Mets Minor Leagues/Prospects Thread.

[NYman15]

"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.

[NYman15]

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/

[NYman15]

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.

[NYman15]

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.

[NYman15]

"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.

[NYman15]

During the 2010 season, I made the three-plus hour journey from my house in NW Georgia to Greeneville, Tennessee, home of the Greeneville Astros, the Appalachian league affiliate of the Houston Astros for the first time. On that evening, Greeneville was playing the Kingsport Mets, a team led by Mets prospect and Scouting the Sally staple Aderlin Rodriguez. It was a great evening at Pioneer Park, one of the best minor league baseball stadiums I have ever visited and I promised myself to make the trip again with the goal of catching some of the best and brightest of the Appalachian League.

Being primarily interested in Mets prospects and high-ceiling prospects on other teams, my goal was to catch two K-Mets game in hopes of seeing two of their three top pitching prospects while also catching Astros Bonus Baby Ariel Ovando. I thought I’d planned it perfectly this time: I’d see Mets pitching prospects Juan Urbina and Domingo Tapia pitch in consecutive starts but miss the other pitching prospect Akeel Morris. It didn’t work. At the end of my trip, I would miss Domingo Tapia; the K-mets had shuffled their rotation from what was listed on their site, and Ariel Ovando was MIA with an apparent injury. But I didn’t let that dampen my enthusiasm as I still had a chance to see Juan Urbina."

http://scoutingthesally.com/game-report ... an-urbina/

This is a very good read on Mets prospect Juan Urbina. He's still only a teenager and his numbers aren't great, but he's a lefty who can already throw in the low 90's with his fastball and already has a plus change up, but he still has to work on his breaking balls. He still has room to grow so it's possible we could see his fastball get even faster. He's probably not going to be in the majors for a while as he still has a long way to go in the minors, but don't be surprised if you start hearing his name more and more in the next few years.

[NYman15]

"I have been asked a lot of questions regarding Mets second-base prospect Reese Havens. I watched Havens during my trip to Binghamton in August, and came away impressed with his ability, but still have concerns about Havens’ ability to stay on the field."

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/what ... qus_thread

This is a good article on Mets 2nd base prospect Reese Havens. He goes over his future and potential. I'm a Havens fan and I think he's this teams future 2nd baseman. He has a ton of potential with the bat and he plays solid defense.

[NYman15]

"Juan Lagares, OF, Mets
Lagares quietly had a breakout season for the Mets in 2011, splitting time between High- and Double-A and hitting a combined .349/.383/.500. A 22-year-old Dominican who began his career as a shortstop, Lagares never found a defensive home in the infield, and his time chasing fly balls has only proved that he's stuck in a corner for the long term. What he can do is hit, but it doesn't come with much else; Lagares has below-average power and isn't a big fan of working the count. He's 11-for-28 in Arizona, and he'll need to keep hitting to improve his prospect stock. The hit tools trumps all, but there has to be at least something to go with it."

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... leid=15358

He doesn't seem too high on Lagares, but if he keeps hitting and makes the move to CF, I think he'll start making everyone a believer in him.

[NYman15]

"Mets pitching prospect Collin McHugh was kind enough to take some time out and answer a few questions for me for our MMO community. Collin is coming off a solid season that culminated with an impressive performance for Double-A Binghamton where he went 8-2 with a 2.89 ERA in 16 starts. The young right-hander is out in Arizona where he is presently playing for the Peoria Javelinas, along with seven other Mets farmhands, in the Arizona Fall League. Collin provided many fascinating thoughts and responses to my questions. Here’s how the interview went:"

http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/10/mm ... chugh.html

McHugh had a great year. He really came on the radar for Mets prospects. He doesn't have electric stuff, but he has good control and he still has a great curveball and he still has very good stuff, but not like a Wheeler or Harvey. But he's someone that you definitely want to watch next year.

[NYman15]

"According to Luis Avila of Los Leones de Caracas, Josh Satin has left the team and is coming back to the United States.

Satin was struggling badly for Los Leones, hitting just .146 with two home runs and three RBI. He hit a combined .323 with 12 home runs and 76 RBI between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Buffalo in 2011 and was named the Mets Minor League Player of the Year in 2011."

http://www.metsblog.com/2011/10/30/josh ... venezuela/

He was struggling down there so maybe he was hurt or having trouble adjusting to the lifestyle, or maybe he was just in a slump and he wanted to come back to the US. We don't know why, but he's headed back to the US.

[NYman15]

"In a post to Twitter, Keith Law of ESPN says he “keeps hearing” that Chad MacDonald, the Mets scouting director, could choose to leave the Mets for either the Angels or Padres.

The Mets hired MacDonald to replace Rudy Terrasas last December, and was an instrumental piece in the 2011 June Amateur Draft along with Paul DePodesta. He had previously served as the director of international scouting for the Diamondbacks from 2009-2010, and served as a scout with the Angels from 2003-2005."

http://www.metsblog.com/2011/11/01/chad ... san-diego/

Chad MacDonald has only been with the Mets for 1 year so I'm not sure how you can judge what his impact was on the organization. I like where the Mets are headed with their farm system and I'd like him to stay as he knows the farm system and I trust the front office and if they brought Chad in, it means he's good at what he does. I hope he doesn't leave, but if he does leave, I trust the front office to bring in someone who can take over for Chad.

[NYman15]

"Baseball America has announced its top 10 Mets prospects. The list:

1. Zack Wheeler, rhp
2. Matt Harvey, rhp
3. Brandon Nimmo, of
4. Jeurys Familia, rhp
5. Cesar Puello, of
6. Jenrry Mejia, rhp
7. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, of
8. Michael Fulmer, rhp
9. Reese Havens, 2b
10. Wilmer Flores, ss

As for other categories, the magazine named Juan Lagares as the best hitter for average, Zach Lutz as the best power hitter, Danny Muno as the best strike-zone discipline and Pedro Zapata as the fastest baserunner.

In pitching categories, Wheeler claims the best fastball and curveball, with Harvey the best slider and Darin Gorski the top changeup and best control."

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/p ... s-prospect

I pretty much agree with this. I was a little surprised they had Nimmo so high, but I understand why they did. I thought there was a chance Domingo Tapia could make the top 10, but he's still young and so if he keeps pitching as well as he has, more people will take notice. I also agree that Wheeler has the best fastball and curveball, although I could make the case that Tapia has the best fastball. Harvey has 2 breaking balls, but it sounds like his slider is better, both are good, but I think the slider has become his better breaking ball. Lastly, I agree that Gorski has the best change up and has the best control. I believe the farm system took a big step forward this year and that is huge. It helps make the future look even brighter.