Tom Brennan: Re-Run of My Top Prospects Series. Today? 11-15

I love re-runs.  Considering the 2020 season could be terminated, I am avoiding watching the Terminator, though.

Continuing on the re-run of my Top 25 series, on we go to my Top 11-15, beginning with the Wolf Man, Jack:

 (11) RHSP Josh Wolf - the Mets selected the Wolf Man in the 2^nd round of 2018.  The 6’3” 170 righty just turned 19 on Sept 1. The Mets used him gingerly in his debut season with the GCL Mets. He had 5 short outings, 4 of which were excellent – in those 4, he threw 7 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 walk (excellent), and fanning 10.

It is hard to project exactly where he will start out 2020, either in Kingsport, Brooklyn or Columbia. My guess? Short season Brooklyn, skipping Kingsport.  

He was up in the 95-97 MPH range as an 18 year old, and his exhibited control so far tells me he is likely up for the challenge.  

My guess?  He might have been the #1 pick in the 2020 draft.  

My second guess? He is part of the Mets starting rotation in 2023.

(12) LHRP Blake Taylor – it’s my list, and Blake Taylor is in my Top 25 - so deal with it! 

Here’s a guy (former 2^nd rounder in 2013) who the Mets acquired long ago in the Ike Davis deal, who was 4-17 in 2017 and 2018, almost all as a starter.   Looked like a complete bust.

2019?  A whole different story for Taylor.  In 39 relief outings in A and AA, he was 2-3, 2.16, 10 of 11 in saves, a 1.10 WHIP, and 74 Ks in 67 IP.  He allowed just 3 homers.  He also got to pitch to one batter in AAA and retired him in his 40^th outing.  After his promotion from A to AA, in AA he was in 18 games, 0-1, 1.85, 0.95 WHIP and just 12 walks in 39 innings.  This is the same guy who walked a very high 54 in 87 innings in 2018, so his control improvement is remarkable.  So, he is the same guy…but clearly not the same guy.

He ate lefties alive in AA and spit out the bones – 14.2 IP, 0.89 WHIP, 24 Ks.

My take on why he was not promoted to AAA sooner?  After such non-success in 2017 and 2018, they did not want to rush him.  I see the just turned 24 year old Taylor starting out in AAA in 2020, and being ready for the phone to ring during the season.

Taylor reminds me of a guy whom Mets fans hated – Oliver Perez – as a terrible starter, who turned into a fine major league lefty reliever as a post-Met.  We’ll see in 2020.

Well, maybe not - Blake got shipped off to the Astros for OF Jake Marisnick.

(13) LHSP David Peterson – the 2017 first round selection for the Mets just turned 24, and had a mixed 2019 season in AA.  There is no way to sugar coat the fact that he was just 3-6 in 24 starts, with a mediocre 4.19 ERA and 1.34 WHIP.  He allowed 9 homers, too, in 116 innings, not terrible, but somewhat concerning to me.

It was heartening to see his last two starts, though, in which he went 5.1 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 runs, no walks, and 4 Ks, followed by a 6.2 IP outing in which he allowed 3 hits, no runs, walked none and fanned 10.  In neither game did he get the W, in part because Binghamton’s offense was so-so. 

He ended up with a somewhat high 37 walks in his first 104 innings, but none in his last 12. And, if you dropped his one bad outing in his last 5 games, in the other 4, he went 23 innings, 15 H, 5 BB, 20 Ks and just 3 earned runs.

So it seemed that at the end of an unimpressive season, it was starting to click for Peterson.

His 243 hits allowed in 248 innings as pro (and 119 in 116 innings in 2019) is concerning to me. He needs simply to be a lot less hittable.  Also concerning was his 1.51 WHIP against lefties in 2019, a breed of hitter that he as a big southpaw needs to dominate to be a successful big league pitcher some day.

Despite his being a first rounder, I see too many caution signs to have him in my top 10 at this point, although most everyone else has him in their top 10.  Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am not.  But there are no maybes when it comes to saying that he needs to do a lot better to justify his first round selection.

(14) RHRP Ryley Gilliam – Gilliam was a reliever everyone loved.

He was rising after a fine 2018 Brooklyn debut quickly through St Lucie in High A ball. 

In AA, the hard throwing pen righty started to encounter some adversity (3-0, but 4.34 in 19 innings), and had a very rough go of it briefly in AAA before being shut down with injury.    

Overall, he fanned 56 in 39 innings, but despite a 5-0 season record, he ended up with a 6.05 ERA, with 18 walks, and an unsightly 14 runs in under 10 innings with a WHIP of 3.00 in AAA.

In 2020, we will find out how much of the latter disaster was due to pitching while injured, and how much might be the result of being pushed too far, too fast.

Still, the fact that Gilliam got to AAA in his first full season at all has to leave open the possibility of Gilliam pitching for the Mets at some point during 2020.  

(15) RHSP Junior Santos - My nickname for the 6'8" youngster is Whopper Junior.  Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, but plenty of mustard, please.

He had a heckuva debut in 2018, with great control for a 16 year old.  Having pitched in 2019 mostly as a 17 year old, just turning 18 late in the 2019 season, he had a spotty and somewhat disappointing season, going 0-5, 5.09 in 41 IP.  

Results aside, he throws hard, and has great potential for his slider, change up, and potential to throw even harder (into the high 90s).

I think his potential starts to show up in results in 2020.

A real possibility for the Mets starting rotation in 2023 or 2024.

Where we will hear at Citifield the chants of the fans:

"WHOP-PER JUN-IOR!!"

"WHOP-PER JUN-IOR!!"