If you like pitching, St. Lucie should be your destination next year. The rotation and the bullpen features a number of pitchers coming off a terrific year in Columbia who promise to improve in 2017. This is a group of projectible arms who may very well find their way to the majors.
On offense, this team features players who have some terrific tools, but also have some flaws, some significant. It’s going to be incumbent on first time minor league manager Chad Kreuter to cultivate this talent
INFIELDERS
1B Peter Alonso – Slugging first baseman who hit .321/.382/.587 in his debut with Brooklyn before a broken pinkie prematurely ended his season in early August.
UTIL Dale Burdick – 2014 40th round draft pick can handle all four infield positions.
3B Eudor Garcia – Aggressive and promising hitter that has shown enough athleticism to stick at third base.
UTIL J.C. Rodriguez – Over the past two seasons he has become one of the most versatile players in the Mets system playing second, third, short, and left field.
2B Vinny Siena – Streaky singles hitter who spent time with Columbia and St. Lucie in 2016.
OUTFIELDERS
OF Tucker Tharp – Speedy outfielder who plays a good center field and is also capable of playing left and right.
1B/OF Jeffrey Diehl – Catcher First baseman Outfielder Jeff Diehl is entering his seventh season in the organization, meaning he will be a minor league free agent after the 2017 season, even though he has yet to play above St. Lucie.
OF Wuilmer Becerra – Top prospect will need to show he is fully recovered from last year’s torn labrum before he moves up to Double-A Binghamton.
OF Enmanuel Zabala – Zabala has gone from organizational depth to a somewhat intriguing centerfielder. He hit .280/.330/.339 with Columbia last season and provides passable speed and defense.
CATCHERS
C/1B Patrick Mazeika – Pure hitter who has a .329/.432/.469 batting line in two years in the minors. In an exclusive interview with MMN, the tall catcher said he’s working on becoming a much improved backstop.
C Brandon Brosher – Has the power to hit baseballs out of any ballpark, but that won’t be possible if he continues to not make contact.
STARTING PITCHERS
RHP Marcos Molina – Molina will be making his return from Tommy John surgery, which claimed all of his 2016 season, save for seven strong appearances in the Arizona Fall League.
RHP Andrew Church – After hip surgery and mechanical adjustments, the 2013 second round pick had a breakout season that saw him post a 2.92 ERA and 1.056 WHIP for Columbia, St. Lucie, and Las Vegas last year.
RHP Nabil Crismatt – Former reliever that has caused the Mets to take notice and put him in the rotation. He has an outstanding change-up, and he is working on a slider and quick pitch to improve his repertoire.
RHP Chase Ingram – Solid four pitch pitcher with a good curveball who can locate well and is sound mechanically.
RHP Joe Shaw – Can throw in the mid-90s, but doesn’t stay there consistently. He also needs to be more consistent with his delivery and breaking pitches.
RELIEF PITCHERS
RHP Tyler Bashlor – Can ramp it up to 98 MPH and has a terrific curve. Bashlor used the combination to strike out 11.8 batters per nine last year.
RHP Johnny Magliozzi – While the 5’8″ pitcher is short in stature he has a big fastball which helped him post a 2.96 ERA last year.
RHP Craig Missigman – Uses a good change-up with a developing curve and low 90s fastball to keep batters off balance limiting them to a .215 batting average last year
RHP Alex Palsha – Very effective closer who used a fastball/curveball combination to strike out 10.2 batters per nine last year.
RHP Jimmy Duff – Struggled in 22 appearances in St. Lucie last season and was sent down to Columbia. Second time’s a charm?
LHP Seth Davis – Struck out 62 batters in 66.2 innings out of the bullpen for Columbia in 2016, including seven on June 3 and six on July 29.
RHP Witt Haggard – 25-year-old struggled to keep walks to a minimum in 2016.
RHP Joshua Torres – Former Brewers prospect was signed in December and has not pitched since 2015. Has experience starting and relieving in his four minor league seasons.
RHP Justin Brantley – Cousin of Indians All-Star Michael Brantley was signed in March and could return to the Eastern League at some point this season.
Does this mean Marcos Molina is starting the year in XST? And how do you make room for Carpio/Ramos/Paez/Woodmansee on the same team?
Looks like St Lucie and is where most of our intriguing pitching prospects are (besides Szapucki, Dunn, and Planck)
Fireflies released a preliminary roster. Dunn, Szapucki, and Woodmansee are all not on the roster, so it seems like they’ll all be starting in St. Lucie, unless there’s some undisclosed injury to any of them. I am surprised about Szapucki and especially that they’re skipping Woddmansee over Columbia. Also, Witt Haggard it apparently starting in Columbia.
https://www.milb.com/fireflies/news/mets-reveal-2017-fireflies-roster/c-221921592/t-196097278
Columbia’s transactions and roster have been announced. Brosher is on that roster, while Tyler Moore and Patrick Mazeika is missing so presumably going to Lucie. Seth Davis and Witt Haggard are also on Columbia’s roster (though davis is on the DL).
Not surprised about Woodmansee. They gave him a lot of time/looks in major league camp this year, and they simply do not have another shortstop to move to that level. In fact, I can’t even figure who the back-up SS will be. I notice that Carpio is listed as a DH on the Columbia roster, and played mostly 2B in spring training. Can’t help wondering if his range is [still] compromised following the knee injury, and whether or not such limits will be permanent.
Szapucki and Dunn apparently ARE going to St Lucie. Columbia’s roster was released today, and they are not on that one.
It appears that Woodmansee is going to St Lucie. Columbia’s roster was released today and he’s not on it. Carpio and Paez were assigned to Columbia, and Ramos is still there, as well.
The injury to Carpio was a shoulder injury…Also, JC Rodriguez will be on the St. Lucie roster and will be the backup SS and backup the entire IF as well.
Like NT said, Szapucki and Dunn are ticketed for St. Lucie, but Planck will probably head to Brooklyn
Exactly. My projection had Woodmansee starting in A+, he has the most advanced contact ability out of the four of them. I can picture a situation where Woodmansee gets off to a poor start and one of the three get off to a great start and by mid-May they’d switch places.
I cant see the Mets skipping a high school pitcher to Brooklyn. They didn’t do it with Szapucki so lets try to adjust and assume that if he is worth the million they paid him that he starts at Kingsport and gets bump to Brooklyn, like Szapucki last year, if he dominates.
JRod and Burdick are the backup PSL infielders. I like Burdick, and he has hit when they let him play everyday, but there is just too much middle infield talent at the lower levels.
True, but just to make my point here. They were discussing starting Planck at Columbia. Maybe I’ll write up something explaining int full…
You’re right – shoulder, not knee. Also: I get that JC has played some shortstop. But he’s played it badly thus far. Hard to see them giving him 20 starts there at the higher level. As you’ve pointed out in another post, its probably a matter of time before someone else gets promoted to share the position with Woodmansee.
I feel like Woodmansee will get eaten up in the PSL.
I agree. He started hot last year, but really tailed off
He just struck out a ton