; ;

Five Mets Ranked In Keith Law Top 100

By John Sheridan

January 30, 2023 No comments

Francisco Álvarez, Photo by Herm Card

Keith Law of The Athletic has released his annual Top 100 prospects, and as usual, he shows he is the most bullish on the New York Mets organization out of all the prospect ranking outlets. In fact, Law has ranked five Mets among his top 100.

In making his rankings, Law notes he does not consider players from the KBO in his rankings even if they are rookie eligible. As a result, you will not see Kodai Senga, but Law did note he would vote for a player like him for Rookie of the Year because he would be eligible. While Senga does not appear, here are the Mets who do:

7. Francisco Álvarez, C

Álvarez moves up one spot from Law’s rankings last season, and Law notes he is the highest ranked player from the 2022 rankings. What is interesting is Law is the only evaluator who so far has Álvarez as the second highest catching prospect. Part of the reason for that is Álvarez was deemed a “soft 45 on defense.” That said, Law sees Álvarez as a terrific hitter who “has a tremendous swing for generating that hard contact, with great balance throughout, excellent hand acceleration, and good use of his lower half to drive the ball.”

31. Brett Baty, 3B

Baty jumps up 10 spots in Law’s rankings. That may be partially due to Baty’s defense which Law deems is “more than just playable out there.” Notably, this is another report on how Baty’s defense has not only been much improved but also a step above being borderline playable at the position. Overall, while Baty’s groundball rate remains a concern for Law, he believes Baty needs to be the everyday third baseman in 2023 saying, “there’s nothing left for him to learn in the minors, and he’s by far their best option there.”

44. Kevin Parada, C

Like Álvarez, Law sees Parada as a catcher who will need his bat to be his carrying tool. While Parada is behind defensively, Law noted the significant strides Parada has made since high school, his athleticism, and the fact he “doesn’t have much farther to go to be average-ish with the glove.” At the plate, Law notes Parada has a unique stance at the plate which may eventually need to be altered.

68. Alex Ramirez, CF

This is a massive leap for Ramirez who jumped up 32 spots after being ranked 100th by Law. Notably, Law had Ramirez at 100 last season when most did not have him ranked at all. In Ramirez, Law sees “a plus runner with elite instincts in center field” with “excellent bat speed” at the plate. Ultimately, Law sees superstar potential in Ramirez, but he does caution there is some maturity and on-field effort issues noted from scouts last season.

87. Ronnie Maurici0, SS

Law is the only analyst to have Mauricio remain among the top 100 prospects even if he did have Mauricio drop a startling 47 spots from last year. Part of the reason Law may have him so high is Mauricio reminds him “a ton of a young Alfonso Soriano.” Overall, Law believes Mauricio should shift to third where he can be very good defensively, and with Mauricio “making better choices” at the plate could lead to him having 30 home run power.

While having five reach Law’s rankings is quite impressive, it should be noted the Mets scouting department produced seven when you include Pete Crow-Armstrong (26) and Endy Rodriguez (34). That is a lot of high end talent which has been coming into the Mets organization, and as we see with players like Parada making these rankings right after being drafted, we should continue to see high-end talent coming to the Mets organization for the years to come.