Update: 4/15/16

The BP team has completed their assessment of “Who to Watch” in the Eastern League and Pacific Coast League. Their listings do not include four of their top ranked Mets prospects; #1 Steven Matz, in the majors,  #3 Luis Carpio out for the season, #7 Desmond Lindsay and #10 Ali Sanchez both of whom are in extended spring training

PCL

Long time BP writer Chris Crawford and Brendan Gawlowski covered the Vegas 51’s in the PCL portion of the series. In addition to the 2 prospects listed among the top 10, they have included one pitcher and one position player.

#4 Gavin Cecchini – Has struggled a little bit in his first taste of AAA, he does have 2 multi-hit games so far this year and so far has played a capable SS defensively

#6 Brandon Nimmo – Apparently not showing any ill effects of the injury. Nimmo has bounced from bottom to top in the batting order. So far he is 5 for 20 on the year, and in an oddly encouraging way, only has 1 walk.

Who to Watch:

Matt Reynolds: Labeling him a “tweener” capable enough to play SS, but not expecting him to hit enough for everyday duty. The BP consensus is in line with what everyone else states, expect him up this year. Reynolds has filled in around the diamond already this season, its very possible he is in the majors by next week as opined here.

Gabriel Ynoa: In what is a rehash of every scouting report written of Ynoa, BP states he “reaches mid 90s with his fastball, but the 23 year old hasn’t found an effective breaking ball to compliment the pitch yet.” The BP team goes on to give his change up an above-average grade and gives him a floor of a major league reliever. In his weather delayed AAA debut Ynoa gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 5 innings, he also uncharacteristically walked 2. Moving forward I would anticipate better control while working on his improved breaking pitches that we seen in spring training.

A few omissions that one may want to keep an eye on in the upper levels include; Victor Cruzado, LJ Mazzilli, and out of nowhere Maikis De La Cruz who are all off to terrific starts in Binghamton. While in Vegas Josh Smoker has 3 perfect appearances already, and fan favorite TJ Rivera is doing what he always does, and coming off a great spring training, Travis Taijeron hasn’t slowed down a bit since the calendar rolled into April.

EL

Never one to overly show fandom when covering his favorite team, long time Amazin’ Avenue blogger and Podcast host Jeff Paternostro covered the AA squad out of Binghamton, only listed Jeff McNeil as a player to watch outside the BP list top ten.

#5 Dom Smith – Got off to a slow start but has back to back multi-hit games

#9 Robert Gsellman Has pitched 1 game so far this year, holding New Hampshire to 2 hits over 5 ⅔ innings, while striking out 7 and reportedly hitting 97

Keep an Eye On:

Jeff McNeil: The article touches on McNeil adding 35 pounds of muscle to look more like a ball player. You can read an interview from MMN‘s own Michael Mayer from the beginning of last off-season where McNeil stated “ I am also trying to get bigger and stronger which is going to help me hit for more power”. McNeil has a .940 OPS in this young season, so the results have thus far translated.JP goes on to give a most likely outcome of a utility guy, with an upside comp of Daniel Murphy. Which I would say is almost accurate, as McNeil would offer better defense.

Original Article:

The Baseball Prospectus staff have begun a “Who to Watch” series for each of leagues of the minors, thus far they have published the lower levels of minor leagues. They will cover the top 10 prospects of the system along with some other prospects worth following.

Steve Givarz made his BP debut covering the Florida State League, the numbers indicated are the BP rankings of each within the organization.

FSL

St Lucie Mets

#2 Amed Rosario – The young shortstop is off to a fast start for St. Lucie, hitting .321 with three steals and a walk-off homerun on Opening Day.

#8 Wuilmer Becerra – Rough start to the 2016 season for the right fielder who is just 1 for 10 and hasn’t started a game since April 9th because of a minor nagging injury. He did pinch run on the 11th.

Keep an eye on:

Chris Flexen: “featuring a solid average fastball with good movement, he is able to locate the pitch to both sides of the plate, although there isn’t much leeway because of his velocity. His curve is a mid-70s offering with fair downer action. His change is fingy right now but he has shown good feel for the offering and should get better with time.”

Jhoan Urena: “still be one of the youngest regulars in the circuit as a 21-year-old now. He has plus raw power from both sides as he gets good backspin and loft on balls, but hasn’t showed in-game yet as he has struggled with pitch recognition.” Givarz went on to add “look for Urena to make some strides and put himself back on the prospect radar”

Both FSL players listed were covered here on MMN as breakout candidates in the off-season, you can read up on the staff write ups; Urena can be found here and the Flexen write up is here. It should be noted that Givarz although he mentions Urena struggled initially in his FSL debut last season, he does not mention that he broke both hamate bones on two separate occasions.

SAL

In the South Atlantic League seasoned scouting writer Adam McInturff covers the Columbia Fireflies, and with no active players currently listed among BP top ten, he only lists one prospect worth a “keep an eye on”.

Keep an Eye on:

Milton Ramos: “a quality defender in the middle of the field” McInturff goes on to comp Ramos to “Paul Janish type of bench glove-man.” He adds “Mets prospect watchers should expect to see a skilled, flashy defender who is fun to watch with the glove.”

Hopefully this is a recurring series that gets updated throughout the season, as there seems to be a few omissions. Fortunately at MMN, we will fill in the gaps and think other players to keep an eye on are John Mora, Luis Guillorme, David Thompson, and Alex Palsha.

We will keep you updated when Binghamton and Vegas lists are published.