27. Wilfredo Tovar, IF
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 160
DOB: 08/11/1991 (Age: 22)
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Hit: 40/45 Power: 30/30 Arm: 60/60 Field: 70/70 Speed: 45/50
Outside of Juan Lagares, Wilfredo Tovar might be the best defensive player in the Mets organization. Considering we’ve also got Matt den Dekker in the system, that’s relatively high praise. He’s coming off a season in Double-A Binghamton where he posted a .263/.323/.340 line with 14 doubles, four triples, and four home runs in 441 at-bats. He’s currently batting .320 (7-for-25) with two doubles, a triple, and a home run in the Venezuelan Winter League right now.
Tovar has a career .333 slugging percentage in over 2,000 MiLB at-bats, so power is obviously not his strong suit. I don’t think Tovar will be a singles-only hitter like Luis Castillo, but I doubt he’ll ever supercede five home runs in an MLB season. He chokes up on the bat, which saps his power, but he still doesn’t make solid enough contact to keep his average high. He’s looking at like a .250 average or so in the MLB.
It might be weird to see me praise a player as a great defender with below average speed and an arm that’s about average for MLB shortstops,but it really comes down to how impressive his reaction time is.
Outlook: Tovar was actually called up to the Mets last year and got his first taste of action in Flushing, which was great to see. Based on purely his defensive talent, he should be at least a bench player in the majors someday. I’ve always been a little more down on Tovar than most because I didn’t think his bat would develop — although it looks like he’s putting in the work to try and improve that. Also, he’s just 22 and will find himself in Triple-A next season, so it’s unfair of me to write off potential improvement.