MiLB.com is going around the league taking stock of each teams minor league system in their series called Prospect Primer. On Monday, Robert Emrich tackled the Mets minor league system and looked at some of the more intriguing names for the 2014 season.
Noah Syndergaard was featured in the “Shining star” portion of the article. The 6’6 right hander is slated to start the season in Triple-A, but MiLB.com thinks their #11 overall rated prospect could be headed for bigger things….soon.
Given the Mets’ success with Matt Harvey in 2012 and Zack Wheeler last year, a strong first three months by Syndergaard could push the hurler to Citi Field at some point this summer.
Next up was the “Breakout prospect” category, and their selection may seem like a strange one to some.
Though it might be odd to see a Top 10 organizational prospect tabbed as a breakout candidate, the label might fit Nimmo perfectly. The 20-year-old showed good patience in his full-season debut, drawing 71 walks while batting .273 for the Sand Gnats, though he’s slugged just 10 homers in 189 Minor League games since being drafted 13th overall in 2011. He’ll move up to another tough hitting league this season, playing for St. Lucie in the Florida State League.
It appears that Emrich and MiLB.com aren’t alone in their optimism for the Wyoming native, as Mets VP of Player Development Paul DePodesta also had some praise for the outfielder.
“I think we could see Brandon Nimmo have a big year in 2014,” exclaims DePodesta, “I think his numbers are suppressed by the ballpark in Savannah, though it was still a good year. I think for a guy who spent the year there, his OBP was as high as anyone we’ve seen there. I think Brandon getting out of that environment, not that the Florida State League is more friendly, I think we’ll continue to see an increase in power numbers.”
In the “At the crossroads” category, which spotlights a prospect who may need to have a big year in order to retain his prospect status, Emrich chose Dominican righty Hansel Robles. After excelling for Brooklyn in 2012, Hansel came into 2013 looking to further elevate his prospect status– with less than exciting results. As a 22-year old in High-A St. Lucie, the 5’11 Robles posted a 3.72 ERA in 84.2 innings. Not terrible numbers, but his struggles with command and the homerun ball were concerning. DePodesta shed some light on possible reasons for his struggles:
“Hansel Robles was bothered by some arm difficulty,” said DePodesta. “Nothing that required any action, but it shut him down a couple of times. He had a good year in Brooklyn [in 2012] — so good we put him on the 40-man roster. Last year, while fine, wasn’t to the level of a 40-man roster player in High-A ball. If you’re going to protect someone down there, you hope they’re going to move quickly. He went to the [Arizona] Fall League and pitched well. The expectations are awfully high, which is why I would name him. Last year was good but not as good as the expectations.”
Emrich also spoke briefly on prospects like Dominic Smith, Kevin Plawecki, and Steven Matz in the “More to keep an eye on” section.
To read the entire article, click here.
(Photo credit: ESPN.com)
