Mack was recently asked about the Mets shortstop inventory, mentioning that he would like to see 5 tools Ronny Mauricio move to the outfield and Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez duke it out for SS.
I decided to look at them on an age comparable basis. Here goes:
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| PC - Ed Delany |
At age 20, Gimenez played the full year at Binghamton (AA) and hit as follows:
117 games, 432 ABs, .250/.309/.387, 22 D, 5 T, 9 HR, 24 BB, 102 K.
Not great numbers, but the 9 HRs impress me, as it is a clear indication that he is not the next devoid-of-power Bud Harrelson type.
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| PC - Ed Delany |
120 games, 479 ABs, .324/.374/.459, including 54 AA games at .341/.392/.481.
Surprisingly, he had fewer HRs (5) than Gimenez's 9, but Amed had 24 doubles and 13 triples.
So the clear hitting edge at age 20 goes to Amed Rosario.
At age 21, Amed had 393 at bats in Las Vegas, hitting .328/.367/.426 before his 46 game debut with the Mets, hitting .248 in 2017.
Amed might have been called up sooner in 2017, were it not for his defensive deficiencies and inability to draw a walk (still a real issue, with just 63 walks in 1,417 MLB plate appearances). Gimenez seems to have the walk deficiency but not the defensive deficiency.
Based on the foregoing Amed history, and his presence on the Mets after a surging 2nd half of 2019, by comparison Gimenez should be in AAA all year, and perhaps into 2021. Of note, however, is that Gimenez had a stronger 2019 second half and a fine Arizona Fall League stint, so maybe he can accelerate his big league arrival somewhat.
And maybe he is prime trade bait come July or the 2020 off season, if a log jam remains.
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| PC - Ed Delany |
Ronny Mauricio was .268/.307/.357 in Columbia at age 18 in 2019.
Rosario at age 18?
.274/.320/.372, but mostly in Brooklyn, so at a lower level. And keep in mind that Mauricio at age 18 was 5 months younger than Rosario in his age 18 year, and at that age, 5 months makes a difference.
Gimenez at age 18?
.265/.346/.349 at the same level. Keep in mind that Mauricio at age 18 was 7 months younger than Gimenez in his age 18 year, and at that age, 7 months is a lot.
Mauricio seems to have a leg up on the other two. It should be exciting to see what he does at St Lucie as he turns 19 in April.
One last comparison:
Ruben Tejada at age 20 played mostly in AAA where he hit .280/.329/.344, and then hit .213 in his Mets debut. At age 21, which is what Gimenez is entering, Tejada in 96 Mets games hit .284/.360/.335.
Observations:
I think Amed Rosario might be on his way to becoming the Mets' best overall SS other than Jose Reyes. I think 2020 will be his first WOW year.
Andres Gimenez has been highly ranked for 3 years in Mets' prospects' listings, but has not performed nearly as well as the oft-vilified Ruben Tejada at the same age. But a strong AFL in 2019 and a solid start this spring, including a game winning - yes, you guessed it - home run in Friday's game indicate a surge may be coming for the young man.
Gimenez has to enter 2020 with a chip on his shoulder. His edge on Tejada to this point is better defense and speed. Now, can his bat be as good, or better?
Ronny Mauricio may well have to switch to the outfield. Or another IF position (SS or 2B). But based on his age-related progression so far, we should all be very excited about him.
2020 could be a big season for the almost 19 year old, and it should be a delight to watch him advance. Rapidly would be most welcome.
2020 could be a big season for the almost 19 year old, and it should be a delight to watch him advance. Rapidly would be most welcome.
If I had to rank the 4 guys, long term, I'd guess:
1) Mauricio
1a) Rosario
3) Tejada and Gimenez (tie right now)
What do you outstanding Mets' minds think?
24 comments:
Comparing anyone to minor league fodder Tejada is grossly insulting.
Tom. Great piece but I agree with Reese and think Gimenez will surpass Tejada. Question? Who is the only SS in the mets minor leagues to be the clear MVP of a team that won a championship?
Also Manny Rodriguez has looked great this spring as well.
Excellent comparison.
Stephen Guilbert would be proud of you.
John, then you must answer the question - if you could only pick one, would it be: A Rod, or M Rod?
Tejada with the Mets at age 22 and 23 was to the plate 875 times and hit .287/.345/.345.
Gimenez most likely will have a more successful career than the Ruben sandwich, but I doubt Gimenez will come close to that production at age 22-23.
M-Rod. A-Rod is past his prime.
Not sure Gimenez will get the chance at 875 at-bats with Mets.
Good piece . . this is another reason that I love baseball!
My unscientific gut thoughts:
I agree with Tom that Amed Rosario will have a breakout year and really cement himself as a top MLB shortstop - both offensively and defensively. I am hoping to see more walks to add to the OBP, but I think the .280+ will be his floor for a while.
I have not seen much of Gimenez in person, but I have watched the replay of his homer the other day - that was a really sweet swing. If that is his normal stroke, that kid will hit.
I get the Mauricio tools, but let's let him develop through St. Lucie and Binghamton (hopefully).
2020 will be an interesting year to clarify some things. Perhaps one of them does switch to centerfield? I am not sure which one would be my preference to trade at this point, if that were to come up.
Remember 1969, time will tell. My one reservation with Rosario is he only walks or gets HBP once every 20 plate appearances in his career - that HAS to be improved upon.
Gimenez? Even if half his 22-23 age at bats are in AAA and half in the majors I will be surprised if he hits .287 over that period - but make a fool of me, Andres, and hit BETTER than that instead. I agree he has a sweet swing, and if he added some muscle, he could be a 10-15 HR hitter this year.
