Luis Santana, Shervyen Newton Photo by Tanner Cook of TimesNews
With the Mets trades this offseason, many of their top prospects are gone leaving various outlets, including our own, to revisit their rankings. FanGraphs released their Top 25 Mets prospects on Monday after adjusting for recent movement by the team.
For example, two of the top 10 prospects as determined by Fangraphs previously, are no longer with the organization. In their recently published Top 25, Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn have been replaced by Shervyen Newton and Desmond Lindsay. FanGraphs also noted that Luis Santana would’ve been No. 10 on this list before being trading to the Astros this past weekend.
Newton earned his spot in this list with a very strong season with Kingsport where he hit .280/.408/.449. Fangraphs is quite how on Newton going so far as to say “the ceiling on Newton if everything actualizes is superstardom.”
With the the trades and Newton among those riding, the top 25 is now:
- Peter Alonso, 1B
- Andres Gimenez, SS
- Ronnie Mauricio, SS
- Mark Vientos, 3B
- Shervyen Newton, SS
- David Peterson, LHP
- Simeon Woods Richardson, RHP
- Thomas Szapucki, LHP
- Anthony Kay, LHP
- Desmond Lindsay, CF
- Francisco Alvarez, C
- Franklyn Kilome, RHP
- Will Toffey, 3B
- Carlos Cortes, 2B
- Adrian Hernandez, CF
- Junior Santos, RHP
- Walter Lockett, RHP
- Sam Haggerty, 2B
- Tony Dibrell, RHP
- Christian James, RHP
- Ryley Gilliam, RHP
- Gavin Cecchini, 2B
- Nick Meyer, C
- Ryder Ryan, RHP
- Jordan Humphreys, RHP
The two newest names on the list are those from this past weekend’s Kevin Plawecki trade.
Walker Lockett, 24, was recently a member of the San Diego Padres organization before a November trade. In four Major League appearances, Lockett was 0-3 with a 9.60 ERA, 2.133 WHIP, and a 1.2 K/BB. Overall, while Fangraphs Lockett is hittabke, and he “needs a weapon that works in on the hands of lefties, like a cutter” to be a backend starter.
The other prospect obtained in the Plawecki trade was Sam Haggerty, who Fangraphs now ranks as the 18th best prospect in the Mets farm system. Fangraphs sees him as a hitter who understands the strike zone, but “limited from both a power and bat-to-ball standpoint, so it’s possible his patience will be irrelevant if big league pitching decides he’s not a threat to do damage on his own and make it a point to let him put the ball in play.”
The 24-year-old spent time between Double-A and Triple-A hitting .239/.369/.384 while playing second, third, short, and all three outfield positions.
Other prospects of note to be included in the Top 25 were Simeon Woods-Richardson, Carlos Cortes, Ryley Gilliam, and Nick Meyer, all of whom are the highest drafted players remaining from the Mets 2018 draft.
Those prospects are joined on the list by recent international free agent signees Alvarez and Santos.
When you also include the players recently obtained in trades, nine of the 25 players on the list were obtained over the past calendar year.
While an influx of talent like that is promising, it should be noted the Mets farm system has taken a significant hit with the recent trades.
