Alex Ramirez, Photo by Ed Delany of MMO
Baseball America has started their annual tradition of picking the Top 10 prospects from each level of the minor leagues. The Mets didn’t have any players listed in the Florida Complex League, but did have center fielder Alex Ramirez on the Low-A Southeast League list.
Ramirez, 18, came in at No. 10 in the Southeast League according to Baseball America. Yes, you read that right, Ramirez is still only 18 and played in full season baseball. Keep that in mind when you look at his stats for the entire season. The right-handed hitter slashed .258/.326/.384 with 15 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 16 stolen bases, and 104 strikeouts in 76 games. Those numbers, in a pitching-friendly league, are just below average at a 96 wRC+.
I talked to multiple people in and outside of the Mets organization that raved about Ramirez’s improvement through the season at the plate. Scouts took notice of him being more disciplined at the plate with the ability to lay off more tough two-strike pitches. And the numbers back that up, in June and July combined he had a 88 wRC+ with a 36.7 strikeout rate and then in August and September he had a combined 107 wRC+ with a significantly lower 23.9 strikeout percentage.
The Mets top signing ($2.1 million) from their 2019 international class is an excellent athlete that figures to stick in center long term. We had him as the Mets No. 7 prospect in our midseason prospect list update.
