From The Desk - Junior Santos, Amed Rosario, Brett Baty, Edwin Diaz, Jose Leclerc

16. Junior Santos, RHP

Signed: July 2nd Period, 2017 from Dominican Republic (NYM)

Age     17.4    Height 6′ 8″    Weight            218     Bat / Thr         R / R    FV       40

Tool Grades (Present/Future)

Fastball          Slider  Changeup      Command      Sits/Tops

  55/60             45/50       40/50             40/55           91-94 / 97

Trenta-sized teenagers who throw in the mid-90s don’t typically have any idea where its going, but Santos threw strikes so efficiently for two months in the DSL that the Mets thought him fit for an August promotion. He made his stateside debut just before his 17th birthday and walked just six hitters in 50 innings all summer. So Santos has rare size, precocious velocity, and control, though much of the rest of the profile has room for improvement. He exhibits neither notable raw spin nor feel for locating his current breaking ball, a low-80s slurve. There’s a strong chance Santos tries several iterations of various breaking balls during the course of his development and the one(s) he ends up with will probably look much different than what he’s currently using. At this point in his development, we just care about the raw spin, a trait of limited malleability, and Santos’ is just okay. It’s reasonable to hope he grows into elite velocity. The fact that he’s throwing this hard at this age and at this size is encouraging, though he’s less projectable than one would probably assume given his age and height. All talk of Santos’ physical progression centers around reshaping his current frame rather than just adding mass, as he’s already pretty filled out. This clouds the fastball projection somewhat, but he’ll probably still end up throwing really hard. There’s need for significant development throughout the rest of the repertoire, and it’s more likely that a portion of that happens (resulting in a back-of-the rotation or bullpen role) than it is that all of it does (resulting in stardom). He signed for $250,000 in 2017.

PECOTA's 2019    Breakout Bets (Hitters) –

            Amed Rosario, New York Mets

PC - Ed Delany

Top Three Same-Age Comps: Orlando Arcia, Hanley Ramirez, Ketel Marte

PECOTA assigns Rosario the highest “breakout” rate (29 percent) of any hitter expected to be a regular this season, believing the 23-year-old former top-10 global prospect still has big-time upside. He had an uneven first full season with the Mets, rating below average at the plate and in the field among shortstops, but even relatively holding his own was somewhat impressive at 22. Rosario ranked among the 10 fastest runners in baseball and showed improved strike-zone control in August and September, which were his two best months. PECOTA sees him taking a small step up this season, but also recognizes the potential for 20-homer power and 30-steal speed if his development goes well.

2019 High School    Preseason All-Americans –

            Brett Baty, CIF, Lake Travis HS, Austin  -  

           Baty might have the most usable power in the 2019 prep class. The physical, 6-foot-3, 218-pound lefthanded hitter wows scouts routinely with eye-popping batting practice displays and has a solid feel for the strike zone as well. He’s come a long way in improving his body, but he will need to further refine his all-around defensive work at third base.

Edwin Diaz   insists he's not miffed at Mets over contract renewal –

            Edwin Diaz insisted he had no hard feelings regarding the Mets renewing his contract at $607,425 instead of being able to reach an agreement with his new team — as the Mets did with their 25 other pre-arbitration players.

“I think this is a business,’’ Diaz said at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie. “They have their decision and I have my decision. Everybody’s happy. We’re at a good point right now.”

            Mack – Read this again… ‘they have their decision and I have my decision’…

            He’s pissed.

Rangers   sign one of the best kept secrets in baseball to a long-term contract extension

            Jose Leclerc, 25, broke into the big leagues in 2016 and emerged as the team's closer in 2018, throwing 57 2/3 innings with a 1.56 ERA and 85 strikeouts. Opponents hit a measly .126/.237/.194 against him and he went 12 for 12 in save chances after taking over as closer in August. Leclerc's underlying numbers are off-the-charts great:

Fastball velocity: 95.3 mph (83rd percentile in MLB)

Fastball spin rate: 2,596 rpm (99th percentile)

Slider spin rate: 2,626 rpm (75th percentile)

Strikeout rate: 38.1 percent (98th percentile)

Hard hit rate: 20.0 percent (100th percentile)