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Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread.

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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#61 » by NYman15 » Fri Oct 7, 2011 3:45 pm

Here's metsminorleagueblog.com list of Mets catching prospects.

1. Albert Cordero
2. Juan Centeno
3. Blake Forsythe
4. Cam Maron
5. Nelfi Zapata
6. Francisco Pena
7. Kai Gronauer
8. Xorge Carillo

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/roug ... s-ranking/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#62 » by NYman15 » Fri Oct 7, 2011 9:19 pm

Here is MLB.com Jonathan Mayo's top 10 Mets prospect list.
1. Zack Wheeler
2. Matt Harvey
3. Jeurys Familia
4. Wilmer Flores
5. Kirk Nieuwenhuis
6. Cory Vaughn
7. Cesar Puello
8. Jordany Valdespin
9. Reese Havens
10. Jefry Marte

"Especially when you're traded one-for-one for an All-Star and into a market like New York, that's an awful lot of attention," Mets vice president of player development and amateur scouting Paul DePodesta said. "A camera crew went to film his first bullpen. Given that attention and the switching of organizations, I thought he did a tremendous job. He showed all the stuff that made him a top pick. He was up to 99 mph, showed a curve and slider and did a good job throwing strikes. We were very, very pleased."

So is Wheeler when he thinks about what lies ahead in his new organization. As bittersweet as it might be to be dealt by the team that drafted you, knowing a team thought enough of him to get him straight up for Beltran was a definite boost to the ego.

"I got traded for Carlos Beltran just one-for-one," Wheeler said. "The Mets had a lot of offers out there, but they wanted me. That makes me want it even more, that they wanted me that bad. I want to help out."

It looks like he'll be able to do that with a larger arsenal than people realize. DePodesta mentioned being impressed with Wheeler's two breaking balls. That's a relatively new development for the right-hander, who admitted he hadn't been able to ever throw a curve for a strike until recently. Now Wheeler has four pitches -- he's got a changeup as well -- to choose from, and as long as he continues to refine his command, this could end up looking like a very good trade for the Mets.

"A lot of people haven't seen my curve and slider," Wheeler said. "They still think I have the old slurve. I'm working with [the curve], trying to figure out when to throw it. I'm just fine-tuning everything, trying to make better pitches in certain counts. I feel good about the coming year."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... Id=rss_nym

There's even more on Zack Wheeler and the rest of the Mets prospects.
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#63 » by NYman15 » Sat Oct 8, 2011 3:30 pm

This is a list with grades of some of the Mets top prospects.

He gave Krik Nieuwenhuis a low grade which I disagree with. Kirk was playing fantastic before he got hurt. I didn't agree with a few other grades as well.

http://topprospectalert.com/2011/10/08/ ... port-card/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#64 » by NYman15 » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:18 pm

This is from metsblog.com and it just reviews MLB.com Jonathan Mayo's list of the top 10 Mets prospects with Zach Wheeler topping the list. It'll show you some of Zack's numbers.

http://www.metsblog.com/2011/10/10/mayo ... anization/

And here's another article from metsminorleagueblog.com on the same list and the writer Toby Hyde gives some of his thoughts on the list.

"A few thoughts about the list:

Kudos to Mayo for ranking Jordany Valdespin in the Top 10 coming into the season. I don’t think anyone else was nearly as high on him.
I’ve got Harvey #1 and Wheeler #2, but we’re splitting hairs on that.
Mayo is consistent. He had Wilmer Flores as the top position prospect entering the season (as I did), and he stays with it. I will not.
He moved Cory Vaughn up one spot from #7 to #6. Vaughn, while battling a heel problem slumped to .219/.308/.395 in the second half in 63 games in St. Lucie after hitting .286/.405/.408 in 68 games with Savannah to start the season. Vaughn did pop 13 homers, including nine in the second half, and some of his .219 average in St. Lucie can be explained by his .250 BABIP, but this is a bold ranking for me"

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/mlb- ... -prospect/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#65 » by NYman15 » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:24 pm

Here's an article from metsminorleagueblog.com and the writer Toby Hyde answers a couple of questions about Steven Matz and Matt Den Dekker.

"You know what happened to pitcher Steve Matz? I know he missed the 2010 season due to TJS, and that he was scheduled to pitch this summer in SS or rookie ball. I can’t find any stats on him though, did he miss the 2011 season as well?"

"Yup, Steven Matz, who had Tommy John Surgery in May of 2010, was scheduled to return during the 2011 season, but had a setback, including elbow soreness, and did not pitch in competitive games in 2011. The full recovery time for Tommy John surgery is 12-18 months, and my unscientific observation is that younger pitchers seems to take on the longer side of that period with more side effects in their recovery."

