It was only natural to watch last Thursday’s coverage of the MLB Draft and hope the Mets would stockpile some future offensive stars. Such additions would obviously be a few years away from contribution, but with the offense sputtering the way it has been for the last month, it would be nice to know that there is help somewhere on the way.
So when the Mets took pitchers with their first two picks, my first reaction was confusion. It would seem the last thing the Mets need is pitching and by picking two college arms, that’s pitching that is relatively close to being big-league ready. But as I had more time to consider the picks I became a bigger and bigger fan of them for one reason — the Mets have shown no recent ability to develop offensive talent in their minor league system.
That deficiency at the minor league level is at the root of the team’s offensive problems right now. First let’s look at the talent they have developed. Since 2003, the Mets have developed four competent big league regulars — David Wright, Jose Reyes, Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda. The jury is still out on Michael Conforto, and with how quickly he went from college to the major leagues, there wasn’t much minor league development to be done anyway. Travis d’Arnaud is another borderline guy due to his inability to stay on the field.
The problem is even more glaring when you compare it against other National League contenders:
2016 homegrown offensive regulars
Mets – Kevin Plawecki, David Wright, Lucas Duda, Michael Conforto
Nationals – Ryan Zimmerman, Danny Espinosa, Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper
Cubs – Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler
Pirates – Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer, Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco
Cardinals – Yadier Molina, Matt Adams, Kolten Wong, Aledmys Diaz, Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk, Stephen Piscotty
Giants – Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, Matt Duffy
Dodgers – Corey Seager, Enrique Hernandez, Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig
Besides the Mets, almost every other NL contender’s offensive core was built through the farm system. Obviously, the Mets’ rotation is homegrown and the heart of the team, but there is a glaring difference above between the Mets position players and those of the other teams. It’s very difficult to annually rely on trades and free agency to bolster your offense.
Then there’s the bench. Juan Lagares is a bright spot on the bench, and could be an everyday regular elsewhere. Wilmer Flores is a career .253 hitter with a sub-.700 OPS. Homegrown players Eric Campbell and Matt Reynolds have struggled to hit over .200.
So if you’re counting at home, here are the current Mets offensive major league players that were either drafted or internationally signed by Alderson when he took over in 2011: Conforto, Plawecki and Reynolds. As previously mentioned, Conforto wasn’t really “developed” by the Mets. He played 133 minor league games. Plawecki is hitting .204. Reynolds is at .214.
But this is a two-fold issue because, there is minor league offensive talent available. The second part of the issue is that the Mets also find it difficult to trust their homegrown players. T.J. Rivera is a homegrown talent hitting .362 in AAA, and instead of calling him up, the Mets traded a promising young reliever in Akeel Morris for Kelly Johnson, who is hitting .215.
Gavin Cecchini is a 2012 1st round pick hitting .327 in AAA. He hasn’t been mentioned as a potential call-up despite a need for infield depth. Brandon Nimmo is a 2011 1st round pick hitting .325 in AAA. The Mets signed Alejandro De Aza this offseason instead of giving Nimmo a chance to win a bench spot. Dilson Herrera is hitting .314 in AAA over two seasons. His possible promotion was also temporarily blocked by the Johnson trade.
The Mets are not developing offensive talent and not giving a chance to the offensive players they do develop. They are also 28th in the major leagues in runs scored. These two things are not unrelated. But with decisions like trading for Johnson and using top picks on pitchers, this is a problem that might not be going anywhere soon.
