Tom Brennan - AND THE METS' 2019 SHORTSTOP IS...
I know we are only about to start the 2018 season.
But I am already looking forward, towards 2019.
One question I have for you for 2019 is:
Who will the shortstop be in 2019?
Everyone assumes it will be Amed Rosario. But I think it will be another youngster, one named Andres Gimenez.
Maybe you had not noticed, but in games through Friday, Andres Gimenez had gone 3 for 5 at the plate, pretty darned impressive for a small sample from a guy who at 18 last year was in full season A ball.
Also quite impressive as well is that the Mets have gotten him into five spring games, at a point in time where he's barely turn 19. Very young...and very competent. 154 minor league games to date, .298/.397/.415. Nice.
He is, by many accounts, the Mets' #1 prospect - and they get treated different. Top dawgs get fast-tracked...just ask Michael Conforto.
I just have this funny feeling Andres is going to race through High A ball, AA ball and AAA ball in 2018, and truly compete for a starting shortstop job in spring training next year. And why not?
He can clearly hit, he'll fill out from his current 161 pounds and add power, and he has a superb glove already. Better defensively than any Mets infield prospect ever at age 18, I am guessing. And he makes excellent contact and can draw a walk.
I think Gimenez is a true star in the making, and stars sometimes rocket to the majors very quickly.
But what to do then with Rosario? Isn't he the shortstop of the future? The heir apparent?
No, I have a sneaking gut feeling that Rosario is a future 3rd base star of this organization, and that the two of them will make one heck of a left side of the infield for many years to come for the Mets. Maybe in 2019, Todd Frazier will still be here and push one of them to 2B for a season...time will tell. And Luis Guillorme certainly wants to be dealt into the mix.
So I know I am looking ahead, perhaps too far, but that's my call and I'm sticking with it.
What do you think? Sure beats talking about trade tariffs. Or David Wright's rehab.
Or how Wilmer Flores is going to finally get a season of 500+ ABs...
ReplyDeleteHey Reese. You talking to me? 😉
DeleteYou can not have enough slick fielding Latin shortstops in your pipeline.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Rosario will move to make room for Gimenez.
The questions are when, where will the move be to, and can both hit major league pitching.
I think both will hit and do very well. Rosario should be really rolling by OD 2019, and Giminez should show up, if not OD 2019, then some point in 2019.
ReplyDeleteMy sense is that Gimenez is the better natural hitter of the two, but Rosario the better athlete, with Willie Davis type speed, which will bring his offense to above average.
BTW, Dom Smith really hurt that quad, huh, to miss a full month or more as he has - that should be a manager's warning to all players the first week of spring - ease into the running. of course, I am assuming Smith was fine and it suddenly happened, as opposed to him hiding the strain and running it into a several week inability to play.
I think you may be right in Giminez moving Rosario to 3B, but i’m gonna day that happens in 2020, or maybe possibly at the ‘19 trade deadline, With Frazier and his 2 year contract manning 3B until then.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Adam's thinking here. 2B opens up when Cabrera's nad Reyes' contracts expire. Now they COULD put Wilmer Flores there...after all, if the division champion Nationals can put a subpar fielder at 2B to keep his bat in the lineup...nah, it would never work...
ReplyDeleteThis Gimenez 2019 prediction, let alone opening day, is way, way premature. A few spring training hits and good focus on both sides of the ball, should not deceive the senses of the reality and magnitude of the task ahead.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Gimenez reaches the majors in September 2019. And that's predicated on a whole bunch of things going right - and filling out his 176 pound frame (not 161). He still does not have a major leaguer's body - and to play in it well and endure against big bodied bulldogs and the speed, long season and intensity of the majors, he'll need it.
Let the kid be. He has long way to go before he's even close to major league ready. 2020 ETA is reasonable. The kid right now isn't even a Top 100 player on nearly every rating organization's list and has yet to show he can or will hit for power with his partial slap swing. Gimenez could even end up being a utility player. Too early to know.
LongTimeFan, patience has never been my strong point!
DeleteT.B.
ReplyDeleteIt's sometimes hard to be patient when there's excitement over a prospect, but most prospects need plenty minor league development and then continued growth in the majors before putting it all together.
We Mets fans are starved for position player stud prospects hence the inclination to jump ahead in anticipation. If we're lucky, we get a stud all around position player prospect who takes the majors by storm with long dominant career ahead...once a decade. The last was Conforto.
Before him, David Wright.
The Rosario's, Nimmo's, etc., grow into their games. Ike Davis, Travis Darnaud, Mike Jacobs's self sabotaged. David Wright was dominant and consistent from the get-go. Even Conforto faltered.
The Daryl Strawberrys in Mets uniform are rare.
I'm keeping my eye on Peter Alonso with his big time power. Maybe he's our next rare slugger who also hits and gets on base.
Gimenez will be in the majors eventually, hopefully as good as you believe he will be. Time will tell.
Where was I that i missed this article...
ReplyDeleteI SOOO agree with you... not necessarily with the timing but that Gimenez could very well take the SS job.
BTW Reyes came up at 20 so it is not out of the question that he could arrive...
Most prospects arrive at 22-23 the ones that arrive earlier are special
Eddie, I am betting that Gimenez has a BIG year in 2018. Big srides.
ReplyDeleteTom I have that feeling too...
ReplyDelete