Baseball America is going through their top-20 prospect lists for each of the minor leagues, something they’ve been doing for quite some time now. Today, Ben Badler released the 20 best prospects that played their 2013 season in the Gulf Coast League. Dominic Smith, the Mets’ first round pick from this past year’s draft, was labeled as the fourth-best prospect in the league, following Austin Meadows, Lucas Giolito, and Reese McGuire.

After a slow start in June to start his professional career, Smith put together a solid season in the GCL, hitting .287/.384/.407 with three home runs, nine doubles, and 22 RBIs in 167 at-bats. He found himself getting promoted to Kingsport at the end of the GCL season in order to bolster the K-Met roster for the Appy League playoffs.

While Badler praised Smith’s offensive talents, he also had some good things to say about his glove work over at first base. Here’s his opinion on the young first baseman:

Smith earned rave reviews from scouts for his hitting and defense coming out of high school in Southern California. The Mets drafted him this year with the 11th overall pick and signed him for $2.6 million. After struggling the first few weeks of the season, Smith adjusted and hit .372 in August.

With a sweet lefthanded swing, good bat speed, hand-eye coordination and pitch recognition, Smith has the potential to be a plus hitter and get on base at a high clip. He’s at his best when he stays down and through the ball, which allows him to spray line drives all over the field. He can get caught out on his front foot at times, which gets him in trouble when he drifts and tries to pull every pitch. He hit just three home runs in the GCL, but he has sock to the middle of the field and to his pull side, with above-average future power potential.

A below-average runner, Smith has Gold Glove potential at first base. He’s excellent around the bag with quick feet, soft hands, good instincts and a strong arm for a first baseman. He’s still learning to get into a more athletic position to receive throws, but that’s correctable.

It was a great year for him, and he’s definitely has a lot of Mets fans excited to watch him progress through the farm system and (hopefully) eventually make it to the major leagues. At just 18-years-old, the sky is the limit at this point for Smith.

In MMN’s mid-season top prospect countdown, Smith stormed onto the scene, being ranked our sixth-best prospect in the system.

His ranking on Baseball America’s list doesn’t surprise me one bit, and I’m interested to see where the Mets plan on assigning him once 2014 rolls around.