John Sickels of SB Nation’s Minor League Ball released his list of the Top 200 prospects, and as can be expected with the depth of the farm system, there were several Mets named to the list:
#5 SS Amed Rosario
2016 Level: St. Lucie & Binghamton
2016 Stats: 120 G, 479 AB, 65 R, 155 H, 24 2B, 13 3B, 5 HR, 71 RBI, 19 SB, .324/.374/.459
Sickels’ Grade: A/A-
MMN Rank: #1
#59 RHP Robert Gsellman
2016 Level: Binghamton, Las Vegas, & New York Mets
2016 MILB Stats: 20 G, 4-9 W/L, 3.99 ERA, 20 GS, 115 IP, 113 H, 58 R, 51 ER, 31 BB, 88 K, 1.25 WHIP
2016 MLB Stats: 8 G, 4-2 W/L, 2.42 ERA, 7 GS, 44.2 IP, 42 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 15 BB, 42 K, 1.27 WHIP
Sickels’ Grade: B+
MMN Rank: #3
#107 1B Dominic Smith
2016 Level: Binghamton
2016 Stats: 130 G, 484 AB, 64 R, 146 H, 29 2B, 2 3B, 14 HR, 91 RBI, 2 SB, .302/.367/.457
Sickels’ Grade: B
MMN Rank: #2
#153 LHP Thomas Szapucki
2016 Level: Kingsport & Brooklyn
2016 Stats: 9 G, 52 IP, 4-3 W-L, 1.38 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, .145 BAA, 86/20 K/BB
Sickels’ Grade: B/B-
MMN Rank: #4
#155 RHP Justin Dunn
2016 Level: Brooklyn
2016 Stats: 11 G/8 GS, 30 IP, 1-1 W-L, 1.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, .227 BAA, 35/10 K/BB
Sickels’ Grade: B/B-
MMN Rank: #6
#160 OF Brandon Nimmo
2016 Level: Las Vegas & New York Mets
2016 MiLB Stats: 97 G, 392 AB, 72 R, 138 H, 25 2B, 8 3B, 11 HR, 61 RBI, 46 BB/73 SO, 7 SB, 8 CS, .352/.423/.541
2016 MLB Stats: 32 G, 73 AB, 12 R, 20 H, 2B, HR, 6 RBI, 6 BB/20 SO, .274/.338/.329
Sickels’ Grade: B-/B
MMN Rank: #8
#164 CF Desmond Lindsay
2016 Level: Brooklyn
2016 Stats: 37 G, 122 AB, 21 R, 37 H, 6 2B, 4 HR, 17 RBI, 26 BB, 31 K, 3 SB, .303/.433 /.451
Sickels’ Grade: B-/B
MMN Rank: #5
#166 INF Gavin Cecchini
2016 Level: Las Vegas
2016 MiLB Statistics: 117 G, 499 PA, 446 AB, 71 R, 145 H, 27 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 55 RBI, 4 SB, .325/.390/.448
2016 MLB Statistics: 4 G, 7 PA, 6 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 2 2B, 2 RBI, .333/.429/.667
Sickels’ Grade: B-/B
MMN Rank: #7
While the group was in a different order, Sickels and MMN agree in principle on who are the top 8 prospects in the Mets farm system. One thing that really stands out is how low Smith was on his list. Smith is still just 22 years old, is great defensively, and he started to display power.
Another surprise was how high Gsellman ranked. Gsellman’s high ranking is indicative of the extra gear on his fastball Gsellman showed when he reached the major leagues.
It is also interesting with a list so deep Sickels kept Andres Gimenez and Tomas Nido off his list especially with both players having had such outstanding minor league seasons. If Gimenez and Nido repeat their success of last year, they should not only be on next year’s list, but they should be ranked fairly high.
It is amazing what a few miles an hour on your fastball can do for you. You cant teach velocity.
Gsellman seems very similar to deGrom. No one had deGrom at 95-97 before he arrived wit the Mets.
I wonder if the minor league pitching coordinators are so focused on command and secondary pitches that velocity is down on the list?
Same with Lugo. I don’t recall hearing that he could hit 95-96.
So we get concerned when Whalen, Gant , Cessa , etc are traded, but Sandy knew what he kept in the cupboard.
