MLB Pipeline recently released its updated top 30 prospects for the Mets. This list is always a good one to check out, as it has nice write-ups on all 30 players, complete with picture and scouting report. Personally, their rankings always seem odd after the first 10 or so, like they just started throwing darts at that point.
Regardless, my interest in other prospect lists is to see if they have someone ranked that I don’t. This version does not. The other thing that interests me is how others rank prospects that are linked together somehow. This time around, it’s Dominic Hamel – who David wrote about yesterday – and Calvin Ziegler. Both are pitchers taken in the 2021 Draft, with Ziegler going in the the second round and Hamel in the third.
Hamel has had more success in the minors, albeit at an advanced age for the level. Ziegler had bad results, with walks being a major contributing factor. But Ziegler was tough to hit, kept the ball in the park and piled up a ton of strikeouts.
It seems to me there are reasons to prefer one over the other. As you probably guessed, my allegiance is to Ziegler, and by a fair amount. But if others want to jump on the Hamel bandwagon – that’s fine. My only thing is if you prefer one, the other should be many spots below. If you’re a results guy, Hamel should be way above Ziegler. The MLB Pipeline list had Hamel at nine and Ziegler at 10.
Also just read that Baseball America has the Mets farm system ranked as the 5th best in baseball, although I don’t have a subscription and can’t read the full article. I was surprised by that ranking since Keith Law had us I think a bit more middle of the pack.
I know very little about other teams’ farm systems. But knowing the Mets’ system, it isn’t a surprise that someone ranks them in the top five. It’s aggressive but it’s not outlandish.
They have two guys in Alvarez and Baty who are consensus top 30 prospects, with Alvarez being ranked at one point last year as the top prospect in MLB. On top of that, they have five other guys – Mauricio, Parada, Ramirez, Vientos, J. Williams – who likely rank in the top 150. So, there’s ultra-high-end talent, as well as high-end prospects – with greater than average in both categories. On top of that, there’s now decent depth in the system, too. The knock is the lack of pitching but in Hamel, Tidwell, Vasil and Ziegler, they have four guys with a shot of cracking a top 100 list next year. And if Butto’s cutter develops, maybe it’s five. You can call it nothing but dreaming on the pitching side. But the combination of elite hitters and guys to dream on among the pitchers isn’t too shabby.
Ronny Mauricio just hit his third homer of the spring. Hit it as a PH in the top of the 9th and stayed in the game at 2B in the bottom of the inning.
would love to see Mauricio get some more positional versatility – 2b, 3B, OF. Could be real valuable to the team after Canha and Marte’s contracts are up.
I believe Mauricio’s bat will make him more than a super sub. But on the Mets, his greatest chance to play seems like as an outfielder. If I was in charge, he would be getting reps in the OF exclusively.
If only you were in charge.
Brian, a while back I suggested the Mets go with a six-man rotation. You vigorously opposed the idea. Tim Britton had some valuable insights supporting your view, so I thought I’d share them:
“Turning to a pure six-man rotation, however, introduces more problems than it solves. If the Mets used a six-man rotation all season, they’d make a whopping 95 starts on six days of rest and 17 more on at least seven days of rest. Most starters will tell you they can handle an occasional sixth day of rest; a seventh is much tougher.” Then the article quotes Scherzer in support of this.
Here’s more from the article in The Athletic:
“Pitching once a week, that’s a challenge because that’s very foreign,” Scherzer said. “You’ve got to start thinking about a second bullpen and other things to keep the feel. I train my body to be on that fifth day. One day doesn’t get you off-kilter. Sometimes you need that off day. Once you start introducing two off days, you’re searching again.”
“You can’t get too far away from the mound. That’s always the fear,” Hefner said. “You start getting a week in between outings, and the crispness and command start to vacate. The velo will be there — probably be higher — and the movement will be there, but command will suffer because they aren’t throwing at that high intensity as regularly as they were previous in a normal five-day.”
Players are creatures of habit. And veteran players are more likely to speak up about their preference for stability. We saw Matt Harvey speak out previously against a 6-man rotation and we had Starling Marte last year ask for a consistent spot in both the lineup and the field. With a pitching staff with four guys well in their 30s, it was no surprise that the Mets weren’t going to deviate from a 5-man rotation on anything but a temporary basis.
Imagining the Mets with Mauricio and Baty on opening day.
1. Brandon Nimmo, CF
2. Jeff McNeil, 2B
3. Francisco Lindor, SS
4. Pete Alonso, 1B
5. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
6. Starling Marte , RF
7. Brett Baty, 3B
8. Ronny Mauricio, LF
9. Omar Narvaez, C
Brad Hand (33) just signed for 1/$2 mil with a $1mil bonus if he’s on the Opening Day roster.
Will Smith (33) just signed for 1/$1.5 mil with $2.5 mil in bonuses
Meanwhile, Eppler traded for Brooks Raley (35) making $5.75 mil. Whoops.
Yes, yes, i know it’s hindsight, but clear miss on reading the market here.
Even Chafin (33) just barely edged out Raley at $6.25 mil
I don’t mind Raley instead of those other guys, especially if they think he has the best stuff. The thing that slays me is not going after Chafin, Hand and/or Smith to get more certainty in the bullpen. I just can’t wrap me head around the idea that you have three open bullpen spots to form from 15 relievers with options rather than spending loose change to get one of the three guys you mentioned.
The issue isn’t overspending on Raley – it’s overspending on a fourth outfielder to go cheap in the pen.
Totally agree. Lots of dialogue about Pham, but that comes down to a $6 million insurance contract…but that deal doesn’t make any sense if it blocks a spend or roster spot on a semi-reliable lefty to add to the pen…unless they expect for some reason to slot Peterson into that role…which I don’t particularly like fwiw…
Spring Training take aways:
Baty beats out Guillorme because Guillorme who has an option and Baty has hit well. Escobar platoons at 3B and can backup SS and 2B. Ruf beats out Vientos because Ruf has a contract. (No fair). Nogosek doesn’t have an option but he makes the team because of his good pitching. Hunter (NRI) because he is a veteran, pitching well and can replace the injured Robertson. Alvarez doesn’t make the team because of Narvaez. Pham and Narvaez can’t be traded before July because they were signed as free agents in the off-season. Nido has a contract.
Escobar, Nido, Ruf and Nogosek are trade chips because there are an immediate replacement player at their position that are better than them.