When we did our Top 30 Mets prospect update it was a no-brainer to have Amed Rosario at No. 1 and Dominic Smith at No. 2. Well now both of them have exceeded the 130 at-bats mark and are no longer considered prospects.
The loss of Rosario and Smith from the prospect rankings gives you a look at how barren the Mets system currently is and the likelihood they will be ranked in the bottom 10 possibly even bottom five in baseball.
In addition to the graduations the Mets also saw injuries end the season early for RHP Justin Dunn, LHP Thomas Szapucki, RHP Jordan Humpreys, C Ali Sanchez and OF Desmond Lindsay, all ranked in the top 30 according MLB Pipeline.
Disappointing seasons from OF Wuilmer Becerra, INF Gavin Cecchini, C Tomas Nido and INF Gregory Guerrero also hurt a system that started the year in the bottom half of baseball.
On August 3 following the trade deadline, Baseball America ranked the Mets farm system No. 17 in baseball. That was with Rosario being their No. 4 prospect and Smith being No. 50.
The Mets likely only Top 100 prospect this offseason will be shortstop Andres Gimenez. The recently turned 19-year-old was very impressive in his first full season of pro ball, hitting .265/.346/.349 with nine doubles, four triples, four home runs and 14 stolen bases while being 3.5 years younger than the league average.
First baseman Peter Alonso is the other real standout from the Mets 2017 minor league season in his first full year as a pro. The slugger hit .289/.359/.524 with 27 doubles, 18 home runs and only struck out 71 times in 353 at-bats between the St. Lucie Mets and Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
To give you a better idea of how weak the Mets farm system is, here’s my current top 10:
- Andres Gimenez, SS
- David Peterson, LHP
- Justin Dunn, RHP
- Thomas Szapucki, LHP
- Peter Alonso, 1B
- Mark Vientos, SS/3B
- Desmond Lindsay, OF
- Tomas Nido, C
- Ronny Mauricio, SS
- Chris Flexen, RHP
Now, the Mets did have sign a strong group in this year’s International Free Agent class headlined by Mauricio that received a team record $2.1M signing bonus and included four of the top 50 prospect according to Baseball America.
They also added some bullpen plus arms at the deadline, albeit slightly disappointing returns in a few cases (mainly Jay Bruce trade), but these arms generally fall into the 20-30 in team rankings and don’t factor strongly in overall system outlooks.
That being said, we’re looking at a system that has gone from top five in 2015 to possibly bottom five this offseason. Combine that with a major league roster littered with holes and you have to wonder what Sandy Alderson can do to make the Mets a contender in the short-term.
