The Mariners seem to know what they have in Jarred Kelenic. With every terrific play he makes and with every homer he hits, their social media team rushes to promote him. It’s something which has brought joy to Mariners fans and pain to Mets fans. This past week has been especially painful with his having a 1.042 OPS.

But you know who has been better than Kelenic this past week? Shervyen Newton.

Over this past week, Newton is hitting .435/.480/.826 with a double, triple, two homers, and four RBI. It’s easy to overlook how good he has been because the Mets aren’t promoting him. There’s no tweet on his exploits, and the team’s Mets Farm Report twitter account only has one brief mention of him.

The hottest hitter in the @Mets_Minors right now? That would be Columbia's Shervyen Newton.

After a slow start, the 20-year-old is hitting .407 with 5 XBH (shown below) over his last 7 games: pic.twitter.com/0LP8IrRhqX

— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) May 28, 2019

Really, Newton has been overlooked, and it has gone on for far too long because he is an extremely talented and intelligent player who could very well be a good player at the Major League level. Just look at what Baseball America says about him:

Newton is a tall, athletic middle infielder with wicked bat speed and room to fill out and add power. He’s a switch-hitter who can drive the ball deep to his pull side while batting lefthanded with quick hands he uses to keep his bat on plane through the hitting zone. Some scouts see potential 70-grade power down the line as his 6-foot-4 frame matures.

To put into perspective what 70 power is Pete Alonso was rated by Baseball America as having 70 grade power after last season. Speaking of last season, Newton was terrific for Kingsport.

In 56 games for Kingsport, Newton hit .280/.408/.449 with 16 doubles, two triples, five homers, and 41 RBI. With those stats, he led the league in doubles, and he was in the top 10 in runs (50), OBP, RBI, and walks (46). He did that despite being younger than league average.

For those unaware of Newton, he signed as an International Free Agent in July 2015 out of Tilburg, Netherlands for $50,000. He’s an athletic switch hitting middle infielder with good plate discipline and promising power. He speaks many languages, and he has emerged as a leader of sorts early in his career. In fact, he has served as a translator for his teammates. He’s been an interesting prospect for a while, and he’s one who is getting more attention.

Seeing his talent and production, John Sickels of The Athletic has named Newton a sleeper prospect in the Mets farm system. In naming him a sleeper prospect, Sickels is saying Newton is a prospect who has “breakout potential within the next two or three years. Sickels is far from alone in having that opinion. In fact, Baseball Prospectus has also pinpointed Newton as someone who could soon break top 100 prospect rankings.

Note, most of these reports an opinions on Newton were formed prior to his shortening his swing and making it more fluid.Now that he’s more comfortable and refined with the swing, he is generating more of that power which has led analysts to believe he could have 70 power:

Shervyen Newton cranked his first home run in A ball tonight for Columbia. #Mets pic.twitter.com/hwwZ87FiaM

— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) May 25, 2019

In the past week, Newton has two homers, which is just three fewer than he hit all of last year. With his plate discipline, new swing, and his continuing to mature, we can expect more homers this year. Hopefully, Mets fans and all of baseball will give him the attention he merits as he continues to hit.

Where he plays on the diamond is anyone’s guess right now. He currently has the athleticism to play shortstop, but many expect as he matures, he will have to move to another infield position or to a corner outfield position. Where he winds up may just be a function of what the Mets need is at the time.

Overall, with what we are seeing from Newton is him just scratching the surface on what type of player he can be. He’s talented, intelligent, and electric. Over this past week, we have seen that. We should continue to see it as well. If he continues to develop this way, he could hit his ceiling which Fangraphs believes is “superstardom.”

So yes, you can understand Mets fans frustrations over Kelenic. However, once fans get over it and start looking at the Mets system, they will realize the organization still has superstar talents like Newton. Maybe it’s time we start celebrating that.