In their annual rankings, Baseball America has ranked Columbia Fireflies shortstop Andres Gimenez as the league’s seventh best prospect. To qualify for the list, a player was required to have at least one plate appearance per team game.
The 2017 season was not only Gimenez’s first full season of minor league baseball, it was also his first experience playing stateside. More than his relative level of inexperience, Gimenez was young for the league. The 19 year old was three and a half years younger than the average Sally League player.
Despite all of this, he put forth an impressive season. Through 92 games, Gimenez hit .265/.346/.349 with nine doubles, four triples, four homers, and 31 RBI with 14 stolen bases. In the field, the shortstop had a range factor of 4.77 per nine innings, which was higher than the 4.44 Gold Glove shortstop Andrelton Simmons put up this year. More than the numbers, we saw Gimenez flash a good glove and athleticism at the position.
But it was more than defense and athleticism. Gimenez showed a high baseball IQ and a good understanding of what to do at the plate. It’s why he was rated the seventh best Sally League prospect and why he’s currently rated by MMN as the Mets third best prospect.
Nice, very nice
Gimenez is 19 now, but actually 18 for all of his 2017 season. All the more impressive.
It will be interesting to observe how he matures into his body having not much yet grown into big league body. So it’s the power that’s wait and see and will be important component to his upside. I think we should look for 20-25 pounds of new weight before he’s done growing especially if he ends up at 3rd or second. 5’11” at 190 or 200. Maybe he’s even put on a little more height since spring 2017 to reach 6’0″ which at 18 was still possible. 6’0″ 200, vs. 5’11” 160-170, where he started would make big difference in his profile. He’s now listed at 5’11” 176.
This guy is going to be big when he gets up here….
Think he is going to be big too. Do u think the Mets might give him a shot at cf. It’s the one spot we are limited. Only one person can play short and if the Mets don’t move him to 2b or Rosario to ss, this be and option?
The better defender will play at SS with the better arm at 3b, I assume. Vientos is going to be in the mix as well.
Giminez should begin next season in St Lucie and hopefully up to AA by July! Exciting stuff!
Not so sure about that. It won’t surprise me (and shouldn’t surprise anybody) if the Mets decide to send him back to Columbia for the first half of the season. He’s an exciting prospect. But take another look at his numbers. Their not particularly good on their own. The only thing that makes them notable is the fact that he’s so young. Which is all the more reason he may spend another two or three months in Columbia before being moved up.
Getting way ahead of yourself, there. Gimenez could take another four years to reach the majors and he’d still be way, waay ahead of schedule compared with most prospects. And once he gets there, he may need a year or two on the bench before earning a starting role. Rosario could be close to free agency by the time Gimenez is ready to take over.
It’s true he is young for the league, and will be even younger for the FSL. The trend with the Mets handling these players is to challenge them with promotions and see how the handle a tougher league/pitching. Rosario played in the SAL before he was ready, then demoted to Brooklyn. It didn’t hurt his development.
On the contrary, the trend has been for the Mets to go slowly with their prospects. Your assessment of what they did with Rosario is not exactly accurate. He was not assigned to SAL to start the season. He was only shuttled over there for a week at a time on two occasions, and not until late May. The difference is that Rosario was wasting away in extended spring training waiting for short season to start. Gimenez is going to be on a full-season team either way, so XST vs. playing in real games will not be a consideration, here.
Gimenez is still a few years away but a whole season in High A barring a complete meltdown or outburst offensively I assume he will steadily improve on Extra base power as he gets older and adjusting to the pitching which will be harder at the next level.