On Wednesday, Baseball America released their Top 31 Mets Prospects. Why 31? Why else, they have a man-crush on Mike Piazza, doesn’t everyone?
1. Noah Syndergaard, rhp
2. Travis d’Arnaud, c
3. Rafael Montero, rhp
4. Dominic Smith, 1b
5. Kevin Plawecki, c/1b
6. Wilmer Flores, 2b/3b
7. Amed Rosario, ss
8. Brandon Nimmo, of
9. Gavin Cecchini, ss
10. Jacob deGrom, rhp
11. Cesar Puello, of
12. Steven Matz, lhp
13. Dilson Herrera, 2b
14. Michael Fulmer, rhp
15. Gabriel Ynoa, rhp
16. Cory Mazzoni, rhp
17. Vic Black, rhp
18. Jeurys Familia, rhp
19. Domingo Tapia, rhp
20. Logan Verrett, rhp
21. Gonzalez Germen, rhp
22. Luis Mateo, rhp
23. Jack Leathersich, lhp
24. Matt Koch, rhp
25. Matt den Dekker, of
26. Dustin Lawley, of/3b
27. Robert Whalen, rhp
28. Juan Centeno, c
29. Wilfredo Tovar, ss
30. Jayce Boyd, 1b
31. Matt Reynolds, ss
No matter where you go for your top prospects fix, the first five all seem to mirror each other. As a matter of fact, without revealing too much, our MMO Top 25 had the same players in the top ten save two. We had Puello and Matz in there and Cecchini and deGrom just outside the ten best at 11 and 12.
I’m still shocked at how many are still so down on Puello and are all leaving them out of their Top 10, especially coming from three outlets who screamed loudly at the BBWAA for not voting in prominent players that never failed a drug test like Piazza, Bagwell, et al. I guess sanctimony is a two way street.
It was great to see Lawley on this list, but at 26 years old is den Dekker still considered a prospect? He struck out 23 times in 58 at-bats with the Mets before being shipped back to Las Vegas and has racked up 136 whiffs in 474 Triple-A at-bats.
My sleepers on this list are Reynolds, Whalen and Koch. Look for all three to move to the teens by next year. Also, Chris Flexen is a huge omission here.
You compare these lists with 4-5 years ago and it’s amazing how many high ceiling prospects we now have in this organization. This group is oozing with upside.
