John From Albany – Alvarez, Mauricio, Vientos, the St. Lucie Mets 2020 Roster Projection.

We did the projected Mets Roster, projected Syracuse roster and projected Binghamton roster.  We now move on to the projected roster for the St. Lucie Mets. 

I think St. Lucie this year will be the home to a number of great prospects that excelled last year in Columbia, Kingsport, Brooklyn, and the GCL.  This will make for a very interesting and exciting team.

Going to start with the Catching squad and Francisco Alvarez. 

Francisco Alvarez is one of the Mets top catching prospects.  Last year, as an 18 year old, playing for the Gulf Coast and Kingsport Mets, he had 157 At-Bats in 42 games, 7 HR, 26 RBI, .312 BA/ .407 OBP/ .510 SLG.  He split time at DH but out of the 42 games, he caught in 27 (229 innings) catching 9 out of 31 base stealing attempts (29%), 4 errors, 15 pass balls, .983 fielding percentage. He will definitely be at either St. Lucie or Columbia this season.  I have him in St. Lucie as a push.  Mack had Francisco Alvarez as his #1 prospect. Tom had him at #2.

Also getting time at catcher in St. Lucie I have Jose Mena who played real well last year in Brooklyn, 31 Games, .299/.352/.433, 2HRs, 13 RBIs, 20% CS%; and Hayden Senger, 90 Games for Columbia (a typically tough place to hit) in 2019, 304 at bats, .230/.324/.345, 4 HR, 36 RBIs, 37.9% CS%.

Other possible catchers: Mitch Ghelfi; Natanael Ramos; Dan Rizzie; Nick Meyer.

More good prospects in the infield headed by

Ronny Mauricio, SS: Last year as an 18 year old in Columbia, 116 games, 470 at bats, 4 HR, 37 RBIs, .268/.307/.374.  Many have him as their #1 Mets prospect, Tom had him #1. Mack had him #2. Baseball Savant rates him with a plus arm, plus hit and power, plus field, average speed.  Players usually go from Columbia to St. Lucie and I think that will be the case with Ronny.  Who knows he could end the season in Binghamton.    

Mark Vientos, 3B: In 111 games, 416 at-bats for Columbia, Mark slashed .255 /.300 OBP/.411 SLG, 12 HR, 62 RBI, 27 Doubles.  His best year was at Kingsport in 2018 where in 60 games he hit 11 HR, 52 RBIs, .287 BA/.389 OBP/ .489 SLG. Many prospects gurus also rate him very high. Mack had him as his #11 Prospect. Tom had him at #7. He is rated with plus power, plus arm, but with a career .908 fielding percentage at 3 seasons at 3B, he needs to improve on his glove work. 

If they do move him off 3B, I think they may use Jose Peroza at 3B.  Splitting time between the GCL Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones, Jose slashed .263/.330/.514, 10 HR, 42 RBIs, 49 games, 175 at bats.  He has a lot of power and drives in runs.  He has been getting better in the field as well.  .931 Fielding Pct. in 2017, .971 last year. 

At 2B, I am placing Brooklyn SS Wilmer Reyes.  Wilmer proved last year that he can also play 2B and 3B,  and I want his bat in the lineup.  Last year Wilmer hit: .333/.350/.441 - .791 OPS; 5 HR; 33 RBI; 12 steals; 61 games; 229 at bats; 74 Hits; 32 Runs; 8 2B; 3 3B; 12 SB; Plus, if Mauricio is moved to Binghamton or to another position, Wilmer is there to step into SS. 

1B, Chase Chambers, .246/.311/.335; 5 HR, 41 RBIs, 106 Games, 382 at bats. 

Behind them I have Shervyen Newton, 2B/SS, highly ranked prospect trying to come back from a .209/.283/.333 season in Columbia last year, 109 games, 382 at bats. 

Another possible infielder, 1B Anderson Bohorquez, .220/.264/.299, 41 games split in Kingsport, GCL, and St. Lucie.

In the outfield I have three prime 2019 draft pics.

Zach Ashford, LF, 6 Round 2019 Draft, 58 games split between GCL, St. Lucie, and Brooklyn, 205 at bats, .254/.357/.390 slash.

