I was amongst the masses for Tebow Mania at Tradition Field for Tuesday mornings ongoing week of workouts in the instructional league for the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie. I wanted to share a couple of my thoughts, pics and reviews while watching some of the top young talent in the Mets lowers minors.

I’ll get to Tebow later, and instead wanted to focus on some of the Mets prospects.

For me, the star of the morning was first base prospect Pete Alonso. The former Gator and 2nd round pick of the Mets in 2016. He had a solid first season in pro ball for the Brooklyn Cyclones and came into the organization known for his power.  And he showed that power this morning during batting practice. The ball explodes off his bat.

He was hitting to all fields with solid barrel on ball contact, including a home run ball to left center.  It got to a point where each time it was his turn at bat the players and coaches around him started cheering and having a few laughs admiring the shots out of the box.  I also noticed Alonso crushing numerous balls dead center right at the pitching mound.

I was also happy to catch a glimpse of pitching prospects including 2016 high school draft pick Cameron Planck and and Mets compensation draft pick Anthony Kay.  Both guys did not appear in any games for the Mets organization this year.  Both appear to physically strong guys with some bulk to their frames.  There have been rumors about the health and specially the elbow of Kay, who participated in drills, but everyone today was focused on mostly running drills and covering the bag.

One particular prospect of interest to me was 19-year old middle infield prospect Luis Carpio. I was made aware of Carpio last year and was hearing some rave reviews. Of note is that during instructional league today Luis was fielding exclusively at second base. Perhaps the organization is making a final decision on him and having Luis settle in full time at second instead of shortstop, which would make sense considering the backlog of shortstops throughout the low minors. Hard to tell during drills but Carpio showed a strong arm and quickness.  I overheard Luis talking with a coach about ongoing efforts even now to “shake of the rust” from what was essentially a lost season.  What’s most important here is that Luis also told coaches about feeling “good” and “healthy”, which is what matters most.

Speaking of middle infield prospects, one such young prospect who was learning and fielding at shortstop was 17-year old Gregory Guerrero.  Even in the instructional league Gregory was surrounding by and joining in drills with prospects 3 and 4 years older than him, showing good range and a strong accurate arm.

Another teenager to keep an eye on is 19-year old Ricardo Cespedes. A nice sweet swing as a lefty, with coaches discussing his overall high ceiling raw talent and wish for this Cespedes to simply “stay focused”, “figure it out” and “be consistent in his approach”.

For some of the other prospects, I did want to point out the strong build and power stroke of catching Brandon Brosher during batting practice.

Also interesting to point out that Juan Urena was working out as a third baseman throughout the morning. I have watched him play 3B and 1B for the St. Lucie Mets this year. Juan continues to have a big strong build and body frame. Should be interesting to see what level they have him play in 2017 and if he remains back at 3B with David Thompson jumping a level ahead of him perhaps next year.

I also got to lay eyes on Dash Winningham, who is also physically imposing as a first baseman. And since I would like to see Dash in St. Lucie next year I’m wondering if Mets go the route of unfortunately keeping Urena back in St. Lucie to play every day at 3B.

Ok, regarding Tim Tebow. He appeared to have a wide stance, small almost unnoticeable leg kick, and a long swing. He did at times make solid contact, including a home run during BP. The balls seemed to all be pulled or to center and right center field. Like many have said and pointed out, he really looks huge and physically stands out in the crowd of everyone else around him.

Shoutout to my good friend Scot Cohen for taking this particular picture of Mets 2016 first round pick Justin Dunn. I had no idea just how thin and lanky Dunn is. Personally, I would love to see Dunn maintain a similar type frame as he progresses through the system and perhaps not go the way of so many players specifically pitchers who find themselves bulking up too much.

Thank you guys for letting me share my pictures and a couple of thoughts on our young Mets prospects.

All photos and featured image courtesy of Ernest Dove.