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This offseason, without other writers to help me flesh out the in depth scouting you need for a Top 50 prospect list I’ve undertaken a Top 25. While Met fans have been pretty morose about both our offseason and farm system I feel bolstered by my project. There is a lot more depth in the Met farm system than we are giving the team credit for, and no team represents that depth of talent better than #s 25-21.
Four of the five prospects within this group played for all or part of their 2017 season with the Rookie Level Kingsport Mets. These younger prospects represent an enticing crop of younger hitters that should be coming of age in 3-5 more years. The fifth prospect is in a very different boat, as an upper level prospect whose ceiling seems to have collapsed above him.
25. Jeremy Vasquez, 1B (Bats: L, Throws: R, Age: 21) – A relatively unknown commodity, Vasquez played 2017 for the Kingsport Mets and Brooklyn Cyclones. He did not perform well in Brooklyn but his start in Kingsport should give fans hope that the Mets might have snagged a diamond in the rough. The young first baseman managed an admirable .296/.394/.511 batting line proving to have an advanced eye for a player of his level. If you recall my article from august of this year, you might recall that Vasquez suffered a severe sophomore slump that devastated his promising draft profile. Based on his age and year I expect Vasquez to start his 2018 season with the Columbia Fireflies.
24. Juan Uriarte, C (Bats: R, Throws: R, Age 20) – The Mets have had their share of catching prospects but power hitting catchers are not a dime a dozen. While he is able to hit to the levels he managed in 2017 the Mets can be hopeful that he might blossom into a big-time talent in their organization. He may be stalled in Low A, as he’s still fairly young and hitters tend to struggle through the South Atlantic League, but if he can continue to any degree the Mets fans will quickly forget the failures of Ali Sanchez (who will not be appearing on this Top 25 list). While Uriarte’s eye is still being developed it’s hard to get to excited but the Mets might have a very valuable prospect hidden in their minors.
23. Gavin Cecchini, Util (Bats: R, Throws: R, Age: 24) – Could I rank Cecchini higher? Sure! Should I rank him higher? I’ll make a strong argument against it. The crux of my argument is that Cecchini is not going to be a major league starter on a good team. He’s a qualified MLB backup and he’s ready for that role today, but you can’t look at him as a true prospect anymore because his value has, more or less, peaked. It is certainly possible that Cecchini will earn the Mets starting second base job in 2018 but that is mostly because of a lack of other qualified applicants. Perhaps I will be wrong and Cecchini will revert to the player he seemed to be becoming in 2015. I would be overjoyed to be wrong.
22. Hansel Moreno, SS (Bats: S, Throws: R, Age: 21) – People might recall that Hansel Moreno made some waves in 2017 when he earned a promotion from the GCL to the APP on the back of a very strong start to his short season. Moreno cooled off after his promotion but was still strong enough to suggest that his future with the team might be exciting. Because of a crowded pool of qualified players in Columbia, he may not start the year in Full Season baseball, but it seems likely that he’ll be headed to Brooklyn to hopefully add some potence to a perennially anemic offense.
21. Rigoberto Terrazas, 3B (Bats: S, Throws: R, Age: 21) – The star of the Kingsport offense in 2017, he was a frequent highlight on my weekly recap. I first spoke about him in 2015 where he appeared to be a promising player in the DSL. This young third baseman is almost guaranteed to begin his year with Columbia where he will be part of a very impressive lineup (considering offensive potential). The team will be looking at Edgardo Fermin, Mark Vientos, Wagner Lagrange, Terrazas, Uriarte and Vasquez in a league known for pitching dominance. His 2017 batting line of .348/.413/.486 suggests that he might still need to develop more power and his home/away splits appear to show how much better he played in Kingsport but there is enough to be excited about. The Mets are hoping this combination is a recipe for continued success.
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Author’s Note: I did find a solid 10+ players who just missed the cut. I think that a Top 40 prospect list wouldn’t have been a stretch but #s 41-50 are always a challenge and I opted for a nice round 25.
