Welcome to this week’s edition of Boom or Bust, where we feature Cory Vaughn. Vaughn is the son of former MLB player Greg Vaughn and was the 4th round draft pick for the Mets in 2010. Vaughn was recently ranked number 13 on our Mid-Season Top Prospect List.
John Bernhardt:
It’s challenging rating up or down when a player has missed a sizable share of the current season due to injury. That’s the case with Cory Vaughn. He has the physical stature of a power hitter. Vaughn’s power numbers at the plate in the minors have been promising: 23 home runs and 51 extra base hits in St. Lucie last summer, along with eight home runs and 17 extra base hits in an injury shortened season so far this summer in Binghamton. Vaughn was off to a great start as a B-Met and is currently batting .301, a big jump from his .243 slate in Florida last year. Good speed for a big guy, adequate and improving outfield play and double digit stolen base numbers add quality to Vaughn’s baseball profile. All things said, I’ll go with boom. Verdict: Boom.
Matt Musico:
I’m going to agree with John on this one. He showed his power last year in St. Lucie, and although it’s in limited time in 2013, he’s shown his ability to hit for average in Binghamton. I like his swing a lot, and it looks like B-Mets hitting coach, Luis Natera, deserves some sort of bonus or promotion. Given what he’s been able to do with guys like Vaughn and Cesar Puello has just been unbelievable. Some people may say Vaughn is a little old for Double-A (currently 24-years-old), but I say so what. Look at Josh Satin; he proved that if you continue to hit, you’ll eventually make it, no matter how old you are. Plus, Cory has a good MLB bloodline. Verdict: Boom.
Satish Ram:
Vaughn has a lot more raw power than his numbers in Binghamton show because of injury, which is excellent. This year, he has shown more potential at the plate by raising his batting average to the .300 level, which is very impressive for a guy who can easily launch 25 home runs in a season. Vaughn has a power-speed combination that most scouts would drool over — and he’s now showing the ability to hit for average as well. He’s not a liability on defense in my opinion and I have always thought he would turn out to be quite the player ever since I saw him crush 14 home runs for Brooklyn in just 313 plate appearances. Verdict: Boom
And just to hit on something said above by Matt — whatever Luis Natera is doing in Binghamton is pretty awesome.
(photo credit: Gordon Donovan)
He’s Greg Vaughn’s son, not Mo
Lui Natera for MVP. I’m not sold on Vaughn yet because I still think its early to have a real grasp on what he will be. I guess another way to say that is I’m boom on his potential, but bust on him as a player because I am not yet convinced he will meet that potential.
I’ve been a huge Cory Vaughn fan since day one, and he’s only gonna get better. His production this season comes to no surprise in my eyes. Maybe he’ll be a little late getting into “The Show”, but now couldn’t be a better time for him to make his presence felt, specifically during September callups. With all the talk of Stanton this & CarGo that, I wanna give Vaughn a go in LF before I break the bank for either of those two. Should Vaughn impress in September, the only OF they need to persue from there is Ellsbury for CF since Puello will be here early next season.
LF: Vaughn/Young
CF: Ellsbury/Lagares
RF: Puello
Glad to see everyone is high on this kid his power/speed combo has always had me watching his progress.He seems to be putting it together the last few years.I just hope SA doesn’t go out and break the bank acquiring FA’s that will block him and Puello or sell the farm for Cargo or Stanton. IMO they will be overreacting.Just make some smart acquisitions to short term deals that can upgrade for the short term and serve as place holders till these kids are ready.We have more along the lines of position payers than scouts give us credit for.Then we can deal from a position of strength from our stable of young pitchers for those perfect matches to finish out the roster. I look at this team like the 83 Mets they built through the farm a couple shrew trades for youngsters and when the table was set then came Hernandez the next year Carter completed the puzzle. SA should use the same patience and shrewd deal making that Cashen did so well back then.This is not the time to make rash decisions.
I would play Den Dekker along with Lagares in CF because Lagares earned it to be the every day CF-er
I would try to sign Byrd (first choice would be Beltran) to a 2 year contract.