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2011
Best Mets Minor League Surprises – Mid-Season Edition
An article by 
This is from Pete, one of our regulars here at MMO.
Mets 2011 Mid-Season Minor Leagues Biggest/Pleasant Surprises.
(In reverse order of how dramatic)
Juan Lagares – St Lucie, the speedy left fielder is enjoying a very good year with the bat. Hitting .338 in his first 234 AB. He also boasts an OPS of .845
Taylor Whitenton – Savannah, through 12 starts (16 G), the 6’3″ righty is 4-1, with a 2.79 ERA, and has been fairly dominant. In 67.2 IP he has given up only 46 hits, with 76 K and 33 BB. His batting avg. against is .192 and his WHIP is 1.17
Greg Peavey – Whitenton’s teammate was also very good for 14 starts, before earning a recent call-up to St Lucie. At Savannah he went 6-2 with a 3.12 ERA. In 78 IP, he surrendered 75 H, with 69 K and 11 BB. He had a WHIP of 1.10, and only gave up 3 HR’s.
Jeurys Familia – Binghamton, the power armed righty has started 8 games for the B-Mets after 6 good starts in St Lucie to start the season. He is still looking for his first AA win, but his other stats are scintillating. He went into the year needing to refine his secondary pitches, (slider and change-up). The good news is, he has, and his off-speed stuff is developing nicely. This could keep him in the rotation and not force a move to the bullpen. In 45.2 AA innings, he is 0-2 with a 3.35 ERA, 42 H, 51 K and 20 BB, the league is hitting only .243 against this 6’3″, 21 year old.
Matt Harvey – Binghamton, the 6’4″ right hander, who was the 2010 first round draft pick, made his professional debut this season, starting the year in St. Lucie, and earning a recent promotion to AA. His first start at Bingo was shaky, his second was much better as he begins to settle into the Eastern League. Here are the St Lucie stats that got him called up to the next level: in 14 starts he went 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA. 76 IP, 67 H, 92 K, 24 BB, .238 BA against. Yes that is correct, 92 K’s in 76 IP.
Darin Gorski – St Lucie, the fastest rising prospect you probably never heard of. For a 6’4″ lefty, he doesn’t really throw too hard, but all he has been doing is being unhittable in the Florida State League this season. At the start of the season, Gorski found himself in the bullpen for his first 6 games, after a very mediocre 2010 season at Savannah. An injury got him a start, and he never looked back. In 10 starts he is a perfect 6-0 with a 1.55 ERA. Even more astounding: in 75.2 IP, he has given up only 60 hits, while striking out 87 and walking only 15. The league is hitting only .214 against him with 4 HR’s, and his WHIP is a cool 0.99
Josh Edgin – St Lucie, the 6’1″ left-handed reliever is dominating the opposition this year like very few have been able to do. After giving up 3 ER’s at the very beginning of the year he has been unscored upon since early May. His first 24 appearances were at Savannah, while the last 6 games have been with St Lucie. Over his first 9.1 FSL innings he has given up 0 runs. here are his combined stats this season: 2-0, 0.67 ERA, 30 G, 40.1 IP, 19 H, 3 ER, 0 HR, 50 K, 14 BB, .142 BA against, and he has 18 saves so far. Not bad for the 30th round pick from 2010.
Chris Schwinden – Buffalo, after two relief appearances with Bingo to start the season, the 6’3″ righty was quickly called up to Buffalo and placed in the starting rotation. He is the only prospect to show positive development at AAA this year while at the same time staying healthy. In 15 game starts, he is 5-3 with a 2.87 ERA. In 87.2 IP, he has given up a paltry 67 hits, with 75 K and 30 BB. His AAA opponents are hitting only .211 against him, and his WHIP is 1.11.
Note from Joe D – Another great post from our MMO community. Outstanding job Pete. I was on a call with Paul DePodesta on Wednesday, and when he was asked if there would be anymore surprises from Buffalo to help the Mets this season, he said, “The only one who isn’t here yet is Chris Schwinden - He’s starting in Triple-A and has pitched very well out of the rotation. Knock on wood, we won’t have that need going forward, but he’s certainly pitched well and could be a guy if we have a need at some point.”
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Wow, Harvey’s strikeout rate is sick! Gorski has some great stats too. Excellent post!
I’m high on both of them, but I’m starting to think they pushed Familia too fast and his numbers are not nearly as good since he went to AA. I happen to think Harvey and Familia are tied for top Mets pitching prospect.
At least Minaya left Alderson a far better farm system then the one he got from Phillips.
