Tylor Megill
We lost "minor league 2020". Poof. Never happened.
Don't put out "Have you seen this Minor League 2020?" missing persons posters, because no one is gonna find it. Lost forever.
So we move on to 2021, wondering (among other things) how Mets' prospects will do in 2021. Without 2020 performance to gauge, it is truly hard to do that. You may be excited about a "non-elite" guy and have zero idea if he has improved or is ready to remove the cleats and move on to a real world job.
I was thrilled to follow then-non elite player Jeff McNeil in 2017 when he returned from extended injury and showed some high level minor league hitting promise, that got me excited to see what he would do in 2018, even when many just felt he was too damaged, or too old. Starting in the minors and then getting promoted in late in 2018, he has been nothing but elite since the start of 2018.
Seven guys I wonder about for 2021 who are not among the Mets' elite prospects (i.e., top 10 dudes) - there are more, but let me focus on these 7 dudes today:
DESMOND LINDSAY - he was drafted in the second round in 2015 and has unfortunately and frustratingly weathered one injury after another.
Remarkably, the draftee out of high school recently turned 24! Time flies. His career .238/.343/.367 split is quite uninspiring, and he has less than 1,000 pro plate appearances, no higher than St Lucie.
In a way, he reminds me of another oft-injured 2nd rounder who seemed to be going absolutely nowhere for years: BLAKE TAYLOR.
Until, voila, Taylor was moved to the pen, got healthy, and got successful (with the Astros, sadly).
So maybe the athletic Lindsay shocks us in 2021 - if not, it would almost have to be the end of the line for the man whose initials are, appropriately, DL.
GREGORY GUERRERO - GG is the answer to the trivia question, "which Guerrero can't hit?" Of course, the one the Mets have.
Remarkably, the former bonus baby is now 22...time does fly. Oft-injured like Lindsay, he has been to the plate in the DSL and rookie ball only about 650 times since 2016 and is just .231/.308/.307. Seems hopeless, but the pedigree is there.
Of course, the pedigree was there for Tommie Aaron, Hank Aaron's brother, but that didn't help Tommy Aaron much - he hit just 13 major league long balls.
Hopefully, Greg Guerrero will flat-out astonish us in 2021. I am not holding my breath, but I love upside surprises.
TONY DIBRELL - the former 4th rounder, now 25, had a spiffy start to 2019 with St Lucie, but self-destructed in AA in the latter part of 2019: 0-8, 9.31 ERA, 1.86 WHIP. Steve Matz would probably tell him, "I've been there, dude." But fellow writer Ernest Dove seems positive on Tony for 2021. We shall see what we shall see. My advice to Tony Dibs? Watch Trevor Bauer tapes. Forget Bend It Like Beckham. Do It Like Trevor.
TYLOR MEGILL - The 6'7" former 8th rounder has only gotten in 32 minor league games and 100 innings, and is a solid 7-9, 3.43 with 128 Ks. Now 25, can this power arm forge his way up to a Mets' bullpen role in 2021? Missing 2020 leaves a big analysis gap for us to assess him in that regard. Just one career outing as high as AA, and it was impressive: 5 innings, 3 runs, no walks and 9 Ks. I am cautiously hopeful that Megill will open a lot of eyes in 2021. Maybe he'll open a bullpen door at Citifield too.
TOM SZAPUCKI - always shows up in Mets' prospect lists, and maybe 2021 is his breakthrough year. He missed a lot of 2017 and all of 2018 with TJS, and then got in just 62 innings in 2019, with a 2.63 ERA and 72 Ks in 62 innings. Just 4 innings so far as high as AA. No reason to think he can't be knocking on the major league doorstep in 2021, although I was disappointed, with so many crappy Mets' pitchers in 2020, that he did not get called up.
DAVID RODRIGUEZ - the acquired catcher etc. has NOT hit well at the AA level in his career (.228 in 571 plate appearances) but has hit a ton (close to .400) this year in winter ball. Which Rodriguez will we see in 2021? My guess is a much better than .228 hitting one. He may just surprise a lot of people in 2021.
RYLEY GILLIAM - the righty reliever (2018 5th rounder) fanned a lot of dudes in the lower minors, climbed very quickly, then got hammered at high levels - he somehow was 5-0 in 2019, but with a 6.05 ERA, with 3 saves in 8 chances - that clearly won't get it done, but maybe with a 2020 off, he will return with needed adjustments and be ready to crush higher competition.
What do you think of these 7?
Which non-elites are you most looking forward to see progress on in 2021?
