9
2012
Wilmer Flores Is Finally Starting To Put It Together
An article by 
I know it’s early, but the promising start to the 2012 campaign for Mets former top prospect Wilmer Flores is extremely encouraging. He was ranked at the top of the organization in recent years due to his hitting ability and future potential, but did not live up to the hype on the field. So far this season he is showing that maybe all that talk of him being a big time hitter was accurate and the recent lack of production was just part of his growing pains.
Wilmer is absolutely raking for Single-A St. Lucie. I know it’s only A ball, but he has been at that level for a few seasons now and it’s about time he started to figure it out and earn himself a promotion.
Despite hearing about him for the past few seasons and watching his stock drop as he did not progress through the ranks in the Mets system as many had hoped, he is still just 20 years old. Flores has a world of potential offensively and he is finally starting to give the Mets a return on their investment.
Here are his numbers so far this season.
Here are his numbers prior to this season.
|
Year |
AB |
AVG. |
R |
2B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
OBP |
SLG |
|
2008 |
280 |
.307 |
40 |
13 |
8 |
42 |
13 |
.347 |
.468 |
|
2009 |
488 |
.264 |
44 |
20 |
3 |
36 |
22 |
.305 |
.332 |
|
2010 |
554 |
.289 |
62 |
36 |
11 |
84 |
32 |
.333 |
.424 |
|
2011 |
516 |
.269 |
52 |
26 |
9 |
81 |
27 |
.309 |
.380 |
Looking at his prior season totals and the short sample from 2012 the biggest thing to me that jumps out is his increase in power. He has not shown the power scouts thought he would so far early into his professional career. His lack of consistent power and his low walk rate basically made him into a singles hitter with a decent average but a low OBP.
The one thing that he was consistent with was run production and that was always the most encouraging sign for me as I tracked his progress. Over 80 RBI in each of the past few seasons despite his lack of power shows you he has the knack to be a run producer, but until he starts to grow into his power he won’t live up to his full potential.
I don’t expect Flores to ever be a 30 homer guy, but 20 seems like it’s a possibility. If his home run power is going to be down then he needs to start to turn some of those line drive singles into gap doubles. His fast start has me very intrigued and I am hopeful that he is finally growing into his body a bit and is turning a corner.
If he keeps up this pace we will be seeing him finally earn that long awaited promotion to Double-A Binghamton.
About the Author: Dan Valis
I am a staff writer for Mets Merized Online. I am a Mets team analyst with a focus on the minor league system, as well as the major league club. I am a lifelong New Yorker who was born and raised to be a Mets fan. The ups and downs of being a Mets fan is what makes following this team so much fun, but at times so frustrating. You can follow me on Twitter @BgAppleMetsTalk.
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You mean yet another prospect might come from this “barren farm system that Omar left behind”?
Another one????
Lets hope, and then lets hope some of the new ones develop as well and then maybe we actually have something sustainable.
it’s so crazy to see the fruits of Omar’s labor a few years after the fact, we are actually fielding a team of productive young and exciting players.
Sandy then comes in a brings in the big guns and gets a guy like Wheeler to take the throne on top and all of a sudden the farm looks deep
Fullmer’s pitching well so far, too, which should add to it. What concerns me the most is there isn’t one outfielder playing well on both sides of the ball above A ball. MDD is hitting ok, but a 24-year-old hitting “ok” in AA doesn’t really inspire me.
Funny how last year the Omar detractors were killing him because in their eyes he failed to improve the Mets Farm system….
A farm system I might add that prior to Omar was Baron of any talent. But in…..what? 4 years he was killed because the farm didnt produce talent
Although Freddie Coupons was tight with the wallet and playing nice with Selig didnt allow Omar to spend over the MLB guidelines while other teams spent freely– year after year.
And now we are seeing the fruit of Omar’s labor but those who bashed Omar wont give him the credit.
His track record of scouting young talent still stands
still stands? I would say it’s gotten better!
I don’t know if Omar is working but if not some team should grab him quickly!
