Baseball Prospectus has released their Top 10 Mets Prospects heading into the 2016 season and the biggest surprise on the list has to be Luis Carpio coming in at #3 ahead of Dominic Smith and Gavin Cecchini. Carpio has certainly caught the eye of scouts and prospect gurus going from not appearing in Top 30 lists last year to being in everyone’s Top 10 this year. Baseball America and MLB Pipeline both had him at #7 in their prospect lists.
Here is BP’s Top 10 Mets prospects:
- Steven Matz
- Amed Rosario
- Luis Carpio
- Gavin Cecchini
- Dominic Smith
- Brandon Nimmo
- Desmond Lindsay
- Wuilmer Becerra
- Robert Gsellman
- Ali Sanchez
No surprise to see Rosario at number two given his ceiling and the Mets consensus shortstop of the future, “Rosario is still far from a finished project, but he now looks like a good bet to be an everyday shortstop, and potentially an above-average one.”
Cecchini had a rough first half of 2015 in the field but looked better in the second half after cleaning up some mental and physical issues, BP still questions his ability to stay at shortstop, “You can cover for a few “just okays,” but Cecchini is fringy in too many areas here to be an asset on the left side of the infield.”
BP also touched on something with Nimmo that I have been saying for a while, “The approach is still very strong, but he walks right up to the line of being too passive.” Hopefully this is something he can work on at Vegas this year when he is 100% healthy.
Sanchez being on this list is somewhat of a eye opener, however he is in the 10-15 range for most people and in that group you are getting into a tough to distinguish area. It is nice to see the group of raw talent that the Mets have here, with a good year from Carpio, Becerra, Lindsay or Sanchez they could be in the Top 100 next offseason.
Wow this is the highest I’ve seen Carpio. I wonder what their reasoning behind this is. They must think he has a very high ceiling to have him that high so far away from the majors.
Not too surprising JP has been a very vocal Carpio supporter and equally down on Smith
No way should Cecchini be ranked higher than Smith.
Because a first baseman who hasn’t shown any power warrants it?
I guess my question is how can you have him that high if you question his arm being enough for SS, his offensive ceiling isn’t nearly as valuable from 2B.
I agree, specially since he doesn’t think Cecchini sticks at ss.
Definitely the ceiling and I believe that Jeff saw Carpio in person this year so he must have flashed something that really jumped out at him.
Interesting. He just becomes that more interesting then. Is there an updated scouting report from BP? I thought he was just very advanced for his age.
And a guy who’s not gonna even be a SS for long does? Please.
You’re looking at a future 2B and/or just trade bait in the next year.
A fair question.
JP has long been down on Smith. I think his rankings reveal more of what he thinks of the Mets system as a whole. Which he has stated, remove Matz and he doesn’t see high impact players, just a lot of major league contributors.
Just off the top of my head, I see Smith, Rosario, Becerra, Ramos (IF he learns to hit), Gsellman and Morris as guys who can make an impact. With the pitching heavy draft this year, there will most likely be an influx of impact pitching again in the system.
I think with an injury this year you could see him at SS in Flushing or next year as well.
That is my same question with him having Cecchini ahead of Smith too, I just don’t think some of the rankings back up his scouting reports/future potential of the player.
Here is the link to the article: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=28523#.Vs7-qW2Wmz0.twitter
I would disagree that Rosario “struggled”. I think for what he was, he did quite well.
I think you are looking only at ideal ceiling with many of those players.
I have not been a big believer in Smith, though I look forward to seeing him live this year.
Becerra I have a wait and see approach, did get to see him this year, Garcia impressed more TBH.
Gsellman reminds me of Gee, and it may be my own bias against Gee that prevents me from completely buying.
Morris – rule of thumb for me, don’t fall for relievers in the minors, unless you have middle reliever expectations.
Thanks.
Their projected comp is Rubin Tejada…I was hoping for something a little better lol.
Considering age and level, I wouldn’t say what he did was struggle either.
Well Tejada is only 26 years old and has three productive MLB seasons. He does get some unfair treatment by Mets fans.
this took the wind outta my sails a little.
That’s true but you would want something more than that from your #3 prospect. BP is not very high on Gavin or Smith.
Ya when I was reading it I was thinking about how you were not going to like it.
Well that is also a current comp for an 18-year old that hasn’t played a ton of pro ball.
He’s usually pretty harsh on prospects.
That’s true he still has plenty of time to develop. What do you think of the reports on Dom Smith, Cecchini and Becerra?
No question Cecchini will be here sometime this year. I’m thinking June, which is why I’m not really down about Cabrera starting out the year. Then again, I hope Cecchini won’t be the one that gets hurt again.
I like to have more faith in some of these guys internally rather than going the trade route. For example, I wanted to believe Leathersich would learn better control as time went on, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
Little rough on the defense of Smith which I have heard nothing but glowing remarks despite his “bad body”. Disagree about Cecchini and his future for SS, not saying he will be long-term good defender at short but I certainly think he could handle a MLB SS position for 5-6 years. He would be average to slightly below average defensively but above average offensively.
Becerra report looks pretty spot on to me. Still very raw, hasn’t played a ton of games.
Thanks!