The first breath of baseball season has finally arrived. Teams are getting into the preseason swing and the Mets are due for their first game this Wednesday at Atlanta. The Mets roster for the most part is set in stone, with the only real battles the fifth outfield spot and the last man in the bullpen. Otherwise most everyone knows their spot except maybe Wilmer Flores who if all goes well will start Opening Day at shortstop. There are a few non-roster invitees the Mets brought to Florida this year, who should keep spring training a little interesting.
In the outfield, all eyes are going to be on top prospect Brandon Nimmo. Expecting to start this year in Triple-A, this could be Nimmo’s most important spring training. He needs to show the Mets front office and management that he has what it takes to hit of the major league pitchers. Spring training games are not great representations of how pitchers will pitch in regular season games, but it can give a brief glimpse of what it is like. Nimmo will also probably see a lot of time in the corner outfield spots when he does play. With Lagares’ golden glove manning center field, Nimmo got shifted this past season to left field after playing ever other game of his minor league career in center. The Mets other top outfield prospect, Michael Conforto, is not as skilled a defender as Nimmo is, so that would lead the Mets to have Nimmo spending time more time in right field and having him get comfortable there and not clash with Conforto in the future. The Mets have one more outfielder not on the roster in Alex Castellanos, who is more of an insurance policy providing some depth in the outfield if someone goes down. Castellanos can also play first, second, or third which may lead to some competition with Eric Campbell.
The infield has a few more options than the outfield does. After being drafted in the second round of 2012, Matt Reynolds did not put up great numbers that year or in 2013. During the offseason, Reynolds changed his swing up a little bit and starting hitting the cover off the ball. He managed .355 average in Binghamton and a .333 average in Vegas last year. If Tejada does not workout as a backup then Reynolds might be given a shot at it. He is the middle-man between Tejada and Flores, having a better glove than Flores and a better bat than Tejada. If he puts stats up near where they were in 2014, he could see some time in the majors. Another shortstop in spring training is former first round pick Gavin Cecchini. If Cecchini wants to stay relevant with the Mets he is going to need to breakout this year. Cecchini ended last year in Binghamton and will likely start the season there too. The Mets have highly touted shortstop prospect, Amed Rosario, who will probably be in St. Lucie by the end of the season and Binghamton if he performs really well. 2014 was his first full season and did hit remarkably better in terms of power and getting on base, but did not hit for a high average. He also committed 27 errors last season in 463 chances. If he shores up his defense then he could see a role on the Mets bench in the future. The other infielders are Daniel Muno and Brandon Allen. Muno is primarily a second baseman, but can move around the infield a little bit. With Dilson Herrera, the Mets future second baseman and David Wright entrenched at third base, it is unlikely Mets fans will see a lot of Muno in New York. The thing that he does do really well is get on base. He hit .249 and .259 in 2013 and 2014, respectively, but got on base at a rate of .384 and .372. That is something the Mets’ front office really likes, but will it be enough to see time in New York? Last season the Mets had Allen and Allan Dykstra split most of the time at first base in Vegas and ultimately decided to go with Allen and granted Dykstra free agency. With Lucas Duda, Michael Cuddyer, and probably John Mayberry Jr. ahead of him on the depth chart he probably will not be called up to the majors. Allen will see most of the time at first base and some left field, but Kevin Plawecki will see some time over at first base too.
After Travis d’Arnaud resurgence last year at the plate, it blocked Plawecki from being considered for the starting catchers position. Plawecki is still highly touted, and is being kept around in case of injury, but also because is a good player. Especially now that Duda has been taking it easy due to a strained intercostal muscle, he will see time at first base, if he forces a call up with his bat. It is not likely the Mets would have two catchers of their caliber on the roster and not playing almost everyday. The Mets signed Johnny Monell as insurance for Anthony Recker, who will be coming back for his third season as the Mets backup catcher. The Mets had Juan Centeno, but he was claimed off waivers by the Brewers. Also in camp is Xorge Carrillo, who is next in line after Plawecki. He was in Double-A for most of last season and depending on how the Mets want to split time in Vegas determines where Carrillo ends up.
Most eyes this spring training are going to be glued to Matt Harvey and Steven Matz and some of the other young Mets pitchers. A lot of people see that as the Mets future and they are, but between these guys and Herrera, the eyes should take a break for a minute from the pitchers and watch these guys. Muno or Reynolds may have an outside shot on making the team if third string emergency catcher, Campbell does not work out. Though if there is one thing to be sure of, it is that winter is over and baseball is back.
I don’t think Alderson would start the clock on a kid like Rosario just to have him rot away on the bench.
Just curious, but is Cesar Puello even in camp? don’t seem to read anything about this kid who is out of options.
There was a picture of Puello throwing a few days ago on the Newsday website. Puello is on the 40 man, but at this point I do not think he really has a spot unless he really wows people. After he tested postive in 2013 and put up bad numbers in 2014, a lot of people stop caring and focused on other prospects. MdD or Nieuwenhuis and Mayberry are the back up outfielders and Nimmo is on his way. Halfway through the season he will probably be put on waivers.
The final spot competition is likely between Soup and Puello, with Castellanos as the dark horse. They wont likely carry both MDD and Kirk, so the final spot goes to a RH hitter off the bench. While Soup can play several positions, including the IF, he is so far down on the depth chart everywhere that his versatility is not the advantage you would think, so Puello still has an outside shot at making it for at least April.
I am more skeptical of Reynolds than others. Sure, he had a big bounce back year offensively last year after two really bad ones, but even last year was very heavy on the singles. Then of course, there is his .959 fielding % at SS over the past three years. He needs to not only repeat the average of last year, but add some XB hits and also improve his fielding or he may not even make it as a utility guy. He has a lot of improvements to make to even think about being considered as a starting SS in the bigs. Don’t want to be pessimistic, but I don’t think this guy will ever amount to anything of importance
I don’t think that Puello is in the running for for the last bench spot. He had his breakout year, but was suspended and then came back and did not perform well. Campbell last year did not play all that well when starting, but he did hit very well off the bench with a .286/.421/.393 slash line. He can also play every position under the sun. He played at least a little bit at every infield position and both corner outfield positions and this past offseason he has been working on catcher. Puello is just an outfielder, albeit a pretty good arm. The Mets have good defensive outfielders in MdD, Mayberry, and Nieuwenhuis and do not need to have Puello. The Mets are more thin at the other positions and it can be very useful to have someone as that emergency third string catcher if needed.
Reynolds if he comes out hot again like he did last year then he will be looked at even closer and maybe given a shot. He might not be important, but if he can prove that he deserves a shot then he should get it.
I am with you on that, Joe F. From what I’ve read, he’s not a great glove. To me, that should matter. A lot.
Would we want a CF with little range? No, we’d move the guy to a corner if the bat was real. Same with SS. The Mets seem to keep coming up with these tweeners, to borrow a basketball term: the undersized power forward, the short shooting guard, the slow point guard.
Offensively, he’s done it for one year. The problem with Vegas is that it’s awfully hard to tell if the bat is real just by looking at the numbers.
I’m not optimistic. But I’d be happy to have him change my mind.
Looking forward to seeing Nimmo throughout the spring. I know he’s known for getting on base, but it seems that Kevin Long has gotten power into his swing, so I look forward to that. We probably are another season away from seeing Nimmo’s skills in the majors, and I think he’s going to be an impact player when he gets called up.