Michael Freire - Player A or Player B?

 

Good Morning, Mets' fans.

I have an interesting question for all of you that will eventually wind it's way into a possible solution for an open position on the 2023 roster.  

Consider the following two players and their minor league statistics from 2019 to 2022;

Player A, who is 6-0 tall and 195 pounds, was drafted in the third round of the 2019 MLB draft and made his debut across two levels (Rookie/A) that year.  After the missed COVID season, he played the 2021 season in A+ and then the 2022 season in AA.

2019:  212 PA  .278/.344/.393 (.737 OPS)  2 HR/27 RBI/8 SB

2021: 420 PA  .294/.362/.436  (.798 OPS)  7 HR/64 RBI/27 SB

2022:  196 PA  .305/.372/.506 (.878 OPS)  5 HR/31 RBI/11 SB

Player B, who is also 6-0 tall and weighs 180 pounds, was drafted in the 4th round of the 2019 MLB draft and made his debut in A ball that year.  Skipping over 2020, he played the 2021 season between A/AA and the 2022 season in AA/AAA.

2019:  210 PA  .247/.337/.297  (.633 OPS)  0 HR/18 RBI/17 SB

2021:  368 PA  .285/.337/.454  (.741 OPS)  9 HR/47 RBI/14 SB

2022:  318 PA  .306/.363/.441  (.804 OPS)  4 HR/35 RBI/14 SB

Admittedly, asking you to guess who Player A and Player B are would be quite challenging, unless of course you followed minor league baseball closely and you were aware of all the different player's statistics.  But, with that said, you would admit that the two players are not all that dissimilar, right?

Granted, Player A has a bit more "pop" in his bat and is likely the better prospect, but Player B isn't too shabby and has shown nice progression through the minor leagues.

So, who are they?

Player A is Michael Harris (Atlanta) and Player B is our very own Jake Mangum.

***I might have left out the fact that Michael Harris also had 441 AB with the parent club in 2022 and produced a slash line of .297/.339/.515, along with 19 HR/64 RBI/20 SB, but that isn't the point of this article.  Oh and I am in no way saying that Jake Mangum is as good as Michael Harris, at this point.  Outside of the obvious statistical advantages that Harris enjoys, he is also going to play the 2023 season as a 22 year old, while Jake will be 27 years old this coming year (Jake spent four years at Mississippi State while Harris was drafted out of High School).

Most people don't look at 27 year old players as prospects, which is fair.  

However, if you go back and take a look at their statistics, Jake's progression has been promising and some of his performance isn't that far behind Harris' production.  Atlanta is known to be aggressive in promoting their younger players and the Mets have not.  Perhaps that will change under the new ownership/management (evidenced by Alvarez, Baty and Vientos making token appearances last year).

Would it be that far fetched for the club to give Jake a full shot in Spring Training, or even into the early part of next year?  Especially if Brandon Nimmo prices himself out of NY and the team has a void in CF. Jake isn't as good offensively, but he is likely faster then Nimmo and can play defense with the best of them already.

Perhaps you sign a veteran who can play CF who will provide cover for Jake should be fail to produce at the major league level.  If Jake succeeds, the veteran can provide depth on the bench.  If Jake doesn't succeed, the veteran can be a one year stop gap while the team addresses CF in 2024 and beyond.

That move would also save a decent amount of money to be used to address the starting rotation and/or the bullpen (which is pretty scary on paper at the moment).

And, if any of you are worried about a lack of power in the lineup, Jake likely won't help you there. But, if Brett Baty (3B), Francisco Alvarez (C) and even Mark Vientos (DH) are as good as advertised, then I don't think power will be an issue.

It would require a leap of faith and some patience, but Jake just might be our version of Michael Harris in 2023.  Why should Atlanta be the only team to catch lightning in a bottle?