The Futures Game is always a fun exhibition to watch, mainly because the competition is taken more seriously than that of the MLB All Star Game. These young prospects are on the biggest of stages, among former big league stars and Hall of Famers who participate in the events and serve as honor y coaches for the Futures Game. They’re playing at a Major League stadium, and act as the precursor to the Home Run Derby and All Star Game.
Needless to say, the Futures Game is a big event for many of the young prospects, getting their first taste of what it’s like to suit up in front a major league crowd.
Met fans were lucky to watch three of our top prospects participate in the event, with first baseman Dominic Smith playing for the USA squad, and second baseman Dilson Herrera and shortstop Amed Rosario playing for Team World. Smith started at first base for Team USA, and went 0 for 4 with an RBI. Herrera and Rosario each recorded a hit for the World Team, and helped the World Team come back to defeat Team USA 11-3.
These events are always more fun for me to watch than the All Star game because it’s a chance to evaluate and scout some of the potential players who might make an impact for our organization someday. Guys like Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Wilmer Flores, Brandon Nimmo, and Michael Conforto are some of the more prominent names to have also played in the Futures Game for the Mets, lending hope for Smith, Rosario, and Herrera to follow in their footsteps to take the next step to the majors and be productive players.
These three in particular have become the top offensive talent that the Mets have at the upper levels of their minor league system. Rosario, 20, is the youngest of the group, and has just recently been promoted to Double A Binghamton. In the Florida State League, Rosario was tearing up the competition in regards to how young he is, to the tune of .309/.359/.442, with eight triples, three home runs, 40 runs batted in, and 13 stolen bases. Rosario is still ranked second in average in the Florida State League (FSL), tied for first in triples, and eighth in OPS (.800). Keep in mind that the FSL is also a notorious pitchers’ league, so Rosario’s numbers should hold even more weight due to those circumstances.
Since his promotion to Binghamton, he’s continued to rake, and doing so at an even higher clip than in Single A. To date, Rosario has a line of .424/.462/.610, with three triples, 12 runs batted in, and 14 runs scored, all while playing a solid shortstop.
The future looks extremely bright for the six-foot-two slim shortstop, whose enthusiasm and pure love of the game can be seen every time he steps foot on the diamond. He also acts and speaks like a veteran, making sure to acknowledge in interview that he knows he needs a bit more seasoning in the minors before he eventually makes the jump to the majors.
“I feel like on one side it is close to getting to the big leagues, but on the other side, I know I still have a lot of work to do to really get there.” (NY Post)
With Asdrubal Cabrera signed through 2017, and having a solid season thus far for the big club, Rosario and the Mets have the luxury of biding their time with his promotion, hoping that once he’s called upon to take over the reigns, it’s for good.
I suspect Rosario will play out the remainder of 2016 with Binghamton, and then be the starting shortstop for Triple A Las Vegas at the start of the 2017 season. He’ll be given a good look in Spring Training, and Rosario knows that he’ll be continually evaluated, due to his high potential and higher prospect status. Baseball America released its Midseason Top 100 Prospect list, and Rosario now sits at 18 overall, moving down 40 spots from the initial Baseball America ranking before the season began .
Rosario is not only drawing the attention and adulation of fans and scouts. When Jose Reyes made starts in Binghamton as a tuneup for his return with the Mets, he was in awe of the young shortstop, and praised his tools and potential in the process.
“Wow. Honestly, when I saw him for the first time, my jaw dropped,” Reyes told NJ Advance Media in Spanish Saturday. “I had heard a lot about him, but I had the opportunity to see him in person. Tremendous tools. I think he’s going to be a five-tool player.” (NJ.com)
Rosario said that the time he got to spend with Reyes was beneficial because he got to pick his brain and talk with the 14-year veteran on a myriad of topics.
“I think it was a huge help getting to spend time with him,” Rosario said. “I think he’s a tremendous person, a tremendous human being. Just getting the advice from him to just really stay happy, stay positive, was great.”
The Binghamton Mets have 54 games left on their schedule this year, with Rosario only appearing in 16 games so far with them. He played in 66 games with Single A Port St. Lucie, so he’ll blow past his career high in games played from 2015 which was 105. That’s a major hurdle for these young guys to overcome, because the rigorous travel and amount of games played in a six month period can be daunting for many. However, if Rosario can play in roughly 120-125 games this year, an increase of 15-20 games from 2015, he’ll be well on his way to being able to handle the workload that will be asked of him once he arrives with the Mets.
And if Rosario does open up the 2017 season with Triple A Las Vegas, he’ll do so having just turned 21 in November, meaning he’ll be one of the youngest players in the league. Normally, the median age for Triple A Pacific Coast players from a study done a few years back by Baseball America was 26.
As Rosario continues to climb up the ladder towards Queens, he’s doing so at a terrific pace, and exciting Met fans in the process. We might very well see the three Met representatives in Sunday night’s Futures Game all playing together at Citi Field as soon as 2018. An exciting and enticing idea, one which will surely get Met fans excited for the near future.
