15
2011
Even Wilmer Flores Knows He Belongs At 3B, Not SS
An article by Craig Lerner
I couldn’t help reading some comments Mets shortstop prospect Wilmer Flores made this weekend during an interview with a local beat writer who covers the St. Lucie Mets.
Most Mets fans must have heard at one time or another that scouts, analysts and baseball people are pretty much in agreement that Wilmer Flore will not remain at shortstop, and most likely will be shifted to third base or left field. In fact, Baseball America projects Wilmer Flores to be the Mets starting left fielder in 2014.
This debate has now been going on for more than two years, but Flores continues to call shortstop home.
Why?
If the Mets scouting department disagree with what has been said about Flores’ inability to play shortstop, why don’t they just diffuse the situation and simply say, ”we disagree. Wilmer Flores is our shortstop of the future”.
If they don’t believe that, then what are they waiting for to have him begin taking reps at third base so it won’t be foreign to him if and when he’s ever ready to be promoted to the big leagues?
On Friday, Flores himself said he would welcome a change to third base. He got to play third base for the first time during the Venezuelan Winter League season this past winter. His team shifted Flores ti third base during the second half of their season because they felt Flores was making far too many errors at shortstop. The switch worked and everyone was happy, even Flores.
“For me, third base felt so easy,” Flores said. “I mean, it’s not an easy position, but it was easier than shortstop. I feel comfortable there. They want me to play shortstop right now, so we’ll see what happens.”
Last season, Flores committed 26 errors in 132 games, and he is already on pace to eclipse that so far this season.
What are we waiting for?
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
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Franchise is waiting for the invitation. Hopefully for the kid, and the franchise’s future, they move Flores some time soon. He apparently is getting restless. Imagine if they do move him to thirdbase, the talk of a Wright exodus would explode (if he sitll on the team when the move Flores)
They will NEVER shift him to third because they don’t want to upset the apple cart with David Wright. As long as Wright is a Met, they will keep Flores at shoprtstop despite being the worst defender in his league two years in a row.
Screw David Wright, he is completely gutless.
Flores moving to 3B is an obvious move…the kid is 19 and 6’3…he’s listed at 175, but if you’ve seen this kid in person, you know that he has got to be closer to 200. Not to mention he is just an awful SS. Considering that Wright could (should) be traded, trying to mold him into the 3B of the future should begin now, especially since he is at least 3 years away from MLB ready, and should Wright not be traded, he will be a FA after the 2013 season, which could mean Flores might be ready to take over 3B in 2014.
Because at this point his best value to the Mets is as a prospect. You don’t move a stud hitter off of SS until it is proven 100% he can’t play there. As his bat gets closer to the MLB they will move him if needed.
That is the only logical explanation for why Flores has been playing SS the last 2 1/4 years but with all the reports by so many different scouts, coaches, organizations like Baseball America ect harping on this subject everytime his name comes up you wouldn’t think we were fooling anyone would you?
If we’re not bringing a guy up here too early we’re asking him to break into a new position as well as the Majors. No other organization does this to their young prospects.
A prediction. Wright is traded. Reyes gets resigned. Then Flores gets moved to 3rd and Marte gets traded along with Beltran,k-rod,Santana,Wright and maybe even Bay??
Next years lineup.
C Thole-Montero(yankees-trade)
1b IKE
2b Turner-Havens
ss Reyes
3b Murphy-Evans
1) How/why in the world would the Yankees trade Montero to us?
2) The Murphy/Evans platoon at 3rd looks horrible. I’d rather bring in Aramis Ramirez as a short term plan until Flores is ready if I were to deal Wright. Besides, Nick Evans at 3rd? Evans is AAA fodder. He’ll be lucky if he plays in the big leagues. If he does, it won’t be for the Mets.
3) How do you know if Reese Havens will even be ready? Has he even played this year? Take a look at another guy in the Mets farm they have at 2nd by the name of Josh Satin.
