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Two Mets and Two Former Mets Make MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects

By Joseph Hill

January 28, 2019 No comments

Andres Gimenez/Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

MLB Pipeline recently released their top 100 prospects list for the 2019 season. The list featured two Mets; First baseman Peter Alonso at 51 and shortstop Andres Gimenez at 58.

The main surprise here is that Pipeline seems a little low on Gimenez, who is considered by most prospect evaluators as the Mets’ top prospect. For reference, he was ranked 30th by Baseball America and 38th by Baseball Prospectus. Both of those publications also had Gimenez higher than Alonso, which seems to be the consensus opinion among most Mets prospect gurus.

So that’s why Alonso being ranked higher than Gimenez comes at a bit of a surprise. Gimenez is a talented defensive shortstop who has shown great maturity at the plate, especially being only 20 years old still, while Alonso has a much lower floor due to his lack of value in the field. The reality is that for Alonso to provide any kind of value, he’s going to have to hit. With Gimenez’s glove, he can get away with a longer adjustment period at the plate. Plus, Alonso is four years older than Gimenez already.

Regardless, it’s still promising to see the Mets’ top two prospects ranked fairly high up on these lists.

There were no real snubs from the Mets on the list, but one prospect who likely just missed the list was the Mets’ second best shortstop prospect, Ronny Mauricio. Mauricio is just 17 and has less than 250 professional plate appearances, so it’s understandable why they would be hesitant to declare him a top-100 prospect quite yet.

However, the teenager could easily see himself make this list in the near future, as he signed out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2017 for $2.1 million, breaking Amed Rosario‘s signing bonus record. Mauricio still has a lot of growth to do, but he has the potential to stick at shortstop as a tall, skinny switch hitter with a smooth swing from both sides. He is definitely a name to watch in the Mets system going forward.

While Mauricio was not ranked on Pipeline’s list, he did just barely make Baseball America’s list, coming in at number 98. The Mets are fortunate to have two very young and talented shortstops in their system right now.

Pipeline said of Gimenez and Alonso,

“After failing to place a prospect on MLB Pipeline’s preseason Top 100 in 2018, the Mets are back on the board with a pair of representatives in Alonso and Gimenez. If all goes as planned, Alonso, fresh off his 36-homer, 119-RBI season, should spend much of the season in the big leagues, while Gimenez tackles the upper Minors at age 21. For context, the organization’s best showing came in 2015, when they placed five prospects on the Top 100, and they followed it with four the next year.”

Two recently traded Mets prospects also the made the list. Pipeline was pretty high on outfielder Jarred Kelenic, who they ranked as the 56th best prospect in baseball, along with starting pitcher Justin Dunn at 91, both of whom were traded to the Mariners in the Mets’ blockbuster deal for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz earlier this offseason.

Both prospects will obviously be severely missed, especially Kelenic, who arguably had the highest ceiling of anyone in the Mets system. Dunn seemed to be figuring things out last year, as he posted a 3.59 ERA and 10.4 K/9 between St. Lucie and Binghamton. His loss was a fairly big hit to the Mets’ thin rotation depth, and his inclusion on this list proves the potential he has to become a Major League pitcher.