#5 Gavin Cecchini
Preseason: #12
Age: 21 – December 22, 1993
Drafted: First Round (12th overall) 2012
Bats/Throw: Right/Right
Cecchini had the breakout year offensively that the Mets have been waiting for being awarded as the Rookie of the Year in the Eastern League, he was also a midseason and postseason All-Star. He was named the EL player of the month for July after hitting .387/.453/.532 with six doubles, three triples, two homeruns and more RBI (18) than strikeouts (17).
Gavin finished this season hitting 26 doubles, four triples, seven homeruns, 51 RBI and slashed .317/.377/.442 while taking only three at bats against pitchers younger than him. His average was 2nd in league, OBP 4th, doubles were 9th, and his .819 OPS was 5th. All while playing the season over three years younger than the league average age.
Gavin was coming off a year combined for Savannah and St. Lucie that he hit .247/.328/.378 with 27 doubles, five triples, eight homeruns, 56 RBI, ten stolen bases and a 57/82 BB/SO. He also got a cup of coffee with the Binghamton Mets going 2-5 including 1-2 with a run scored in the playoffs.
His biggest obstacle this year has been his errors, 28 of them although a large majority came from errant throws. I watched Cecchini over 50 times this year (including 12 in person) and think that his throwing issue is both mental and mechanical. He has little problem throwing when he comes in on the ball or when ranging up the middle. He starts getting wild when sits back on balls and when he does a glove tap before he throws (something we have seen with Wilmer Flores). Both of these situations allow his footwork to get sloppy and ahead of his arm resulting in airmail throws.
Some scouts question his ability to stick at shortstop but I think that is overstated, he has the range and arm strength to play an average defensive shortstop. He comes in on the ball well, goes to backhand fairly well, and covers some ground going up the middle. He needs to get rid of the glove tap and learn when to eat the ball on plays he doesn’t have a chance. I think a Ruben Tejada with more athleticism is a fair comparison defensively.
On the offensive side of the ball there is very little not to like with Cecchini, he has a compact swing that allows him to hit the ball to all fields. He also has good plate discipline, only 55 strikeouts compared to 42 walks this year. This year he showed a propensity to hit in big spots with 46 RBI and a .957 OPS with runners in scoring position including batting .441 with 2 outs. He is never going to be a 15 homerun guy but his line drive swing would fit in nicely in the Citi Field gaps.
His season did end premature on August 19th when he suffered what they are calling a hip impingement. Video of homerun in July.
#4 Dominic Smith
Preseason: #11
Age: 20 – June 15, 1995
Drafted: First Round (11th overall) 2013
Bats/Throws: Left/Left
As much of you know by now Dominic Smith swung his way out of the prospect purgatory that some fans/gurus had put him in prematurely. Smith was batting .143/.194/.159 with three RBI on May 7th before going on a 101 game tear that produced a .332/.380/.459 slash line.
He led the Florida State League in doubles with 33, RBI with 79, 3rd in OPS at .771, 4th in average at .305 and 4th in the league with his .417 slugging percentage. Not bad for a kid who took two at bats all year against a pitcher younger than him.
Smith racked up the accolades this year winning FSL player of the month for June, player of the week for June 1st, postseason All-Star, and was named the 2015 Florida State League Player of the Year. He had a .918 OPS with runners in scoring position and fared well against lefties with a .314 albeit without a homerun. Coming a year after he hit .271/.344/.338 for Savannah in the South Atlantic League which is a notoriously tough place for power numbers.
Smith finished with six homeruns in 2015 over 456 at bats which some will say still worries them but he showed great gap power this year which I think will translate into more long balls as he gets older. Getting out of the lower level minor leagues with ballparks and conditions that favor pitching will help as well.
He already hits the ball to the opposite field very well though he needs to show the ability to pull with authority when he gets his pitch. Smith has great hand-eye coordination and a solid knowledge of the strike zone (does like to argue quite a bit with homeplate ump). His defense is about as good as you can imagine for a 20-year old at first base, has great range and can really pick it. He was named the best defensive 1B in the league by the managers in the FSL.
You don’t see players come around everyday that have his all-around potential which is why Sandy drafted him. Smith had his season cut short with a non-serious shoulder injury that had him miss the final week. Here is video of him taking batting practice last year.
