The minor leagues were designed to develop players to eventually help your team win. That not only comes in the form of players making it to the majors, but it is also trading those prospects to acquire Major Leaguers.
On the latter, the Mets made a series of moves designed to help them win their first World Series since 1986. Here is a review of the prospects traded.
Daniel Vogelbach for Colin Holderman
Holderman entered the season as MMN’s 30th ranked prospect. By the rankings, he would be the top prospect moved at the trade deadline.
Holderman proved his ranking was justified with a strong stint in the majors. He used his high velocity, high spin fastball and slider to truly impress. In 15 appearances, he pitched 17 2/3 innings going 4-0 with a 2.04 ERA, 1.019 WHIP, 3.6 BB/9, and a 9.2 K/9.
Tyler Naquin and Phillip Diehl for Hector Rodríguez and Jose Acuña
Acuña and Rodríguez were both prospects coming into their own in Single-A. As Michael Mayer of MMN noted, both are helium players who were going to make the end of the season too 30 rankings.
Acuña, 19, has made eight appearances this season between the Florida Complex League and with the St. Lucie Mets. He is 3-0 with a 3.16 ERA, 0.974 WHIP, 2.5 BB/9, and a 12.5 K/9. Acuña has a fastball which reaches the mid-90s with a high spin rate while working on promising secondary offerings.
Rodríguez, 18, has played 28 games between the Florida Complex League and with the St. Lucie Mets. He’s hitting .342/.378/.532 with four doubles, four triples, three homers, and 16 RBI. He is considered a plus runner who has played center predominantly and some second base. He has been successful in 12/15 stolen base attempts.
Darin Ruf for J.D. Davis, Carson Seymour, Thomas Szapucki, and Nick Zwack
Like with the aforementioned trade, pre-season and out-of-date prospect rankings likely would give a different impression of what the Mets traded.
Seymour, 23, and Zwack, 24, were part of last year’s draft, and they were going to be a part of the Mets top 30 rankings.
Seymour has a mid-90s fastball which tops off at 99 MPH that he combines that with a strong curvy slider. The change is a work in progress which has about a 15 MPH difference from his fastball.
Between St. Lucie and Brooklyn, he is 5-5 with a 2.76 ERA, 1.090 WHIP, 2.3 BB/9, and a 10.1 K/9.
Zwack is a spin king generating a lot of swings-and-misses. As a result, his low 90s fastball, low 80s slider, and change are quite effective.
Between St. Lucie and Brooklyn, he’s made 15 starts and three relief appearances. He’s 6-2 with a 2.36 ERA, 0.996 WHIP, 2.1 BB/9, and an 11.3 K/9.
Mets fans are somewhat familiar with Szapucki having seen him in two Major League appearances where he struggled.
Szapucki was once a highly touted prospect, but injuries and some control issues had seen him fall to the periphery of Mets top prospect rankings.
Still, he had the mid 90s fastball and curve with great spin that could miss bats. In fact, if he had enough innings to qualify, his 12.2 K/9 would’ve lead the International League.
Overall, Szapucki was 2-6 with a 3.38 ERA, 1.297 WHIP, 4.1 BB/9, and a 12.2 K/9 with Triple-A Syracuse.
Mychal Givens for Saúl González
González, 22, is a tall 6’7” pitcher with a low 90s fastball. Until this season, he has not made any impression with his five years with the organization.
That said, while repeating St. Lucie this season, González is 2-1 with one save, a 2.81 ERA, 1.208 WHIP, 2.5 BB/9, and a 10.2 K/9.