David,
This series is one of the highlights of the year. Since coming to M360, Ive learned so much about the pipeline I never paid much attention to. I also know these kinds of efforts are hard work. Much appreciated.
This weekend on the MLB Network’s Front Office with Bowden and Duquette, they ranked the Mets farm as bottom third of the MLB, and basically came up with, “how did that happen”? I cant wait till we get a bit higher up and to get a sense of your assessment of what we can really look forward to.
Just perhaps a bit looking forward, if say the Marlins were inclined to work with the Mets for Realmuto and/or Yellich, do you see enough in the pipeline to get one or teh other done without losing Rosario (or do we care? — I hear Gimenez is the real deal at SS?????).
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the kind words. I would agree that the Mets are in the bottom third of the league because their depth at the upper levels is a weakness and their top draftees (Justin Dunn and Desmond Lindsay) haven’t panned out. If Dunn had followed up his 2016 with an equally good year in 2017 there’d be a very different feeling in the Met farm.
Now, I love the way Yelich and Realmuto fit the Mets and I’ve wondered this myself. The Mets would likely have to part with some of their high level “wash-out” prospects who the Marlins might view as “lightning in a bottle” candidates. Think Brandon Nimmo, Gavin Cecchini and Kevin Plawecki being paired with Justin Dunn and Thomas Szapucki. You might want to add some of the Mets rotational depth players like Corey Oswalt or P.J. Conlon to that mix as well.
I don’t know if the Marlins would take a larger package of mixed prospects for the two. Yellich alone should, by rights, fetch a “Top Prospect” so I am not optimistic. I didn’t think the Marlins got fair value on Stanton either.
David-
Your proposed deal for Yellich & Realmuto was of interest becaust I have been toying with ideas for that trade for a while. I even emailed Alderson with the proposal of Robert Gsellman, Marcos Molina, Jordan Humphreys, Kevin Plawecki, Brandon Nimmo & Jamie Callahan. In retrospect, I can see that package seems inadequate, so I revised my thinking, as follows: (hear me out)
Wheeler, Ramos, Dunn, Molina, Conlon, Cecchini, Nimmo, Plawecki, and Callahan – for – Yellich, Realmuto & Prado
The Marlins want the salary relief that getting rid of Prado would bring and we would get some of that salary back by sending Ramos. (who I don’t believe is worth nearly what he is getting) Prado is coming off a down year, but is just 1 year removed from a .305/.359/.417 year . . and, by the oddest of coincidences, if you look at his career, he has always hit better in the even years than in the adjacent odd years. Prado is versatile and has always been a good glove.
I would rather include Gsellman instead of Wheeler, but I think including Zack makes the package far more appealing. I would even be willing to add Oswalt, making it a 10 man package, if that would swing the deal. You gotta give to get.
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I think the days of unloading a pile of never-gonna-be’s for top talent are mostly over. I think you have to move the entire top 10 for both and take on salary to boot.
Which two-team trade can you think of that had the most bodies changing places? I looked at last year’s deadline deals – admittedly a small sample – and there was one trade that had seven people involved. All the rest were five or fewer players.
Players involved: 3B Todd Frazier, P David Robertson, P Tommy Kahnle (to Yankees); P Tyler Clippard, P Ian Clarkin, OF Blake Rutherford, OF Tito Polo (to White Sox)
Edit: Which two-team trade in the last couple of years. I know Whitey Herzog pulled off an 11-player trade at the 1980 Winter Meetings but as you note, that was a different time.
Yelich is cheap and locked for several years—they should get at least 1 Blue Chip, a couple of Lottery Tickets, and 1 or two plug and play guys who are young. Giminez, Cheechinni and some “what-ifs” would be the bare minimum–otherwise, the fans will burn the place down
On Stanton—it was as much about finding someone who would hold the contract….I would not want Stanton’s obligation going forward. A-Rod was a Great Player for a long time before and after his big deal…and That didn’t end well. Stanton is an amazing talent…when he’s standing. It won’t go as well as A-rod, and it will end worse.
Agreed,
I don’t think the Mets have the pieces for Yellich and/or Realmuto but they’d be foolish not to inquire.