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1/25/15

Mack - 2015 Prospect List - #12 – OF – Cesar Puello



My rankings is solely subjective and based on nothing more than what is in my head at time I’m writing this. I’ve followed the Mets minor league players for many years and I feel I can recognize talent at various levels of their development. What I have failed at is how to determine when this talent seems to diminish. It’s amazing how many first round picks never make it in this game.

I’m old school, so you won’t seem much SABR-discussion here, I do research and, when I find a good quote or two, I’ll add them to my analysis, but, like I said in the beginning of this post, most of this us subjective.

Let’s get started.

#12 – OF – Cesar Puello – 23-years old – La Romana, Dominican Republic

                       6-2, 220.  - R/R – International free agent signing 2007

           2008 – GCL -  151-AB, .305/.350/.364/714, 1-HR, 17-RBI

           2009 – K/Port -  196-AB, .296/.373/.424/796, 5-HR, 23-RBI

           2010 – Savannah -  404-AB, .292/.375/.359/734, 1-HR, 34-RBI, 45-SB

           2011 – St. Lucie -  441-AB, .259/.313/.397/710, 10-HR, 50-RBI

           2012 – St. Lucie -  227-AB, .260/.328/.423/751, 4-HR, 21-RBI

           2013 – B-Mets -  331-AB, .326/.403/.547/950, 16-HR, 73-RBI

           2014 – Vegas -  318-AB,  .252/.355/.393/748, 7-HR, 37-RBI


Let me try and explain why I still have Puello this high at #12.

(First of all, there’s no reason to go back and quote what everybody said when this kid was signed by Walter O’Malley or somebody that long ago. After seven seasons, it’s tough to still consider him a prospect at all.)

I said going into this ranking process that this was a subjective thing so, for the same reason I caught a rash of shit for my Cecchini ranking being too low, this one will probably not be a favorite for being this high.

And frankly, I can’t come up with many reasons to say he should be ranked here. Puello came to the Mets with a ‘5 tool’ reputation, but he seemed to only use one at a time. He was 5th in the league in stolen bases in 2010, but that sort of went away the next year. The power only really developed during that infamous Binghamton year that still seems to be in question.

All I remember was being told that all of the ‘smaller players’ in that scandal were suspended without testing. They simply received their suspension for having their name in an appointment book.

At this point, who cares.  Puello had ample time last season to right the wrongs.


Right now, I rank Puello as the fourth top outfielder in the minor league system. The air is right in Las Vegas to earn his old job back very quickly.

14 comments:

  1. The Mets need a very quick decision on Puello. I believe they need to keep him...and he needs to get some early ab's to prove in or fail out.

    I saw him in Spring Training last year.... he's a BEASTLY athlete!!! After seeing him I could not establish a connection to his "treatment" last year..... but I'm not around the guy 24/7 and I don't know the nature of their development plan for him.

    Still...I cannot understand that he lost outfield and dh ab's to ESTABLISHED and KNOWN AAAA Guys!

    So...either Wally is as much a Dufuss as Collins, or the Front Office has constant connection and strings to ALL organizational lineup cards.

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  2. No problem with Puello ranked #12. The question is what to do with him come April?

    To play in LV he must pass through waivers. Does a claiming team need to place him on their 25-man?

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  3. Yea, I would love to hear all of the "Wally for GM!" supporters explain his handling of Puello. Wally played Anthony Seratelli--an infielder and not a good baseball player--over Puello last year. Rationalize that.

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  4. I think the question was answered above -- that Wally was getting his lineup orders from Queens. THAT actually makes more sense than the canard that Collins at the major league level can't be entrusted to fill out a lineup card. If he can't then he wouldn't have been hired.

    Frankly, Collins isn't a major league caliber manager and has the career losing record to prove it. Still, they keep him around for some inexplicable reason.

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  5. It wasn't answered above. It was a guess.

    And if you're going to play dumb and say, "This isn't Wally's fault, it's out of his hands!" then you have to turn around and question whether or not all of his success--a main reason for fans wanting him as manager of the Mets--was, too, out of his hands.

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  6. The Las Vegas lineup would never be sent in or okay'd by TC

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  7. The front office though could have restricted Puello's playing time.

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  8. It's impossible Wally Backman made a mistake in benching Puello. Must be something else. Wally Backman is infallible.

    In all seriousness, is not the most likely reason that Wally Backman just benched him?

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  9. Stephen
    Maybe Backman chose not to play Puello. Maybe it was the front office.
    Maybe it was a punitive move.
    Maybe it was bad judgement of his ability.

    We will never know. Unlike in Minaya and Philips Met years, all of this type of information/talk is under lock and key. None of this type of chatter gets out. They let the public think what they want and let the chips fall where they may.

    Good? Bad?
    I'm not always sure.

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  10. I could swear that I've read before that at least some of the minor league lineups needed to be approved by Alderson.

    For the life of me though, I can't remember where.
    Was it here?

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  11. I never implied TC would have input into the LV decisions. Hell, he can't even make effective decisions in Queens, why would they let him ruin another level's team, too?

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  12. I actually have my Puello write up coming out shortly. I have the "beastly" one as my #12 overall, so Mack and I slot him the same. Losing him would be something we'd regret.

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  13. I had Puello ranked #11 in my last update.....As much as we hate the fact that Puello didn't get much playing time in Vegas....One thing that was brought to light in his limited time was the widening of his Lefty/Righty splits.

    Split gaps that severe do not bode well for a player's future as a starter. This caused me to drop his "ceiling" in my opinion which in effect dropped his ranking in my book. Hovering in the 15-20 range now.

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