Baseball is finally here and one of my favorite signs of spring drawing closer is the Prospect Handbook by Baseball America arriving in the mail.
Baseball America ranks the Top 10 at their site which you can read here and you can order your copy of the handbook here.
The following is the Top 31 Mets prospects as ranked by BA with our ranking and link to report in parentheses.
- Amed Rosario, SS (#1)
- Dominic Smith, 1B (#2)
- Justin Dunn, RHP (#6)
- Desmond Lindsay, OF (#5)
- Brandon Nimmo, OF (#8)
- Gavin Cecchini, SS/2B (#7)
- Robert Gsellman, RHP (#3)
- Thomas Szapucki, LHP (#4)
- Gabriel Ynoa, RHP (#18)
- Tomas Nido, C (#10)
- Marcos Molina, RHP (#13)
- Anthony Kay, LHP (N/A)
- Peter Alonso, 1B (#12)
- Merandy Gonzalez, RHP (#17)
- Luis Guillorme, SS (#27)
- Wuilmer Becerra, OF (#11)
- Andres Gimenez, SS (#9)
- Matt Reynolds, INF (N/A)
- P.J. Conlon, LHP (#23)
- Luis Carpio, SS/2B (#16)
- Patrick Mazeika, C/1B (#44)
- Chris Flexen, RHP (#20)
- Ricardo Cespedes, OF (#22)
- T.J. Rivera, INF (#15)
- Phillip Evans, INF (#31)
- Corey Taylor, RHP (#28)
- Ali Sanchez, C (#14)
- Harol Gonzalez, RHP (#25)
- Gregory Guerrero, SS (#19)
- Colby Woodmansee, SS (#40)
- David Thompson, 3B (#24)
The handbook does come with a bonus booklet that ranks a #31 prospect for each team. Four players; RHP Nabil Crismatt, LHP Josh Smoker, RHP Andrew Church and LHP David Roseboom made our Top 31 here at MMN but not on Baseball America’s list. Also should not that we left Anthony Kay off our list considering he has yet to throw a pro pitch and had Tommy John surgery in October.
One of the biggest surprised for me on the list is how high they have Ynoa which at this time seems to be good news for Baltimore Orioles fans. Next surprise is Reynolds, whom according to Baseball Reference no longer has rookie/prospect eligibility.
I really don’t understand having Dunn ahead of Gsellman. Not only did Gsellman have a spike in velocity last year, but showed a plus slider and did both at the major league level.
Sanchez is too low for me despite his bad offensive season for the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2016. His defense his plus all-around which can provide huge value and the raw tools are still there for the 20-year to become a solid offensive player.
I know Mazeika has done nothing but hit since he was drafted by the Mets in 2015, however his defensive skill set makes it questionable if he can stick behind the plate. Then you have a guy playing first base that has limited power with little potential improvement in that area. The offense reminds me somewhat of former Met Josh Thole, which will help you understand why his ranking is too high if he has to move to first base.
This list helps illustrate the type of depth the Mets minor league system has right now when you’ve got a high ceiling player like Gimenez at #17, a guy with close to the top of the scale power in Alonso at #13 and a shortstop that the Mets gave a $1.5 million signing bonus as one of the best international free agents available in Guerrero at #29.
I remain intrigued by Luis guillorme. As an expert of nothing my critique of him seeing him in person was wanting him to be more aggressive at the plate and wondering if he will ever consistently turn on the ball and pull it a little more. But he does consistently make contact and his vacuum at SS speaks for itself.
Baseball America solely uses the Plate appearances and inning pitch portion of MLB ROY requirements, /c when they Days of service time info was not readily available and they just stuck with that criteria, so he still qualifys for BA lists
Gsellman is too low. I would have Gimenez in the top 10. Ynoa was definitely not in my top 10 Mets prospects. Weird list. A lot of lists didn’t rank Gsellman properly. He should be a consensus top 100 prospect at his point. Anyone who doesn’t see that isn’t paying attention.
What do they not see in David Thompson that his numbers aren’t impressive enough. I feel like he should be a top 15 if not even a top 10 player in our organization.
I liked what I saw from him.
Well just strictly going on numbers, they would see that his numbers took a decent hit after his promotion to St. Lucie.
Agree with your entire statement.
Still trying to figure out why Ynoa was jettisoned and not Montero or Reynolds.
Agree, the goal of prospects is having a high ceiling and making and succeeding in the majors…Gsellman had great success at the show last year in extended exposure and Gimenez has a big time ceiling…both should be much higher
Reynolds plays a legit solid MLB SS so he could easily be a good backup SS at the MLB level and showed surprisingly good oppo power in NY, he’s easily more valued higher than Ynoa…Montero, on the other hand, I guess I’d have to guess that they like his stuff better, seeing as both Ynoa and him both are nothing more than mop up man in the bullpen material
Ynoa at 9 is a bit high.
Neither Montero nor Ynoa have been able to get major league hitters out so far. And neither seem to have good enough secondary stuff. At this point, both have pretty similar profiles though Montero may have the higher ceilings if he stops pitching scared and rediscovers the higher arm angle that made him successful in the past.
While Ynoa is a couple of years younger, looking at things without including the disappointment of Montero failing to live up to much loftier expectations, it’s a pretty close call.
I’m right there with both of you. I’ll be keeping a little bit of an eye on Ynoa this year because of the ranking.
But, you give a kid just a few innings and make a determination there, when another player has been at it for three years? Ynoa may be a dud, but they preferred Montero at this point over Ynoa?
You are basing your opinion of what you have seen of Montero and Ynoa at the major league level. The Mets are basing their opinion on what they have seen of the two which is not the same as what you have seen.