When Paul DePodesta left the Mets after the 2015 season, he had left the minor league system in great shape. Across the board, the Mets had talented and high end position and pitching prospects.
Perhaps, the best year he had on the job was his final year where the Mets brought in a number of highly regarded prospects with high ceilings. Two of those emerging prospects are Desmond Lindsay and Andres Gimenez.
Lindsay was the Mets 2015 second round pick out of Out-of-Door Academy in Sarasota, Florida. The Mets were excited to get a player they dubbed “an offensive machine” and believed he could be the future in center field.
Last year, Lindsay showed some of that promise hitting .303/.433/.451 in 37 games for the Gulf Coast Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones.
With that said, Lindsay was limited in part due to hamstring issues. This was not unexpected as Lindsay has been plagued with injuries since all the way back to high school. It is one of the reasons a player as talented as Lindsay was available in the second round. To that end, the Mets are working with him to keep him on the field and at 100%.
As the Mets Director of Minor League Operations Ian Levin told Mike Rosenbaum of MLB Pipeline, “I give a ton of credit to our athletic training and strength and conditioning staffs for helping him get back to the point where he’s at now. He put in a ton of time during the offseason to get himself where he needs to be, and I’m thrilled with how he’s looked so far.”
Levin says that so far this Spring, Lindsay “looks completely healthy and more explosive than I ever remember, and I think it could be a big year for him.”
Lindsay is not the only prospect the Mets acquired in 2015 they have high hopes for. The other is Gimenez, who many Mets fans are unaware about as the team has surprisingly not brought him stateside to play professionally.
After Gimenez hit .350/.469/.523 in the Dominican Summer League last year, that is sure to change. This year, Gimenez is going to play in the United States, and he is sure to quickly make a name for himself.
According to Levin, “Gimenez just has a great feel for the offensive and defensive game, and the toolset is that of a pure shortstop that has the ability to hit. He’s still so young and has so much development remaining, but you can really see the makings of a five-tool, impact player on both sides of the ball.”
With Lindsay and Gimenez, the Mets have two five tool prospects that look poised to have a terrific 2016 season.
Giminez just destroyed the DSL last season. The first year stateside is often difficult, learning a language and a new culture, and being far away from home (although his big signing bonus should be enough to bring Mom north with him, if she can make it through customs). I wonder where they’ll start him?
Also, it’ll be fun to watch Lindsay this year. Let’s hope he stays on the field.
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DSL stats are obviously going to be skewed so looking at them you have to take them with a grain of salt. HOWEVER the thing that jumped out to me while following the minors last year was his strikeouts and walks. Most of the top players in the minors who put up big offensive numbers strike out a lot and don’t walk. This shows that they have talent and ability obviously but still need to learn the strike zone and be more patient. Gimenez was the opposite. I’m pretty sure he walked more than he struck out. So he wasn’t just up there hacking. When you know you’re more talented than anyone else you just swing and try to do damage. Gimenez didn’t do that. He still put up pretty monster numbers while also taking his walks and limiting his strike outs. When I look at minors stats, if I see the kid is having a really good year I ALWAYS look at the walks and strikeouts and if they are almost even or have more walks than strikeouts then that’s when I get excited. It was one year in the lowest of leagues and he’s only like 17 so a lot can change but he’s definitely a name I’ll be looking out for in the next couple years.
Lindsay hasn’t even scratched the surface yet. He’s dealt with a bunch of injuries during his short Met’s tenure. He is a legitimate 5 tool player. He’s one of the prospects I’m most interested in.
Giminez is an absolute beast. The numbers he put up given his age and the fact it was his first year stateside was amazing.
Guerrero also had a good year. Again givin his age and the fact it was his first year stateside. His name barely gets mentioned because he was so highly overshadowed by Giminez but he had a good season in his own right. I like both Gurrero and Giminez walk to strikeout ratios. For a couple of 17 year olds it was pretty awesome. Gurrero don’t have the power Giminez does but he looks like a stud in his own right.
Both Gimenez and Guerrero did not play stateside