to develop an out pitch as well as learn to mix it up even more if he wants to get back in the rotation and be a future big leaguer.
Anticipated Assignment (A+) Port St. Lucie Bullpen
#28 Daniel Muno
2011: (SS-A) .355/.466/.514, 2 HR, 24 RBI, 9 SB (29%), 43 BB, 39 K
2011's 8th round pick has shown a lot of success already in the Mets organization. Despite receiving a 50 game suspension for performance enhancing drugs, Muno continued his amazing Brooklyn debut with an solid year in Port St. Lucie and seems to be on a fast track through the minor league system. He has an advanced eye as evidenced by his near 1:1 K:BB ratio that ranked in the Top 5 in the FSL. He was moved off of short and given more time at 2B where he projects to at least be a quality utility infielder. It is not outside of the realm of possibilty that his St. Lucie performance pushes Havens up to AAA and gets Muno starting time in Binghamton.
Anticipated Assignment: (AA) Binghamton Mets starting 2B
#27 Phillip Evans
2011: (R/SS-A) .294/.351/.412, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB (0%), 3 BB, 5 K
The widely regarded SS that Alderson and Co. "stole" in the 15th round and paid $650k to sign hasn't lived up to expectations so far. After signing late in 2011 and only getting into 9 games, Evans was given an aggressive assignment to Brooklyn as a 19 yr old. While the arm strength and range was there to suggest that maybe he could stick at SS, the gap power that was said to have been there was non-existent as he only had 14 XBH in 73 games. Also he was extremely pull happy which was exploited a bit as evidenced by his low batting average. Brooklyn may have been too much for him and with Cecchini on his heels there may be a chance that he may get another aggressive assignment to Savannah.
Anticipated Assignment: (A) Savannah starting SS
#26 Juan Lagares
2011: (A+/AA) .349/.383/.500, 9 HR, 71 RBI, 15 SB (65%), 26 BB, 76 K
The, soon to be, 24 year old 2006 international signee came down to earth after a monsterous 2011 but still put up solid numbers in 2012 for Binghamton. Lagares has shown that he has enough range for CF but he will need to continue improving his glovework and his initial reads in order to stick there. This is critical since his lack of power does not profile well at the corner OF positions. Unfortunately Lagares may not get that chance as he is expected to play at the same level at fellow CF Matt Den Dekker. He also needs additional work learning to avoid strikeouts or else he'll be nothing more than a 4th OF.
Anticipated Assignment: (AAA) Las Vegas starting LF
I think Muno and Lagares will ultimately make it to the bench for the Mets.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think we could all be sleeping on Lagares.
ReplyDeleteHe had a down year and still hit .283 with 21 SB and stole 45 at one level of the minors. His profile fits best in CF but now he's blocked by Den Dekker and that is ultimately hurting his stock.
IMO -
ReplyDeleteOnly Camarena could have a lengthy Major league career from these five. Evans could become a utility infielder, but that's about it here.
Mack,
ReplyDeleteCan't agree with you been down so much on these guys outside of Maron.
All of them are in Single A at the moment, are young and have plenty of room to grow.
You can't tell me that Muno cant be better than Murphy. His hit tool is just as good, better speed, better defense, and better eye.