Stephen Guilbert - Future Major Leaguers- Port St. Lucie Mets

This will be a 4-part series analyzing which players in each minor league level looks like a future 25-man regular. We start with the High-A Port St. Lucie Mets. 

Every organization has three types of minor leaguers:

     1.) Prospects the team hopes and intends on being starters on a winning team.

     2.) Role-players, bench pieces, bullpen specialists

     3.) Organizational filler

Within Category 1, we have trade bait: a luxury most teams want and few have. Within Category 3, there is also the “lottery pick”. This is the guy drafted, signed, or traded for who doesn’t quite fit into any of the categories and could end up anywhere from all-star to organizational guy. 

I want to examine who, level by level, in the Mets system, fall into either category 1 or 2. I am not interested in the Cat 3 guys. Sure, Matt Clark and Brian Burgamy are fine players, but they do not represent a 25-man roster spot on my future contending Mets team.

I am going to ignore any level lower than low-A Savannah from my lack of familiarity with those players and also because we really do not know what we have there yet. I would love to put Blake Taylor and Marcos Molina on this list, but it is just too early to tell.

St. Lucie:

Category 1: 

Gavin Cecchini embodies the Mets youth movement over recent years.

SS Gavin Cecchini 

The draft pick is a controversial one, but Cecchini will be a big-leaguer. His role, ranging from starting shortstop on a playoff team, to role-player or utility man, is still unknown. He is a good age for the FSL, has some very strong reviews about his makeup, and no one questions the work ethic. He does not have outstanding tools, though, but an overall solid game. Personally, I think there are better shortstops in the system and he ends up getting traded. Still, Cat 1 guy here and the best shot at a major league regular on this squad. 

RHP Michael Fulmer

I still believe in Fulmer. I love the power fastball/power curve combo and he is still very young. Injuries have held him back but this is absolutely a future major leaguer. It might be out of a bullpen role, but he would be great there as well. For now, mid-rotation starter is my call and I think he's due for a monster second half. 

Category 2:

RHRP Domingo Tapia

I feel like he has been in the system forever and I am going out on a limb with this pick but I still love the fastball. I think he could really thrive as a reliever and that conversion could move the already-22-year-old more quickly through the system. He will need to miss more bats and walk fewer, but I cannot help but think that at some point he is going to figure it out and that when he does, it is going to be very fun to watch. 

SS/2B L.J. Mazzilli

LJ Maz will find his way on to a major league team. There is enough pedigree and diversity in his game to make it. He is a borderline Cat 3 guy and I do not like him nearly as much as most fans, but he should be a solid bench piece someday. He's blocked in the minors and old for the FSL, but he will be fine. 

Wildcard: 2B Jeff McNeil

I don't know what to do with McNeil. I like him a lot. He hit very well in a Savannah and that's tough to do. He's also 22, has done little in 10 games in High-A, and is blocked quite a ways up the system. He hits, though. And he hits a lot. I have to see what he does after more time St. Lucie. Borderline 2/3 guy right now and cannot categorize him quite yet.

That is it for the St. Lucie Mets, and frankly Tapia and Mazzilli barely sneak on there. I am tempted to leave them off and might in future editions. There are a lot of guys on this team I used to like a lot (Phillip Evans, Luis Cessa, Luis Mateo) who fell out of my graces for one reason or another. Evans has not shown me enough, Mateo is getting old, and Cessa doesn't miss enough bats. We also have Matt Koch, an early round pick who people still think can be a starter, for whatever reason. Aderlin Rodriguez is still on this team although I have never liked him as much as most. Some might want Gilbert Gomez, but I do not see enough in his game to suggest he would be better than the current standard for a 4th outfielder (EY/Kirk/den Dekker, Brown etc.)

This is a tentative: 

Category 1: 2 players

Category 2: 2 players

St. Lucie does not have the impact talent Savannah possesses, and the team largely is quite old. I find it hard to consider guys playing at age 23 in High-A "prospects", which is my main problem with this team. My two Cat 2 players are both 23 or turning 23 this year and that does bother me. The two youngest on the squad are Cecchini and Fulmer, the only two guys I consider true prospects. 

Tomorrow we will check in with Binghamton, a team that, on paper, seems stacked. Let's see how they do. 

--SG