For the purpose of our series of posts, we define the word fringe as any prospects, which we considered, that were absent from MMN’s own Top 40 Prospect lists. The purpose of the series is to identify prospects that are showing promise above what fans might expect and what their futures will hold within the Mets organization.
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Logan Verrett, Pitcher
DOB: 6/19/1990
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
2013 Total Stats: 146 IP, 4.25 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 8.14 K/9, 1.91 BB/9
2013 Review
Verrett, a third round pick in the 2011 Draft, spent all of 2013 pitching for Double-A Binghamton. He logged 146 innings, a more than 40 innings jump from his rookie season in pro ball. He posted a solid 4.25 ERA in that span, and had a K/BB ratio of over 4 to 1. He started the season off strong, pitching to a 2.43 ERA in June that netted him four wins in five starts. After that Logan came back to earth a bit, but remained consistent and never had a month where his ERA topped five.
Prospect Outlook
Verrett was able to post solid numbers in Double-A without having knockout stuff. His fastball is fringe-average at best, so hitters are able to sit on his slider and still catch up with his fastball. Speaking of the slider, it’s clearly his best pitch with sharp two-plane break and the ability to miss bats. While he throws strikes and limit walks, he doesn’t really command his pitches, often leading to hard hit balls. Verrett’s going to have to see a spike in velocity if he wants to remain a starter long-term. However at his age (23) that isn’t likely.
2014 Prediction
Logan will likely head back to Binghamton to start 2014. He wasn’t able to dominate the competition the first time around, and that’s something you want to see before sticking a pitcher in the hitters haven of Las Vegas and the PCL. He’ll pitch in the rotation until it becomes apparent that he doesn’t have the chops for starting at the highest level. My guess is that he’s a reliever long term, and he has a chance to be a good one with that fastball/slider mix.