As of a few years ago, the Mets had a promising crop of young international free agents – primarily Cesar Puello, Aderlin Rodriguez, Wilmer Flores and a young third baseman by the name of Jefry Marte. After five full seasons under his belt, Mr. Marte has shown progress – but is it enough to consider him a valid prospect?

Jefry Marte was signed as an IFA in 2007 out of the Dominican Republic and his major selling point was a plus hit tool and power-potential if he filled out his 6’1″ frame. Marte has played a full season at every level except for Lo-A, where he hit .233 in his first trip, and .264 his second time. Marte has progressively improved his plate discipline while cutting his strikeout rate, but has always had a problem with turning his contact into hits, as shown by his career .254 average. While the power has slowly ticked up, Marte hit nine home runs this season after hitting seven last season, he saw a downturn in stolen bases with nine this season compared to the 14 he had in 2011.

What has always been a problem for Marte was playing steady defense at third base, and despite still being very rough around the edges he has cut his error rate nearly 50%, with 15 errors in 2012 compared to the 28 errors he had in 2011. If the power potential surfaced, having a poor defensive showing at the hot corner as long as he could at least be average is tolerable. At the major league level though, a corner infielder hitting below .250 with ten home runs wouldn’t fly on any team.

The primary concern with Marte is – as power develops, singles become doubles, and doubles become home runs. Marte has yet to hit more than 22 doubles in a season which seems to exhibit he may not have top-flight power. As an example, Aderlin Rodriguez hit two more doubles and seven more home runs from 2011 to 2012 – over 30 less at-bats. Marte hit two less doubles and two more home runs in 20 less at-bats. So is his potential still power-hitting corner infielder, or organizational filler? Wilmer Flores was only two doubles shy and one homer short of matching Marte’s AA performance – in half the AB’s.

Marte looks to be set to repeat at Double-A Binghamton, unless he is promoted to Las Vegas to clear some AB’s for Wilmer Flores. The future seems much cloudier, and unless Marte becomes an above average third-baseman or has a power-spike, which isn’t uncommon, his place as a prospect and on the 2014 Mets minor league roster is in question

Welcome to Who’s Hot Who’s Not, where every Tuesday, we take a look at the hottest and coldest players from the upper minors (St. Lucie, Binghamton, Buffalo).

Who’s Hot

• Wilmer Flores INF, Binghamton- Flores is just on fire right now. After earning himself an “Honorable Mention” on last week’s list, Flores has picked it up even more. Over his last ten, he is batting .447 with three home runs. During that span, he has driven in six runs and has a .500 on-base percentage.
• Darin Gorski SP, Binghamton-After a breakout year with St. Lucie last year, Gorski is doing it once again, this time with Binghamton. He has been having a very good season overall, but his last few starts have been stellar. Over his last three games (21.2 IP) he has a 1.66 ERA and has struck out 25 batters.
• Cesar Puello RF, St. Lucie- Puello has missed major time in his second season in the Florida State League, but seems to be finishing his year strong. He is hitting .355 over his last ten games to go along with a home run and four stolen bases.

Honorable Mention: Logan Verrett SP, St. Lucie- Verrett was stellar in his 11 starts with Savannah, earning himself a promotion to High-A St. Lucie. Since then, he has been even more impressive. He has a 2.27 ERA in 31.2 innings since getting the call. In his last start against Jupiter, he gave up just one run on three hits over seven innings.

Who’s Not

• Lucas May C, Buffalo- May has had a rough season overall with Buffalo. The power hasn’t been there this season, and this latest stretch has been particularly rough for Lucas. He is batting .138 over his last ten games with a .158 on-base percentage.
• Jefry Marte 3B, Binghamton- Marte was on last week’s list and has continued to struggle, putting him on it once again. Marte is hitting just .189 over his last ten games and .183 overall in the month of August. He is now hitting .253 on the season.
• Travis Taijeron OF, St. Lucie- After having a fantastic first half for Savannah, hitting 12 home runs in 64 games and showing patience at the plate, Taijeron has had a tough time adjusting to the very tough Florida State League. Taijeron is hitting .182 over his last ten games and has struck out 14 times in 33 at-bats.

Welcome to Who’s Hot, Who’s Not! Every Tuesday, we take a look at the hottest and coldest players from St. Lucie, Binghamton, and Buffalo. Here we go…

Who’s Hot

• Collin McHugh P, Buffalo – McHugh had a rough first couple of starts for Buffalo, but has bounced back and been tremendous for the Bisons since. Over his last ten starts, he has a 2.59 ERA. On top of that, he was named International League Pitcher of the Week for his two performances against Pawtucket. In his first, he hallowed just one run on three hits over 5.2 innings. Then on Saturday night, he shut down the PawSox at Fenway, tossing seven shutout innings, allowing just five hits.
• Danny Muno SS, St. Lucie – After hitting just .229 in the month of July, Danny Muno has come roaring back for St. Lucie. Over his last ten games, he is hitting a stellar .417 with one home run and six RBI. Over that span, he has also stolen three bases.
• Richard Lucas 3B, St. Lucie – Lucas, after hitting under .200 in July, had a decent July, but is having an amazing August. He is hitting .379 this month, including .382 over his last ten games with six RBI. He has also stolen five bases this month, a higher total than any other month this season for Lucas.

