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1/14/15

Tom Brennan - Majoring on the Minors - Top 30 Prospects - Milton Ramos - Vol. 10



MAJORING ON THE MINORS: TOP 30 PROSPECTS – MILTON RAMOS - VOL.10 – Tom Brennan

I’m doing my Top 30 Prospects articles a bit differently – in 2 lists:

·       A top 20 list of guys who are closing in on the big leagues.  Guys who could help us in the near future or be trade bait.

·       A top 10 list of lower minors guys who likely won’t show up until 2017 or later.

I started with the Top 10 List of Down-The-Road Mets Prospects.

Here’s my TOP 10 Lower Minors List So Far:

# 1 - Marcos Molina

#2 – Michael Conforto

#3 – Amed Rosario

#4 – Dominic Smith

#5 - Jhoan Urena

#6 – Vicente Lupo

#7 – Wuilmer Becerra

#8 – Luis Guillorme

#9 - Casey Meisner

Who will grab the last coveted Top Ten Slot?  The # 10 slot goes to:

#10 - MILTON RAMOS

Hold on for a second, OK?  I’m gonna pull a quarter out of my pocket and flip it.  I can’t decide between Milton Ramos and Eudor Garcia for my 10th slot on my lower minors Top 10 Ranking, so the coin will decide….  Coin said RAMOS!  Who’s to argue?

Milton Ramos, a 5’11”, 160 defensive SS who at the tender age of 18 also showed some RBI pop (29 in 166 at bats in the Gulf Coast Rookie League), was selected by the Mets in the 3rd round of the 2014 draft.  He put up decent #’s, .(241/.299/.355) and let me note the Mets site lists him all the way up at #11, so he would have gotten the 10th spot, with or without the coin flip, folks.  The Mets ranking him that high made me think “what do they know that I don’t.”

But I did not put the coin back in my pocket yet, and the coin can’t be wrong, so let me flip it one more time.  Huh?  Eudor Garcia this time? 

Well, the 20 year old Garcia, reputed by baseball sage and Macks Met writer Reese Kaplan as a human rake with the lumber in his hand, after being a hitting machine in college, was drafted one round after Ramos in 2014 by the Mets. 

How did Garcia do in his inaugural stint?  OK, with a .262/.327/.347 in 202 at bats.  But having three 3-hit games in his last 10 games is an indicator that hits can come in bunches off his bat.  The 3B has good size at 6’1”, 215.  I am betting he is in full season Savannah in 2015, and that his #’s will look more like .300/.400/.430 this year.

As a post script, one guy who had a fine offensive season mostly at Kingsport, but with a few games in Brooklyn too, was Jean Rodriguez, who hit to the tune of .311/.86/.428 overall, and a torrid .341/.432/.476 from August 1 on.  Let me also note that Jean came in 6th in the Appalachian League batting race.  But the 3B turned 22 last September, old for Kingsport and a good bit older than the previous 2 gents, so I left him off the Top 10 list, but include him here for special mention. 

He is listed at 6’0”, 160 (I’ll bet he bumps that up 10 or 15 pounds in 2015), and is a switch hitter who hit .327 vs. righties, but only .233 vs. lefties.  I’d say he is one to watch in 2015, too.


That’s it for the Lower Minors Top 10….on to my Upper Minors Top 20.  Keep Reading in the days to come please.

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