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MiLB.com Ranks Mets 21-and-Under Talent 26th

By Joseph Hill

March 19, 2018 No comments

Mark Vientos Photo Credit – Allen Greene Photography

Continuing with their rankings of different areas of all the teams’ farm systems, MiLB.com recently ranked the Mets 26th out of the 30 teams in talent under the age of 21.

As some of the most notable prospects under 21 that largely led to this ranking, author Alex Kraft mentioned Andres Gimenez, Thomas Szapucki, Mark Vientos, Desmond Lindsay, Ronny Mauricio, Jordan Humphreys, Adrian Hernandez, Luis Carpio, Gregory Guerrero, and Ali SanchezOverall, he synthesizes the Mets ranking by saying, “Like the Cubs, the Mets’ system has seen better days as many of their top young players have gotten older or graduated to the Majors.”

This is certainly true, as former top prospects Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith have both gotten older and graduated from prospect status. While the top prospect in the organization Gimenez is under 21, a lot of the Mets’ key prospects are not, such as David Peterson, Peter Alonso and Justin Dunn.

Still, there is reason for hope. As is to be expected with such young players, there is a lot of uncertainty and unproved potential. It can be hard to tell which under-the-radar prospects are going to surprise and which highly-ranked prospects are going to disappoint, especially at such a young age. While MiLB.com is not very optimistic about this young group compared to the talent in the other farm systems, there are plenty of players to watch develop as they try to prove themselves.  That list includes those players MMN‘s own Jack Ramsey put in his All 20 And Under Team.

A good example is Ronny Mauricio, a skinny 16-year-old shortstop who is yet to play a professional game. Mauricio broke Rosario’s Mets international signing bonus record this recent July. It’s hard to rank him at the top of any prospect lists yet because he’s just so young and unproven, but given his skill-set, he could potentially become a top prospect in all of baseball – much like what Rosario eventually became.

There’s also the issue of injuries holding back some of these young prospects. As the article mentions, the Mets’ top left-handed pitching prospect Thomas Szapucki had to undergo Tommy John surgery in July. Jordan Humphreys, who like Szapucki has posted fantastic numbers in the minors, also had to have his season cut short due to Tommy John. Not knowing how they are going to recover from their injuries likely adds some skepticism thus hurting the ranking.

Basically, this group of under-21s is chock full of unproven talent, whether it be due to not having played yet, injuries, or under-performance early in their careers. Gregory Guerrero, for example, has all the tools of a great prospect, but has just not lived up to the hype on offense or defense. Ali Sanchez, while great defensively, has had injuries while disappointing with the bat. Guys like Mauricio, Hernandez, and Mark Vientos have talent but little to no experience yet, and guys like Szapucki, Humphreys and Lindsay have posted great numbers at times but have been hurt by injuries. Guerrero, Sanchez and Luis Carpio have flat-out disappointed early in their careers. Gimenez held his own in Columbia after tearing up the DSL, but even he still has a ton to prove.

Overall, many believe the Mets have only one fringe top-100 prospect under 21.  However, many of these players could become top-100 prospects if they prove themselves at each level. Furthermore, a large chunk of the Mets’ minor league talent remains in the players over 21. So a low ranking on this list shouldn’t leave feeling hopeless for the future; it just means that the talent they do have is mostly unproven.