With the Mets having purchased the Syracuse Mets, the 2018 season will be the final year the Mets Triple-A affiliate will be the Las Vegas 51s. The 51s promise to have a roster stocked with former and soon to be Major League players.

As previously reported by MMN, the 51s will be lead by a new coaching staff led by Tony DeFrancesco. He will be joined by former Binghamton Rumble Ponies pitching coach Glenn Abbott  and hitting coach Joel Chimelis who spent last season in the Astros organization as well.

This all creates to the intrigue as to how exactly the Mets and 51s roster will look like on both Opening Day and by the end of the 2018 season:

Infielders

Dominic Smith – Like last year, he is in great shape, and like last year, he is going to have to show the Mets he can stay in shape to get another shot at the majors. He’s also may have to improve upon his career best season last year which included a career high 27 homers (Triple-A and MLB combined) with Adrian Gonzalez and blocking his path back to Flushing.

Gavin Cecchini – After a lost 2017 season, Cecchini seems to have revamped every aspect of his game. He will look to better his 2016 .325/.390/.448 batting line and will look to steal a career high in bases.

David Thompson – Thompson finished the year slugging .546 over the last month of the season, and he repeated it by slugging .569 in the Arizona Fall League. He will now enter a hitting environment well-suited for his newfound power stroke.

Luis Guillorme – Lost in Guillorme’s incredible defense is his ability to get on base. He has a career .361 OBP with a .376 OBP for Binghamton last year.

 

Outfielders

Kevin Kaczmarski – Like Thompson, Kaczmarski will look to build upon a good Double-A and outstanding Arizona Fall League season.

Matt den Dekker – After being traded away from the Mets in 2015 to obtain Jerry Blevins, den Dekker is back to provide the Mets with outfield depth and for him to continue his good outfield defense.

Zach Borenstein – The powerful Borenstein is coming off a year where he mashed hitting .279/.351/.573 with 24 homers and 91 RBI for the Reno Aces. He will look to put up similar numbers in the PCL again this year.

Jayce Boyd – Last year, from June until the end of the season, Boyd hit an outstanding .322/.391/.563 with nine homers and 42 RBI.

Ty Kelly – During Kelly’s last stint with the 51s, he hit .328/.409/.435, which all but forced an injury prone 2016 Mets team to call him up to the majors. Ultimately, he would find himself on the Mets Wild Card roster that season.  Kelly wasn’t able to repeat those stats last year hitting .193/.260/.341 for the Phillies in 69 games.

Catchers

Tomas Nido – Nido had a strong season behind the plate. However, with his BABIP dropping from .344 to .255, he saw his 2016 Florida State League batting title lead to a middling .232/.287/.354 batting line for Binghamton last season.

Jose Lobaton – An expert pitch framer, Lobaton was brought in as catching depth for the organization. Considering Travis d’Arnaud‘s injury history, we may very well see him called up at some point next season.

Rotation

Zack Wheeler – The Mets followed through on their promise to carry their best pitchers by putting the struggling Wheeler in Triple-A.  In his last six starts last year, he had a 9.89 ERA and 2.197 WHIP before getting shut down with injury.  In five Spring Training appearances, he had an 8.10 ERA and 2.400 WHIP.

Robert Gsellman – With the amount of starting pitchers the Mets have available, Gsellman is likely the odd man out. To work himself back into the mix, he’s going to have to improve upon his career 5.93 ERA for Vegas.

Chris Flexen – For this first time for a Mets pitcher since Mike Pelfrey in 2006, Flexen made the jump from Double-A to the majors. As a result, his first pitch in 2018 will be the first ever pitch he throws in Triple-A.

Corey Oswalt – The Eastern League Pitcher of the Year looks to repeat his 2017 breakout season in the much more difficult Pacific Coast League pitching environment.

A.J. Griffin – After his Tommy John surgery, Griffin has gone from solid starter to having a 5.41 ERA over the past two seasons. He now looks to bounce back to his pre-injury form in a very difficult pitchers park and league.

