Every baseball team only has so many top prospects. Some have less than five. Ten is a great number. I know it’s hard to believe that a team can draft 50 players very year, sign every kid out of Latin America, and participate in trades and free agency and only wind up with a handful of top players, but that’s how high the standards are to make it to a major league starting lineup.
There’s a bunch of us out there that rank Mets prospects and, though we all vary on which player is where on that list, we all agree that the Mets have three potential majors leaguers in SS Wilmer Flores, 3B Jefry Marte, and 3B Aderlin Rodriguez.
They are all Latin, they are all young, they are all great hitters… and they all aren’t infielders.
First , let’s look at the 2011 line on these three guys:
Flores: 19/yrs. old – A+: .271/.313/.382/.695, 8-HR, 65-RBI… 17 errors
Marte: 20/yrs. old – A+: .258/.320/.358/.677, 5-HR, 47-RBI… 22 errors
Rodriguez: 19/yrs. old – A: .218/.272/.362/.633, 12-HR, 61-RBI… 34 errors
The good news… we’re a long way from body maturation here, but both Flores and Rodriguez’s home runs totals are very exciting. All three of these guys are serious gap hitters and you could spend hours debating which one is potentially better than the others (my money is on A-Rod).
The bad news… they can’t catch a cold and Flores runs like an aardvark. Marte has actually gotten better, but 22 errors is 22 errors. All three of these guys need to be targeted this winter to either first base or various outfield positions.
Here’s the rub.
The Mets are still trying to figure out a position for Daniel Murphy. Rumors are that he’s going to work his ass off this off-season to learn right field, but I think they should work him at second. First, he came up an infielder and a conversion to a different position on the diamond works a lot more mentally. I played third and can’t imagine trying to become an outfielder. It’s an entire different line of sight position with a different arm. Converting to second isn’t easy, but I have a natural understanding regarding what goes on in the infield. You wouldn’t have to re-teach me that.
The future Mets outfield is in flux with only Matt den Dekker and Cory Vaughn showing potential to play every day there. My guess is that Jason Bay, Angel Pagan, and Lucas Duda will be the starting 2012, but all bets are off from there. Bay has one more year on his deal past 2012 and, unless, he hits his ass off, he’s unmovable.
I’m going to go under the assumption that Kirk Nieuwenhuis returns to AAA in 2012 and a Buffalo outfield of Kirk, Fernando Martinez, Mike Baxter, and Juan Lagares is a great insurance policy for Queens.
Den Dekker might restart the B-Mets, with Vaughn, Cesar Puello, and Pedro Zapata. That leaves Darrell Ceciliani playing St. Lucie with two slots basically still open.
I wouldn’t move teams for any of the three kids. Let Flores and Marte repeat St. Lucie while playing the outfield and move A-Rod to right field in Savannah.
One other option… you might consider packaging some or all of these guys, especially if their winter ball work in the outfield doesn’t look promising. Right now, they have trade bait potential.
Really strange situation.
It looks like 3B Aderlin Rodriguez is finally getting out of his hitting funk. A-Rod went 1-3 last night, raising his batting average to a season high .223. More importantly, he’s hitting .342 for the past ten games. He also has nine home runs through a miserable first half of the season. We have to remember he’s still only 19 years old, so expect the new Mets regime to let him play the entire year, and maybe next year, in Savannah.
You know, in the all the bitching and moaning I’ve done about not drafting the final piece of my “dream team” rotation, I’ve never considered that Jon Niese just may be that piece of the puzzle. He’s pitching his second season as part of the Mets rotation and he’s still only 24-years old. Lifetime major stats: 17-17, 4.12, but this year alone stands at: 6-5, 3.46. More important, since May 18th, he’s 4-1 with the majors 2nd best ERA, 1.58.
Armondo Rodriguez got off to a slow start this season coming out of extended camp. A-Rod went 8-9, 3.08, 27-starts, 152-K, 146.0-IP last season for Savannah, and only had his fourth start last night for St. Lucie. He did well: 5.0-IP, 10-K, 1-BB. He’s sitting on a 2.65 ERA and we can expect him to stick around in the Lucy rotation this season.
Two UC Santa Barbara baseball pitchers signed free agent deals in the last week following the Major League Draft. Greg Davis, a 6-foot-4 right-hander, signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. Beck Wheeler, a 6-foot-3 right-hander, signed with the New York Mets. Wheeler signed with the Mets as a pitcher, a role that he accepted this season after not having pitched in quite some time. However the righty appeared in four games, posted a 2.25 ERA and showed flashes of brilliance to go along with a fastball in the low 90s. Wheeler had also played third base and shortstop for the Gauchos and as a junior was one of the team's best hitters. "I had an opportunity to work out in front of one of their scouts and things went well," Wheeler said. "Pitching is still relatively new to me, but I think the Mets' organization felt that was a good thing because I can learn to pitch the way they would like me to. This is very exciting and I can't wait to get on the mound." - http://www.ksby.com/news/two-gauchos-sign-contracts-with-mlb-teams
6-14-11: - http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/6/14/2222649/2011-mlb-draft-new-york-mets-review#storyjump - 1) Brandon Nimmo, OF, Wyoming HS: He'll want a lot of money to skip college ball at Arkansas, but I think it is worth it. He's got above average tools across the board, good plate discipline, and more polish than we have any right to expect given his background.
