Mets Top 20 Prospects

Our look at the top of the improving farm.

7 months ago MJMars 30 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Some prospects are missing

Off the top of my head, Niewenhuis and Valdespin. Also, Matt den Dekker’s last name has a lower case “d” in the “den,” unless a sentence begins with that.

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by Russ on Oct 27, 2011 11:05 PM EDT reply actions

yeah

not to mention marte, lutz, urbina, cordero, etc.

by Rob Castellano on Oct 28, 2011 9:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Lutz is old enough that he can be justifiably left off

The others are inexcusable though.

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by Hoyadestroya85 on Oct 28, 2011 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Havens.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 28, 2011 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Nevermind

he’s in there.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 28, 2011 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah, I feel like a lot of those 11-20 guys could be taken off and replaced with

Kirk, Valdy, Urbina, Ceciliani, and Tovar.

Rey-sign Rey-ass
Logic Your Sense Makes None.

by JoeBighead on Oct 28, 2011 8:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Is the list supposed to be in order?

If so, I’d have it look like this (just using the guys listed):

Harvey
Wheeler
Mejia
Familia
Flores
Vaughn
Havens
Nimmo
Lutz
A. Rodriguez

Or something like that; it’s late.

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by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Oct 28, 2011 2:08 AM EDT reply actions

Maybe I’m just missing it with Flores, but he’s consistently stays on the top half of our prospect list and I don’t seem to get why. He had no improvements whatsoever this season in the same league he played in last year. He was good yes, but not great and he has to change positions eventually.

What rates him higher than Havens or Valdespin or Lagares?

by MetsCity on Oct 28, 2011 2:01 PM EDT reply actions

He has a potential elite bat.

And he’s 20 as apposed to 25, 23, and 22 respectively.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 28, 2011 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

But he’s still all potential at this point, and if he moves to a corner IF position, the question still remains if he’ll have enough power for that position.

by MetsCity on Oct 28, 2011 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Then that comes down to how you value potential v. production.

Flores potential dwarfs those other guys.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 28, 2011 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Flores is the next F!.2

Another over hyped prospect

by TheKid08 on Oct 28, 2011 6:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe, maybe not.

Sometimes guys reach their potential but most times they don’t. That’s the prospect business in a nutshell. For every Miguel Cabrera who breaks out when they’re 21, there’s 100 Fernando Martinez types who flop. But you can still hope that a guy like Flores busts out. There’s no reason to write him off at age 20.

Just to give you a glimmer of hope, Cabrera had a nearly identical line to Flores at age 19 in A+ ball (just like Flores was for most of 2011). The next season, upon promotion to AA, he busted out to the tune of a .365/.429/.609 triple slash and was in the majors by the all star break. In the end, you just never know with prospects. Maybe Flores becomes the 1 in a million and busts out or maybe he flops like the majority do. No reason not to hope, though.

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by Steve Schreiber on Oct 28, 2011 6:26 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope I'm wrong

We seem to over value our propects and trade them when their value is at it’s lowest. Hopefully Flores can put it all together. But he took a big step back this past year.

by TheKid08 on Oct 28, 2011 6:51 PM EDT up reply actions

That's what Omar's FO would do

not alderson’s.

Mets, Jets, Islanders, Knicks.
GO RANGERS! Get Endy a ring!

by piazza62 on Oct 28, 2011 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Fernando didn't have a shot really

He was rushed like crazy and couldn’t stay on the field. I don’t think he was over hyped, just extremely unlucky.

by Evan_S on Oct 29, 2011 4:15 AM EDT up reply actions

It's all based on projection.

He’s a tall, skinny, growing kid who has plus contact skills and could grow into some power. If he fills out and adds some pop, he could be an elite hitter. The problem is that he seems like he’s been around forever, even though he just turned 20 in like August. I think that should be labeled F-Mart Syndrome, considering that’s what people have been saying for years now about F-Mart, who’s largely flopped for a number of different reasons (injuries, being completely rushed by the old regime).

What rates Flores higher than those guys is that they’ll never have the chance to have a bat as special as Flores’ if he breaks out and reaches the top of his potential. They might all be good players but Flores, should he reach that upper echelon of his potential, would be a special bat. Doesn’t mean he’ll get there but it’s a possibility.

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You might know me as mistermet.

by Steve Schreiber on Oct 28, 2011 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions

You make a fair point

And I hope he becomes that good myself. I guess that justifies it. I’m just more enamored with the production I saw this year from other players, versus what Flores has done. Looking back again, for his age it’s really good numbers.

by MetsCity on Oct 28, 2011 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions

No mention of Mejia's TJ surgery?

Not that I think it significantly decreases his value as a prospect, but it should at least be mentioned.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 28, 2011 2:02 PM EDT reply actions

Is he still considered a propect knowing that he's going into next yr

paying him 3 yrs into service time. With roughly 2 months in the majors. Thanks again Jerry

by TheKid08 on Oct 28, 2011 6:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Strictly speaking, no.

But everyone still includes him in their rankings.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 29, 2011 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting choices

I doubt too many Mets top 20s are going to have Angel Cuan, Chase Hutchingson, or Allan Dykstra in them.

As others have pointed out, there are some obvious names missing. Besides those already mentioned, I’d think Phillip Evans, Akeel Morris, Domingo Tapia, Rafael Montero, Luis Mateo, Gilbert Gomez, Collin McHugh, Wilfredo Tovar, and Darrell Ceciliani are some names that deserve consideration…although some of them would probably fall more in the 21-40 range.

by psiogen on Oct 28, 2011 2:41 PM EDT reply actions

Kirk and Ceciliani were two that I immediately noticed missing.

Kirk should definitely be in the top 15 range and I might put Cecilani on the list, but he atleast gets an honorable mention.q

Rey-sign Rey-ass
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by JoeBighead on Oct 28, 2011 8:15 PM EDT reply actions

I wonder where Wheeler, Harvey, and Familia

will rank, if at all, on BA’s top 100 list this year.

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by piazza62 on Oct 28, 2011 11:31 PM EDT reply actions

Hmm...

Wheeler was #55 last season. In A+ ball, he had a better season in basically double the amount of innings the season before. He lowered his BB/9 rate by almost 2, and maintained his K/9 rate. I wouldn’t be surprised to find him somewhere in the 40s, maybe. Harvey was unranked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was this coming off-season, in the 80s or 90s, maybe. Familia, maybe the same. Mejia, he was 44 coming into the season, but is going to drop a bit because of his surgery and stuff- maybe off the list completely.

Flores was 59 coming into the season, he’ll probably stay in that area. His stats were a little down as compared to last season, in 2011, it was in A+ ball, and he still is 19. Ceasar Puello was 77 coming into the season, and probably will stay around there, or maybe drop a little bit. He dropped about .40 points in his average and OBP, but did slug 10 HR, nine more than last season, so maybe that offsets that.

I think Wheeler, Harvey and Flores definitley are listed. Mejia, Familia, and Puello, I’m less sure. If they aren’t, that’s still 3 prospects who are in the Top 100, and if they are, that’s an additional one to three more. Not bad, I would say.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

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by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Oct 29, 2011 1:16 AM EDT up reply actions