#4 Kevin Plawecki, C
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 205
Bats/Throws: R/R
DOB: 2/26/1991 (Age: 22)
Contact: 45/55 Power 40/50 Run 30/30 Fielding 55/55 Arm 45/45
The 35th overall pick of the 2011 draft, Plawecki has done nothing but prove that he was worth the pick, despite being the supplemental pick that was from our beloved shortstop, Jose Reyes. The 23-year old former-Purdue catcher has an athletic frame that has good lateral movement from behind the plate, getting rave reviews from the front office and Keith Law for his catching ability. Law went out and said in a recent chat that Plawecki can “Flat-out Catch”. However, his arm is fringe-average, and is the only worry about staying behind the plate. His catching skills help his arm play up, though.
As for the bat, he is a very interesting player; this past year he hit .305 between Low-A Savannah, and High-A St. Lucie, with 38 doubles, a triple, and 8 homers in 125 games. He walked 42 times and struck out 53 times and got on base at a rate of .390. Pretty decent numbers there. While he didn’t post just as good numbers in almost as many games, power wise, but struck out much less in High-A than he did in Low-A.
Prospect Outlook: Plawecki is an offense-first catcher who could hit .280 in the big leagues, and with a lot of power to the gaps, and a ton of doubles in his wake. As for over-the-fence type of power, he could surprise with double-digits, somewhere in the teens. However, if his arm can’t play up, he won’t be at catcher much longer. Either way, he has nothing left to prove at High-A, and will be tested at Double-A this coming year; and if he excels, will be in the MLB in 2015, and possibly forcing Travis d’Arnaud out of his spot.
ETA: 2015
MMN Top 40 Prospects
So by your last sentence you´re saying that Plawecki is a better catcher than d´Arnaud? When various prospect rating sources have said that d´Arnaud is the best catching prospect in the minors? This surprises me. Why wouldn´t it be Plawecki who changes position or is traded, given his fringe arm? Or is the comment based on the anticipation of further injury problems for d´Arnaud?
It seems to me that Plawecki has the potential to be a good starting catcher in MLB, rather than a backup. So if d´Arnaud performs well this year, the Mets will be faced with either an interesting problem or an interesting opportunity. Depending on performance, one or the other of them could be a central piece in a trade package for an impact bat next off-season.
I just realized that with 3 slots left, Syndergaard, Montero, d´Arnaud, and Dom Smith haven´t been named yet. Who´s getting left out of the top 25 prospects?
We kind of made it for prospects in the minor leagues because people sometimes don’t consider players who have played in the majors as prospects despite the at bat cutoff.
Anticipation on injuries, not hoping d’Arnaud is injured because he’d be the best catcher we had since Piazza, but Plawecki would be a great offensive catcher that would be awesome to take over the position if d’Arnaud fails, or doesn’t produce.
Either way, for once it’s a good position to be in.
Yeah, being a minors site we put the focus on the the guys who are still in the minors.
Also, if Plawecki continues to impress the Mets could consider playing d’Arnaud at 1B down the road. It could possibly help Travis stay healthy and I think his bat could play at first.
Got it! Makes sense. Many sites tend to use official eligibility, but there´s always a few guys like d´Arnaud who are on the bubble. Or cases like Masahiro Tanaka (or last year? Yu Darvish). Thanks for the explanation!
While in theory this might be good (many teams have done it), if Dominick Smith progresses as hoped you´d have a conflict there as well. Again, a good position to be in. But if d´Arnaud stays healthy, then Plawecki would probably benefit the Mets most as a trade chip. (Plawecki and Murphy for Jose Reyes?? 😉 ).