The SUNDAY SCOOP: HEY, GET OUT OF MY WAY! AND WE GOT A SURPLUS OVER HERE! BY Tom Brennan

The SUNDAY SCOOP: HEY, GET OUT OF MY WAY!  AND WE GOT A SURPLUS OVER HERE! BY Tom Brennan

Any of you readers out there ever had to try to get onto a really crowded subway car?  Some jostling, a few polite elbows, and once you get on, hoping someone close by does not have a malady far worse than ebola, such as SAS (sweaty armpit syndrome).  Now THAT’S a killer.

Well, players getting onto my lower minors Top 20 list is equally difficult to getting into that rush hour subway car, sometimes a tad unpleasant, but as it is a sure ticket to future major league stardom. The scrambling to get (and stay) on board is feverish and competitive.  As goes my list, “if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”  In fact, a number of guys are pushing their way in, and the guys there still deserve to be in, so the list goes to 25 this week.

Some guys are studs, and not only made it into the subway car, but got subway seats - in fact, since they're larger than your average Lilliputian, these players take 2 of those #7 line seats, one for each cheek, so to speak.  Going first class all the way...guys like Conforto, Molina, and Rosario.  Only way they're getting off their current choo choo train is to switch to the Citi Express to stardom.

My A ranked guys are the preemos - they all have choice seats.

B rankers?  Hand rails and decent seats are deservedly there for them. 

C guys? They’re just glad they made it onto the #7 Express, even if it meant throwing a few stiff shoulders to get into the subway car, and even if their shirts are hanging out the doors as they close.

So who's in, who's out, who's upgraded, who's downgraded?  For one, Ty Williams is in. Ty got bumped alphabetically last week after being left off the list in favor of David Roseboom.  But Ty lowered the shoulder with another stellar relief outing a few days ago and fought his way into our All Star Boxcar. Ty is a 6’2” 195, 20 year old righty who had a brief, rough intro to the pro circuit in 2013, but has shown great improvement in 2014.  May it continue unabated.

Milton Ramos, #11 on the Mets own prospect list? Did he finally make the venerated Mack’s Mets Lower Minors Top 20 sidebar of fame? C’mon was there ever any doubt? Readers last week wanted him on the list despite his .200 average, but if you don't hit, stay off of my train! 

But Milton is starting to rip now; he was up to .255 by Tuesday on the strength of a 6 game stretch in which he pounded out 11 hits…so, not only welcome aboard, Milton, I’m skipping you past C class right on up to B class – and we expect you to grab an A seat in the weeks to come.

Scarlin Reyes is an interesting righty – 6’3”, 190, 22 years old trying to imitate Rafael Montero.  How?  One year in the developmental league last year, at a very advanced age (for that league) of 21.  But he was great there – 5-3, 1.41, and mets jumped him all the way to Brooklyn where, through Tuesday, he was 2-1, 2.28 in 28 innings, with 26 K’s.

As if adding a Reyes was not enough, I’m adding a Bay too… Brooklyn closer Shane Bay through Tuesday had 10 saves, a 2.30 ERA, and solid WHIP and K levels.  Brooklyn has a very strong relief corps to date.

Let’s recap (note: I use an A-B-C rating (essentially A = best; B = close to A; C = the remaining best before all the rest): our current riders:   

A LIST: My A list is now 9 guys at this point:

Michael Conforto, Marcos Molina, Amed Rosario, Jhoan Urena, Corey Oswalt, Blake Taylor, Wuilmer Becerra, Eudor Garcia, and 23 year old recent Cyclone (promoted from Kingsport) Martirez Arias, all 6’7” of him.  Wuilmer, in particular, continues to surge - last 22 games through Thursday, 34 for 88 (.386) with a slug % of .602.

B LIST?  A Fearsome Fivesome:

B listers are 22 year old Kelly Seacrest and his pen pal Brad Wieck; Milton Ramos; and  John Mora.   

Hey, Mr. Mora got a nice upgrade all the way to Brooklyn from the GCL a few days ago – very impressive jump, and congrats to John for that.  

Oh, and I’m going to shift 18 year old Dash Winningham onto the B list from the C list for now, as in his last 7 games, he’s thrown up a 10 for 23 spurt, with 8 runs and 8 RBIs.  After a slow start, he is up over .250 with 4 homers, a rare lower minor commodity.

NOTE: Michael Katz has not appeared in a game from July 28 thru August 5, so I am gonna drop him from the list temporarily and give another guy a chance to get on the list – I’m moving Katz from the bar car to sick bay. 

C LIST:

Oswald Caraballo;  Luis Guillorme; Adrian Almeida (though control issues continue);    David Roseboom; Ty Williams; Kevin Canelon; and Arnaldo Berrios.  Since we’re going to 25 from 20 this week, I’m adding in Scarlin Reyes and Shane Bay.   

That’s 9 C’s, and with the nine A’s and 5 B’s, that makes 23, and leaves me 2 more C’s to add.  So here goes:

For # 24, let’s get Enmanuel Zabbala onto the list this week.  Manny Z is a 6’0”, 185 lb 19 year old OF, who has been to the plate for our GCL team 145 times, and has put up a slash of .319/.373/.400, and he must to run, as he has stolen 9 bases - but he's been caught 10 times. Whoops. 

 

For my 25th and final guy this week, I am going to take a flyer on Alex Palsha, a 27th round righty who is reported to touch 93 with some decent secondary pitches.  Our GCL affiliate has tabbed him as its closer, and he has 8 saves in 11 games, 1 run allowed, and a bit over a K per inning. Light innings, but let's toss him in the train car by the door and see how long he stays on board.

