John From Albany – Matthew Allan, Brett Baty, Andres Regnault, the Columbia Fireflies 2020 Roster Projection.

We did the projected Mets Roster, projected Syracuse roster, the projected Binghamton roster, St. Lucie, and now we move to Columbia.

The projection for the St. Lucie Mets was full of prospects.  I think the same will go for this year’s Columbia Fireflies, starting off with 

Catching: 

I put squad Francisco Alvarez on St. Lucie mostly because there were a number of good catching prospects in the lower levels last year.  This way they all get to play.

That leaves the catching trio of Andres Regnault, Wilfred Astudillo, and Endy Rodriguez in Columbia.

All three of these can hit.

At 21, Andres is the most experienced catcher of the group having caught 108 games and 869.1 innings, 29.9% caught stealing rate in his career, .292/.328/.489 (.817 OPS) last year in Kingsport.

Wilfred Astudillo, 20, 77 games and 651.2 innings with 37.5% caught stealing in his career, .267/.323/.408 (.731 OPS) last year in Kingsport.  Wilfred has also seen 41 games at first.

Endy Rodriquez, turning 20 in May, just 33 games, 239.2 innings caught so far with a 41.7% caught stealing in his career, .294/.411/.510 (.921 OPS) split between the DSL and GCL last year.  Endy has also played 13 games at first and 9 games in the OF.

 

Very possible one of these end up in Brooklyn with Brooklyn’s Jake Ortega ending up in Columbia. 

Pitching:

On the mound, again more prospects that I see the Mets wanting to get in as many games as possible. 

Matthew Allan, one of the big picks from last year’s draft will lead the starting staff.  

Matthew pitched 6 regular season games for a 1-0, 2.61 ERA, 10 innings, 10 hits, 3 Earned Runs, 14 K’s, 5 Walks.  In the playoffs for Brooklyn he threw 5 perfect innings in two different outings with 3 Ks. 

Nathan Jones, 5^th round, 2019 Draft. In the regular season Nathan was 0-2 with a 6.59 ERA, 7 games, all starts, just 13.2 innings, 10 hits, 10 runs allowed, 3 HR allowed, 8 walks, and 14 Ks.  6 of those runs allowed came in one start where he went only 2/3^rd of an inning.  In the playoffs, with Brooklyn down 1 game to none in the best of 3 series, Nathan Jones started and threw three scoreless innings with no hits and a walk, working around two errors.  Nathan also started Brooklyn’s Championship game giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks.

Another Prospect and 2019 draftee, Josh Wolf.  Josh pitched just 5 games – 8 innings for the Gulf Coast Mets after getting drafted and was only scored on once.  His record was 0-1, 3.38 ERA, 9 hits, 3 Earned Runs, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts.

Michel Otanez, 4-3, 3.14 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 70 Ks, 28 BB, in 63 innings, 14 starts split between Brooklyn and Kingsport. 

Joander Suarez, 1-0, 1.79 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 47 Ks, 16 BB, in 40.1 innings, 11 Games/8 starts for the Gulf Coast League Mets. 

Matt Cleveland, 3-3, 3.78 ERA; 1.28 WHIP, 42 Ks, 32 BB, in 66.2 innings, 14 starts for the Brooklyn Cyclones. 

I think all six will get work as Allan, Wolf and Jones build up innings. 

In the bullpen, I am starting with NY Penn All-Star Mitch Ragan with his .86 WHIP, 3-2, 3.09 ERA, 15 games, 35 innings, 31 Ks, 3 BB. 

Justin Lasko, .92 WHIP, 4-5, 2.14 ERA, 21 games, 33.2 innings, 28 Ks, 6 BB split between Brooklyn and Columbia.

Matt Mullenbach, 19 relief outings last year for Brooklyn, 1 and 5, 2.84 ERA, 25.1 innings, 2 HR, 26 K’s, 13 walks, 1.07 WHIP.  On August 30th Matt struck out the side on nine pitches.

Josh Hejka, 1.08 WHIP, 2-0, 1.33 ERA, 22 games, 20.1 innings, 24 Ks, 5 BB split between Brooklyn and Kingsport.

Reyson Santos, 1.13 WHIP, 0-0, 2.25 ERA, 24 games, 24 innings, 33 Ks, 9 BB split between Brooklyn and Kingsport.

Franklin Parra, the Copaigue NY Lefty went 1-1, 2.57, 10 games, 8 starts, 21 innings, 29 Ks, 16 BB. 

The Infield

At first, Joe Genord.  Joe led the Brooklyn Cyclones team with 44 RBIs (third in league) and 9 HRs (tied for fifth in league).  Joe struggled getting hits at home, hitting just .140 in Brooklyn while .266 on the road for a .206 total average. 

           

2B, Luke Ritter, .245/.351/.371, 4 HRs, 36 RBIs, 5 Stolen Bases, 56 hits, 50 Ks.  “Ritter the hitter” was often the number four hitter in Brooklyn’s NY Penn Championship lineup.

3B, Brett Baty, the Mets 2019 #1 pick, 188 At-Bats last year hitting 7 HR, 33 RBIs, .234/.368/.452. 

At short Warren Saunders, .323/.397/.386 for the GCL Mets.

And Federico Polanco also at SS, Federico had one of the highest OPS in the Mets Organization while playing in the DSL 1 league with an OPS of .886, with a slash line of .331/.414/.472, 163 At Bats, 54 hits, 13 doubles, 5 triples, 23 walks, 23 Ks, 7 stolen bases.   

The Outfield:

Ranfy Adon RF; Ranfy was one of the fastest players on a fast Brooklyn team last year.  Ranfy stole 11 bases while playing all three outfield positions.  Ranfy had a big homerun and the walk-off double to give the Cyclones a 4-3 win in the deciding game against Hudson Valley in the first playoff round. In the regular season Ranfy hit .270, with two homers and 13 RBIs.  

Blaine McIntosh CF, .228/.311/.228.  24 games, 92 at bats, one of the Mets top CF prospects. 

Antoine Duplantis LF, Brooklyn’s lead-off hitter last year .237/.286/.294, 20 RBIs, 5 SBs, 46 hits, 12 walks, 31 Ks.  He has good speed and runs the bases well and is a good defender - 153 putouts, 16 assists, and just one error. 

Yoel Romero IF/OF, Yoel played all over the diamond for Brooklyn last year: 23 games at Shortstop, 7 games at Second Base, 25 games at Third Base (including all 6 playoff games), 1 game in Left Field, 4 games at DH.  He’ll back up Baty at 3B and play the outfield too.  His Brooklyn slash line was .251/.326/.377 with 4 HRs, 15 RBIs, 6 SBs.

Freddy Valdez RF, On the DSL Met 1 team he had a .790 OPS (one of the best in the Mets minor league system) with a slash line of .268/.358/.432, 5 HR, 36 RBI. He ended the season being called up to the Gulf Coast Mets where he went 4 for 10 in 3 games with a HR and 3 RBI.  

The top Mets prospects are moving up the ranks.  

Columbia will be the destination for many of them this year.  

Should be another great team to watch this season.