Updated Post 2:00 PM
Yesterday, I posted Keith Law’s 2011 Organizational Rankings which you can see if you scroll down. Today, Law posted his Top 10 Mets Prospects as follows:
1. Wilmer Flores, SS/3B
2. Matt Harvey, RHP (83)
3. Reese Havens, 2B
4. Cesar Puello, OF
5. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF
6. Darrell Ceciliani, CF
7. Lucas Duda, 1B
8. Aderlin Rodriguez, 3B
9. Juan Urbina, LHP
10. Jeurys Familia, RHP
Interesting to see that Fernando Martinez was completely left off and that Law had Harvey ranked so high even though he has yet to throw one pitch since being selected by the Mets and was coming off a below average college season.
Third is the highest I have ever seen Havens ranked in these lists and of course his career has been slowed by injuries.
Original Post 1/26 5:00 PM
Keith Law has posted his 2011 MLB organizational rankings in his Insider Column on ESPN.com.
The Mets were ranked at a disappointing 26th overall. Law writes,
26. New York Mets
Earth to Fred Wilpon: This is what a strict adherence to slot recommendations will buy you. Parsimony has its price.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he ranks the Atlanta Braves 3rd, the Philadelphia Phillies 5th, and the New York Yankees 9th. Ironically, this list comes out after all the recent fan claims that the Phillies gutted their farm system in recent years to acquire Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt.
What Keith Law doesn’t tell you is that many of our top prospects are already on the Major League team. I’m talking about Jon Niese, Ike Davis, Josh Thole and Bobby Parnell. I believe that that should count for something. All of them were drafted and developed under Omar Minaya’s watch, so while we didn’t gut the farm system to make a trade, we did what teams are supposed to do and promoted our own in recent years. At least that’s the way I see it.
Currently, the Mets have five and possibly six of their eight starting position players that were developed through the Mets minor league system. Pelfrey, Niese and Gee could all see time in the starting rotation, and Bobby Parnell will be the setup man this season.
That’s something to be proud of.
