Mets Minors: Building from the bottom up – Aderlin Rodriguez

Aderlin Rodriguez:  Stats is a vacuum are misleading.  At 20 years of age, hitting 24 HRs in 471 ABs between FSA (Full Season A) and A+ doesn’t sound that impressive.  When you consider that 16 of those HRs came when playing for Savannah (who plays in a power sapping ballpark) or that he isn’t as free a swinger as Matthew Den Dekker… he starts sounding a little better.  Don’t get me wrong.  He’s got plenty of flaws.  He’ll never be close to a .300 hitter and he’s yet to find a position in the field that he’s “good” at.  There is still plenty to like enough to get him this 16^th in the system ranking.

Scouting: At 6’3” and 210 he’s big but not the incredible Hulk.  His reasonable size probably leads to the Met insistence on trying to keep him at 3^rd instead of first.

Fielding: Reviews are generally bad.  He’s slow.  Slower than Wilmer Flores (think Robin Ventura) and he makes plenty of errors (12 in 37 games at 3^rd in A+).  My bet is that the transition to 1^st base happens more quickly this season as the Mets find themselves with some options at 3^rd.

The Bat: The bat is real and should carry him as far as AAA without issue.  It will be the glove that holds him back.

ETA: Starting back in Port St. Lucie is the way I’d go.  You could argue for a promotion to AA but at 21 I see no rush.  Let him start in A+ and earn that AA promotion mid-year.  He’s at least 2 seasons from making the team and frankly with Davis and Wright around I see him being trade bait for 2014/15.  Perhaps he’ll be part of the package that gets the Mets Giancarlo Stanton? (A guy can dream, right?)

Mets Top 20 Prospects:

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16. Aderlin Rodriguez, 3B (A+) [2016 1B or DH]
17. Jack Leathersich, LHP (AA) [2014 Bullpen… 2015 Closer?]
18. Cory Vaughn, OF (AA) [AAAA]
19. Jacob deGrom, RHP (AA) [2014 Bullpen]
20. Steven Matz, LHP (Full Season A) [2016 Bullpen]