It started two years ago.
In the middle of the 2005 season, Lastings Milledge came up to Binghamton hyped as the Next Big Thing, the savior of what was then a struggling Mets farm system.
It continued last season with Carlos Gomez, the then-20-year-old fleet-footed phenom who began to emerge as the next Next Big Thing.
This year the B-Mets will have a third can't-miss outfield prospect in their lineup in as many years when they open the season at 7:05 tonight at Akron. Fernando Martinez, all of 18 years old, makes the jump from Single-A St. Lucie to the Eastern League.
With Milledge on the big-league roster and Gomez in Triple-A, Martinez now has the Double-A stage to develop.
Call him the next next Next Big Thing.
"I'm excited about not just the top-level guys, but we have some young kids, Gomez and Martinez and those kids coming up in the system," New York manager Willie Randolph told reporters at the 2006 Winter Meetings in Florida. "I'm probably more excited about that, because they have great speed, and they're young and enthusiastic, which plays into what we're trying to do here."
The three outfield prospects are emblematic of the growth of the Mets' farm system in the past few years. The growth will benefit this year's B-Mets.
Pitching-wise, the B-Mets have Kevin Mulvey, the Mets' top pick in the 2006 draft who follows in the footsteps of other top picks Philip Humber (2004) and Mike Pelfrey (2005) in Binghamton. Also back on the mound is Michael Devaney, who has quietly become one of the organization's most productive pitchers.
Add to that the hard-hitting duo of Mike Carp and Brett Harper and slick-fielding shortstop Jose Coronado, and the B-Mets have one of their youngest and most promising lineups of the past few years.
"We have nice kids coming up, and it's a matter of how fast they can take over," Randolph said.
First-year B-Mets manager Mako Oliveras knows the hype is inescapable.
He wants to be careful with Martinez. He's seen plenty of talented young players get ruined by too much attention too soon.
But he knows why his center fielder is drawing so much attention.
"When you see somebody like him, you'll see why people talk a lot about him," Oliveras said.
Martinez is the No. 2 prospect in the Mets' organization according to Baseball America's preseason rankings. Only Pelfrey, who will be New York's fifth starter this season and stretches the definition of the term prospect, is ranked ahead of Martinez.
Martinez hit .279 with 10 home runs and 39 RBI in Single-A last season. He's considered one of the most balanced, all-around players in the Mets organization, a classic five-tool player who can run, throw, field, hit for average and hit for power.
"What I see in him is a high ceiling," Oliveras said.
Martinez cuts a low-key presence in the B-Mets clubhouse. On Wednesday, as his teammates bustled around him getting ready for the season-opening road trip, he sat in front of his locker and quietly packed his bag.
Martinez said he wasn't surprised to jump directly to Double-A after playing just 30 games at high-A St. Lucie last season.
"My teammates and coaches just tell me to work as hard as I can every day," Martinez said, adding that as long as he does that, the rest will take care of itself.
Martinez follows in the footsteps of both Milledge and Gomez. Milledge played 48 games with the B-Mets in 2005 and hit .337. Gomez spent all of last season here and hit .281 with 41 stolen bases.
The emergence of Milledge, Gomez and Martinez from within the organization give the Mets depth. All three probably won't start in the big leagues together anytime soon (not with Carlos Beltran and his long-term contract in center field). But Milledge is already in the big leagues, and Gomez will likely be there by next season.
Martinez's time is coming. The advantage of depth is that all three have time to develop into their games rather than being rushed to the big leagues.
That means more attention and hype every year as they work their way through the system.
"He seems like he has a good heads on his shoulders," Oliveras said. "His maturity stands out."