DeGrom was throwing heat in MiLB.
As we all argue over prospects, it’s interesting to see how widely varied the “experts” lists are. These are fun, and interesting, but I for one am very happy that we’ll soon get to see (or at least read about) these kids actually play baseball. And they’re human. And some will fail to live up to expectations, and some will be better than anyone will have predicted. Ahh, spring. Let’s play ball.
I’m sorry if this doesn nothing for me except tell me we are average. Out of 200 players and 30 teams, each team should have about 7. So, 8 isn’t a big deal.
It is nice, however, to see Nimmo ranked in front of Lindsey a it seems people have gotten tired of waiting for Nimmo. I disagreed with MMN’s placing of Nimmo but it ran parallel to many other opinions.
I actually liked alot of things I saw from Nimmo last year.
1. He had the longest homerun in Cotifield by a lefty so while he may not hit 30, he should be good for 20.
2. He hit a routine grounder to SS and almost beat it out. I was told he had knee surgery but obviously this former track star can still fly.
3. He had a great series against the Reds when Collins put him at the top. When put in RBI positions like #7, the kid wasn’t trained for that. He has been made into an OBP machine, not a player that is used to driving guys in.
4. He has a good work ethic and has improved against lefties. He will get even better.
5. Keith Hernandez likes his swing. That’s good enough for me.
I too believe that Nimmo has a legitimate chance to be a solid everyday player. Just lacking a clear path to playing time this year and while there may be a clearer path next year, unless he proves himself this year, it just is not clear how many unproven young players the Mets will be comfortable playing in 2018, as they presumably will have at least two rookies (Rosario and Smith) and question marks at 2B/3B (whichever position Cabrera does not fill) and CF. A platoon of Lagares and Nimmo in CF could be very solid, and a guy like Cecchini or Rivera could be the answer but just not sure this FO will go that route on what should hopefully be a championship contender – tough to see them starting up to 4 unproven players, no?
Gsellman was throwing harder in the minors this year than he had previously, he also developed his slider which was a big key in his ML success last year.
If Nimmo ever hits 20 HR in a ML season I will buy you one of his shirseys. I still think Nimmo has the potential to be an everyday player but his defense in centerfield will have to be at least average to do so.
Michael, I said “could”. I say this because with his build and skillset, I expect a 30-35 doubles guy, 6-10 triples, and about 15-18 homeruns, with around 25-30 steals. That’s a good player. If he can maintain a .280/.370/.440 stat line, I’m very happy with that. That’s a 4+ WAR player.
For sure Not4, they won’t play 4 young players when we know Collins and friends have a problem playing one!
That’s why I feel they should trade Granderson now. He is the one with some value and I just can’t see him handling centerfield for a whole year when I know that many other excellent centerfielders like Torii Hunter, Carlos Beltran, and Mike Cameron were all moved off CF in their mid-30’s due to the rigors of the position, both health-wise and performance-wise.
Let Lagares+Conforto start the year the year in CF. Then in July, if Nimmo is raking in AAA whoever isn’t producing between Conforto and Bruce, I’d replace with Nimmo. This gives you a few months of analysis and hopefully an upgrade of an unproductive player, but not having lost anything by putting Nimmo in for evaluation. This will be important when more youngsters come up in 2018 and thus the wave of newbies is a smaller one.
Pretty good plan Gus. Hopefully it’s Bruce they ship out as It would really help if Conforto (and d’Arnaud for that matter) established themselves this year. That would give us 4 positional staters we could feel very good about heading into next year and maybe a 5th as well (CF) if the Nimmo situation plays out as you laid out (platoon of Lagares and Nimmo). Then we’re just down to 1 slot and the two presumptive rookies in Rosario and Smith.
Like I said, I still have some hope that Nimmo is a valuable player that has more than just a 4th OF role, even so I was saying I would extremely bet against the 20+ homers. I think he could be a 30+ doubles guy and 5+ triples guy like you alluded too, throw in 12-15 home runs and he will hold offensive value because he’s going to walk.
Agree, Believe this past season was his breakout year. He hit .352/.423/.541/.964 with 25 doubles 8 triples and 11 HR. Realize it is Vegas even if you take 50 points off his slash line he still had a very good season. Believe this season he will be even better.