Alex Ramirez, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
As the season gets closer to beginning, we have another Top 100 prospect list that was just released on Wednesday. Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin unveiled their list of the Top 100 Prospects in the game on FanGraphs and the Mets were well-represented on the list.
In total, the Mets had five prospects and had a chance at six on the list. Catcher Francisco Álvarez was the highest on the list at No. 13. The Mets had two infielders on the list in third baseman Brett Baty (No. 23) and shortstop Ronny Mauricio (No. 90). In addition, outfielder Alex Ramirez was 72nd in the rankings.
One of the more notable names on the list was Kodai Senga, The 30-year-old right-hander was 39th on the list. While he wouldn’t technically be considered a prospect, he is a rookie, so FanGraphs has him on their list. With the variety of pitches that Senga has in his arsenal, they see him as fitting right in at the middle of the Mets vaunted rotation:
“While his breaking ball command is inconsistent, Senga’s velocity, splitter, repertoire depth, and demonstrated durability make him a fit as no. 3 or 4 starter on a contender like the Mets, who signed him to a five-year, $75 million deal.”
As for Álvarez, they mention how while the way his swing is setup is going to cause a lot of swings-and-misses, the power at a position where slugging is hard to find makes him such an intriguing player going forward:
“He doesn’t track pitches especially well (his head often flies all over the place) and he has mediocre barrel variability, so he’s likely to swing and miss at an above-average clip in the big leagues, but he’s going to get to an absurd amount of power for a catcher and produce at an All-Star offensive level for that position.”
The player that just missed being in the Top 100 is catcher Kevin Parada, who was 103rd on the list. With some players graduating off the list at some point this year, Parada is going to end up being in the Top 100 at some point in 2023, so fans shouldn’t worry too much about that.
One of the intriguing writeups about a player came with Ramirez. They noted that at 19 years old, he performed well in High-A and one of the things that’s impressive about the teenager is his ability to pull the ball as he makes effort to cut down on his strikeout rate heading into his age-20 season:
“After that it seemed like Ramirez was asked to try to demonstrate better plate discipline. He walked at hefty 15% clip in June, three times as much as he had to that point in the season, and his strikeout rate barely moved even though he was running deeper counts. He was rewarded with a promotion to Brooklyn, where his walk rate again keeled off but Ramirez performed anyway, and he posted an above-average batting line as a 19-year-old during two months at High-A. Ramirez has plus-plus bat speed and will show you big pull-side power already.”
All-in-all, the Mets system is in a good place heading into a season where the major league expectations are high and there are some fun prospects to watch at all levels of the minor league system.
