Mets360 2016 top 50 prospects: Players 22-19

This is the eighth entry in our prospect series, where we’re counting down the top 50 prospects for the Mets. Four people were involved in this project and what you see is a group consensus, not the results of one person. You can view 50-47, 46-43, 42-39, 38-35, 34-31, 30-27 & 26-23 if you have not already seen it. Here are the next four:

22. Ali Sanchez – In 2013 the Mets signed Sanchez out of Venezuela for $609,000 at the age of 16.  His defensive abilities were resolutely praised by scouts but his hitting was questioned.  Sanchez had always taken a “Contact First” approach to hitting and hadn’t displayed much power but his “Contact Swing” was described as consistent.  In 2014 he managed a fantastic year in the DSL where he wound up with a .303/.406/.394 line.  These were very good numbers and scouts got excited… but that was the DSL.  In 2015 he came stateside and his numbers sank.  In 49 games across both levels of Rookie Ball he hit .272/.330/.306 and disappointed many prospect watchers.  He halved the number of walks he managed and his three DSL home runs were not replicated in the US.  Moving forward, Sanchez should get a shot at being the primary backstop for Brooklyn or Columbia (more likely Brooklyn) and hopefully he can display some excellent contact skills once more.

21. Gabriel Ynoa – With a 91-92 MPH fastball, a slurve that clocks around 80 MPH and a solid changeup Ynoa has produced better numbers than his overall “Stuff” would suggest.  His career WHIP (6 seasons) is 1.13 and he’s risen steadily through the organization managing a solid, if unimpressive, line the whole way.  In 2015 he pitched for Binghamton and continued his typical course.  Players hit him but he battles through innings and doesn’t walk many batters.  His 3.90 ERA from 2015 isn’t bad but the only peripheral that shows any real promise is his low walk-rate.  He profiles as a #5 pitcher and isn’t terribly far from the majors.

20. Akeel Morris – Some people will focus on Morris’ emergency outing for the Mets in 2015.  His MLB numbers, including 3 hits and 3 walks in less than an inning of work are not going to earn him many fans but there is reason to hope for better.  Morris throws around 95 MPH but has a deceptive delivery that makes the pitch appear to be thrown much harder.  His changeup comes out in the low 80s and is the real devastating pitch in his arsenal.  He had 47 appearances in 2015 between AA and AAA: he struck out 81 batters 61.1 innings and had a WHIP of 0.93 which was fantastic.  Batters just don’t seem to get hits against Morris and there is still considerable hope that he can round into a dominant late-inning presence.

19. Jhoan Urena – Prior to 2015 Urena had become one of the hottest prospects in the Mets system.  A strong-bodied switch hitter who played solid defense at third-base looked like he was primed to roll into Citi Field as David Wright prepared to roll out.  From 2012-2014 Urena was very good.  He managed an OPS over .700 in all three of his first seasons but in 2015, the Mets chose to skip Urena over Low-A and send him to Port St. Lucie.  His .214/.257/.267 line in 2015 took Urena out of contention for the Met’s Top 10 prospects, as he had been expected to be and lands him here.  There is still reason to be optimistic that Urena could turn things around and get back to producing solid numbers but it looks like the Met’s decision to promote him aggressively backfired badly.