By David Lieberman
July 12, 2007 -
For years, the Mets farm system was often bottom of the barrel, ranked very low, and produced more busts than big time stars. Things started to change when Jose Reyes and David Wright proved themselves worthy of top prospect status and potential to be future all stars. Scott Kazmir, Lastings Milledge, and others also made the Mets system appear stronger than it had been in years. Once Omar Minaya took over as GM, though, the farm system really took off. Whether it was through the draft or from International Signings, Omar Minaya showed his strong intention of making the Mets farm system one of the best in baseball.
At the start of the season, the Mets had several prospects in the top 150 list on Rotoworld, and on the top 100 list at Baseball America. Now, many of these prospects have outplayed their prospect status, but still showup in this list as "Where they would rank if they were still prospects."
After seeing Rotoworlds latest list, one can easily see how far the Mets farm system has come and how bright the future really is.
Without further adieu...:
8. Fernando Martinez - OF Mets - DOB: 10/10/88 - ETA: 2009
Previous rankings: mid-2006 #80, 2007 #10
.271/.336/.377, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 51/20 K/BB, 3 SB in 236 AB for Double-A Binghamton
Martinez is currently on the DL with a hand injury, but he's hitting at least as well as should have been expected after the Mets got ridiculously aggressive and pushed him up to Double-A to begin the season. Martinez batted .333/.389/.505 in 192 AB in low-A and .193/.254/.387 in 119 AB in high-A as a 17-year-old last year. The power is sure to come in time, and he already has a pretty good feel for hitting, rarely embarrassing himself on outside breaking balls. Martinez is likely to end up in right field and should be well above average there. He may not arrive as quickly as the Mets hope, but he'll likely be a .300 hitter with 25- or 30-home run ability in time.
Fernando coming in at number 8 is truly incredible, had he not gotten hurt this year, he could easily be in the top 5. It will be fun to see him climb the prospect ranks the next couple years. He will be a stud.
44. Deolis Guerra - RHP Mets - DOB: 04/17/89 - ETA: 2010
Previous rankings: 2007 #87
1-5, 4.58 ERA, 54 H, 46/12 K/BB in 57 IP for Single-A St. Lucie
Even taking into account all of the since-promoted prospects, Guerra would have been in the top 30 had this list come out at the end of April. He went on to miss a month with shoulder tendinitis, and he hasn't been quite as effective since. The much-awaited spike in his velocity arrived this spring, as he began regularly working in the 90-94 mph range. Both his changeup and curveball also show plenty of potential. If the shoulder problems were a fluke, Guerra could be a top-of-the-rotation starter someday. Chances are that more arm woes are on the way, however.
Most of us got to see Deolis "God of War" Guerra pitch in the Futures game a few days ago, and saw what he was really all about. As they said, its a shame that he got hurt earlier this season, as it looked like he was looking at a top 25-30 ranking after his hot start in April.
61. Philip Humber - RHP Mets - DOB: 12/21/82 - ETA: May 2008
Previous rankings: 2005 #47, mid-2005 #104, 2006 #88, mid-2006 #74, 2007 #54
9-6, 4.48 ERA, 101 H, 81/24 K/BB in 96 1/3 IP for Triple-A New Orleans
The Mets have tried Jorge Sosa, Chan Ho Park, Jason Vargas and Mike Pelfrey at the back of their rotation. Yet to get a look is Humber, who was supposed to be second or third in line behind Pelfrey at the start of the year. The third overall pick in the 2004 draft hasn't been bad as he continues his recovery from 2005 Tommy John surgery, but he neither has he put together a run of strong performances at any point. Humber's fastball-curveball combination remains very good, even if neither pitch is quite as explosive as it was pre-surgery. Perhaps he'll be all of the way back in 2008. He'd still need a better changeup, but no one should be giving up on him as a potential No. 3.
Humber has been decent this year, considering the fact that he is in a hitters paradise that is the PCL and still feeling some effects of the Tommy John surgery he had merely 20 months ago. He hasn't done enough to prove himself as a future ace, but should be able to become a very solid pitcher for the Mets when he cracks the rotation. The stuff is there, now he just needs to learn some of the intangibles and limit his hits allowed and long balls that have hurt him often so far this year.
124. Mike Carp - 1B Mets - DOB: 06/30/86 - ETA: 2009
Previous rankings: none
Carp suffered a major setback earlier this season when he injured his hand. Yet he is holding his own at AA. He is still very young, and is a power lefty bat at a position that we will need to fill in a couple years. He will need to prove himself to be the real deal next year so he can implant himself into the Mets' future plans.
This is where it gets pretty crazy. The guys who are not prospect eligible being put where they would likely be if they were still prospect eligible.
Below are approximations of where some of the ineligible players would have ranked:
8. Lastings Milledge - OF Mets
13. Carlos Gomez - OF Mets
15. Mike Pelfrey - RHP Mets
All three are very high, and Gomez made the biggest jump of them all, going from #61 to #13 after showing his skills and tools at the big league level earlier this season. These 3 would have given the Mets 4 prospects in the top 15, 5 in the top 50, 6 in the top 100, and 7 on the entire list. Pretty good farm system if you ask me.
Kevin Mulvey, Jonathan Niese, and Bobby Parnell.
No comments:
Post a Comment