Andres Gimenez,, Photo by Ernest Dove
While prospects like Peter Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and since the draft, Jarred Kelenic receive all the headlines and attention, the consensus in scouting circles continues to be that Andres Gimenez is the best prospect in the Mets organization. We saw further evidence of that with Gimenez skyrocketing up into Baseball Prospectus Top 50.
In their pre-season list, Gimenez was ranked 82. After a strong start to the season, the 19 year old middle infielder has jumped 35 spots and all the way to number 47. When reading Baseball Prospectus’ scouting report for Gimenez, you understand the reason for the leap:
Gimenez offers polish, a broad base of skills on both sides of the ball, and a good shot to stick at the six. He’s held his own as one of the youngest player in both his stateside stops so far. He’s never going to be a heady stat line scout, but he’s added a bit of pop this year, leaving no real holes in his game. He has a very advanced hit tool and approach for a 19-year-old, and if he adds strength in his early-20s, he could end up doing some real damage with the bat in the upper minors and this will look low.
In 81 games for St. Lucie thus far, Gimenez is hitting .278/.346/.430 with 18 doubles, four triples, six homers, and 29 RBI. What really stands out there is he has already set career highs in doubles and homers while matching his career high in triples. Gimenez has also set a career high in stolen bases with 26.
He’s ranked sixth in the Florida State League in doubles, and he’s ranked fifth in triples. Additionally, he is the league leader in stolen bases. With him doing all of this while being 3.5 years younger than league average, you get a real sense as to why some many outlets, like Baseball Prospectus, are so high on Gimenez.
Overall, Gimenez was the only Mets prospect to make the Top 50. If he continues playing this way and continues to develop, he may soon find himself even higher in these rankings. If some of his fellow Mets prospects continue developing the way they do, they may soon join him on these lists.