Minaya’s the Senior VP of Baseball Ops in San Diego. He’s heavily involved in scouting and has trade input. Perfect situation for him and smart hire by SD.
exactly. A good role for him, he just did not do a good job as a GM.
any — the handling of Tony Bernazard by Omar and Jeff Wilpon was poor. I think it’s probably the result of Jeff’s tampering with Omar’s domain, but Minaya was nominally in charge so he is gets the blame. Bernazard was a hard charging bombastic goofball who had different standards for different players. It all wound up in a big mess. Tony spent too much time in the Mets clubhouse rather than at the A, AA and AAA sites. He was viewed by many observers as a troublemaker. Certainly Willie thought so.
First of all, would you people shut up on Omar Minaya and what “barren farm” he had before coming? If you thought he didn’t have a good eye for international talent, you’re a fool. Sick of people bringing up “Yet another Omar talent coming up” and blah blah blah years after ya’ll had your pitchforks & torches. Good for the talent to finally show their potential.
Now, concerning Flores…I’m glad the Mets took the time out to not only finally shift him to 3rd base (where he belonged all this time) but that something has finally clicked with him. I asked Petey not all that long ago about Flores, and I firmly believe Flores is our future 3rd baseman. I love Wright, but I’d make the smart move of moving him to deepen our pitching depth within the system & hopefully strengthen an area we have yet to tackle: Catcher. Give Flores 2 years and he’ll be here.
quite a bit of revisionist history going on, but that is normal.
Anyway, this is 8 years after Omar took over. That is a long time to graduate some prospects. It was the middle years (when they were just falling short, then hurt bad by injuries) when there was no MiL talent coming up, that killed them.
But, the GM seems to be getting too much credit/blame for the minors. What they do control, is who is hired for scouting/drafting and player development. These are the guys that are 99% responsible for what peculates up through the minors.
so, it was whoever the scouting director at the time was responsible for the middle tier draft picks, and the international guy for IFAs.
The GM signs off on the big $ stuff, but mostly concentrates on organizational stuff, and the ML roster. And that is what got Omar in hot water (falling short in agonizing fashion 2 years running, and signing dogs like Castillo, Bay and Ollie). Plus, letting the Bernazard sideshow run amok. Those were 100% on his head.
I don’t expect Sandy to be any more involved in specific prospects (like knowing 10th round draft picks) than Omar was. He shouldn’t be. But, he is responsible for the guys charged with that now.
there is also something else to consider. Why did guys suddenly have break out/step up years last year? Pure coincidence? or was it changes to the MiL organization (coaching, philosophy, player development style?).
You just can’t blindly say that guys signed years ago have not been influenced over the last season plus by the MiL people (and ML level too). They didn’t exist in some Omar induced vacuum in 2011 either.
so sure, most of these guys came in during Omars reign, but they would have had to, since he was here from 8 years to 2 years ago, when 99% of all the prospects that are likely to be coming up (other than someone brought in via trade) came into the organization.
I do think that the ML system was unfairly bashed recently (and said so repeatedly) but that does not somehow validate Omar’s entire body of work as a GM. Regardless of how many homegrown guys there are on the field, he failed at enough GM areas he got fired for just cause. Being a GM is a tough business.
Injuries is what did Omar Minaya in. Then everything else pancaked on top of him after that because if not for unprecedented injuries the he could have gotten away with a couple of bad contracts (Castillo & Perez) and would be here today.
The only scenario that i could see play out if everybody had remained healthy was if the Mets suffered another collapse after 2008. But otherwise he would be here to see the fruits of his plan and that’s to contend while building the farm.
Alderson is trying to build a farm but his attempt to contend is not there regardless of the budget last year to me Alderson either showed no interest in trying to compete as best he could, did not believe that this team could contend, or both. Hindsight being 20/20 because i cannot stand this current GM so much, I would have loved to see Omar stay on and see what him and a new manager (Bobby V?) would have done with a low budget. And Joe D can validate because back then we had a chat about that I DID say that I would have preferred to see a change in manager before a change in GM.
And as for your observation that maybe the new Front Office is helping these kids come along better now, there is not a thing to prove that and also you don’t know if Sandy’s philosophy can be hampering the hitting of some of these kids. Doesn’t Sandy want at least one walk in 10 plate appearance for every batter and also doesn’t he advocate that each hitter should treat every AB like he’s leading off?
That’s just insane no organization should ever advocate just one approach for everybody. You can ruin young hitters that way.
*should read only other scenario that I could have seen him fired
there is no rule about 1 in 10. it is just a general guideline, basically an indication that they are showing respectable plate discipline.
