The Puerto Rico-born Tomas Nido was the Mets' eighth-round selection. Nido is a high school catcher from Orlando, and he has lots of power and may have a chance to stick behind the plate. I'm not sure how great that chance is, but there's a chance, and judging from their draft, the Mets clearly believe this is nothing to sneeze at.
As I said, Nido's principal tool is raw power, and some reports call it plus-plus. He does have a strong-looking frame at 6 feet, 200 pounds. The power doesn't really come out in game conditions, however, because of his swing. He does take a big, big cut at the plate, but his hitting mechanics make it difficult for him to utilize all that natural strength. The real deterrent is his leg kick. As the pitch approaches, he first taps his toe, which has messed up many a hitter's timing to begin with, but he follows up the toe tap with an exaggerated leg kick. What ends up happening, is that he will sometimes begin his swing before planting his back leg and balancing his weight. Furthermore, Nido has an odd hand load where, after starting his hands high, he'll drop them to his belt before lifting them back up to where he starts his swing. There are just so many moving parts to this swing that timing must be incredibly difficult, and he'll often rush through (or even skip) parts of his swing when he misjudges how much time he has before the pitch arrives. We most often talk about repeatability with pitching mechanics, but it's necessary for hitters, too. When everything goes perfectly, the ball jumps off his bat. But with his current swing, I have trouble seeing either consistent power or contact.
Nido's just as problematic behind the plate, though how much potential scouts think he has back there depends on when they saw him. Sometimes he looked better out there than others. From what I've seen, he has solid-average arm strength but very poor arm accuracy due to poor throwing mechanics and footwork. His agility, hands, blocking, and other receiver skills are all considered subpar by many scouts, so he's going to be a project at best. What really worries some is that he just doesn't appear to have the reflexes necessary to develop these tools. I'd take those reports with a grain of salt for the time being.
I'm doubtful right now that he'll end up at catcher, but if he can develop the raw power it might play at any position, and the fact that he could stay behind the plate makes him a prospect worth watching. Nido is a Florida State signee, so it may be difficult getting him to sign, but I haven't heard anything in particular with this regard.