5/17/18

Mack - When Will We Finally See the Rebuilding of This Team Begin?




Well, it may be starting with the 2017 class on our DSL teams.

I have been covering Mets minor league baseball for over 15 years now and I have never seen the kind of stat lines that were produced last year by our two DSL teams. Sure, we have had good individual performances over the years, but 19 of them?

The DSL-2 team had the 2nd best BA in the league (.277) while the DSL-1 team was 11th out of 40 teams (.251).

But it was pitching that stood out. The DSL-1 team led the 40-team league with a combined 2.42-ERA. The DSL-2 team was ranked 5th (2.74).

Read this again… 2.42 and 2.74 TEAM ERAs.

Was this lucky? Did the Mets strike it gold in the recent International signings? Well, I can speak first hand about this because I follow it and there is more time and money being spent in this part of the baseball world.

Four signings stand out over the past three signing period:

           2015:
                       SS Gregory Guerrero                    $1.5mil

                       SS Andres Gimenez                       $1.2mil
2017:
                       SS Ronny Mauricio                      $2.1mil

                       SS Adrian Hernandez                   1.5mil

None of these four were on the 2017 teams, but look what we came away with at the end of the 2017 season?

Guerrero is off to a disappointing start (2017 GCL Mets: .217), but the 18/yr. old Gimenez is doing just fine this year for St. Lucie (.262). Remember… this is an 18/year old playing A+ ball.

As for Mauricio and Hernandez, neither have faced a professional pitcher. It is expected that they will play shortstop this season for both DSL Mets teams.

So what did our two DSL teams produce?

3B Yoel Romero (20/yrs. .364), 2B Luis Santana (18/yrs .325), CF Jhoander Saez (20/yrs .320), 1B David Lozano (20/yrs .313), SS Shervyen Newton (19/yrs. .311), 3B Jose Peroza (17/yrs. .300), C Willfred Astudillo (18/yrs. .291)

SPs Miguel Ramirez (21/yrs. 1.76), Jorge Cespedes (21/yrs 2.03), Malky Mena (21/yrs. 2.13), Willy Tavares (20/yrs 2.31)

RPs Miguel Pinedo (20/yrs. 0.47), Williams Valencia (17/yrs. 0.66), Jose Guerrero (22/yrs. 1.04), Ramon Guzman (21/yrs 1.25), Hector Rodriguez (20/yrs. 1.86), Jefferson Escorcha (18/yrs. 1.86), Nelmerson Xavier Angela (20/yrs 1.90), Gregori Advincola (20/yrs. 2.16)

It’s hard to project what percentage of these guys will make it to Queens, no less be successful there (cue Hansel Robles). Is 25% a fair and conservative projection?

Well, that’s somewhere between four or five from this team alone.

My guess is we will have two very successful short season teams, in Kingsport and St. Lucie (GCL Mets). Both these teams will be seeded with the best of what we produced last year ‘down under’.

So... will you have the patience for this to happen by. oh, let's see... 2022?



8 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

DSL teams start up very soon - I think next week - so we will start to see Hernandez and Mauricio in action.

As we discussed, I am disappointed we did not get burgeoning superstar prospect Vlad Guerrero Jr.

I know the Mets had real interest - and we've heard that before when the Mets never actually pursued a guy they had real interest in - in Vlad - but we did not get him.

My guess? They did not want to bid really high for a single kid, who scouts said had a better hit tool than his old man at the same age - the same guy who is now in the Hall of Fame for his hitting.

All that to say, I have been disappointed often by the Mets, but I hope this large crop produces some high quality MAJOR LEAGUE fruit.

Eddie from Corona said...

you saying that Sandy may have a legacy after all?

Mack Ade said...

Eddie -

I am not sure creating a decent 2017 DSL team would be a legacy for him, especially since all the previous DSL teams under his watch were so sub-par.

Remember... he was supposed to be a genius in this area.

Reese Kaplan said...

He will have a legacy of inertia, poor planning and poor decision making.

Tom Brennan said...

I looked up DSL schedule - starts June 2

Erica Lay said...

It's exciting to see promising position players.

Do DSL players/teams contribute to a team's overall farm ranking?

Mack Ade said...

Erica

Good question.

No they do not.

Anonymous said...

News Just In!

Juan Lagares has to get his toe amputated or something. Replacing it with a Mr. Potatoe Head (get it, pota-toe?) foot.

It figures, the one year Juan starts out great and he needs now a potatoe foot. Unbelievable. Out for season!

See you with Travis D'node in 2019 for a few weeks! We'll bring a cell video camera to capture it all!