Tom Brennan: TEBOW MOVING UP THE METS OF LIST
Tim Tebow has been promoted to St Lucie.
He's had several successful games there.
Politely shutting a few folks up, at least for now.
Thru several games by July 3, he is 7 for 16, a HR, double, 5 RBIs, 5 walks and only 2 strikeouts since the promo.
No complaints there.
Overall this season, Tebow's performance, viewed in isolation, has not been OK, if not so great.
But it is his first pro year, and how many first year guys do you know who get to St Lucie by mid-season, much less a guy who hasn't played any sort of baseball since graduating high school years prior?
The answer: NONE.
He is clearly a unique test case, who may:
1) stall out and win a Nice Try award - or
2) accelerate at any time.
Given how relatively well he has done in such a short amount of time, option # 2 seems far more plausible to me.
Mack wrote on Monday the a current great Cubs prospect is blocked by their great current 3B Kris Bryant.
Sometimes, guys get blocked....Jeter blocked lots of guys.
So what does the outfield competition currently in the Mets organization represent to Tebow in terms of obstacles to advancement to Queens.
Who, if anyone, is blocking Tebow, if he truly does accelerate?
AAA and marginally with the Mets:
Brandon Nimmo - he, to me, still looks like a 5th outfielder on an MLB team until proven otherwise. Sub-par power.
Victor Cruzado - see Brandon Nimmo.
Travis Taijeron - just seems like a good AAAA power hitter.
AA:
Kevin Taylor - he has done well as an underdog and could be a Mets' 5th OF/utility guy, as I see it. Low power.
Kevin Kaczmarski - only hitting .280 with little power - see Brandon Nimmo. Rinse and repeat.
Champ Stuart - speedster is showing real progress after an abysmal, high K start to his season through May, but he has a long way to go to turn from suspect to legitimate prospect. For instance, he was 0 for 4 with 4 Ks on Monday, just after I wrote this.
High A:
John Mora - first prove he can be as good as Kaczmarski. Then, see Nimmo write up above. Lo-power, average speed.
Wuilmer Becerra - to me, a disappointing low power, high K season. Star, to me, is dimming. Very far from Queens.
Full A:
Ricardo Céspedes - injuries blur his trajectory; only 19. Maybe he becomes a starting Mets outfielder in 3 years.
Jacob Zanon - may be very good, but far too early to tell.
Other:
Nieuwenhuis and den Dekker are gone - please stay gone.
Reading all of the above, what outfielder or outfielders are blocking Tebow? Answer:
Not much blocking him, far as I can tell, friends.
Really, not much...mostly depends on his own trajectory.
Remember, a fella named Trump was everyone's joke - to some he may still be, but now he is president. Maybe everyone's Baseball Joke starting this season, Tim Tebow, makes it all the way to the Mets. I'm not betting against him.
10 comments:
Cespedes' injury was a fluke.
He tripped on the pitching mound in the bullpen along the sideline while trying to catch a fly ball. Twisted his ankle onto the DL.
Tebow is ready to fill in as needed. He promised that he would not trip in the bullpen, as he has experience dodging things like linebackers :)
occasionally, I like to highlight someone I haven't before.
Yeudy Colon is a big righty reliever for the GCL Mets. He has K'd 6 and walked just 1 in 5 innings this year, a dramatic improvement over 2015 and 2016.
In those two years, in 57 IP, he had a staggering 18 wild pitches, 37 walks, and 5 hit batsmen. Let's see if this Colon remains better-controlled as we consider re-signing the other Colon, Bartolo, who often did not walk anybody.
Question from the "Pet Peeves Dept" that only I may be concerned with:
Vegas OF Jayce Boyd had a pinch single yesterday. That made him 8 for 15 with 4 walks in his last 5 games. I define that as red hot.
Instead, Josh Rodriguez, turning 33 in December, started in the outfield for floundering Vegas. J Rod has ZERO chance of making the majors, while Boyd's career is on life support but still has a pulse.
Why not play Boyd every day and see what he can do? Boyd only has had about 130 plate appearances this year. Still time to get that up to 350 this year.
The system is very, very thin in the OF. Other than Nimmo, who doesn't appear to have much of a ceiling, you have to go down to the 19 and 20 year-olds to even find some hope. I'm keeping an eye on Zannon, Cespedes, and Dirocie, but they are all years away.
I like what we have done the past two international signing periods... Soto, Pena, Hernadez, Consuegra... but they are 2020+ projections.
Desmond Lindsay is a complete flop of a draft pick
And Becerra is fading fast.
No, we need a long term RFer... with Nimmo as 4th in
I look around and the best out there would be to renegotiate Bruce for 2018-2020 (IMO)
Adam, I am hoping Ricardo Cespedes and Zanon can rise fast. Most times, that seems not to happen. I guess they are both 2020 guys, if at all.
I wish Tebow was 10th on our minor league outfield depth chart because it was that deep - but he is definitely in my top 5 right now.
Mack, I agree on Bruce - I still love the idea of a Cespedes Bruce Conforto outfield (perhaps not defensively, but A rated offensively) for 2018.
Lindsay, I reserve judgment for - just when he was getting untracked this year, he got hurt again. He may still succeed, but he gives grave doubts in that regard - I have a very interesting look at recent Mets' drafts coming out Friday which weighs guys like Lindsay.
Becerra was excitingly hitting .424 in mid May 2016 - and has been frankly lousy ever since. A bust until he proves otherwise.
I've long had high hopes for Becerra, but those get more remote by the game, sadly. I still have hopes for Lindsay, and am not willing to give up on a potential talent like him. Nimmo suffers from misconceptions about what he could have become - he remains an excellent, patient hitter who would give us a good lead-off hitter, play decent defense and bat in the high .290's with a bit of power. Not what was hoped for but certainly at the very least an excellent 4th OFer. Sadly, what we need is some top OF prospects, but all things being equal give me top pitching and SS/C talents and I can trade for Outfielders young and old (or sign them).
Tebow remains an interesting story- he's still not a prospect, imo, but he remains intriguing and if he continues to progress like his I have no reason not to hope he succeeds!! He's by all accounts a really good guy and he's actually made the team $$$ from jersey and ticket sales so there's nothing to dislike. And it's not like he has pushed out the next coming of Tim Raines from his spot in the org so haters, get over yourselves and hope he keeps himself in the convo for continued promotions!! You NEVER know!!!!!
Anyone want to bet that P.T. Alderson puts Tebow into a Mets uniform before he does Amed Rosario?
Tebow homered for the second time since his promo to Lucie, to left center. He went the other way also on 2 fly outs to left and a line out to third. He has a .500 OBP in 9 games with St Lucie. Not bad for a joke, huh? Hmmm...
The other OF with the initials TT, Travis Taijeron, had 2 singles, his 22nd double and 16th homer, bumping him to .271. Oddly he is hitting better against righties. He now has 338 extra base hits in 2469 career at bats. While he fans a lot, he has a commendable career .376 OBP. Perhaps if the Mets sell off big, he gets called up.
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