Q&A: - Wilmer Flores

Got an email from Brad O’Neill. Over at http://www.deepleagues.com/ . They had recently put out their Top 100 prospect list and did not have Wilmer Flores included. He asked me if I agreed with the non-ranking.


My answer: Thanks Brad, for contacting me. I’m honored to help a great site like yours.

Flores is interesting. I’ve had the pleasure of watching him first hand for two years and it amazes me what he can accomplish at his current age. We see so many young kids signed out of Latin America that come with all the supposed tools, bells and whistles, and frankly, you’re just taking a crap shoot on 16-year olds out of underdeveloped countries. They don’t have the training, facilities, and equipment and have simply approached the game, against other 15-year olds, with what God gave them and very little.

The down side on Flores is his lack of experience, which is improving every year. He will never win a golden glove at shortstop and the Mets are thinking about moving him to either third base of right field. Recent interviews during winter ball with Wilmer have said that he will fight the move an try to remain a shortstop. In addition, he has below average speed.

But the positives do outweigh the negatives. Defensively, he turns a good double play which is a must for either a shortstop or second baseman (I played third base throughout my unprofessional career and, trust me, it takes a special talent to pull off a double play in the majors).But the biggest positive is his bat speed, intelligence at the play, his gap power, and developing home run potential. You just don’t see this kind of talent at this age in A-ball… in fact, I have to compare him to Jesus Montero, Jason Heyward, or Ryan Zimmerman at the same point of age and development.

Now, here’s the hard part.

If your Top 100 was based on results through 2010, which means many guys like Ike Davis and Heyward were still listed as prospects… then, no, he would have just missed my list.

But, if you clean the list out of the dudes that have made it to the majors in 2010, and will remain there in 2011, then the answer is yes. I would have him in the 70-75 range.

He’s got a long way to go, but Flores could easily be a top 15 prospect by the beginning of 2013.