The quintessential source for minor league baseball information is Baseball America. They are the keepers of the most respected ranking lists and are usually the gold standard for judging the relative strength of a farm system. They recently published a list of minor league players who were particularly hot and, wouldn’t you know it, two names from Port St. Lucie made an appearance.
#4, Dilson Herrera – Currently listed as 2B/SS as he’s splitting his time and attempting to shift back from second to shortstop. Herrera is having a very good year. He’s currently hitting .324/.361/.431 for Port St. Lucie where he’s stealing plenty of bases and proving to be a top contact hitter.
Herrera will not be hitting for an empty average, he’s got a good amount of power for his size. Being 5’10” and only 150 pounds makes his 3 home runs pretty impressive but we shouldn’t forget his 12 doubles or his triple either. If he can advance to the majors on his current course we’re looking at a Top 10 hitting shortstop or a Top 20 hitting second baseman. That’s plenty of reason to be excited.
#11, Brandon Nimmo – He leads the FSL in OBP (.472) and nearly leads in average (.344) and SLG (.489) as well. He’s getting on base at an extremely prodigious rate and he’s starting to show his power and speed off with 8 stolen bases and 4 home runs. It’s safe to say that Nimmo is now living up to the hype of 13th overall draft selection a couple of seasons ago.
He will be a favorite for the FSL All Star team and should be promoted to AA shortly after that game wraps up. There are big things in his future and we only have a few seasons to wait.
AAA:
Andrew Brown continues to mash – 4 doubles and 4 home runs in the last 10 games. His SLG is .692 in AAA.
Allan Dykstra a man of patience – Dykstra’s numbers stay strong overall but his 36 walks in 45 games are truly impressive.
Noah Syndergaard needs to up his pitch count – He’s averaging only 5.1 innings per outing and that won’t cut it.
AA:
Matt Reynolds still hitting well – His OPS over his last 10 games was 1.114 but that was supported by mostly batting average.
Kevin Plawecki is ready to hit – Here he comes! Plawecki’s 10 game OPS is 1.137 and he has 5 doubles and 3 home runs. Travis d’Arnaud who?
Darin Gorski is great, but why isn’t he in AAA? – Last night Gorski pitched 9.0 innings and gave up only 2 hits and a walk. He struck out 6 but I wonder why the Mets would promote Greg Peavey and not Gorski.
Chase Bradford might provide some bullpen help – He’s closing for Binghamton and doing it well. He’s not flashy, but he’s been effective.
Jack Leathersich ready now – Two outings since last week, 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB and 9 K’s. He’s looking crazy good again.
A+:
Let’s not forget T.J. Rivera – He’s too old for his level but he is hitting well in Port St. Lucie.
Cam Maron continues to heat up – His 10 game OPS rose as high as 1.044 and his triple slash on the year is a healthy .281/.382/.388.
Steven Matz is good even without power – He only K’d 3 in his last outing but he also only gave up 4 hits and 2 walks in 6.0 innings.
Michael Fulmer starting to look better – He pitched last on the 20th but that was a 7.0 inning outing with 5 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts.
Gabriel Ynoa slowly improving his line – Since May 5th, he’s been fine. Since May 12th he’s been good. He only has 35 strikeouts over his 49.2 IP but he’s improving his numbers slowly but surely.
Domingo Tapia is out of control – 2014 has been a very ugly year for Tapia.
A:
Dominic Smith not enjoying Savannah – He’s hitting .272 but has shown almost zero power.
L.J. Mazzilli heats up quickly – 2 doubles 1 triple and 3 home runs in his last 10 games. That is impressive.
John Gant has a stellar outing – 7.0 IP, 4 Hits, 2 Walks, 5 K’s and no runs. Gotta like that!
Miller Diaz looking great but needs more control – He’s keeping teams from scoring and striking batters out but 10 of his 16 walks are in his last 3 games.
Akeel Morris gives up a run – 26.0 IP and 1 ER surrendered… not bad. 41 strikeouts in that time (with only 12 walks) is even better.
I have questions. I understood Dominic Smith to be a high average, low power prospect anyway. Is that inaccurate? Is Leathersich likely to make a jump right to NY? I don’t know much about Gorski, but those numbers you keep posting don’t lie. Does Syndergaard being hurt help him make that jump to AAA?
Dominic Smith is not projected to be a 30+ HR first baseman, but he is supposed to be a 20+ HR hitter. He’s hit a couple doubles… really poor showing thus far.
Leathersich could make jump as the “last hurdle” was supposed to be his control. He would be in Las Vegas if they thought he’d learn anything there.
Darin Gorski hopped into the limelight a couple years ago with a very strong showing in Port St. Lucie. He’s scuffled each time he reaches AAA although I think there have been injuries involved. He’s got nothing to prove in AA.
He should be heavily overmatched, at 19, in a pitchers park. His OPS is .650ish, and sorting a tough league by BA, OBP and even OPS, he’s among the top 70 players in his league and even by OPS he’s in the 90.
And he’s .342/.390/.395 in his last 10 games.
If he finishes this season as one of the top 50 in BA and OBP, then he didn’t let the park/league impact his hitting approach and that’s a victory in and of itself.
As for Leathersich, no. He clearly showed last season he was not ready for AAA, which was demonstrated again this year in spring training where he was awful.
His problem has always been control, and while in the low minors, a guy with real strikeout stuff can get away with walking the park, you can’t up top.
He will have to spend considerable time in AAA before they think about bringing him up.
Frankly, my first thought when they sent him back to AA was that they may be showcasing him to be part of a trade down the line.
Others have answered about D Smith, but remember he is young for his league, and power develops.
Dominic Smith is 18!!! Competing in a Brutal Hitter’s Park.
I think it would be great if the Mets promote Nimmo after the All Star Game (although he was hurt tonight) and it would be great if they also promoted Plawecki to AAA. It should not end there though. The Mets have two middle infielders at Binghampton that should move up to AAA in Matt Reynolds with his .850 OPS and Tovar with his .754 OPS and good glove. In St Lucie there is Herrera and TJ Rivera as middle infielders that are also deserving of promotion. Then in Savannah there is Jeff McNeil, the best hitter on the team who also is a second baseman and deserving of a promotion. The Mets should take this opportunity to reward theses players and promote them at the minor league mid season break.
While it’s nice that Nimmo is finally showing something, I’d be much more convinced if it was two levels higher, where he really should be right now.
He’s too old for the league and needs to get on the escalator soon, and move quickly.