The Mets decided they were going to be aggressive with their 17-year old SS/2B prospect having Luis Carpio skip the Gulf Coast League and make his stateside debut this year for the Kingsport Mets.
The move paid off as he hit .304/.372/.359 on his way to being named the 7th best prospect in the Appalachian League this year by Baseball America. Carpio hit ten doubles, knocked in 22, scored 31 runs and stole nine bases.
He went the entire year without facing a pitcher younger than him and reached base in 41 of 45 games for Kingsport. BA was very complimentary of the player the Mets signed for $300,000 in 2013:
- Carpio is a line-drive hitter with fast-twitch ability on both sides of the ball. He’s an aggressive hitter with impressive feel for the barrel, though he lacks much in the way of power.
- Carpio’s sparkplug tendencies are not confined solely to the batter’s box, for he also has defensive upside.
- Carpio showed improved footwork and average arm strength and should stay up the middle.
- One scout told Baseball America that Carpio would be an easy first rounder in the upcoming draft class.
In addition to Carpio, BA’s Hudson Belinsky mentioned numerous other Mets prospects that played this season in the APPL during the chat:
- Ramos also showed well with the bat, but he has a ways to go in terms of strength, routine, and consistency. (SS/2B prospect Milton Ramos)
- Witt Haggard is more than just a plus-plus name! Command will be the key for him, but he pitches in the mid-90s and has some bite on his slider. (Mets 2015 10th round pick, had 21 K’s in 12 IP)
- Ivan Wilson has big time tools. (Hit just 3 homeruns and struck out 73 times in 2015)
- Dash Winningham has some juice in the bat. (Led APPL with 12 homeruns)
- Patrick Mazeika is an interesting college hitter. (2015 8th rounder who led league with 27 doubles and .451 OBP)
- Adrian Almeida is a lefty up to 97 with very poor control. (18 walks, 17 K’s in 16.2 IP)
Great stuff as usual Michael.
Have you given any more thought to an off-season low minors prospect review? Would love to see something like that, recognizing there will likely be far more misses than hits, but curious to hear about their skill sets.
Yes I will be doing that at some point, probably wait to get some insight from Teddy.
Sounds great. No rush. Let’s enjoy what is hopefully a nice run by the Mets this post-season!
Thanks for coming over to the site! Hoping to beef the site back up and get a lot of the MMO minors followers to come here and read too.
Thanks for taking the time to make this site happen. I’ll definitely be a frequent visitor
We can definitely try.