"I’m really anxious to read your take on Den Dekker. How close is he to displacing Angel Pagan?"

"Not terribly close. Den Dekker is a very nice defensive centerfielder who showed surprising power in 2011. However, he’s not a candidate for Flushing until he can show that he can make enough contact at the higher levels. After pounding Florida State League pitching by hitting .296/.362/.494 with an 11% extra-base hit rate in 82 games, the Mets promoted den Dekker to the AA Eastern League where he hit just .235/.312/.426 with 11 home runs in 72 games."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/mond ... qus_thread
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#66 » by NYman15 » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:30 pm

Fernando Martinez turns 23 years old today and this article goes over F-mart's career and his future moving forward.

"Once dubbed the “teenage hitting machine,” Martinez is no longer a teenager nor has he hit that much recently.

In three seasons in AAA, he’s hit .265/.326/.465 in 656 aB over 179 games. There’s some power there – 43 doubles, 28 homers and a .200 isolated slugging percentage. However, he’s also ran a K/BB a little over three 353/116."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/fern ... qus_thread
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#67 » by NYman15 » Wed Oct 12, 2011 10:51 pm

Here Toby Hyde from metsminorleagueblog.com goes over the Mets 1st baseman prospects. There are no top prospects in the Mets farm system who are 1st baseman, However, there are a few players like Aderlin Rodriguez who plays 3rd base, but might have to move to 1st base in the future and he's only 19, but he has tremendous raw power.
http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/seas ... season-1b/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#68 » by NYman15 » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:38 pm

Here's another article from Toby Hyde of metsminorleagueblog.com where he goes over the Mets 1st baseman prospects in the short season leagues. The main guy to watch is Cole Frenzel who is a draft pick from this years past draft. You'll probably see him in Savannah as Toby points out.

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/seas ... t-basemen/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#69 » by NYman15 » Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:25 pm

This is a good article on Mets prospect Jefry Marte who is playing in the Arizona Fall League right now.

"Mets 20-year-old 3B prospect Jefry Marte broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run home run this weekend in the Arizona Fall League.

Last week, MiLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo ranked Marte as the team’s No. 10 prospect.

“He makes consistent contact and doesn’t hurt himself by chasing, but he hasn’t shown much power to date,” Mayo said in his write up. “He’s also struggled a bit defensively at third, so his defensive home is still up in the air.”

Marte hit .248 with 41 extra base hits in 483 at bats in Single-A St. Lucie last season.

“He’s a young kid with a lot of potential with pretty good strength and good bat speed,” his AFL hitting coach, Alonzo Powell, told MLB.com. “I see a kid that has got really good bat speed and gap-to-gap power. He just needs to be more confident.”

http://www.metsblog.com/2011/10/17/mart ... gap-power/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#70 » by NYman15 » Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:35 pm

This is a cool article that goes over how age plays a part in valuing draft picks and the difference between what age a high schooler is when he comes out drafted and overall the younger the player is when he's drafted, the better chance he has at becoming a better player compared to another player who might be a year older.

"The most interesting thing I’ve read recently about the draft came from Rany Jazayerli at Baseball Prospectus in which he found that “at least as recently as 2003, the baseball industry as a whole massively underrated the importance of age in drafting high school hitters and massively undervalued high school hitters who still needed their parents’ permission to sign their contract.”

It so happens that the Mets recently drafted a young high school hitter: Brandon Nimmo, with the 13th pick in the June 2011 draft.

Nimmo, born March 27, 1993, was the second-youngest position player drafted in the first round behind only Francisco Lindor. Lindor, drafted eighth overall by the Indians, and born on November 14, 1993, was 17 and a half years old (or precisely, 17.55) when he was selected. Lindor was also the youngest player drafted among the first 500 in 2011.

Nimmo was the seventh-youngest of the 28 high school position players drafted in the first 100 picks".

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/age- ... qus_thread
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#71 » by NYman15 » Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:40 pm

"I wrote about Brandon Nimmo earlier today through the lens of age, but what about the Mets’ other high school hitters from the 2011 draft class?

At this point I want to issue a note of caution: Rany Jayazerli’s study at Baseball Prospectus which found a large return on young high school hitters, and prompted this series of posts, covered only the first 100 picks in the draft. In expanding the list beyond that, we’re beyond the reach of Rany’s study.

Anyway, Major League teams selected 101 high school position players in the first 500 picks of the June 2011 draft. The Mets drafted four.



Name – Round – Rank – Age as of June 1, 2011
Brandon Nimmo – 1st- 28 – 18.18
Bradley Marquez – 16th – 50 – 18.46
Joe Tuschak – 6th – 76 – 18.62
Philip Evans – 15th 92 – 18.72

Rank refers to where the player stands among the 101 high school position players drafted in 2011.

