Tom Brennan - MY METS PROSPECTS: # 8 MARCOS MOLINA

Tom Brennan - MY METS PROSPECTS: # 8 MARCOS MOLINA

At the end of 2014, I thought Marcos Molina would be in the Mets' rotation by now.

He was, after all, a young stud ace, throwing mid 90s stuff and having just finished a season where he was clearly the best starter in the NY Penn League.  

That season, the then very young 19 year old righty was 7-3, 1.77 in 76 innings with 91 Ks and a 0.84 WHIP.  Similar #'s to those put up by 2016's best NY Penn starter, lefty power arm Tom Szapucki.

Houston, we have a problem: both of those NY Penn League studs needed TJ surgery the following season.

Molina missed most of 2015 to that bedeviling injury, and all of 2016.  And a chunk of early 2017,  Good grief!  I have a visceral hatred for Tommy John.

Molina finally got healthy and pitching in the 2016 off season and then for St Lucie in 2017 and was 2-3, 1.26 in 5 starts there before getting promoted to Binghamton.  Nice!  

Was he ready to move fast, or was he still rusty and also adjusting to higher competition?  The latter.

in his first 5 starts spanned 31 innings for the Bingos (a much better name than Rumble Ponies, I hope you agree), he allowed 20 runs.  Not nice.

OK, that's enough rust, Marcos - and he agreed - after that, he tossed 53 innings, allowed 43 hits, 13 BBs, fanned 43, and surrendered 18 earned runs for an ERA just over 3.00. Nice.

My expectation is that he is now rust free, well experienced, and ready to get some final fine-tuning during 2018 in AAA, and will be ready for the Mets to call him up as a starter or reliever in 2018, most likely in the second half of the season.

I think his ceiling is still around a #2, but perhaps he is more likely to slot in as a #3 or #4 starter.  Depends in large part if his velocity returns to superior.

He'll only turn 23 during spring training, so although he has been delayed, I expect he will debut with the Mets as a 23 year old in 2018.  Still a young stud. 

Soon, it will be MO-LINA TIME!