As I've said earlier, if we have any position of possible need in the next few years, it's CF. And with Gimenez a year or so from Flushing, now would be a good time to have him learn that position upstate.
If he can adapt to the position as well as guys like Robin Yount, Reese's fave ex-Met Juan L, and that kid with the initials MM in the Bronx, a need is filled without a trade or even a FA signing.
Bill, good idea.
But if I had to choose, long term, I put Gimenez at SS and Rosario in CF. Rosario reminds me of Willie Davis of Dodger days lone gone by.
Gimenez is most likely a better defensive SS long term than Amed.
I think you have an excellent point there, and Ronny M could be the one to shift as well.
But right now, there's no way for Amed to make the move, with no real SS replacement. And Ronny is most likely 2-3 years away.
Gimenex could be ML-ready by '21, and has the opportunity to try the position shift now.
On another note, do you know anything about the SS at Brooklyn last year, a kid with the interesting name of Reyes?
Bill, John from Albany is a Wilmer Reyes expert - hopefully, he can respond best to you on him. I had Reyes as my # 15 - I think John will have him in his top 5 (just a guess).
Remember 1969 -
Care to write for us?
On the recent Steven Matz to Yankees Rumors
The Yankees are already hurting in the "Injuries Are Us" department. Stanton, Judge, Paxton, and Severino. It's like the Mets used to always be every season. We all know this pain. Ouch already!
However, I don't really see anything there with the Bronx Bombers that I would want back for Steven Matz, and I looked. Their AAA is pretty thin right now, especially their pitching.
What I would probably instead consider doing, is maybe get on the phone and talk trade (now) with the Boston Red Sox, because it was just announced online that Chris Sale is being sent for an MRI on his pitching arm, which is seldom a good thing. And it could be a revisit to his old 2019 injury, not sure.
The Red Sox could be in "duck soup" without Sale, we all know that. E-Rod is really good, maybe Eovaldi too, but it slows down towards the bottom of their 2020 rotation with Weber and Perez. Without Sale, the Red Sox will need two starters more, I think. I see no way around this.
The Mets have arms all over the place, thanks to GM Brodie and ownership. Thank you guys! I like to hypothesize and maybe too much, but what about giving up something like Matz and Gsellman or even Matz and Lugo for highly respected kid lefty starter Jay Groome? Jay is a starter who will soon be making a difference on a large scale. But the Red Sox need really good starters right now, in order to have "any chance at all" coming out of the gate.
Then have Jay Groome ready to go sometime in June or July of this season (when the Mets may be needing him most) because Jay has missed sometime in Red Sox MiLB (with an arm injury dating back to 2018) and will need time to get ready for here.
Just yapping outloud on this topic, nothing more. Not Art Carney here.
Second Topic
The Mets are finalizing their 2020 starting five man rotation. Here are my own two points regarding this.
A. Why just five coming out of the shoot? Why not six? Not a bad thing to let this be a primetime in-season open and fair competition between two starters in the slow of the start of this season. Best guy taking it, with the other maybe moving on to the pen.
B. Basing this call. If I were to base this call on strictly risk alone, I go with Wacha. But if I were to base this same call on pure talent and potential, then I would go with lefty David Peterson.
Common sense alone, Wacha is the five slot man and Peterson the sixth starter down in AAA ball. I just really like Peterson's mechanics and pitches a little bit more. But Wacha has the MLB experience to his credit, he is not old, and he could be as he has been in the past. An interesting and really good type of problem to have for any one team.
I see something with Peterson that sells me though. He just looks ready to mine eyes.
On Ruben Tejada
He was a solid bad glove. He had that really good first season up here with the Mets. We all sort of got maybe "overly confident" with Ruben. We thought that he "could quite possibly be" a .300 batting average shortstop here and for years to come too. I certainly did.
I think Ruben lacked just one key ingredient at the plate, and that is aggressiveness. And if he had had this, he'd still be a starting shortstop in MLB. I have no doubt about it.
I wish Ruben Tejada the very best!
What is a "solid bad glove", and how does it apply to Ruben?
On infielders Rosario, Gimenez, and Mauricio.
Personally, I like Rosario the best. He has All Star talent, can field very well, can hit well, hit the gaps, and hit for some power, steal bags, run like elf at Christmas. I see nothing missing at all in Amed. And he has this marvelous "turn up switch" that all the greats seem to have.
Gimenez is good too. Had a nice 2020 ST. But his 2019 AA was so-so at the plate, sub .250 BA. He is definitely starting material thouh. It's just his statsheet needs a little more padding. He's only like 20/21 years old at current. There's time. Rome wasn't built in a day, although it did crumble pretty fast, if I recall correctly.
Mauricio is really good as well. Some say "All Star in the future." But he is young too and needs more stat padding as well. He is like 16 years old or something. Fourteen years out of diapers.
I might consider trading one of the last two above mentioned players to get back someone/something hat the Mets may need later on in 2020, perhaps after an injury to someone at some position here. Or a pitcher even, who knows. (Not Keskin)
My keyboard is not good. Spelling pays.
What did you mean to write that came out "solid bad glove"? And what is the "elf at Christmas" reference?
On soiled bad glove and Christmas elves.
I didn't actually think that anyone ever reads my postings. I know that I wouldn't!
Thanks for reconfirming that some people do.
I'll slow my typing down in the future. Ruben was a solid "good" glove, I meant. And Amed Rosario runs fast like elves on Christmas Eve, awaiting the arrival of St. Nick.
How'd I do?
Nailed in Anon as always.
You're doing fine, though I wish you'd find an identity. Doesn't have to be your real name (believe it or not, my real one isn't Metsiac).
I still don't get the elf remerence, though. 🙄
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