Welcome to the fifth edition of our look at the top 50 prospects in the Mets system. If you missed any of the previous installments, you can see them here: 50-48, 47-45, 44-42, 41-39.
38 – John Gant
Drafted out of high school in the 21st round of 2011 draft, Gant is the first of several pitchers on the Top 50 list that made names for themselves in the Mets prospect world as a dominating Brooklyn Cyclones rotation in 2013. Gant ranks here as he is your classic soft tossing righty and doesn’t have the stuff upside of some of his compatriots in the Mets farm system. With a fastball that sits in the high 80’s and low 90’s, Gant relies on a plus changeup that sits in the high 70’s and a curveball that isn’t refined yet but has the chance to be an average third pitch. With such fringe stuff, Gant has to utilize other things as a pitcher to maximize his effectiveness. His control is only average as over the course of his minor league career he’s walked about 3.1 batters per nine innings, which has remained pretty consistent since his debut in 2011. What Gant does use is a funky delivery and an advanced ability to hide the ball. He also has consistent mechanics, solid size and nice arm action on his pitches. He has also shown progress in using his height to get a little more out of his pitches, so there’s some hope that he might eek a few more miles per hour out of his fastball.
What he does do well lead to Gant having his best season overall in pro ball in 2014. As a part of the Savannah rotation, Gant pitched to a 2.56 ERA and a 1.195 WHIP. His SO/9 dropped from 10.2 to 8.3, but considering that he doesn’t have the stuff of a big strikeout pitcher, that’s still pretty solid.
Gant will pitch in Binghamton in 2015, which will dictate what kind of a prospect he can be. He has shown solid progress in working on his delivery and his secondary pitches, so hopefully that work ethic will lead him to success in Double-A. If so, Gant has an upside of Dillon Gee, which is pretty solid. In another organization, he would be higher on this list, but with so much pitching in the system, it’s hard to rank him much higher.
37 – Wilfredo Tovar
Tovar feels like he’s been in the Mets system forever, and he kind of has. Tovar was signed as a 15 year old in 2007 and debuted as a 16 year old in the foreign rookie league in 2008. Seven years later, Tovar is a member of the 40 man roster and has seen two short stints in the big leagues while not playing above Triple-A. That might seem problematic for a prospect, but in Tovar’s case it’s really just the result of what has become a very deep system in the middle infield, with other players possessing greater offensive skills being moved past him.
Tovar isn’t totally lacking offensively, but he is limited. Tovar is very difficult to strike out, but doesn’t use that approach to draw walks, which could make him more valuable as an offensive player. Any value he could add offensively would be a plus as he’s basically a slap hitter with no power and only average speed. He boasts a career 77 ISO, which equates to little extra base ability. He has shown some progress with getting on base, boasting a .345 OBP over 78 games at Binghamton in 2014, which is above his career OBP of .324, but this was mostly because he hit .282 at that level, over 20 points above his career mark of .260.
In the end, what keeps Tovar on this list and on the Mets 40 man roster is his glove, which is still arguably the best in the system as a middle infielder. Tovar has terrific instincts and solid arm strength, making him a plus shortstop. He’s also proven to be a plus second baseman, adding to his value. Depending on what the Mets do with Ruben Tejada, Tovar has a chance to make the big league club as a utility infielder. The truth is that Tovar’s upside is very limited, but his glove will get him to a big league bench one day, with the low end possibility that he could start as a shortstop for a struggling organization. He makes this list though as the top glove man in the system and a member of the 40 man roster who has a legitimate chance to impact he major league roster in 2015.
36 – Tyler Pill
Drafted in the fourth round of the 2011 draft, Pill was a two way player in college. As an outfielder, Pill hit well enough to probably have a minor league career in that area, but the Mets drafted him as a 21 year old polished college pitcher, which he has shown himself to be in the Mets system.
Pill gets lost amongst the prospects discussions when talking about the Mets pitching depth. This is partly due to his age, as at 24 having yet to show that he can pitch in Triple-A, he’s getting a little old for his level. He also doesn’t have overwhelming stuff like some of the higher ranked prospects in the system.
Despite the seemingly low ceiling, based upon his stuff, Pill is definitely someone to watch in the system. Pill boasts a four pitch repertoire, boasting a low 90’s fastball, a curveball, change up and slider, all of which are at least average pitches. Pill also throws strikes, only walking 2.2 batters per nine innings over his career, while staying pretty consistent by striking out 8.5 hitters per nine. He’s also a terrific hitter for a pitcher, batting .444 last year with two doubles and a home run to his credit.
His numbers at Double-A in 2014 are also misleading. Pill got off to a horrific start, allowing 15 earned runs, 23 hits and five walks in his first three starts over 14 innings of work. He also only struck out eight batters in those frames and lost all three starts. In his remaining 18 starts at Double-A, Pill went nine and two with a an ERA barely over three while striking out over nine batters per nine innings and walking less than two per nine. Those are pretty terrific numbers.
In the end, Pill’s place in the system is all about depth. Just like Gant, Pill might be a top ten prospect in another system, or at least a top ten pitcher. In the Mets system he might not even be in the top 15, hence, his placement on this list at 36. For some reason he is reminiscent of Micah Owings, which is probably mostly due to his bat. In the Mets, he probably only has a shot as a long man in the bullpen, where his four pitch repertoire and bat would be invaluable for when three innings of pitching are needed and the reliever might have to hit. It’s all about Vegas this year for Pill. If he shows success, he’ll be a major league pitcher. If not, he might just be another future minor league free agent.
How does Tovar compare to Rey Ordonez? Has anyone seen him to compare the gloves? I would expect the bat to be similar but Ordonez did pretty good in the minors and stole a few bases, too.
Tovar isn’t Ordonez. Ordonez was one of the best SS I’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget him diving to catch a relay throw in short left, spinning on his knees and gunning a guy out at home, amongst other plays. Tovar is a plus defender who has backup written all over him. Ordonez is sort of like Lagares in the sense that the glove is so good they have to play everyday, regardless of the bat. Tovar isn’t there.
I know I’ve said it earlier, but the Mets should be looking at some of these pitchers to develop into the next Carlos Torres. Gant and Pill seem like reasonable choices for this experiment.
I think Pill is that kind of guy. Profiles really well as a swingman type and his bat is a bonus. I remember how Owings used to pinch hit for the DBacks and Reds, Pill could do that.
It seems kind of ironic to me that the Mets are looking for a starting SS ( home grown or otherwise) when two of the team’s young stars–Lagares and JDG started out at SS.
I like that this kind of talent can be found deep into the Mets farm. It makes many things possible.