Tom Brennan - METS MINORS SPOTLIGHT: DALE BURDICK

METS MINORS SPOTLIGHT: DALE BURDICK

Hmmm...let's see...a .199 lifetime hitter, and just .214 this year - a 40th round draft pick - so why put the spotlight on Dale Burdick?

Good question - maybe I have nothing else to do? 

Nah, I am busy.  So why then?

Well, the 40th rounder in 2014 signed a $150,000 bonus to keep him out of college and get him in the Mets system.

As an 18 year old, he hit .170 in 40 GCL Mets games.

At 19, in 2015, he hit .256 in 14 GCL games and then .195 in 35 Kingsport rookie games. Some progress.

At 20, in 2016, he hit .189 in 58 games, mostly in Columbia, where he hit .229.  Some more progress. 

OK, but why put the spotlight on him?

Well, in 2017, he's hit .214 - isn't that enough?

Not really - so why are you writing on him, Tom?

Because:

1) the Mets think enough of Burdick to have him playing 14 games in AA already, as the youngest player on the team. Fellow teammate Kevin Kaczmarski was started out in Kingsport in rookie ball - at age 23, 2 years older than Burdick in AA.  Adds perspective.

2) why would he be in AA if they did not think a lot of him, despite the batting average?

3) he has hit 7 homers in 173 at bats this year, showing emerging power.

4) In at bats split between High A and AA in June and July, he is hitting .266.  Better.

5) he's been a strong fielder, with just 14 errors in his career to date, including just one in 28 games at shortstop, where most Mets SS prospects average one every 5 or 6 games.  Just 5 errors in 114 games at second base, truly impressive.

That's why.  Which leads me to think:

Why can't he be really good by, say, 2018?