Mets add four minor league players to 40-man roster

Across all of Major League Baseball, teams had until 8 PM EST on November 20 to add prospects to their 40-man rosters to avoid making them available for the Rule 5 Draft in December. The Mets came into today with 35 players on their 40-man roster, leaving five spots open if they wished to fill them, and the team chose to add and protect four prospects: shortstop Luis Guillorme and right-handed pitchers Tyler Bashlor, Gerson Bautista, and Corey Oswalt.

Guillorme, 23, was a 10th-round pick in 2013 and is known as the best defensive player in the entire Mets system. In 2017, he stepped up with the bat, hitting .283 with a .376 on-base percentage for Double-A Binghamton. He followed that up hitting .289 with a .333 on-base percentage for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League and was honored by making the league’s Rising Stars Game.

Bashlor, 24, an 11th-round pick in 2013 who signed for $550,000 out of South Georgia College which is well above slot. He missed quite a bit of time recovering from Tommy John surgery, but appears to have put it together in 2017. He split the year between St Lucie and Binghamton, registering a 3.44 ERA with 13 saves. Bashlor possesses a bulldog mentality and plus stuff including a mid-upper 90’s fastball and a slider. He struck out 84 in 49.2 innings which equates to a strike out per 9 innings of 15.2. In his final 13 games this season, Bashlor allowed 0 earned runs and struck out 23.

Bautista, 22, was acquired from the Red Sox in the Addison Reed trade from this past July. This might be the biggest arm in the Mets system, as he has reportedly hit as high as 101 miles per hour on his fastball. He still needs some work on his slider, but you cannot teach that arm he has. Bautista struggled with Boston this year, but in 10 games with St Lucie he posted a 1.26 ERA with 5 saves. He struck out 20 in 14.1 innings which equates to a 12.6 strike out per 9 innings.

Oswalt, 24, was a 7th-round pick in the 2012 draft out of Madison High School in California. He was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the year in 2017 when he posted 12 wins and a 2.28 earned run average for Binghamton. Oswalt does not possess big stuff, but he has a big body at 6’5 250 lbs and can touch 93-94 miles per hour on his fastball. Oswalt projects as a back end of rotation starter. With the Mets current rotation depth problems, Oswalt has a chance to help the big league team in 2018 if the need arises.

Two notable prospects the Mets chose not to add that have a chance to be selected in the Rule 5 draft are Right Handed Pitcher Adonis Uceta and knuckleballer Mickey Jannis. The Mets’ 40-man roster now stands at 39.