The average age for this sample of 101 hs hitters from the first 500 picks, is 18.39 essentially identical to the age for HS position players drafted in the top 100 (18.41).

Phillip Evans’ age is an interesting red flag. The Mets paid him supplemental first round money to sign ($650,000) and Mike certainly liked his tools, but had he been among the top 100 picks, he would have been the sixth-oldest high school hitter, the worst performing group in Jazayerli’s study.

What’s it mean? A little something. Evans is years away, but now apparently, in addition to all of the usual battles young players face to get to the big leagues, he’s fighting an uphill battle against draft history."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/more ... lip-evans/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#72 » by NYman15 » Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:46 pm

This is a good read on 2 of the Mets top hitting prospects Jefry Marte and Juan Lagares who are both playing in the Arizona Fall League.

"Peoria hitting coach, Alonzo Powell (a former big league outfielder) had some good things to say about Marte and Lagares: (via MLB.com)

Powell on Marte:

He’s a young kid with a lot of potential with pretty good strength and good bat speed. He got a 1-0 fastball up in the zone and he put a good swing on it to left-center field. I see a kid that has got really good bat speed and gap-to-gap power. He just needs to be more confident.

In 8 games for Peoria Marte is hitting .259/.364/.407, HR, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 6 K (27 AB).

Powell on Lagares:

Juan came through with two strikes. He got a fastball up in the zone, too, and hit it into the bullpen. He is a five-tool type of player and he plays a real good center field. He has a lot of potential. We make sure we try to get him in there on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He’s done a good job and he’s been working hard."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/jefr ... n-the-afl/

Both players are guys to watch next year. Lagares is probably closer to making it to the majors than Marte, but both are young and have a lot of potential.
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#73 » by NYman15 » Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:52 pm

"As part of an 8-7 loss in Surprise Monday, Jefry Marte homered for the second straight game. The 20-year old is now hitting a clean .300/.405/.533 in nine games.

The big news, and I missed this last week, is that Marte’s started playing first basebase. Marte had committed 121 errors in 361 games at third in the minor leagues, but was better in 2011 with just 28 in 131 games. The odd thing was that I thought he’d improved defensively this year. I saw him for only one game, but he made a slick spinning play after a short-hop pick that was at least as good, and probably better, than any I’d seen from him in 2010."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/mart ... qus_thread
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#74 » by NYman15 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:22 am

"The Mets announced they have accepted RHP Elvin Ramriez back from the Nationals.

Ramirez, the Nationals Rule 5 pick in 2010, underwent right shoulder surgery at the end of March, and missed the entire season.

Ramirez went 4-4 with a 4.16 ERA (37 earned runs/80.0 innings) with 72 strikeouts in 52 games combined between St. Lucie (A) of the Florida State League and Binghamton (AA) of the Eastern League in 2010."

http://www.metsblog.com/2011/10/18/mets ... nationals/

Great news. Hopefully he gets healthy soon. He can throw 100mph. So, he's got a great arm and you can never have enough guys that can throw triple digits.
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#75 » by NYman15 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:38 pm

"The Nationals selected Ramirez with the sixth pick in the Major League phase of the Rule Five draft last December coming off an impressive run for Ramirez in the Dominican Winter League that was a dramatic step forward for him as I discussed here. He was reportedly throwing in the upper 90s with stats to match.

The Mets will pay the Nationals $25,000 for the right to reclaim Ramirez.

Ramirez missed the entire 2011 season after shoulder surgery. Thus, as Adam Kilgore in the Washington Post explains:

since he spent the entire year on the disabled list the Nationals would have had to keep Ramirez on their 25-man roster all of next season in order to keep him in the organization.



The odds are against Ramirez ever amounting to anything, but when he’s right, he throws really hard, so its nice to seem him return to the Mets organization."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/elvi ... met-again/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#76 » by NYman15 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:56 pm

"Our season review shifts to second base, the most interesting of the three positions we’ve covered so far.

At the big league level, Mets’ keystoners put together a .663 OPS, 20th-best in all of Major League baseball. However, that number is dragged down by 39 plate appearances from Brad Emaus (.147/.256/.147 – .403 OPS) and 35 PA from Willie Harris (.619 OPS). The Mets of course began the season with Emaus playing nearly every day, but after that brief experiment turned sour, went with the sweeter flavors of Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada and Justin Turner. If one includes only the contributions of Murphy, Tejada and Turner, the Mets’ secondbase OPS rises to .688, which would have been good enough for 15th in baseball.

