12/16/14

John Sickles Top 20 Mets Prospects


http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/12/16/7402313/new-york-mets-top-20-prospects-for-2015
1) Noah Syndergaard, RHP, Grade A-: Age 22, 4.60 ERA with 145/43 K/BB in 133 innings in Triple-A, 154 hits. I don’t think there is anything wrong with Syndergaard that getting out of the PCL/Las Vegas won’t cure. Velocity continues to increase, curve continues to improve, just needs to prove that minor health issues aren’t precursor to anything major.

2) Steven Matz, LHP, Grade B+: 
Age 23, 2.24 ERA with 131/35 K/BB in 141 innings between High-A and Double-A. Great story on Tommy John recovery, power lefty arm with good command, fastball well into the 90s now. Terrific complement to Syndergaard.

3) Dilson Herrera, 2B, Grade B+: 
Age 20. He’s just 20. Hit .323/.379/.479 with 13 homers, 23 steals, 47/96 BB/K in 524 at-bats in High-A/Double-A. His reputation is growing but if anything he may still be under-estimated. 

4) Brandon Nimmo, OF, Grade B/Borderline B+
: Age 21, hit .322/.448/.458 in High-A but just .238/.339/.396 in Double-A. I love Nimmo’s on-base abilities and overall approach, but I am hesitant to go full-bore B+ or higher at this time due to serious platoon split problems. For now I have Herrera ahead, which is likely a minority view. That should be seen as praise for Herrera, not any disrespect towards Nimmo, who is one of my favorite prospects.

 



5) Kevin Plawecki, C, Grade B: 
Age 23, hit .309/.365/.460 between Double-A and Triple-A. Just a solid all-around prospect, not deadly against bsaerunners but otherwise very skilled on defense, not a big home run hitter but should maintain solid average and OBP with gap power. Great backup for Travis d’Arnaud, can start if necessary. He would also make attractive trade bait.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Overall list is interesting and encouraging to see some positional players getting love. 4 of the top 7 he predicts to be major league bats that should graduate over the next two years. Also if interest is that he has not written off Cesar Puello just yet and included Becerra in top 20. After assembling a monster staff, with plenty of depth in the farm, the Mets are now poised to start graduating bats, which is the true sign of a really successful rebuild.
Anon Joe F (self appointed President of Cesar Puello Fan Club)

Tom Brennan said...

Hey Joe, if Cesar makes it, I will head the Welcoming Committee.

The 7 Met farm teams did not have (off the top of my head) a .570 combined winning % by accident. lots of pitching, and for the Mets, lots of hitting down on the farm.

Unknown said...

I have been reading Sickles for years, and I can't recall him EVER gushing over the Mets' system like this.

He has a solid Top 20, and he didn't include Morris, Boyd, Flmer, Taylor, or Reynolds.

In years past Reynolds would be a top-5 Mets' prospect.

Just a few years ago, Vaugh and Cecellani were ranked - now they are so far down the list that they aren't even mentioned

Anyone who wants to bash Sandy Alderson needs to read Sickles ranking of the system today versus his ranking from four years ago.

Anonymous said...

Graduating Classes:
2015 Thor, Montero, Herrara, Matz, Puello, Mazzoni, Muno, Leathersich
2016 Nimmo, Plawecki, Conforto, Gnoa, Mazzilli, Morris, Robles
2017 Cecchini, Smith, Becerra, Stuart
2018 Rosario, Molina, Urena, Lupo

Not entirely impossible
Joe F

Anonymous said...

Not to mention I left out Reynolds, Bowman, Rivera, Boyd and Pill, all who have a shot at the show

Tom Brennan said...

On the contrary, entirely possible, Joe F. That may be conservative. Happy days are closing in on us.

Robb said...

this is a great list but i think you need to slow down the moves to think about the 40 man, super 2 and open places for these guys to actually play, nothing worse then having them sit on the bench

Here;s how i see it not withstanding injuries

2015
Montero will either make team or be shuttled back and forth
After super 2: Thor
After trade deadline: Herrara (if murphy even makes it that far)
At any time: puello, Mazzoni, Muno, Leathersich
August: Matz

remember you have to treat these guys as a commodity too

Anonymous said...

Well put Lew........Sandy and Co have done a great job of setting this up for a sustained run of good baseball. Look at the Giants recent run and you get the idea.......maybe not three world titles in five years, but a chance to do so.

Omar also deserves some credit........Mike

Anonymous said...

Ok, jumping on Christopher's report, but had to post on our fella Cesar Puello tonight. 3-4 HR, 2B, 3R, 1RBI.

Looks like he will at least get more playing time with these type of results. Heck, he could end up our starting RF!!
Anon Joe F

Tom Brennan said...

The Cesar Puello era has begun, Joe.

Unknown said...

"Anyone who wants to bash Sandy Alderson"

first off, the #2 and #6 guy on this list arent aldersons. add in the fact that 2 of his 4 #1 picks are major question marks and have bust written all over them......

add in the fact that every free agent signing and major league trade has been garbage, there is plenty to bash sleepy sandy for.

Anonymous said...

@Jeff I'm pretty sure you thought Nimmo had bust written all over him a year ago too. Also Marlon Byrd was definitely such a "garbage" signing that turned into our 3rd best prospect. Or is that signing automatically thrown out the window because it wasn't a "major" signing? Byrd definitely preformed like one and Alderson deserves credit for that, along with the Hawkins signing.
I also don't see the point in the argument that 2 guys from the list aren't his. Is he suppose to just get rid of every prospect that was signed before his time? When only 4 guys from the top 20 list are not "Alderson guys" this proves how much of an overhaul the system has gone through, this is on the border of being a top 5 system compared to being on the bottom of the barrel just a few years ago, I feel Alderson can get some credit for that at the least.

Unknown said...

Well put Anon.....

Fans can be frustrated with the big club - I believe that Alderson was handcuffed to a degree - but when you look at this organization top to bottom, it has come light year's in the past 5 years.

Plus, as much as everyone complains about Sandy's FA signings, not one of them was as bad as Jason Bay's contract - in fact, Bay's contract directly hindered Sandy his first two years.

CY was an awful signing, but it was only one year and had minimal impact, Frank Frank was a bad signing, but his contract value was not that high.

Even Granderson - he may not be worth the value of his contract, but he still hit 20 HRs last year and is far from a "bust."

And right you are, the Byrd signing (and subsequent trade) was one of this teams best FA signings in a decade.

Unknown said...

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