Tom Brennan - MY METS PROSPECTS: # 46 THRU # 50

Tom Brennan - MY METS PROSPECTS: # 46 THRU # 50

Making it barely into the highly acclaimed Brennan Top 50 is the equivalent of barely making it into a Titanic lifeboat. 

If you missed the top 50, I hope you love swimming in refreshing ice cold water.  Rescue boats will be here soon.

 Not being in the top 50 for a particular team is not a comfortable place to be as a player.  So these guys are undoubtedly oh, so glad they made it.  So, without further delay, here are the final 5 in my Top 50.

I just want to be clear that my method of ranking is not scientific - I have resorted to the "eenie meanie miney mo" method to pick my Top 50 despite us in this age of precision and sabermetrics.  Look where the latter has gotten the Mets, anyway.  Saberhagen, sabermetrics - BAH HUMBUG!

# 46 JUAN URIARTE - a catcher to really watch in Kingsport in 2017, Juan was outstanding, hitting .305 as a 19 year old, with a fine on base %, decent power and modest K rate.  

Just 2 errors in 44 games at catcher, where he threw out 33% of runners...he had been higher %-wise in the GCL and DSL in prior years, so he may have a 40% caught stealing potential. 6'0", 185, he could turn out to be a major factor at the Mets' catcher position in  3 or 4 years.

Before going totally "gaga" over Uriarte, please keep in mind that the Appalachian League in 2017 was a hitters' league.  It is likely he will jump Brooklyn and head right to full season Columbia as a 20 year old catcher in 2018.  We'll get a really good read on him there against tougher arms.

# 47 - RIGOBERTO TERRAZAS - a Kingsport 3B who tore it up as a 21 year old in his 4th pro season after starting his career in the DSL.  Ricky T went A STELLAR .348/.413/.486 in 52 games for the K Mets.

Very good contact guy who hit very well from both sides of the plate.  Definitely headed to at least Columbia to start 2018; he'll be a 5th year guy in 2018, so he will be pushed hard to see if he deserves 40 man roster protection after 2018.  Good size at 6'1", 190.  

Not a speedster, and needs to tighten up his defense.

# 48 VICTOR CRUZADO - Hobie told me the Cruz Missile had a good AAA season, but I interjected to say it was not great, for a 25 year old OF who already has SEVEN years in the organization!

His .262/.347/.385 split is not so good for Vegas, and it seems he will need at least another year to boost his bat to a passable major league level.  Average speed and only 30 minor league homers in over 2,000 plate appearances.

AAAA until proven otherwise.

#49 JAYCE BOYD - JB had a rib/shoulder thingy (I think that is the medical term) like Matt Harvey.  As a result, Jayce stalled in his career trajectory for a few years.  He played sporadically during this AAA season early on, and I wondered if they were giving up on him, but he finally got regular playing time (and got HOT) late in the AAA season.

How hot? Over his last 48 games in July thru early September, he hit roughly .330/.400/.600. In AAA.  The kind of HOT Mets fans like. 

Particularly interesting is the early career rap against Boyd was he'd never generate power, but 20 extra base hits (including 8 HRs) in just 141 official at bats in those 48 games is quite impressive and perception-altering (OK, not Aaron Judge power, that comes next year).  

He has a fine eye at the plate, too, with 13 walks vs. 21 Ks over those 48 games.

One has to wonder, though, how his throwing arm is, because in 152 outfield games in 2015-17, he's registered just 3 assists, and the former 1B has not played Keith Hernandez's old IF position except for one game since 2014.

The aging Boyd turns 27 in December, and did not get a September call up (kind of wish he now had, over Travis Taijeron, who has predictably fanned a ton and not hit with the Mets in his September cameo).

Perhaps Mr. Boyd is more suited to an AL team that has a DH role.

# 50 - ANDREW CHURCH is a former 2nd rounder from 2013 who missed a lot of time due to injuries in 2014 and 2015, amassing only slightly less than 100 innings in those campaigns.  In 2016 and 2017, in Columbia and St Lucie (and one disastrous game in AA, in which he surrendered 10 earned runs in 4.1 IP), he went a combined 19-13. Nice. But..

His ERA in 2017 was a high 5.06, and he fanned an underwhelming 98 in 157 IP with a 1.43 WHIP.  

In his last 4 starts, he did manage to allow just 4 earned runs in 28 IP, which caused me to put him in the coveted # 50 slot.

But even that is tenuous, and we will see where Church goes from here in 2018.

All I know is all 10 guys in my next article regarding the 10 guys who just missed the Top 50 list all think they are better than Church.  But 60% of Mets fans love church, so he is in by his fingernails.