MLB Pipeline released their annual Top 100 prospect list Friday night on MLB Network, where minor league experts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo announced that LHP Steven Matz (No. 15), 1B Dominic Smith (No. 51), SS Amed Rosario (No. 79) and SS Gavin Cecchini (No. 87) were the four Mets on the list.
Dodgers SS Corey Seager, Twins OF Byron Buxton, and Nationals RHP Lucas Giolito were numbers one, two, and three on the list, respectively.
Brandon Nimmo, who was ranked No. 71 in MLB Pipeline’s midseason list, fell out of the Top 100 in 2016, after struggling with injuries and failing to progress like some /he would.
Earlier this week, Matz came in at No. 9 on Baseball Prospectus’ Top 101 list. Matz will lose his rookie/prospect eligibility when he reaches 14.1 innings pitched in 2016, hopefully he can go out in April and make two strong starts and we won’t see him on any more of these lists. Based on the nine starts Matz made last season – three of them in the playoffs – he looked every bit of what was expected. He is still yet to lose a regular season game, and had a 2.27 earned run average.
Smith and Rosario find themselves on MLB’s list after also appearing in Baseball Prospectus at No. 86 and No. 96 respectively. Both players are still extremely young at 20-years old and will head to Double-A Binghamton in 2016. Smith broke out in 2015 with St. Lucie, hitting .305 with 33 doubles and 79 runs batted in.
The 2013 first round draft pick was named the Most Valuable Player of the Florida State League for his efforts. Smith’s teammate, Amed Rosario struggled at the plate, but showed he still has a great glove and speed. If he were to get the bat going this season, I’m sure Rosario will skyrocket up prospect lists.
It’s good to see Cecchini on this list after Baseball Prospectus left him off. Statistically, he enjoyed a solid 2015 season, hitting .315/.337/.442, and finishing third in the Mets minors with 139 hits. He was named the Rookie of the Year in the Eastern League.
Because of the glut of middle infielders in the upper minors, it will be interesting to see how the Mets balance his playing time with that of Matt Reynolds and Dilson Herrera. Ideally, you would put your first round picks in the best situation to succeed, but there will be a major competition at Las Vegas for those reps.
Here are few tweets from today with Callis and Mayo answering questions about the top 100. Question: What position player(s) in the bottom of the #Top100Prospects list make the biggest jump into 2017? Mayo answer: First vote would go to Amed Rosario of the Mets.
I have few doubts Smith will hit enough to be a regular. Rosario more to prove, further away @Mets #Top100Prospects https://t.co/OWOJXjOGnA
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) February 1, 2016
Nice to hear all the positive talk around Smith recently and that the top gurus think he will show the power soon. Smith knows how to handle the bat, showing great ability to hit the ball the other way which he said was a point of emphasis for himself this season during an in-game interview in the Arizona Fall League.
Last year’s preseason list featured RHP Noah Syndergaard (10), C Kevin Plawecki (63), Matz (66), OF Brandon Nimmo (72), and OF Michael Conforto (82).
