Mets fans have a right to be giddy about center field prospect Alex Ramirez, a toolsy 19-year-old currently playing with High-A Brooklyn. However, there is another outfielder with the Cyclones who has turned the heads of scouts and talent evaluators – Stanley Consuegra.
Listed at 6’2”, 206 lbs., the 21-year-old hasn’t exactly posted the most impressive batting line in 33 games with the Cyclones since his July promotion from St. Lucie (.220/.295/.394), but he is a good case-and-point of why one shouldn’t scout stats in the minor leagues. Consuegra can flat out hit.
There are some players that really make scouts pay attention, and Consuegra has the raw power that captivates their full attention. “He’s really impressive,” one American League scout said, noting that he has an elite arm that will allow him to thrive in right field. They also rave about his twitchiness – a scouting term used as a positive descriptor for a player’s swing and overall athleticism.
What kind of power are we talking about? This kind.
This home run from Stanley Consuegra went an estimated 504 feet. That's far. 🚀🚀#amazinstartshere pic.twitter.com/1AlC2q39RA
— Brooklyn Cyclones (@BKCyclones) July 17, 2022
That home run traveled 504 feet and came close to hitting the “Thunderbolt” roller coaster on Coney Island beyond the left field wall at Maimonides Park. That is Giancarlo Stanton-esque power from a 21-year-old whose frame still has some room to fill out.
Consuegra (pronounced: con-SWAY-gra) was signed by the Mets on July 2, 2017 for a $500,000 bonus out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old. Signed initially as a shortstop, he quickly transitioned to the outfield, where he has been able to use his athleticism to be a solid defender.
He is ranked by Baseball America as the No. 29 prospect in the Mets system, and MLB Pipeline doesn’t place him in their top 30. So why would such an exciting player struggle to crack the top 30 in a system that most agree is top-heavy and lacking true depth?
The answer to that is mainly injuries and inconsistency. Consuegra missed the entire 2019 season with a torn ACL, and then 2020 was a wash because of the pandemic. In 2021 with the FCL Mets, he was limited to only 20 games, during which he slashed .270/.325/.500, but struck out 25.3% of the time while drawing only four walks.
His strikeouts are still high – a 28.1% K% in 146 PA with Brooklyn this year – but his walk rate has rebounded to around 8.5% between St. Lucie and Brooklyn. At 21, he is one of the younger players in the South Atlantic League, playing in a league where he is roughly 1.5 years younger than average.
All in all, there is a lot to like from Consuegra, and the Mets internally regard him higher than some of the outside evaluators. With room to grow and still develop this season health-permitting, he is a prime target for a break out in 2023 should he continue on the track he is on.
It was nice to see this piece on Consuegra, complete with video of that monster HR.
But a couple of things I want to discuss. One, we need to get away from looking at the average age of minor leaguers at a given level. It’s being inflated past the point of having any relevancy by guys with no shot of anything more than a cup of coffee (and likely not even that) in the majors. There are 154 *batters* 23 or older in the SAL. That Consuegra is 1.5 years younger than average really doesn’t mean much. As for being one of the younger players in the league, there are 32 batters and 10 pitchers 20 or younger. And with Consuegra getting ready to turn 22 in September, there are likely a bunch of other current 21 year olds younger than he is.
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/minor-league?pos=all&level=3&lg=14&stats=bat&qual=0&type=0&team=&season=2022&seasonEnd=2022&org=&ind=0&splitTeam=false&players=&sort=23,1
And as someone who regularly does some scouting of the stat line, I want to defend that practice, to a certain extent. Scouting the stat line is like going to Wikipedia to get information. It’s a great first place to look and you can find a lot of useful information there, as long as you don’t believe 100% of everything you come across.
When I scout Consuegra’s line the thing that jumps out to me is the 28.1 K% in 146 PA at Hi-A. Among players on the 2022 Mets with at least 50 PA, here are the top 5 guys in K% and what their K% rates were when they were in Hi-A:
JD Davis – 31.9% this year, 28.4% in Hi-A
Daniel Vogelbach – 27.0, 24.2
Tomas NIdo – 25.9, 11.4
Eduardo Escobar – 24.9, 18.6
Dominic Smith – 24.3, 15.1
Generally speaking, you don’t have better K% in the majors than you do in the minors.
To be clear, I’m not down on Consuegra. He came into the year as someone to watch. He’s stayed healthy and he’s made the jump from Lo-A to Hi-A. His XBH numbers are solid and his BB% has crept up. But the power doesn’t absolve the Ks.
Joe, many young players struggle with strikeouts while learning to recognize spin from better pitchers and learning to look to make contact more than just looking to make hard contact every time. Consuegra was actually on the radar along with McIntosh back then, but they both got hurt, like Beracierta is now. McIntosh has taken a while to get healthy and Beracierta is punishing the ball while playing both first base and the outfield, so Consuegra is a better rounded player, but it would not surprise me to see him in the top 30 at year’s end.