The Gamers vs. The Gifted

In baseball prospect pitchers fall into two categories. They are either GIFTED with 95+ MPH heat, knee buckling curves, sharp breaking sliders and devious change-ups... OR... they are gamers and try to out-think the hitters with pretty average (for the majors) stuff. It's the difference between Mike Minor and Dillon Gee. The thing I like to remind people is that Gamers become major-leaguers JUST as often as the Gifted.

The Gifted:
I'm using Doc Gooden to review what I consider a "Gifted" player. Doc came up young because his arm was... FREAKY good. He flat out had some magical stuff that got him to the majors quickly and made him star VERY quickly. He had 10 seasons along the way where he managed 10+ wins and some clearly magical seasons where he was a Cy Young caliber guy.

The Gamers:
Rick Reed... was the most consistent Met pitcher for a couple years. He would never touch the stat line of someone like Doc Gooden, Nolan Ryan or Tom Seaver... but he did have 6 seasons with 10+ wins and plenty of years where he had a serviceable line. The thing with Gamers we forget is how effective they can end up being. We forget because they are AWFUL at fantasy baseball.

If someone asked me who I'd prefer between Reed and Doc... well I'd go with Doc every time, but I'd try to get BOTH first.

So... what I'm going to delve into over the next couple weeks are the top 10 Met prospects in the system as they sit in either category. More often than not, I've seen the Gamers reach the majors more than the Gifted, but it's the Gifted pitchers who can have the BIG TIME impact.

The Gamers: Top 10
1. Chris Schwinden
2. Colin McHugh
3. Darin Gorski
4. Brandon Moore
5. Armando Rodriguez
6. Mark Cohoon
7. James Fuller
8. Chase Huchingson
9. Marcos Camarena
10. Taylor Whitendon


The Gifted: Top 10
1. Matt Harvey
2. Jeurys Familia
3. Jenrry Mejia
4. Zack Wheeler
5. Gregory Peavey
6. Akeel Morris
7. Domingo Tapia
8. Juan Urbina
9. Erik Goeddel
10. Michael Fulmer