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Baseball America’s Mets Farm System Overview

By John Sheridan

December 11, 2018 No comments

Andres Gimenez/Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

In a review of the Farm Systems of the National League East, Baseball America has rated the Mets farm system not just as the worst in the division, but also among the worst in baseball. In fact, the Mets system was rated third worst in all of baseball, which is eight spots lower than the Miami Marlins who were rated as having the 19th best in baseball.

There are reasons for this rating. First and foremost, the Mets system has had their fair share of players who no longer qualify for prospect status. Chief among those players is Jeff McNeil. The other more pressing issues were the fact much of the Mets minor league talent is in the lower levels of their farm system. In fact, players like Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos have not even played for a full season minor league affiliate.

Worse yet, the Mets system is fairly bereft of right-handed starters, and that is before you account for Justin Dunn being traded and Franklyn Kilome missing the entire 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery.

On the other hand, while the Mets talent is far away that talent is very real. The aforementioned Vientos and Shervyen Newton had great seasons in Kingsport. The same goes for Luis Santana. They may be a few years away from the majors, the Mets do have talented players close to the majors who could be ready to contribute.

Already, the Mets are expecting Peter Alonso to be their first baseman sometime in April. After him, the Mets should see Andres Gimenez, David Peterson, and Anthony Kay make it to the majors over the next two seasons. When looking at this group and the prior group, the Mets will have a good collection of talent ready to play at the Major League level.  According to Baseball America, the Mets future lineup would look as follows:

C Kevin Plawecki
1B Peter Alonso
2B Andres Gimenez
3B Robinson Cano
SS Amed Rosario
LF Jeff McNeil
CF Brandon Nimmo
RF Michael Conforto

SP Jacob deGrom
SP Noah Syndergaard
SP Zack Wheeler
SP Steven Matz
SP Anthony Kay
CL Franklyn Kilome

This is an interesting analysis for a number of reasons. First, it has the Mets holding onto their core starters while not keeping Edwin Diaz. It also has Cano shifting to third instead of him being pushed by someone like Vientos. It is also interesting to see McNeil in left field, when some believe Newton could find himself in the outfield as a result of the Mets organization depth at shortstop and his skill set. More than that, it’s interesting to see how Baseball America has Kay rated ahead of Peterson and Kilome as a future reliever.

Given how Brodie Van Wagenen has started his tenure as the Mets General Manager, it is possible this lineup looks much different in the upcoming seasons. That said, regardless of how poorly rated the Mets farm system may be, this is an organization with real talent, and as a result, it is well poised for 2022 and beyond.