Bullpen

Fernando Abad – After pitching to a 27.00 ERA in three Spring Training appearances for the Phillies, he was released, and the Mets signed him to a minor league deal.  His needing to settle for two minor league deals is surprising with him pitching to a 3.30 ERA last year while limiting left-handed hitters to a .227/.288/.348 batting line.

Jamie Callahan – While many struggle in the Pacific Coast League, Callahan had a 1.80 ERA there in nine appearances after the Mets obtained him as part of the Addison Reed trade. He will look to put up those numbers as he tries to make his way back to the majors.

P.J. Conlon – Despite having success as a starter, the Mets have announced they are converting the soft tossing lefty a reliever.  Out of the bullpen, he could be utilized much like how the Mets utilized Sean Gilmartin in 2015, or they can attempt to make him a LOOGY.  Last year, he limited left-handed pitchers to a .252/.273/.358 batting line.

Kevin McGowan – The Mets were quick to bring McGowan back to the organization after he was designated for assignment at the end of the year.

Hansel Robles – With Robles struggling to put synthesize the information he has learned from Pedro Martinez along with what he is learning from new pitching coach Dave Eiland, Robles looks lost during Spring Training, and with him still having options left, he appears destined to Triple-A to once again figure things out. Based on his track record and his reverse splits, he might’ve made the team had Jacob Rhame not had such a huge Spring.

Drew Gagnon – Mets added Gagnon this offseason as bullpen depth. Last year, Gagnon had a 6.25 ERA in 31 appearances for the Angels Pacific Coast League affiliate.

Matt Purke – After holding left-handed batters to a .192/.314/.212 batting line in the International League last year, the Mets brought Purke into camp with a chance to claim a roster spot as the second left-handed pithcer in the pen.  His chances took a significant hit when he was sent home early in camp due to illness.

Kyle Regnault – Regnault has pushed himself into consideration for a LOOGY role with his limiting left-handed hitters to a .255/.318/.347 line while mostly pitching for Vegas last year. He also had a dominating Arizona Fall League stint that saw him post a 0.71 ERA and a 0.947 WHIP.

Corey Taylor – The rise in Taylor’s ERA and WHIP was fueled by a .330 BABIP, which was the highest he has yielded in his professional career.  With his BABIP stabilizing and his walking fewer batters, Taylor and his power sinker are poised for a return to the dominant numbers he posted in 2015 and 2016.

Analysis

Unlike past years, the Mets seem to have quality pitching depth between the majors and Triple-A. With injuries and the various performances from the pitchers at both levels, we may very well see many of the pitchers on this projected roster pitch in the majors at some point this season. Looking deeper, we can also expect to see names like Marcos Molina, Tyler Bashlor, Adonis Uceta, and David Roseboom make appearances for the 51s and/or Mets during the 2018 season.

Another name to consider is Logan Taylor.  Last year, he was called-up to Las Vegas after making two appearances for Binghamton.  In July, he was attacked by a homeless man resulting in Taylor suffering a concussion an needing staples to close the wounds.  While he would eventually return to the team in August, it is possible the team wants to bring him along slowly to start the season.

Overall, the most interesting decision the Mets organization will have to make is how to handle Cecchini and Guillorme. With Amed Rosario in the majors, neither one has a future at shortstop leaving both players to fight to become the second baseman of the future. Based on defense alone, Cecchini should be at second and Guillorme short. However, that may not be how the Mets see their own second base depth chart. How the Mets handle their middle infielders will be something well worth keeping an eye on throughout the entire season.

One last thing to monitor is how much the Double-A players push the Triple-A players. Certainly, the weak spot of this roster is its outfield, and the Rumble Ponies will have interesting outfield options like Jhoan Urena.

For what it’s worth, Urena could also push for playing time at third and DH should the opportunity present itself. Additionally, Nido may find himself getting pushed by Patrick Mazeika should Nido repeat his offensive struggles. It’s also important to note Peter Alonso is on the horizon.

Overall, the Las Vegas 51s may have the best roster they have ever had during their affiliation with the Mets organization. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether we will see DeFrancesco guide them to a Pacific Coast League championship before the team heads back to Syracuse.