Look to the top of our page to find the current rankings that we have done already
Mack’s Mets #4 organizational prospect is……
#4 RHP Rafael Quezada Montero (LR: #6)
Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6' 0″ Weight: 170 lb
Acquired: 2011 international signing, Dominican Republic
2013: (AA/AAA) 10-6, 3.10 ERA, 2.1 BB/9, 8.4 K/9, 1.139 WHIP
2012: (A/A+) 11-5, 2.36 ERA, 1.4 BB/9, 8.1 K/9, 0.943 WHIP
2011: (DSL/R/SS-A) 5-4, 2.15 ERA, 1.6 BB/9, 8.4 K/9, 0.958 WHIP
The "Quezada" has had one of the more impressive rises in farm system I have seen in a long time. It was only 30 months when he was pitching in the Dominican Summer League, fresh off a newly signed contract with the Mets, and now he's only a few weeks away from possibly being called up to the big league club. His calling card has always been combining the impeccable control of his 92-94 fastball with a good change-up and a usable slider and he has ridden that bus all the way to Las Vegas this season never seeing his BB rates spike.
He has dominated every level of the minor league system up until now but is have a little more difficulty with Pacific Coast League hitters. However, as we have said with previous AAA pitchers on this list, the PCL is a very difficult place to pitch. The lack of humidity screws with the grip on your breaking pitches (thus reducing K/9 and increasing BB/9) and the thin air increases offense overall. Montero has suffered a bit from this, but he is still maintaining a 3.88 ERA and has actually held opponents to a .232 batting average since the All-Star.
Now that being said Montero will not be Rule 5 eligible this off-season so the club is not inclined to use a 40 man roster spot on him just yet. In addition, Las Vegas is only 1 GB 1st place in the PCL Pacific South so they are deep in the playoff hunt which will cause prospects to stay down past the September 1st roster expansion. In the end, I still believe Montero only has a ceiling of a #3 pitcher; he's just not ace caliber without a wipeout breaking pitch. However, he is surely someone I can see slotting into the Mets rotation as a #4 guy in late 2014 as an innings eater who will give you 7 quality innings every time out and give the team an opportunity to win.
As a side note, I feel Montero's future goes hand in hand with Mejia's. Mejia has been stellar since being called up and now looks like he's destined to be the #4 guy in the future All-Star caliber rotation behind Harvey, Wheeler, and Syndergaard. If Mejia continues to show that he's put his injury history behind him and can hold down his spot in the rotation, Montero is going to become a highly attractable trade piece that can be packaged to get a guy like Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Giancarlo Stanton, Xander Bogaerts, etc. Keep your eyes and ears open people. If the organization starts hyping him up over the winter there is an underlying reason why.
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