(Jacob Resnick/Mets Minors)

Both Keith Law of ESPN and Baseball America released their preseason lists of the Top 100 prospects in baseball. While Baseball America published their entire list, Law only published the bottom half (51 -100) of his own.  As is usual, the two talent evalutors had very different views of the prospects in the Mets farm system:

LHP David Peterson

2017 Level: Brooklyn
2017 Stats: 0-0, 2.45 ERA, 3 G, 3 GS, 3.2 IP, 6 K, 2.5 BB/9, 14.7 K/9
Law Rank: 58
BA Rank: NR

In rating the Mets 2017 first round draft pick and the 58th best prospect in baseball, Law wrote Peterson “should sail through A-ball given his ability to throw two pitches where he wants them and the difficulty hitters have seeing the ball; he has a high floor as a back-end starter, but there’s a little Chris Sale/Alex Wood potential here if he adds velocity when he fills out.”

SS Andres Gimenez

2017 Level: Columbia
2017 Stats: 92 G, 399 PA, 347 AB, 50 R, 92 H, 9 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 31 RBI, 14 SB, 8 CS, .265/.346/.349
Law Rank: N/A
BA Rank: 94

After beginning the 2017 season as a sleeper candidate, Baseball America rated Gimenez the 97th best prospect in baseball on their mid-season list.  This is in large part due to how the 19 year old shortstop made the surprising leap from the Dominican Summer League to the full season South Atlantic League.  It was a rare aggressive promotion of a top prospect by the Mets organization, but Gimenez was certainly up to the task.

At the moment, Keith Law has not yet released his top 50 prospects in baseball, and with Gimenez’s strong season and Law naming Gimenez a sleeper last year, the possibility remains he could be ranked in the top 50.

While Peterson and Gimenez should give Mets fans something to be excited about, the overall state of the farm system leaves a lot to be desired.

Last year, Thomas Szapucki (60), Robert Gsellman (76), and Justin Dunn (84) ranked in the bottom half of Keith Law’s Top 100 rankings. Of that trio, only Gsellman graduated from prospect status.

With respect to the Baseball America rankings, Gimenez was joined by Amed Rosario (5) and Dominic Smith (65) on the midseason Top 100. After their stints in the majors last year, neither Rosario or Smith are eligible for this year’s Top 100. Accordingly, Baseball America believes only Gimenez should be considered among the top prospects in all of baseball.  That is a far cry from where the Mets have been over the past few seasons.