14 comments:
Tom - I will be looking forward to see how these guys do as well. Real intrigued on which D-Rod shows up in Syracuse. We may even find out sooner in Spring Training.
Great stuff Tom, and may I add:
Cortes, after his winter league slugging
Mazeika, still love to see if he can develop
Dominguez, what was all the fuss about
Brito, “
Palmer, can’t wait to see how much better he really got
Wilmer Reyes, let’s see why John likes this kid so much
Consuerga, coming back from injury
McIntosh, low flying speedster with lots of tools
I meant Butto, not Brito. I want to see that guy that throws 100.
Ops it was right before, Brito. I guess this means it’s time to go to work.
Add Ramirez
Texas Gus, what makes it doubly intriguing with all these guys is they'll all be 18 months older - and more mature.
You're right, Butto, Consuegra, etc. Cortes doing great in Australia is a quick glimpse at the fact that even without games, guys who are laser-focused get better. I do hope that Mazeika's bat finally gets to where I thought he'd get when he started his career at a .350 hitter in Kingsport. Will be fascinating to see what he did to improve over the 18 month gap period.
Khalil Lee, Jake Mangum. BRING IT ON!
Texas Gus, all the attention on Bauer - all for nothing.
We've got these kids, though, and I am psyched to see who can miss time and burst forth in similar fashion to what Jeff McNeil did, to what Jake deGrom did post-Tommy John. Long layoffs don't stop the REAL ones.
How exciting that were getting FULL minor and major league seasons, fingers crossed, as it just feels like last years 2 months were an aberration and abomination so lets GET READY TO RUMBLE!! Guys did anyone see the Lee deal coming and what do you know about him?
The guy I am most interested in seeing in the states in Fargas.
And while I suspect this is about the end of the road for Quinn Brody, I'll be following him a bit, assuming he is in Syracuse. Looks like Fargas, Lee, and Brody might be the outfield up there. Pretty fast bunch.
Last thing, Tom, you have mentioned Jake Mangum a couple times. . what draws you to him? I cannot quite see anything to think that he may be better than Lee. I'd love it to have somebody that is better than Lee in the system, but I'm not seeing it (other than perhaps a couple guys at the lower levels)
69. I like Jake a lot. Good speed and set record for most hits in his College. Thing I like about him the most was his 350+ average with 2 outs and men in scoring position back in 2019 for Brooklyn. He us a grinder and a leader. Hope to see more of him this Summer.
Thanks John. I was just looking at the rest of his line and the fact that he has not played above Single A and is about to turn 25 years old next month. I hope they can move him up fairly quickly. Will be interested in seeing him here in Binghamton this year.
Mangum is also a speedster like Khali, but does not strike out nearly as much. So I want to see what Mangum can do. He only played in Brooklyn in 2019, but he was a hit machine in college. I wouldn't mind seeing them throw him right into AA. If a guy can make contact, challenge him. I would love to see him turn into a Brett Butler type.
Fargas strikes out a lot, and Brody has never put up a WOW season in the minors. Both IMO need to reverse those negatives to rise.
Yes Fargas ko's a lot - Lee, even more.
Lee was a lot younger, though - we'll see this year if he is chronic or not.
I used to root for Zach Lutz, who was a very good hitter in the minors but K'd over once per game. He sadly went the way of Taijeron AND OTHERS WHO COULD NEVER SOLVE THE k PROBLEM.
I think of RA Dickey with some guys - can they make a drastic change to be better. Fargas is fast, and before his time is gone (he only gets on baseball career, and this is it), I wonder sometimes if they study drastically different, successful speedy players like Matty Alou and think whether they ought to go in another direction. Matty bunted and slapped his way to multiple low strikeout, .300+ campaigns. No power, but he got on base. I wondered that with Champ Stuart before he disappeared, too.
I often think the same thing about pitchers not gifted with laser arms, who have decent minor league success. Why not try the knuckle ball? I have to give Mickey Jannis credit for trying. I remember one year when in the spring, the Mets jettisoned a bunch of pitchers who collectively had decent stats and a winning record. And none of them, to my knowledge, tried the knuckle ball, which won RA the Cy Young, got Phil Niekro to the Hall, did great for Hoyt Wilhelm, Wilbur Wood, and Joe Niekro. You already invested so much in baseball, why not try it?
Here's another guy, a power pitcher, who has yet to throw a pro inning due to arm issue: Bryce Montes de Oca, a Lucas Gilito-sized dude with a Luca Giolito-like FB.
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