Yori Nuez almost cracked the list, starting off 5-1, but had a poor start in a loss onTuesday. So he, Michael Katz, Luis Ortega, and other hopefuls will have to wait to see if they can get on next week’s train.  A ride is only a hot streak away. 

Oh, and let's not forget last year's high picks Andrew Church and Casey Meisner - both have really started to pitch well and may crack my Top 25 next week.  And reliever Ty Badamo, who earlier was on the list and got bumped due to other excelling relievers, tossed a great 5 inning start for the GCL Mets this week and may push his way back onto the list.  If this keeps up, the list, which started at 20 and has grown to 25, may grow to 30 guys - we'll see next week.

Oh, and I’d love to add some catchers since Brandon Brosher went down for the season to injury, so can one of you guys wearing masks heat up, please?  No plus performers in that group so far, and Brosher, who hit 4 homers in 4 games pre-injury, had more homers in those 4 games than all the other catchers on these 3 teams combined so far.  Hit the weight room, guys!
 

NOW:

CAN ANYONE SAY "SURPLUS?"

Sometimes, the minor league cupboard can be mighty bare.  Just 3 years ago, TJ Rivera (hitting a robust .346 this year) was the only guy in the organization who hit over .300, and he barely made it (.301), and besides, he had little power and was in A ball, so it was lean.  A guy named Harvey was pitching well, but not crushing opponents.  Wheeler was showing some progress. So were Montero and Leathersich, but doing it in A ball.   We hoped against hope that Reese Havens and Zach Lutz would stay healthy and make it - not.  Brad Holt and Eddie Kunz had us reaching for soothing, pink Pepto Bismol.

Today?  Night and day compared to back then.  Boatloads of pitching of high and medium projected major league caliber, and some real hitting hope to boot.

Let me list them, as I see them. Pitchers this week, hitters next week.

These pitchers may not fill the role on the Mets that I tab them for, due to who else is already there - e.g. Harvey is a #1, but so is deGrom, so if I tab a minor leaguer as a #1, I am doing so as to where I think he'd fall on your average major league team, not necessarily the Mets, who likely will have at least 5 young #1 / #2 caliber starters in the pretty near future:

STARTERS

Top tier future starters - 4 as of now:

Noah Syndergaard - #1 starter

Rafael Montero - #2 starter (awesome start on Tuesday, BTW)

Steve Matz - #2 starter

Marcos Molina - #2 starter

Then there are starters who are in the system who I'll toss into the #3 to #5 starter category, either because they appear to be less than the above group, or it is kind of early to see how they'll pan out, guys who in a few years could be a # 2 or could be a #5, but all of whom I think would most likely be capable of being real major league starters:

#3 to #5 projected starters - 13 in all; throw in Jeremy Hefner too, and you got 14:

1.           Matt Bowman

2.          Miller Diaz

3.        John Gant

4.          Bob Gsellman

5.          Corey Mazzoni

6.          Casey Meisner

7.          Corey Oswalt

8.          Tyler Pill

9.          Blake Taylor

10.        Logan Taylor

11.         Logan Verrett

12.        Robert Whelan

13.        Greg Ynoa

There are other minors guys who might fall into the more fringy category, the kind of guy who might someday be good enough for spot starts or long relief.  Or who are not listed above, but will surprise (like, say, an Andrew Church), and move onto the above list. 

But even without any of those, I list 18 guys above (including Hefner) who in my opinion are most likely real major league caliber starter stuff, even if in most cases 4th or 5th starter stuff.  That's remarkable indeed.  Unprecedented, perhaps.  Can somebody scream “SURPLUS” without waking the kids?

RELIEF PITCHING

Of course, this list gets more iffy, as some of the above surplus (like Montero and Mazzoni) could be shifted to the pen.  But guys who actually relieve now, but should end up in a major league pen as an oft-used key piece are:

DEFINITES:

Jack Leathersich

Akeel Morris

POSSIBLES: There are many, but my above list is few, because bullpen guys at the major league level have to be really good, or they'll get scorned really fast.  And many guys do well up to A ball as relievers and then stagger vs AA and AAA hitters, so it is a crap shoot. 

Three POSSIBLES I will mention are Beck Wheeler (because he has a great strikeout ratio, with 127 in 85 innings this year and last - his seeming major flaw is to have an occasional horrible relief outing surrounded by many overpowering ones) and Paul Sewald (4-1, 7 saves, 1.23, 51 Ks in 44 innings) who is having a great season in St Lucie.  In fact, Paul is at a 1.60 ERA with 153 K’s in 129 innings in his career since 2012.  He probably already belongs on the list, but I’d like to see him him AA first.  Also, Cody Satterwhite is having a fine season in AA.

Other pitching guys may get there, too – see my A/B/C lower minors list for some promising relief arms.

I could give you my rationale on the guys who actually made my lists above, but this article would get too danged long, frankly.

So what do you think?  Do my lists above show reality, or the faulty thinking of a rabid Met fan?  I don’t think so – the Mets’ top 4 minor league teams are not a combined 85 games over .500 for nothing.

Which pitchers did I leave off that should be on there?  Who do I overrate?  Tell me.  Be nice. 

But above all - have a GREAT day.

P.S.

I was curious how many players (including rehabbers like Lagares) have played in GCL games so far this year. 

Take a stab at it, dear reader...if you guessed 57, you're right. 

Which tells me that if you sneak down there in a uniform, you might just get in and play yourself - everyone else is!