Tom Brennan - MY METS PROSPECTS: #13 JHOAN URENA
Sometimes, you forget how young some guys are and you are tempted to write them off.
Such was where I was at with Jhoan Urena after his second straight weak A ball season in 2016. In 2015, he hit .222 in 69 games, then jumped all the way to .225 in 2016...hey, progress is progress, right?
2017 was a different story, mostly, for the 1B/3B.
He hit so much better for St Lucie in 2017, while fielding virtually flawlessly as a first baseman, but continuing to flounder defensively at 3rd base.
His goal in 2018 should be to start out in AA or preferably AAA and hit and field well at both 1st and 3rd, but particularly the latter, since first base seems locked up between Dominic Smith and Pete Alonso for a long time to come.
In 2017, mostly in High A ball, but also jumped over the AA playoffs with 13 late games in AAA, the 6'1", 220 Urena hit .277, with a fine 34 doubles along with 14 homers in 502 at bats. His .282 A ball average seems just OK at first glance, but it was actually the 8th highest in the pitching-rich league.
The switch hitter also stole 18 of 21 and added 3 triples, so he has decent power as well as speed in his repertoire.
He did fan 130 times in 135 games, something you'd expect to be better from a switch hitter, and surprisingly a significantly higher K rate than in his two prior years when he hit worse. Illogical, I agree, but it is what it is. A cautionary note: after a terrific April and May, Urena hit only about .250 the rest of the way, which had to be disappointing.
Caveats aside, as good as his 2017 was compared to his 2016 season, he needs to have a similar quality jump, defensively and offensively in 2018, in order to try to move himself to the top of the 1B/3B prospect charts.
Finally tightening up his defense would be a huge step in the right direction.
Next year, he'll still be 23. Time to really make statement that he's ready for the majors, if he can. Right now, to me, he feels a lot like nothing more than the next Cesar Puello. But somehow, I think Urena will be better than Cesar, even though the former Met hit .327 in AAA as a 26 year old. That and a nickel will get you on the subway, as Puello only has 34 major league at bats so far. HAIL, CESAR!
Jhoan indeed needs to leap higher than Puello to have a successful big league career. I personally still like Jeff McNeil a little better than Urena, even if you readers most likely disagree. So Johan also needs to figure out how to jump higher than McNeil, the Slam Dunk Champion at Dunkin Donuts.
4 comments:
Good morning Tom -
I no longer have Urena in my 'red'prospect list. He needs to do more to get back on it.
(remember Tom... no one over 24 on a prospect list...)
Maybe he will do this next year when he changes positions to the outfield.
Hi Mack - the forever young Urena will only be 23 next season, so I still have him as a prospect and have hope.
But let me be coldly objective and compare him to another switch hitting infielder with some similarities: Asdrubel Cabrera.
Cabrera by his age 22 year already had 500+ MAJOR LEAGUE ABs, and had hit close to .270 with 40 extra base hits. Cabrera is and was far better than Urena is likely to ever be. So Urena is a Mets "prospect" who, in the Yanks' system, is likely not in the top 30 or 40. In other words, Urena is probably not really a prospect at all, just a good minor leaguer. Unless he proves us wrong.
One more infielder comp: Wilmer Flores at age 21 and 22 was in AAA when not in the majors.
In AAA those 2 years, exactly 162 games: he hit .323 with 47 doubles, 6 triples, 28 homers and (yes) 145 RBIs.
Urena is nowhere near Flores either, and Flores is not a major league all star.
Most likely Urena MLB career - short-lived, marginal major leaguer.
Wasn't talking about Urena...
call it a T.T. alert. :)
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