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
#19 – 3B Jhoan Urena – 20-years old – IGA signee 2011 –
6-1, 200 – S/R – Santiago, Dominican
Republic
2012 – DSL - 262-AB, .279/.330/.405/734, 4-HR, 34-RBI
2013 – GCL – 157-AB,
.299/.351/.376/727, 0-HR, 20-RBI
2014 – Bklyn – 283-AB,
.300/.356/.431/787, 5-HR, 47-RBI
Urena was an
unheralded international signee in 2011 ($425K) and I’m not sure anyone
expected much here. Most Mets pundits at the time thought the bonus was a
little high, but it seemed like all the Mets ever did was sign middle
infielders in the International signing period and you have to someday start
thinking about replacing David Wright.
Still, there
really wasn’t enough power here and his defense was average at best. When you
consider that only 30 people are ever going to be third base starters in a
given season, no one wrote this guy’s name down.
With that in
mind, he has impressed. After an impressive beginning in the DSL system, Urena
has actually hit a combined .300+ for GSL/Brooklyn these past two seasons. He
also has improved his slugging percentage (.376 to .431).
17 errors in
2014 for Brooklyn and an identical 17 in 2013 for the GCL Mets, and in 2012 for
DSL.
Outlook –
Like many of
the other prospects on this list, he’s still young enough to project. I think
his bat will improve, especially when it comes to power, which seemed to be
lacking due to lack of confidence.
The problem
I have with Urena is the same most scouts have and that’s where to play him. He’s
very heavy bodied and lacks fluidity in the field. And that’s at 19-years old.
Still, I see
Urena as a top 25 prospect that will probably be traded off someday to an
American League team.
If his power continues to improve. 2015 should bring a
jump to Savannah which is someplace he will not enjoy, but we’ll see.
4 comments:
I had Jhoan Urena at #18 in my overall rankings, so we are in sync on him, Mack.
I think Jhoan is David's successor at 3rd. The organization will be very patient with this guy
Near the top of my Hit List TO WATCH guys. I've seen several vid snips, and this guy looks like he can really hit!
eraff -
Urena has an awesome bat for his age... I'm hoping he comes here to Savannah this spring
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