Valdespin pretty much blows that theory out of the water anyway, and he isn’t the only one.
OH please Any….Your just being rediculous here!
He would have had to have a PERFECT draft in 2005 and have every player taken be developed in only 3 years to do what you propose he failed at!
How many years has Wheeler been in the Minors?
Is he a Failure?
How many Years will Nimmo be down there, hell he isn’t even IN the Minors yet is he? Still in instructional league!
Will Sandy be a failure if Nimmo isn’t here in two more years?
You are being totally unfair! And if we use your parameters to judge Sandy he will fail just as much if not more!
2009 would have been the 5th year for the 1st draft class. so not too soon to expect some guys to be graduating, especailly when you draft college guys. 2010 for sure.
That is just so wrong check the timeline Stick…
Omar hired in 2005 and gets to pick in his first draft JUNE 2005!
MiL season ends in Aug so from the time to draft sign and get them into the MiL the first year is practically non existant. want proof how many MiL games has Nimmo played in and he was drafted a year ago next month!
2006, 2007 2008 thats three years! And thats only for guys who were drafted in 2005! The rest would all have LESS!
As much as I loved Omar, it wasn’t him to build the farm system.
I’d give him blame for Bernazard, and that trade that landed us Castillo, as well as the desperate contract he gave out to Perez, who was a pitching enigma. I will not blame him for Bay, either because no one would have seen that coming, and he was trying to bring power to a team that had just lost Delgado.
I’d give the credit for Marte, Puello, Mejia, Familia, Tapia, and Flores to Ismael Cruz, the head of Latin Scouting. And would give the credit to Terrasas for Harvey, Vaughn, Davis, Duda, Thole, and other American players.
However, I can see why the credit goes to him as well, because he had hired all these guys.
But at the end of the day, he handed the right to pick these guys to sign to Terrasas, and Cruz. So I will hold the credit for the system for them.
And give Benny Distefano (current St Lucie hitting coach) credit for his work with the clubs he’s worked with, to improve drastically. Look at Brooklyn, 2010 and St Lucie now.
I’ve seen Wilmer Flores play recently while on vacation in Florida. It was the St. Lucie Mets 15-6 win on May 1 over the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins) in which they hit 5 homers. Wilmer was one of the highlights for me in that game. He was 4 for 6 at the plate with one of the 5 homers and 3 singles producing 2 rbi’s. He played 3rd very well and looked physically impressive and mature. I think he has matured very well and is a definite player to look forward to in the future. Other players that impressed me in that game were Danny Muno, Cory Vaughn, and Cesar Puello. Vaughn looks to me like a slugger that needs to grow in terms of pitch selection, but with a large upside for the future. The other 4 homers came from Vaughn, Richard Lucas, Robbie Shields and Wilfredo Tovar. The starting pitcher, Yohan Almonte, looked pretty decent as well.
A game like that certainly has a positive effect on a vacation experience and gives some hope that perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Mets. Hopefully Wilmer stays healthy, continues to develop and, over time, becomes a solid member of the NY Mets.
Time to move Flores up and give him stiffer competition!
Great that he is doing well but you have to keep challenging him!
Thanks for the update masked man, that St. Lucie team is certainly one to watch. They’re numbers both hitting and pitching are tremendous, which explains the incredible record.
I agree with Metsie, why isn’t Flores in AA already? He should have been there to begin the season, and he definitely needs to be there now. I guess the problem is that Jefry Marte is already playing 3B in Binghamton and is batting over .300 and the DH role is not always available. Not a bad dilemma to have though.
I was wondering as well why Flores was still at the A level. Guess there’s a backup in the 3B position in the Mets organization and we’re fortunate David is performing well again this year. The youngsters will just have to wait a while longer. In the meantime, they can perfect their games.Thanks for pointing out Marte is doing well at AA as well. Players excelling in the minors makes for a healthy organization. It’s better than having needs develop and no way to fill them.
They also wanted him to prove that he had finally mastered A+, and deserved the promotion, instead of just moving him up because he been in A ball for a while. That I can agree with.
this year? like J V said, 3B is one position where they have good players from the majors all the way to A+. Until Lutz is not in th eway, no where for marte to go (and not sure they want to move him up this soon, at age 20), so no where to move Flores.
Should all resolve itself by the MiL season break, where they usually do a lot of shuffling.