MMN’s Top 80 Prospects, #10 RHP Robert Gsellman

Photo by MiLB.com

We are now diving into our Top 10 with our third straight right-handed pitcher following Logan Verrett (#11) and Seth Lugo (#12). Despite midseason trades, the Mets still have a solid collection of starting pitching prospects that are close to be Major League ready.

#10 RHP Robert Gsellman

Ht: 6’4″ Wt: 200 Age: 7/18/1993 (22)

2015 Level: Single A Port St Lucie Mets, Double AA Binghamton Mets

MiLB Statistics: 24 G, 24 GS, 143.1 IP, 13-7 W-L, 2.89 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 86 K’s

The Mets drafted Robert Gsellman in the 13th round in the 2011 draft out of Westchester High School in Los Angeles, CA. So far, they have seen a very nice return on investment given his 2.86 career ERA in the minors to date. After having a good year in 2015, the Mets decided to add Gsellman to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. When Mets decided to trade Michael Fulmer and Casey Meisner, they weakened the next wave of arms that would have provided depth to the starters they have on the big league team. However, this has provided an opportunity for him to be a reinforcement for the Mets going forward.

He has put up solid numbers at every stop in the minors to date, although he had trouble missing bats at A and AA last year, he only struck out 5.4 batters per 9 innings. All in all, Gsellman had a wildly successful campaign in 2015 pitching to a 2.89 ERA across High A and AA while only allowing 126 hits in 143.1 innings. He also did a great job of keeping the ball down shown by his 0.39 HR/9 last year for the Binghamton Mets. At 6’4 200 lbs, he stands tall on the mound with a fluid delivery which can be seen here.

There isn’t too many moving parts which should be beneficial to his future long-term health. He has a solid fastball and deceptive arm action with his changeup and breaking ball. The changeup comes out a little flat and could use refinement at AAA. However, the good part of his changeup is that it has a nice difference in speed from the fastball (10-11 mph). The breaking ball has a nice 11-5 break and has turned into an above average pitch.

Gsellman is a pitcher who won’t walk too many batters and will live in the zone. He only had 37 walks last year in 143.1 innings pitched. As a starter, his sinking fastball has been in the 90-92 mph range while hitting 95 at times. Gsellman should be ticketed for Las Vegas for his final tune-up. Given the Mets lack of fifth starter depth, I expect him to get a shot at the big leagues if any injuries occur to one of the Mets starters.

In my view, the most likely outcome for Gsellman is as a 4-5 starter, which is perfect for the Mets given their solid core of pitchers with ace potential. If he can work on the sinking action on his changeup and have his fastball live in the 92-93 mph range, I see potential as a 3 starter in the big leagues.

#11 Logan Verrett, #12 Seth Lugo, #13 Jhoan Urena, #14 Gabriel Ynoa, #15 Ali Sanchez, #16 Luis Guillorme, #17 Chris Flexen, #18 Max Wotell, #19 Milton Ramos, #20 Akeel Morris, 25-21, 30-26 35-31, 40-36, 45-41, 50-46, 60-51, 70-61, 80-71

Written by formerwriters