Whoops
Duda in left
Captain Kirk in center
F-Mart in right
Pagan the 4th outfielder
Heath Bell closing
Beato setting up
Rotation ?????
Gee
stoner
misch
dickey
pelfrey
niese and players received in the trades
bullpen along with Bell and beato???
parnell lujan o’connor
That had better not be the starting rotation.
Stoner? Uh, no.
Misch? The only way Misch should ever be a starter in this rotation is if half of it goes down and we’ve got no depth – like what might happen this year.
Put down the pipe.
last place?
Wow steve, I guess you don’t mind fielding a team full of minor leaguers? Stoner? Lujan, Duda in left? What happened to Bay and his $50 million? Your ideas are asinine.
Relax, I assure you the decision to move Flores will happen shortly. Give the new guys some time to make thier own evaluations.
Again with “time to make own evaluations.” I’m sorry bit it’s just not that hard. Just as Perez and Castillo should have been cut before camp, Flores should have been moved immediately. How much data do you need? Just because data was accumulated under someone else doesn’t mean it isn’t valid. Alderson’s front office pace is so glacial that he somehow gets credit for making decisions with the big club that should be obvious. “He cut Eamus quickly!” The guy shouldn’t have made the team! “He dropped Carrasco fast.” And in the process did his best to try and ruin a kid pitcher we need now. I’m not saying he’s all bad but I’ve yet to be impressed by Alderson. Painfully slow on obvious decisions and his bargin basement bin ain’t exactly setting the world on fire.
No one’s bargain basement bin is gonna set the world on fire, no one’s. Maybe once a decade or so you could get some big time help there. This wasn’t one of those years.
He gave Emaus and Boyer a shot cause he needs BODIES so that he has options when trade talk starts picking up . He gave some guys a chance to establish themselves that didn’t cost us anything to acquire in the hopes that some of them would work out and provide options at the trading deadline. That’s why Luis and Ollie were brought to camp. Neither one cost this team one single game under Alderson and we just weren’t in a position to get rid of anything for nothing.
Beside Perez and Maine should have been considered for one spot in the rotation last year by bringing in someone then (like Pinero 2/16) and Ollie certainly should have been cut when he refused to go down last June.
I highly doubt Wright is the reason Flores hasn’t been moved off SS yet.
More likely they wanted one last long look to make sure he could/could not handle the position defensively in light of the Reyes not resigning issue.
The Mets have played key prospects at the middle defensive positions to give them maximum exposure. This dates back at least to the Omar Minaya days. It was felt that the eventual change to other positions (e.g., center field to right field, center field to left field, shortstop to second base, shortstop to third base) would be relatively easy. Personally I don’t agree that this reasoning is always valid. In any case, Flores was put and kept at shortstop with this in mind. I wonder how Sandy feels about it.
Your right Des, but that is a big part of the reason we haven’t developed a big time bat in RF since we drafted Strawberry in 1980, in LF since we signed Cleon in 1963, or went wanting at 1B from Milner to Ike, Alfonzo to the present at 2B and catcher from Stearns till now.
We have to start looking for big offense at the traditional spots you find it in the field rather than thinking a guy who can’t handle CF could handle corner OF. Maybe defensively he can but it leaves your line up going 5 deep at best.
In two years I can see our lineup being:
1b-Ike
2b- ?
ss- REYES
3b-Wright??
LF- Vaughn
CF- McCutchen (Pittsburgh)
Rf- Martinez
P-Harvey
P-Niese
P- Holt
P- Gee
Cl- Beato
he will get there soon. and as noted, he already started playing 3B in the winter, a perfect time to get used to something new. If he is comfortable over there, then it should not take years to become OK defensively. Lots of drills, a couple of winters/springs and a full MiL season doesn’t sound like enough?
it probably helps being used to playing IF on the left side. Obviously not quite the same, but certainly (logically) easier than moving from the OF say! Though people do that all the time.
So, we’re not banking on Zach Lutz?