This is the first entry in our Top 50 prospect list. Four writers contributed to these rankings and what follows is a consensus derived from a fair amount of back and forth among the group. It’s not the list any of us would have come up with individually. At the end of the project we’ll discuss who we thought was overrated on the final list, who was not given enough respect and those who did not make the final cut who might should have. But first we’ll discuss those who did make the list, going four at a time until the top 10, when we’ll discuss two in each entry.
50. Tyler Badamo – He’s not a guy with great stuff, topping out around 92 MPH on his fastball but his success in the minors has been solid. In 2014 he showed well against the Gulf Coast League and he repeated his success in Brooklyn last season. The most eye-popping stat on Badamo’s line is the opponent batting average. Badamo kept opponents to a .207 average in 2015, though he did have significantly more difficulty with left-handed hitters. Expect him to be starting Long-Season A-Ball in 2016.
49. Gabriel Llanes – A 15th-round pick in 2014 that the Mets gave a $200,000 overslot bonus to, Llanes is a raw prospect who’s more potential than production at this point. He started his second season with the Mets back in the Gulf Coast League and while he gave up a few more hits than you’d like to see (22 in 17.1 IP) he cut his walks in half from his debut. That earned Llanes a promotion to the APPY, where he had a nice 1.048 WHIP but got hurt by the long ball. It will be interesting to see if the Mets slow play him and send him to Brooklyn in 2016. If that’s the case, we’ll know the “raw” tag still fits.
48. Brandon Brosher – He jumped into the forefront after an eye-opening seven games in Kingsport in 2014. During those 31 ABs the catcher managed an OPS of 1.198 and clubbed 4 HR. Brosher’s season was cut short by a broken fibula, along with tendon issues that required surgery. The good news in 2015 was that he played the whole year without suffering any more injuries and was able to stay behind the plate. The bad news is he didn’t hit. Catchers with power always get the benefit of the doubt. If Brosher played any other position, he wouldn’t be on this list this year.
47. Mickey Jannis – He was pitching for the Long Island Ducks at one point last year and his future in the big leagues depends upon the most erratic of pitches, the knuckleball. The Mets rescued him from the Independent Leagues, and he pitched well in the Florida State League before earning a late-season promotion to Double-A. The real exciting news is how well he pitched in the Arizona Fall League, where he finished 10th in the league in ERA. Of course, everyone will make the comparison to R.A. Dickey but the odds of Jannis winning the Cy Young Award one day are about nil. Still, given his performance among the game’s top prospects out in Arizona, he’s definitely someone to watch in 2016.
Brian Joura contributed to this report.
Hey David,
I really enjoy this, especially since you start the countdown at 50 rather than at 20 or 10. Kudos to you and your crew.
Any guy with success in the Fall League should be ranked higher than Jannis.
I understand that argument but we still have a guy who hasn’t displayed consistent ability to retire minor league hitters. Why do the AFL stats eliminate the Double-A stats? He had a 5.54 ERA in his short stint in Binghamton.
If the Mets hadn’t had success with Dickey, would they have even signed Jannis, much less sent him to the AFL? There’s a reason there are so few knuckleball pitchers in the majors. Personally, I want to see him have an extended run of success before getting too amped about him.