Baseball Prospectus released its Top 101 Prospects list for 2017, and three New York Mets prospects were included. Shortstop Amed Rosario was ranked as the eighth-best prospect in all of baseball, while right-handed pitcher Robert Gsellman was ranked 17th and left-handed pitcher Thomas Szapucki was ranked 69th.
It comes as no surprise that Rosario checks in so high on BP’s top 100 list. The 21-year-old shortstop had a career year in 2016, hitting .309/.359/.442 in 66 games with the St. Lucie Mets and .341/.392/.481 in 54 games with the Binghamton Mets. With the ability to hit for average and power, run, throw, and field, Rosario has the potential to be a bona fide five-tool player.
That Gsellman ranks at 17 comes as no surprise to those who have followed his development as a pitcher with any great detail. After putting in a great deal of work over the offseason, the right-hander transformed himself from a fringe back-end starter into a solid mid-rotation starter—and perhaps even more. Whereas he was working with an average fastball, a curveball that flashed plus, and a fringe changeup coming into 2016, Gsellman added a few miles per hour to his fastball velocity, a slider—that flashed plus—to his repertoire, and improved on his curveball in 2016. The right-hander started the season in Binghamton, where he posted a 2.71 ERA in 66.1 innings. While he did not enjoy similar success after being promoted to the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, posting a 5.73 ERA with the Las Vegas 51s, Gsellman passed the ultimate test and enjoyed success at the major league level, posting a 2.42 ERA in 44.2 innings with the Mets in late August and September.
Rounding out the trio of Mets prospects is Thomas Szapucki, who had a nice professional debut in 2016 after being drafted in the 5th round of the 2015 amateur draft. He pitched only 52 innings, split between the Kingsport Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones, but when the southpaw was on the mound, he was a man among boys. Armed with a fastball that sat 92-95, a sweeping curveball that flashed plus, and a developing changeup that improved by leaps and bounds as the season went on, Szapucki carved through the Appalachian and New York-Penn Leagues, striking out 47 batters in 29 innings in Kingsport and 39 batters in 23 innings in Coney Island.
All three players were ranked in Amazin’ Avenue’s Top Mets Prospects for 2017; in fact, Amazin’ Avenue ranked the three in that exact order. Rosario topped our list, coming in at number one, while Gsellman was ranked number two and Thomas Szapucki number three.