(MMN/Jacob Resnick
Baseball Prospectus published their Top 101 Prospect list today which will certainly raise some eyebrows among New York Mets.
The first Mets prospect on the list was the consensus #1 overall prospect in the system in shortstop Amed Rosario at #8. The 21-year old Rosario was ranked as high #3 by Keith Law then #5 by MLB Pipeline and #8 previously by Baseball America.
Rosario hit .324/.374/.459 with 24 doubles, 13 triples, five home runs, 71 RBI, 65 runs scored, and 19 stolen bases in 120 games played and 479 at bats between Advanced Single-A St. Lucie Mets and the Double-A Binghamton Mets.
Rosario was added to the 40-man roster this offseason meaning he will be in big league camp with the Mets and is expected the 2017 with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. We had Rosario ranked as our number one prospect here at MMO.
The second Mets prospect on the list is right-hander pitcher Robert Gsellman at #17 which is sure to raise eyebrows in a good way. Gsellman was somehow left off Top 100 lists by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America and ranked #76 by Law.
Gsellman, 23, made a strong impression with the big league club last season, pitching to a 4-2 record with an ERA of just 2.42. He threw 44.2 innings while striking out 42 batters and only allowing one home run.
Gsellman jumped all the way up to number three on our MMO Top 30 Prospects.
The final Mets prospect on BP’s list is left-handed starter Thomas Szapucki at #69. Szapucki, like Gsellman, was left off the rankings by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America but ranked #60 but Law who had a whopping five Mets prospects in his Top 100.
In our MMO Top 30 Prospects list we had Szapucki at number four after a breakout season in only 52 innings last season combined for the Kingsport Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones.
In nine starts between the Appalachian League and the New York Penn-League, Szapucki went 4-3 with a stellar 1.38 ERA while striking out 86 batters in 52 innings.
By now you’re realizing why I said Mets fans eyebrow would be raised by the list and that is the exclusion of Dominic Smith. Smith, 21, was ranked in all four of the lists with Law being the high man at #29 then #63 by MLB Pipeline and finally #71 by Baseball America.
Smith was left off despite having the best offensive season of his career hitting .302/.367/.457 with 29 doubles, two triples, 14 homers, and 91 RBI while being the youngest player to play a full season in the Double-A Eastern League.
Smith was ranked our number two prospect here at MMO.
As someone who’s always been high on Gsellman as a prospect, I’m glad to see a group of people so high on Gsellman, who was inexplicably left off two often publications rankings.
Smith being left off is pretty baffling to me, coming off a season in which he answered a ton of questions about whether he would show the necessary power to provide offensive value at the first base position. In my opinion, he’s a no doubt Top 100 guy and should be in the discussion for the Top 50.
It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense given he was #86 for them last year and he drastically improved + is on the doorstep of the majors… But what do I know!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Baseball prospectus is pretty clueless. Having seen many of mets minor leaguers play — I always wonder if they actually watch these players on the field. Obviously nobody’s prospect list will please everyone but Dom being left off of their list is baffling.
Jeff P who is a big part of the list has been down on Smith compared to others so it’s not a complete shock. It is nice to see them so high on Gsellman, who was overlooked by everyone else really. And Szapucki making it was cool too, 2nd list he was on to kind of hit home that he’s a legit ML high ceiling prospect.