Second base does not appear to be an area of immediate need with some depth, and offensive and defensive minded options already lined up for 2012. If the Mets re-sign Jose Reyes, and if Daniel Murphy is healthy, those three players will again compete for reps with Murphy offering the most offense and Tejada the best defense.

On to the minors, where second basemen are usually made, not born…"

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/seas ... er-minors/

This article just continues there review of the Mets minor league system and this part is about 2nd base and mainly talks about Jordany Valdespin and Reese Havens and their futures.
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#77 » by NYman15 » Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:17 am

This article continues to look at the 2nd base prospects in the Mets minor league system.

"A+

Your leader in games played at second for St. Lucie in 2011 was non-drafted free agent Rylan Sandoval who hit .224/.292/.351 while turning 24 in August. He’s a nice guy to have in the organization.

Robbie Shields played 17 games for St. Lucie at second after he was promoted from Savannah immediately after the Gnats clinched the first half title in June. However, his season was cut short by persistent back problems. Shields, a college shortstop began the transition to second in Savannah, where he played nine games at the position. He seemed to handle the move with relative ease, but noted the change in footwork around the bag. He showed much improved plate discipline over the 2010 season which helped produce a .274/.354/.425 line in Savannah and a .269/.338/.388 line in 20 games in St. Lucie. Shields, the Mets’ 3rd round pick in 2009, will turn 24 in December, so time is becoming scarce. Put another way, he’s a year younger than Havens, but the same age as Jordany Valdespin.

A

During the first half, when Shields was playing shortstop, Wilfredo Tovar, who turned 20 during the season, played second base. We’ll talk about Tovar, who’s now out in the Arizona Fall League, more when we get to shortstops.

After Shields departed for advanced-A, Tovar flipped across the diamond from second to short, and freed up the second-base position for Luis Nieves. Nieves, who will be 23 in December, hit .238/.312/.297. That’s pretty much all you need."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/seco ... ew-a-ball/
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#78 » by NYman15 » Sat Oct 22, 2011 3:11 pm

And now this article looks at the short season 2nd baseman prospects.

"Brooklyn
Brandon Brown, who turned 24(!) in 2011 led the Cyclones with 28 games played at second while hitting .303/.361/.465. He’s 24, folks.
Ismael Tijerina, who turned 22 in August, split time between short (24 games) and second (23 games) while hitting .223/.307/.268.
Of course, the Cyclones’ biggest star in 2011 was shortstop Danny Muno (.355/.466/.514), but since he didn’t play a single game at second, we’ll save him for the shortstop discussion.

Kingsport
Yucarybert De La Cruz who turns 21 on Sunday, led the K-Mets with 27 games at second, but actually spent more time at shortstop (29 games) and saw action at third (2 games) and first (1 game). The 6’0″ 160 lber hit .251/.293/.335.



GCL

22-year old Jorge Rivero led the GCL Mets with 24 games at second while hitting .232/.324/.295."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/seas ... cond-base/

Not a whole lot of top prospects here. A lot of major league 2nd basemen end up being shortstops who were converted in the minors to 2nd baseman. So, a guy like Danny Muno who played SS last year has a good chance at eventually being converted to a 2nd baseman.
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#79 » by NYman15 » Sat Oct 22, 2011 3:22 pm

So, here's the same websites rankings of all the Mets 2nd baseman prospects.

"So lets rank Mets minor league second basemen!

Excluding the big league guys, here’s what we’re left with on the farm in order of overall prospect status at second:

Reese Havens
Jordany Valdespin
Wilfredo Tovar
Josh Satin
Robbie Shields"

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/seas ... anking-2b/

I agree with the rankings. I still think Reese Havens is this organizations future 2ne baseman. He still has the most potential in my opinion. He is solid defensively and has the potential to be an above average offensive 2nd baseman.

I'm very interested in Valdespin as well. He's very talented and very raw. He finally started to tap into his potential lat year and I'm very excited to see how he does next year.
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Re: Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread. 

Post#80 » by NYman15 » Sat Oct 22, 2011 8:06 pm

"In the Venezuelan Winter League, Josh Satin is hitting .217 with one home run and two RBI in 23 at bats so far for Caracas, which is managed by Tim Teufel.

In a post to Twitter, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York says Satin has been serving as the team’s designated hitter and has seen time in the outfield so far this winter."

http://www.metsblog.com/2011/10/22/josh ... venezuela/

Satin was the Mets mets minor league player of the year and was up with the team for the last few weeks of the year. He doesn't really have a defensive position, but he's hit at every level he's been to. I expect he'll be a candidate to make the bench coming out of spring training. Learning to play in the outfield would definitely help his flexibility to play a variety of positions.

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