Tom
Brennan – MINOR LEAGUES – WHO’S HOT, WHO’S NOT UPDATE
With the short season summer leagues right around
the corner, 3 more teams will shortly be coming on line, with lots more players
to consider – so I will keep my list short as well:
10 hottest, 10 honorable mentions, and a few words
on some Chilly Willies in the system.
Who's red hot?
Steve Matz is still #1, because he's the best minor league pitcher in
the world and belongs in NY. If you disagree, you're wrong, I'm right, that
settles it.
Dominic Smith is #2. Three weeks ago, he was struggling terribly.
Bruce Banner has turned into the Hulk, with an astonishing, and likely
unprecedented in baseball history, 17 doubles in 21 games. Throw in a homer and
a bunch of singles, and folks, we got us a real hitter. Send him birthday
wishes as he turns 20 on June 15.
Gavin Cecchini is #3. I heard no one raving about him being the first
round pick in 2012. Now that he is hitting .331 in AA with a recent 18
for 40 stretch, anyone raving now? Besides me, of course. I guess you can
start raving now, too, for the 21 year old.
Akeel Morris is #4. He is the next best pitcher in the minor league
universe, in my opinion. Typical is Tuesday night's 6 up, 6 down, 3 K
effort. He rarely allows a run, and almost as rarely allows a hit.
His middle initial ought to be K, since he accumulates so many of them. 9
saves so far for St Lucie.
Casey Meisner is #5. He has been migh-ty stingy giving up runs.
Pitching great start after start for the Gnats. High draft pick, high
expectations, so far, so good in 2015.
Robert Gsellman is #6. Yep, his first AA start was shaky. But
6-0, ERA under 2.00 in St Lucie before that for the 21 year old keeps him in my
top 10.
Paul Sewald is #7. He is nothing except extraordinarily tough out
of the pen, since the day he was signed. Not a fireballer, but danged
good. I would not be surprised to see the righty (currently in AA) get a
September call up.
Jeff McNeil is #8. Last time I looked, Jeff led ALL High
Class A teams in baseball in batting average, amazing when one considers that he
stood at .194 a few weeks in. Future super-sub?
Wuilmer
Becerra at #9
is another 20 year old who is impressing with the stick. Already 20 extra base
hits this early in the season, with several homers in homer-unfriendly
Savannah. Power is great, an asset shared by...
#10 hombre Michael Conforto, who also is in the 20 extra base hit
arena, and promoted really quickly by Met brass to AA. GO, MICHAEL, GO!
In the honorable mention
second 10, I include the following, in league order:
11. Johnny Monell - flunked his major league call up, but he leads
all Met minor leaguers in BA, so he stays.
12. Duane Below - by far the best current Las Vegas hurler not named
Matz.
13. Colton Plaia - hitting .300 as a catcher.
14. Amed Rosario - hitting in the vicinity of .280 in St Lucie,
and still 19. Exciting.
15. Kelly Secrest - the reliever (a high draft pick in 2014) is 5-1
with St Lucie. Can't argue with wins.
16. Luis Guillorme - Mr. Super Duper Consistent, hitting above .300, where
he has been almost all season. Brings a vacuum cleaner out to shortstop when he
plays defense.
17. Dave Roseboom - superb relief work for the Gnats.
18. Brad Wieck - strikeout reliever in Brooklyn last year is
strikeout starter for Gnats this year.
19. Martirez
Arias -
after a terrific 2014 in short season ball, he has been a dandy starter for the
Gnats in 2015. It was tough picking him over several other starters doing
pretty well. So I picked the tallest.
20. Jonathan Johnson - very old for the Gnats, but as a new guy, he
has done really, really well so far.
Three first round picks made the top 10, but a 4th one (Nimmo) missed out due to a prolonged knee injury. Get well soon, buddy.
And now - Chilly Willies:
Vegas has gone frigid with
the bats, so the likes of Reynolds and
Taijeron are left off the list.
And Tyler
Pill and Matt Bowman remain major AAA starting disappointments - both with
very high ERAs, high hits allowed levels, and lots of homers allowed. Clones - of
the wrong kind.
That's it for this week.
Hope I did not overlook any highly deserving guys - that would be not so
"hot" of me.
Whaddya think, folks?
Especially regarding doubles mass producer Dominic Smith?
4 comments:
If you coulda saw what I saw LIVE and in person in st Lucie last week, you'd have Rosario in your top 5.
Im comfortable admitting my inappropriate man crush on the teenager. He puts ball in play. Can make solid contact, and he was pretty much anderlton simmons with a glove in that game.
And like I told everyone last week, Dom Smith has PLENTY of power. I bet he easily breaks double digits in homers by end of year.
Ernest -
Well, I disagree about Smith though there is a good chance he leads the league in doubles
Ernest, glad to hear you on Rosario. It is clear he is on the rise, hitting .300 after April. Sky seems to be the limit, but hopefully he adds some homer pop.
I put no limits on my Dominic Smith expectations after his last 20+ dazzling games. Nothing he does going foward will surprise me. If the homers stay low, he'll likely continue to rake doubles.
I was going to compare him to Robby Cano - boy is Cano awful so far in year 2 of his monster contract: .244/.286/.330. Ruben Tejada type #s.
Tom/Ernest -
Rosario is 1000% trade bait at this point.
Only one person can play SS for the Mets from 2016-2012 and you have Flores, Reynolds, Cecchini, Rosario, Guillorme, and Alfredo Reyes, and Milton Ramos to pick for those years.
The Mets do not have this kind of depth at any other position in their organization and a guy like Rosario would make a wonderful chip in a package for a replacement for Wright
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