Jake Mangum, CF/RF, 4th round, 2019 Draft. How did he do last year in Brooklyn? In 53 games, 182 at-bats, 29 runs, 5 doubles, 3 triples, 18 RBIs, .247 BA/ .337 OBP/ .297 SLG.  He also led a team that stole a lot of bases with 17 stolen bases and came through in the clutch, in 33 at bats with 2 outs and a runner in scoring position, Jake excelled hitting .364. 

Scott Ota, RF, 2019 10th round draft pick.  Scott Ota produced an .875 OPS at Kingsport last year.273/.355/.519; 183 At Bats, 50 hits, 14 doubles, 5 triples, 7 HRs, 26 RBIs, 21 walks, 38 Ks

Desmond Lindsay, CF, still a top rated Mets prospect.  Desmond was limited to 15 games and 51 at-bats last year, .196/.305/.294.

Other possible outfielder: Matt Winaker .199/.299/.291.

Now on the mound: 

First I have Jordan Humphreys coming back to be the Ace, at least to start, but he could easily be in Binghamton.  Jordan is coming back from Tommy John surgery and was limited to 2 starts.  In the Arizona Fall League, he pitched to a 0.77 ERA in 11.2 innings, 4 games and was the only Met pitcher named to the Arizona Fall League All Star team. I project in St. Lucie, building up his arm strength.  Lifetime 13-7, 2.60, 169 innings pitched, 1.03 WHIP. 

Adam Oller, the Mets took Adam in the minor league portion of the 2019 Rule 5 draft from the Giants.  Released last winter by the Pirates, Adam started 2019 pitching for the Windy City Thunderbolts in the Independent Frontier league and went 2-1 in 27 innings with a 0.67 ERA to go along with 45 strikeouts and 2 walks.  The Giants then signed him who sent him to Augusta in the South Atlantic League.  There he made 17 starts for a 5-6 record, 4.02 ERA, 87.1 innings, 93 Ks, 26 walks, 1.37 WHIP.  This included a July 10th start against the Mets’ Columbia Fireflies team where Adam went 5 shutout innings with 8 strikeouts.

Garrison Bryant, ace of the 2019 Championship Brooklyn Cyclones, 5-1, 2.39 ERA, 75 K’s in 75.1 innings, and a .84 WHIP. 

Another Brooklyn Starter, the pride of West Islip, Frank Valentino racked up 63 K’s in 58 innings while pitching to a 2-4 record and a 3.41 ERA, 1.12 WHIP. 

Daison Acosta who pitched in both Columbia and Brooklyn, 2-4, 3.06 ERA, 70.2 innings; 74 Ks; 1.29 WHIP. 

Jose Butto, 4-10 for Columbia last year, 27 games, 25 starts, 112 innings, 109 Ks, 1.17 WHIP.

In the Bullpen I have two very good pitchers returning to continue to work as I had the Syracuse and Binghamton bullpens full. 

Briam Campusano, 1-1, 3.23 ERA, 24 Games, 39 innings, 34 Ks, 1.05 WHIP between Columbia and St. Lucie.

Andrew Mitchell, the 6’1” lefty in 2019 went 3-0, 2.16 ERA, 34 games, 49.1 innings, 63 Ks, 1.11 WHIP.

Jared Biddy who was lights out for Brooklyn, Kingsport, and Columbia, 4-0, 0.86 ERA, 18 games, 31.1 innings, 35 Ks, 0.86 WHIP.

Andrew Edwards, the lefty that closed out the Brooklyn championship, 3-2, 3.30 ERA, 16 games, 30 innings, 35 Ks, 1.23 WHIP.

Darwin Ramos, 4-2 2.20 ERA, 42 games, 65.1 innings, 61 Ks, 1.29 WHIP.

Austin McGeorge, 0-4, 2.93 ERA, 16 games, 43 innings, 40 Ks, 1.44 WHIP.

Other possible pitchers include: Trey Cobb, Dedniel Nunez, Ezequiel Zabaleta, Kyle Wilson, Joe Cavallaro, Carlos Hernandez, Conner O'Neil, Alec Kisena, Jaison Vilera, Joshua Walker.

That's one prediction for the St. Lucie 2020 Roster.  What's yours?