The St. Lucie Mets recently announced their 2015 roster, and it is chock-full of exciting prospects. First-rounders outfielder Michael Conforto (2014) and first baseman Dominic Smith (2013) headline a group a position prospects that also includes budding prospect darling shortstop Amed Rosario and third baseman Jhoan Urena, who is gaining some recognition as well. Outfielders Champ Stuart – who has the hearts and minds of many Mets prospect watchers – and 2015 breakout candidate Victor Cruzado round out this great crop of position players. Not to be outdone, the pitching staff features top prospect Marcos Molina, a right-handed pitcher, as well as highly regarded rightys Akeel Morris, Rob Whalen, and Robert Gsellman.
The quality of these prospects demonstrates just how strong the Mets farm is, but another thing pops out when you look at some of the players on this Hi-A roster. Molina, Conforto, Rosario, and Urena all spent 2014 on the short-season Class-A Brooklyn Cyclones. That means that all three bypassed the team’s Low-A affiliate in Savannah. Although the team technically “skipped” Conforto to Hi-A, it’s not a complete shock to see a polished college hitter skip a stop. The bigger surprises are the other three young players pushed in a manner that seems pretty aggressive for a front office that has been (somewhat) notorious in how they handled top prospects like Smith, outfielder Brandon Nimmo, and shortstop Gavin Cecchini. All three of those first-round selections were high school players that the team has moved slowly through their system.
Speaking of Savannah, the Sand Gnats have also announced their 2015 roster and it too has some interesting names. Of particular note for this discussion are outfielders Wuilmer Becerra and Vicente Lupo. Becerra was the “non-elite prospect” in the R.A. Dickey trade that also netted the Mets top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard and catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Lupo was an enigma early in his career, completely demolishing the Dominican Summer League before making his debut stateside in 2013. Both of these players spent last season on the Mets’ team in Kingsport, the organization’s Appalachian League team that is a level below Brooklyn in rookie ball. These two skipped right over Brooklyn and onto a full-season roster. On the surface this might not seem like a huge jump, but remember that short-eason Class-A teams are where organizations tend to send most of their newly drafted players and more highly-developed youngsters. The difference in quality of competition between these two levels is actually fairly significant.
Again, this is mostly of note because under General Manager Sandy Alderson the team has been viewed as typically conservative with how it chooses to push prospects through the system. This has often been contrasted to the prior Omar Minaya regime, which was widely viewed as too aggressive. This has certainly been the case with the aforementioned Smith, Nimmo, and Cecchini, all high school players picked in the first round of the draft, but the conservatism doesn’t appear to apply across all players equally.
Outside of Rafael Montero, this is the most aggressive the team has been in pushing top prospects in years. Is it that the team is pulling back on their conservativeness as a whole?
That could be the case, at least a little bit. What’s more likely is that the team has been selectively aggressive on prospects it feels merit it while being conservative on those that need more time.
For instance, although Cecchini was viewed as polished for a high schooler, he, Smith and Nimmo were clearly going to be projects. They proved that to varying degrees with their performances and the Mets responded in kind. Molina and Rosario on the other hand, have proven they can handle themselves quite well against older and more experienced competition and were rewarded with aggressive assignments for which the Mets clearly feel they are ready.
For Alderson and his front office this may ease criticisms about being too conservative with the team’s top prospects. The goal is a steady supply of talent supplementing the major league roster on a somewhat regular basis. The key to that is proper management of the team’s farm without a one-size-fits-all development plan. If nothing else, it seems as though the team has clear development plans that are (mostly) individualized. For Mets fans this means if things go smoothly, more top talent getting to the big leagues at more regular intervals.
They weren’t conservative with Smith. They sent him to Savannah as an 18 year old. He skipped Brooklyn!! They pushed him hard and that’s why people over react when it came to his stats last year. He starts this year as a 19 year old in St. Lucie.
Great catch! They did, in fact, jump Smith from Kingsport/Appy to Savannah. He was on the younger side of high school draftees, too. In fact, I believe that he was still 17 when the team actually drafted him. Point taken. Perhaps they were actually a bit too aggressive with him.
like or hate how they have handled Free Agency, trades, the manager and any number of things that we all argue about and criticize to varying degrees the front office has really rebuilt our minor league system in terms of talented player and instructors. I think they have set up a system that can feed the team for the long term.
Sandy inherited a ton of talented players. Harvey, deGrom, Matz, Familia, Mejia, Gee, Neise, Parnell, Duda, Murphy, Wright, Lagares, etc.
The idea that he inherited a barren system is baloney.
That said, I think SA has done a good job with the farm — but under much easier circumstances than Omar Minaya, who was trying to win, signing free agents, etc.
Ok, but how many years have been sacrificed? I get building the system and it looks good.. But take a look at the Mets bench to start the season.. it is triple A all over again
I disagree I would have carried Campbell rather than buddy but other then that it’s one player short it is a good bench I think Kirk and Meberry are quality bench players I like campbell in that role and hope he will be back soon. Recker is a very good backup catcher and Monell provides organizational depth at the back up back stop. I won’t say the same for Tejada him, assuming I did not non tender in the off season, I would have cut or traded and let muno do it but he is a younger player maybe they want him to play more in vegas but with Reynold and the almost ready 2nd basemen there I don’t know how he will play more there.
St. Lucie’s roster is exciting. I’m actually looking forward to keeping track of that team. A championship run? Could be.
Most underrated player Luis Guillorme. Don’t forget that name!!!
I remember his name from the Projection Series. Looks very capable, but he needs pop.
Rob, you’re right in that this is out of the norm for them, but they are also starting to get more and more good players available to Rule 5 drafts, so you better push some of the good ones a little or you may even lose them in the minor league phase of the draft. Push the kids a bit, and get rid of your Colons, Tejadas, and Campbells and any other mediocre talent in your 40 that may block another kid.
They have no reason to rush anyone. High-priced veterans are taking up residence in the outfield and on the rotation. If and when one of them is hurt or traded, I have faith that the most-capable of the prospects will be selected, with a long track record of stats to learn from. This team is in pretty good shape moving forward.