I continue to keep an eye on the third base situation down in Port St. Lucie, not only because I live down in South Florida but also because, as expected, David Thompson was promoted from low-A and has since continued to have a strong season overall.  It appears that the Mets organization has been in favor of the 22-year old college guy David Thompson at third, with the still only 21-year old original international signing Jhoan Urena now getting more and more time at first base.

I’ve seen Urena play both positions in the past two years, most recently watching him play at first.  Overall it still can viewed as small sample sizes in regards to having watched him play both. With my own thoughts and views about Urena showing a quick glove and release at third, seeing some accurate but low throws at times, without a ton of range at the position.

With that in mind, perhaps it does appear that his skill set can go well over on the other side of the diamond. His strong body can function just as well, if not better, at first to begin with.  And as always, offensively, being a switch hitter combined with his talent continues to make him a solid prospect to keep developing within the organization.

But the key right now is offense.  David Thompson has continued to be an RBI machine throughout 2016, and despite his recent slump over the past two weeks he has continued to drive in runs and draw walks, maintaining his ongoing status as a strong middle of the order candidate in the near future.

Urena on the other hand has had a rough season offensively.  After appearing to statistically bottom out this year with his batting average and OBP sitting at .186 and .256 respectfully on June 25th, Urena hit a hot streak and saw those numbers climb to .225 and .285 by July 17th.  Now, as of August 8th. Urena has again started to slump with his batting average having dipped back below .220.

Photo by Ernest Dove

I’m wondering if it’s worth giving any true thought to maybe seeing his recent position change of sorts more regularly at first as having some kind of effect in his production.

Defensively, my only eyeball test of David Thompson produced little due to him having limited opportunities to field anything with PJ Conlon having induced mostly pop flies and strikeouts during the game I watched at Tradition Field.  I would instead defer to the other more expert opinions that have been shared on MetsMinors stating having seen David shown positive defensive skills overall, perhaps more than expected going into the season based off others thoughts and opinions of Thompson.

Offensively, I’ve stated in a previous post my excitement even simply with the sound of the ball off David Thompson bat, and feeling that the sound alone tells me he can square up and make solid contact on the ball at least at the lower level and could see it translating positively into the higher levels going forward.  I also still like Urena and his strong compact swing, especially from the left side of the plate.  The question now and going into next year is what to do with both prospects.

With Matt Oberste having himself switched positions at the AA level due to the Dom Smith effect and impact on the team and the league in general, I would still like to assume that he would not block either Thompson or Urena from progressing through the farm system with the organization.

Also just my opinion but it appears that Eudor Garcia, coming out of college as “a guy who rakes”, may continue to remain more of a wildcard at this time due to time lost following his PED suspension, and either way can still find himself securely set up as the third base in St. Lucie next year anyway, thus not causing any log jam at the position as an equal level.

So the question is where do the Mets go from here?  Should we assume the second half of 2016 in St. Lucie means that Thompson will have the edge of playing third base over Urena next year? Would Mets, based on Urena’s age, actually consider him having to repeat High-A level to start 2017 anyway, regardless of whether it’s as a first or third?

Can and should Thompson be fast tracked a little more in 2017 due to being a college guy who’s now producing offensively in the organization and find himself in AAA by all star break 2017. Being given the first shot at being the poor guy who has to be the ultimate replacement of ‘the other David’?

With this season coming closer to the end I’m hoping to get the thoughts of you guys on who you’ve seen, who you prefer, who you project better, etc.

All photos courtesy of Ernest Dove