"Baby, they were born to run!"
As Dominic Smith and his slow, steady gait have been promoted to Queens, the thought of speed comes to mind.
Who are the speedsters in the Mets Minors?
And..are they any good?
Well, one with 19 stolen bases just got promoted....and no, it's not Dominic Smith...can't recall the name, but he has a rosy future. And a game winning HR Friday night in Philly.
I will put them in no particular order - you pick the order (best to worst) but do it speedily - LOL.
1) JACOB ZANON
This 2nd season lad turned 22 a few months ago and is ensconced in Columbia. He floats faster than a Firefly. So is he fast? I guess so; after all, he has stolen 45 of 50 (90%) in 90 games in 2015 and 2016. His motto is: if ya gotta go, ya gotta go. Faster than a zip code.
An injury in both seasons has limited him so far to 90 games in his career , but he is young enough where he has lots of time to develop. He is a 6'0" 180 righty hitter who, this season, is .243/.330/.320 with low power and a decent contact rate.
He has hit just .215 in July and August, though, so he needs to break through that and get read for St Lucie next season. My guess is he misses Tim Tebow, who left about the time Zanon started cooling off. If Jacob adds some power and more hitting consistency over the next 2 seasons, perhaps we will have a speedy starting outfielder making opposing pitchers miserable in Queens in 2020.
He has hit just .215 in July and August, though, so he needs to break through that and get read for St Lucie next season. My guess is he misses Tim Tebow, who left about the time Zanon started cooling off. If Jacob adds some power and more hitting consistency over the next 2 seasons, perhaps we will have a speedy starting outfielder making opposing pitchers miserable in Queens in 2020.
2) CHAMP STUART
High K speedster has been a) hitting better and 2) fanning less after Memorial Day and a miserable May. Strikeout extremes have impeded his upward progression, but he certainly looks slated for AAA in 2018, maybe Queens in 2019. To get to Queens, his contact rate must still improve. Remember, Champ - great contact leads to great contract.
The Champster V8 Roadster has stolen 33 of 37 in 85 games this season. And, to his credit, he does walk a lot, as his decent .338 on base % attests (about .380 since June 1).
He has stolen 134 of 153 in his career (88%), so my guess is he could steal 70 bases in the majors if he can get on base enough. The same height and weight as Zanon and both are righty hitters.
3) JHOAN URENA
Seventeen steals? Only caught 3 times? 33 doubles already? I must confess....I've often missed the "speed" part of him. I'm a speedy learner though. Maybe this guy has a real future after all! I probably should have him ranked # 1 here, but I am too lazy to cut and paste to move him. My bad!
4) JOHN MORA
18 of 32 in steals - likes to try even if his success rate is not that high. An A for effort. He's at .258/.313/.347 for St Lucie.
5) ANDRES GIMINEZ
The 18 year old is 11 for 18 in steals...and has a big future.
6) JOSE MIGUEL MEDINA
He gets to first base faster than you can say his name: 20 of 24 in steals in just 40 game. .274 hitter for the Cyclones.
7) WALTER RASQUIN
Another Cyclone blur. 19 of 22 steals in 38 games, and a .299 hitter. To the swift belong the spoils.
We'll know by next year if Jose and Walter are more than Speedy Gonzalezes (Andale, Andale, Ariba Riba).
HONORABLE MENTION...PAT BIONDI has 20 steals in 29 attempts - but just a .204 average and .250 slugging % for Binghamton? That just don't cut it, sad to say.
That's it, folks.
I hope I didn't steal too much of your time today.
And remember - you may not swipe a base today...
but you can always swipe a credit card!
6 comments:
Is it my imagination or is Mets guppy speed reserved for guys with lower BAs?
Jhoan Urena is at .280 with a little bit of power and good RBI numbers. Maybe that's why Tom said he should be number one.
So far, Jhoan has lots of doubles this year - that and his SBs makes him # 1 amongst speedsters as of right now - the other ones are hit-challenged until they get better - you can't steal first base.
One guy I should have included is 24 year old Anthony Dimino, who missed a lot of time this season (7 weeks) due to injury.
Dimino has played in 127 minor league games in his career, and is hitting .323 lifetime with a .416 on base % and 20 of 29 in steals. Only 20 doubles, 1 triple and 1 homer over that span, though, makes him a major league long shot still. His .331 in 50 games this year is promising, though, so he is trying to make his case.
Another is Kevin Kaczmarski, who has had a disappointing batting average slide down to .268 over the past several weeks in AA. But in 284 minor league games, he has stolen 47 of 69 and wracked up 19 triples. He needs to figure out how to hit higher and with more power as he turns 26 at the end of this year. he hit .337 in May, I thought he was on his way up, but has hit .255 over the past 19 weeks and 65 games with just one homer.
Lastly, Jeff McNeil was on his way, until injuries limited him to just 30 games in 2016 and 2017 to date. Sad - hopefully, the .303 lifetime hitter can make up for lost time as he turns 26 next April.
Just a another note on Dimino and other FSL hitters - runs have been hard to come by in the FSL as 3 teams have ERAs below 3.00. St Lucie's ERA is worst at 4.20. So it is tough on hitters.
Dimino's .316 for St Lucie would have him 1 point behind the batting leader there.
Mazelka (.287) is 8th in the league, Urena (.280) is 10th. Urena's 33 doubles I believe are just 1 behind the FSL leader.
The Columbia U. football coach comes to mind: "We may not be big, but we're slow."
Honor, funny. Peter, maybe Sandy only is concerned with guys who can achieve high OBP, all others are filler. I am very happy with the Pete Alonso power selection. Draft POWER!
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