Photo By Ernest Dove

Through Tomas Nido‘s first few years as a professional, he truly struggled at the plate.  His best year had been 2014 when he repeated Brooklyn.  Typically speaking, a prospect does not want to repeat as low a level of the minor leagues as Brooklyn.  While Nido was better, he was hardly great.  It was not a good sign for his future when he regressed in Savannah the following season hitting just .259/.284/.372.  Despite the struggles, the Mets stuck by the still young catcher who was talented.

Finally, last year, Nido rewarded the Mets patience with him.  He had a breakout season winning the Florida State League batting title hitting .320/.357/.459 with 23 doubles, two triples, seven homers, and 46 RBI in 90 games.  The accolades would follow.  He was a mid-season and a post-season All Star for the Florida State League.  He would be named a Baseball American High A All Star, and an MiLB.com organizational All Star.

Long story short, Nido was now a prospect on the rise.  Behind the strength of this season, the Mets were not willing to risk losing Nido.  He was added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.  With that move right there, the Mets unofficially announced Nido was the catcher of the future.

The Mets decision seemed short-sided to begin the 2017 season.  In April, Nido hit just .196/.224/.321.  Arguably, the 23-year-old catcher was over-matched in Double-A.  At this point, it you can begin poking holes in Nido’s 2016 breakout season.  Certainly, part of his success might have been an unsustainable .344 BABIP.  That could explain why he finished off the 2016 season poorly hitting just .245/.305/.321 in August.  Of course, this is over-analyzing minor league numbers, and in reality, this is fueled by snap judgments.  Quite possible, Nido was having a slow start to the season.  In fact, that is exactly what it was.

Since May 1st, Nido has been the player he was in St. Lucie last year.  Actually, no, Nido has been better than that.  Over the past 28 games, Nido is hitting .324/.376/.533 with 10 doubles, four homers, and 20 RBI.  Impressively, Nido is on a streak right now where he has not struck out in his past 57 plate appearances.  On the season, he has an exceptionally low 8.6% strikeout rate.

In a very short time frame, Nido’s 2016 season has gone from an outlier to a stepping stone for a player who is developing into quite the offensive catcher.  When you combine that with a guy who does a very good job behind the plate, you have a complete catcher that is quite worthy of the moniker of being the Mets catcher of the future.

With today being the first day of the draft, there is a lesson to be learned here.  Nido was the Mets 2012 eighth round draft pick, and he struggled for his first four seasons in the minor leagues.  We should not look to where a player was drafted, nor should we over-analyze minor league stat lines in scouting a player.  Instead, look at the talent level.  Nido always had the talent, and now he is putting it all together.  This is both a credit to him and the Mets organization.