Paul Articulates – Top of the list prospects

Training camp is underway and the Mets’ first game is this Saturday against the Cardinals.  The deadline for all players to report has arrived, so Clover Park and the outer fields are teaming with Mets uniforms from the veterans we all know to the prospects we want to know better.

So what prospects are on the top of your list?

I have written about Mike Vasil already – he is a very intriguing study as he has had a great deal of success on his way up the ladder and had some very interesting things to say about his experience in the pitching lab.

Ernest Dove did an interview recently that was featured on Mack’s Mets of Paul Gervase, the 6’10” reliever that threw for Brooklyn and Binghamton last year and struck out 112 in 68 innings.  He’s adding another pitch to be even more devastating.

Then there is Christian Scott who seems to pop up on everyone’s list of players to watch.  So I’ll be watching!  He had a 0.80 WHIP in Brooklyn and a 0.84 WHIP in Binghamton last year!

Blade Tidwell has moved up very quickly and is among the pitching prospects that Tom Brennan wrote about last week.  Tidwell was the highest rated pitcher in Futurestarseries.com’s list of Mets prospects.  Blade has shown a real killer instinct on the mound – his best performances have been in tight situations.

My “guy to watch” is pitcher Dominic Hamel.  Last year he was a hot prospect who had pitched for the Dominican Republic in the WBC and he came into the season brimming with confidence.  Things didn’t go so well for him early in the season, but he dealt with the adversity and came on strong late last year as the Binghamton Rumble Ponies made a run all the way into the championship series in the Eastern League.  He struck out eight batters and allowed no runs in a 7-2/3 inning start in the semi-final clincher against Somerset.    The reason Dom is on my watch list is that guys that battle through adversity and come out successful on the other side have learned something about themselves that makes them a better ballplayer.  Hamel was already pretty darn good before he went through that, so I am looking for him to begin the season in AA and make a real run for it, earning a promotion to AAA by mid-season.  He has the mindset that he belongs in the majors and the skillset that can get him there.  He has the improved Mets pitching development team and facilities to maximize what he can do.  All this spells success to me so hopefully you will join me in watching this star rise.