The major league promotions of Reyes and Wright left the Mets minor league system utterly void of talent, when Omar took over in 2005. Minaya was making an effort to rebuild the farm system and progress was being made. But due to very poor drafts, and a policy of practically never drafting over-slot players, they always seemed to shoot themselves in the foot. As a result, the system does not have nearly enough “high ceiling” players. This can be seen on any top 50, or top 100 prospects list out there right now. Even now, a team like the Rangers can spend $8.5 mil on two teenagers from the Dominican Republic with very high ceilings. We spent less than $1 mil on a 16 year old switch hitting catcher with good receiving skills and no power. Don’t get me wrong I’m happy we got the catcher, but we could have made a big International free agent splash any of the last several years but have not. Remember too that Omar never spent any money on the draft. So when you look at who in our system is considered by the rest of baseball to be an elite prospect right now, there aren’t many. Harvey is one. When healthy Mejia would be borderline. If he signs and starts off well Nimmo might be one someday. This years new front office has gotten off to a good start by drafting around a dozen over-slot players last month. HS kids that could become very good someday. The key is signing them, now, before they go off to college, to be drafted by someone else, three years from now. The next 6 weeks are very important to the future health of the Mets farm system. It will depend a great deal on whether or not they are able to sign players like, Mason Robbins, Phillip Evans, AJ Reed, Brad Marquez, Kenny Matthews, Matthew Budgell, Christian Montgomery, Joe Tuschak, Jeff Diehl, Josh Ake, and of course Nimmo.
Are these guys surprising because they are supposed to suck and aren’t?
Or are there merely surprising because you all just look at the BA top 100 and under rated them based on that listing?
Sorry Metsie I don’t understand your question. The 8 guys on the biggest surprise list are there because they have exceeded expectations for this season, so far. Some, like Gorski, Edgin, and Schwinden have come out of nowhere. No list was used to compile the info there.
I apologize Pete,
My question was not exactly directed at you or your list…
It was aimed more at those who seem to take every opportunity to say Omar screwed this team, didn’t draft decent players or that the Minor leagues he left us was USELESS!
They constantly cite Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list as proof that our MiL is a shambles, We are developing ZERO talent there to trade for what we need and because of all that we need to shop Wright Reyes Beltran K-Rod Pelfrey and Bay to restock the empty pond they seem to believe we have!
This despite the fact that Ike Davis, Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada, Lucas Duda John Niese Dillon Gee, and Parnell were all promoted from that talent bare cubboard and winning games for us while Harvey Holt Mejia Havens Flores and a slew of others (some of which you mentioned) are still down there waiting for a call!
I have zero problems with your list or things said about those players…
and I will dutifully apologize for hijacking your post as a means to make a point in another…
No problemo, thanks man! What I was trying to say to Hodges14 was that Omar got the farm system back to respectability, and on somewhat of the right track, but where it is still lacking is in the “elite” talent. The “top end” so-to-speak. We have a decent system, as long as we only need to produce a “supporting cast” type of player, SP4′s and SP5′s, or utility players and fourth outfielders. We are very lacking of power hitters, lead-off hitter types too, and certainly have no “Mike Stantons” coming along. Other than Reuben Tejada, there are no top level SS prospects, no catching prospects of note, and very few “elite” power arms. That is why the new regime must be creative, and aggressive in all areas open to it, in bringing top level talent into the system.
Well Pete… Elite Talent is a relative term.
A guy who there is no doubt will make the MLB as a solid player is considered a PROSPECT!
Prospect doesn’t mean Destined for greatness, just that they have everything needed to be a solid Major Leaguer.
Elite status for most players is a projection not a fact!
Projection based on what they did before they got drafted.
But what they did BEFORE the coaches got thier hands on him does(should) not preclude them from being elite prospects if they learn and put up the numbers.
And even if you wanted to do that, What they do in the MLB is far more important to them being ELITE players or not than any projection of them when they were in the MiL.
Maybe Omar did not Overslot. Is that because he didn’t want to or more the fact that when you pick in the last 10 of the draft three consecutive years and have no 1st rounder in one of them, there really isn’t anyone left WORTH overslotting? Instead your probably reaching in the 2nd (3rd 4th etc) to get the best of that round because of your late pick position?
Baseball America is a fine resource of opinion. But it is just an opinion not a fact and could be used only if you weight it accordingly.
What the Kids did in the Minors is also only important to how you weight it. And in the case of determining the skill and success of a particular GM you do have to take at the greatest weight what those players did on the Major League level.
Some don’t want to so they can say Have a Firesale full speed reverse!
Others because they just don’t like spending someone else’s money! They will make your No SS argument
Wouldn’t it be dumb to have one on a team that has the best SS in baseball?
What would we do with him? Does getting rid of the best SS in baseball make us better? Is that kid BETTER than the best SS in baseball? Does someone have some other kid we could have gotten that would be better than the best SS in baseball?
Smart Move to not go that route and instead take kids like Ike davis who could one day (if he doesn’t have his leg amputated by the medical staff) be the BEST 1B in baseball!
Ike was never an Elite Prospect yet he has showed an ability to be an elite player.
Just because no one sees (or projects) who it is doesn’t mean it is not there.
Thats pretty much how I answer the “Elite” question.