Honorable Mention: Wilmer Flores INF, Binghamton- Flores is on another one of his big hotstreaks. He hit just .245 in July, but is hitting over .300 this month and .366 over his last ten games.

Who’s Not

• Josh Satin INF, Buffalo – Satin has had another great season for the Bisons, showing some power and a knack for getting on base. However, the last week or so has been really rough for him. Over his last ten games, Satin is batting .103 and has a .256 on-base percentage.
• Jefry Marte INF, Binghamton – Marte has been very streaky this season, and is in another slump right now. This month, he has a .183 average. His on-base percentage this month is just .243. Hopefully Marte will be able to turn it around and earn a spot on the Buffalo roster next April.
• Dylan Owen P, Buffalo – The Mets’ 20th round pick in 2007, Dylen Owen is having one of the roughest stretches of his career so far. Over his last ten outings, Owen has a 9.53 ERA, allowing 18 earned runs over just 17 innings.Over that span, Owen has struck out just eight and walked 14.

Mark Cohoon

Welcome to the second edition of Who’s Hot, Who’s Not – Upper Minors. Today we take a look once again at the hottest and coldest players from St. Lucie, Binghamton, and Buffalo.

Who’s Hot

• Alonzo Harris LF, St. Lucie – Harris is making a name for himself with an incredible stretch for St. Lucie. Harris is hitting .419 over his last ten games with two home runs and seven runs batted in. He also has a .457 on-base percentage and .674 slugging percentage.
• Wilmer Flores INF, Binghamton – Flores is catching fire once again. His adjustment period to Double-A seems to be over,  as he is catching fire once again. He is batting .359 over his last ten games to go along with a .405 on-base percentage and .513 slugging percentage. Flores, 21, is on track to be in Buffalo sooner rather than later with the way he’s been hitting.
• Mark Cohoon P, Binghamton – Cohoon hasn’t gotten the attention he deserves for the way he’s been pitching in Binghamton this season. On the year, he has a 3.44 ERA in 120.1 innings with the B-Mets, and had his best outing of the season on Friday, throwing a two-hit shutout against Harrisbugh. He was recognized this week by the Eastern League as the pitcher of the week.

Who’s Not 

• Pedro Beato P, Buffalo – After pitching very well earlier in the season for Buffalo, Beato has struggled recently. Over his last three outings, he has allowed ten runs in five innings.
• Jefry Marte 3B, Binghamton – Marte was having a good season with the B-Mets up until a few weeks ago, when he started slumping. Over his last ten games, he has just a .194 batting average and has only walked once during that span. Hopefully, Marte can turn it around and earn himself a Triple-A roster spot for next season.
• Eric Campbell 3B, Binghamton – After a fantastic first half, in which he hit well over .300 and earned himself All-Star honors, Eric Cambell has cooled down lately. Campbell is batting .219 over his last ten games and .211 in the month of August.

BUFFALO – ROCHESTER –: Postponed/rain.

BINGHAMTON 6, PORTLAND 5: The B-Mets made it two wins in a row after they defeated Portland, 6-5, Monday night. Binghamton (4-6) got 4.1 innings out of starter Brandon Moore, who struck out four batters but allowed six hits and four earned runs. Ricky Brooks, Eric Niesen and Erik Turgeon combined to pitch 3.2 scoreless innings in relief. John Lujan picked up his third save despite allowing one run in the top of the ninth inning. Joshua Satin went 2-for-3 and had a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to begin the scoring with runners on first and second. Jesus Feliciano added two hits and two RBIs. BOX SCORE

FORT MYERS 6, ST. LUCIE 4: St. Lucie (10-2) lost for the first time in 10 days after losing to Fort Myers, 6-4, Monday night. Jeurys Familia started for St. Lucie, lasting 5.1 innings, giving up four hits and one unearned run. Familia struck out four batters and walked two. Michael Powers came in relief and allowed four unearned runs behind a string of errors. Matt Den Dekker went 2-for-4 with one RBI. Jefry Marte also went 2-for-4 with one RBI. Wilmer Flores was hitless in four at-bats. BOX SCORE

Compiled from team reports.

Email Andrew O’Brien at aobrien7@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @aobrien7