For the last three years, all of the talk surrounding young Mets catching prospects started and ended with Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki, and for good reason. Now that both have graduated onto bigger and better things in the major leagues, you can forget about exciting minor league backstops now, right? Wrong. Enter Ali Sanchez.
#15 C Ali Sanchez
Ht: 6’0″ Wt: 175 Age: 1/20/1997 (19)
2015 Level: Rookie Gulf Coast League Mets, Rookie Kingsport Mets
Statistics: 49 G, 188 PA, 173 AB, 6 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 20 RBI, 12/28 BB/K, 2 SB, .272/.330/.306
The Mets pulled the trigger on Sanchez in July of 2013, during the international free agent signing period, which also produced shortstop Luis Carpio, who hit .304 for Kingsport (R) last season. Sanchez had been ranked as the 25th best foreign prospect available, and the Mets subsequently gave him $690,000 upon signing. He headed to the Mets’ Dominican Summer League affiliate to begin his professional career, and impressed in his first 50 games, hitting .303 with three home runs and 24 runs batted in. Sanchez was also named as a DSL mid-season all-star for his efforts.
In 2015, the young Venezuelan made his stateside debut in the Gulf Coast League in Port St. Lucie, and got off to a hot start under the Florida sun. Sanchez hit over .300 through August 12, adding five three-hit games along the way. His average tapered off a bit after that point, but he was still rewarded with a late season promotion to Kingsport, playing in three games and recording two hits.
The first thing that is usually noted in scouting reports on Sanchez is his skills behind the plate. Ben Badler of Baseball America touted his arm and high IQ in his original report, along with his receiving skills, framing pitches and handling balls in the dirt. As for the bat, Badler says Sanchez approaches his plate appearances with a contact mentality, which is evident in his statistics; he’s hit only three home runs in nearly 350 at bats, but his career average has been solid at .287. Sanchez has a skinny build, so it’s unlikely his game will revolve around big power.
Looking forward to 2016, Sanchez will continue his development at either Kingsport or Brooklyn. First up, though, is extended spring training in Florida where he’ll work with minor league instructors like Jose Carreno and Bob Natal. Maturity is an important part of every young player’s development, so more experience only helps with that.
While most of the catchers in the Mets’ system are older with years of minor league experience, like Xorge Carrillo, Raywilly Gomez, Nevin Ashley, and Colton Plaia, someone like Sanchez provides a young player with a whole career ahead of him, and a promising one at that.
The previous five players in the top 30 were #16 Luis Guillorme, #17 Chris Flexen, #18 Max Wotell, #19 Milton Ramos, #20 Akeel Morris.
If you would like to see the rest of our series, please tune into MetsMinors.net where we covered the Top 80 Mets Prospects.