#3 Amed Rosario
Preseason: #6
Age: 19 – November 20, 1995
Signed: July 2nd, 2012 (Mets record $1.75 M)
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Amed perhaps has the most raw potential of any player in the Mets farm system but he struggled to stay on the field this year battling nagging injuries that limited him to 105 games. The Mets decided that Rosario had shown enough in 2014 after hitting a combined .274/.320/.372 between the Brooklyn Cyclones and Savannah Sand Gnats (30 AB’s) to push him aggressively right to the St. Lucie Mets to start the 2015 campaign.
The season started rough for Rosario who hit only .238/.265/.300 with 16 strikeouts compared to just one walk in April for St. Lucie. He would then explode for an incredible May hitting .318/.370/.455 with nine RBI and a 8/21 BB/SO before slumping again in June.
Overall this year in 103 games in A-ball he hit .257/.307/.335 with 20 doubles, five triples, 25 RBI and 12 stolen bases. The league average slash line in FSL was .248/.313/.337 with the hitters average age being 22.6 years old.
He was promoted to Binghamton last week and has gone 2-14 with two RBI and a stolen base in three games (one playoff). I was surprised and happy at the same time to see Rosario head to the B’Mets. He needed to get some more at bats and playoff exposure can only help his development.
In talking with two people who watch Rosario on a daily basis all they did was rave about how smooth talented of a defensive player he is. I talked to a scout who didn’t like the length of his swing but loved the amount of hard contact he made when he wasn’t chasing pitches out of the zone. He has a rocket for an arm and has above average speed too that he has been unable to harness into base stealing yet. He has already shown that he can hit the ball to right field with some consistency.
He has climbed up to the #87 spot on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospect list ahead of Cecchini (#95) and Smith (#97). He was also voted as the best defensive shortstop in the FSL in recent pole Baseball America took. He was the #5 overall pick in the recent Dominican Winter League rookie draft. Here is video of him last year in New York-Penn All-Star Game.
#2 Michael Conforto
Preseason: #7
Age: 22 – March 1, 1993
Drafted: First round (10th overall) 2014
Bats/Throws: Left/Right
Yes, Michael Conforto is still considered a prospect although not for much longer as he is approaching the 130 at bats (at 111) needed to qualify as a rookie in MLB. I don’t think I need the long drawn out overview of his season either as I’m sure most of you have been following it this year.
It took the Florida State League pitchers about two weeks to realize that they were not going to let Conforto beat them. They started pitching around him including the Fort Myers Miracle who intentionally walked him three times on April 24th. For the month of April he ended up hitting .313/.396/.566 with six homeruns and 19 RBI. He struggled in May with pitchers making other hitters in the lineup beat them, he hit .255 with just one homerun in 27 games.
Michael was promoted to Binghamton and made his debut for them on May 30th going 0-2 with three walks, he would reach base safely in 20 straight games to start B’Mets career. He was extremely impressive in his 45 games with the B’Mets hitting .312/.396/.503 with 12 doubles, three triples, five homeruns and 26 RBI. He also had four outfield assist giving up him nine on the season overall.
Michael was a midseason All-Star in the FSL, was selected to play in the 2015 Futures Game and showed off why he is such a talent offensively and defensively. He was also a three time player of the week this year receiving it twice in the FSL and once with Binghamton.
Conforto has exceeded my expectations at the plate and most definitely in the field in his short time with the Mets so far. He is hitting .278/.356/.522 with ten doubles, six homeruns, 20 RBI, and 24 runs scored in his first 37 big league games. He also has four outfield assists while making every play in left field. The highest OPS Michael had in a month this year was August with the Mets and a whopping 1.009. Here is video of his first Binghamton homerun.
#1 Steven Matz
Preseason: #2
Age: 24 – May 29, 1991
Drafted: Second round 2009
Bats/Throws: Right/Left
The Mets drafted Steven Matz on June 10th, 2009 although he didn’t throw his first pitch in a Mets uniform until June 20th, 2012 for Kingsport in the Appalachian League. He allowed only five runs in 29 innings that year and his career has taken off since then.
Last year he went 10-9 with a 2.25 ERA between St. Lucie and Binghamton. He lost a no-hitter in the 8th inning of the B’Mets EL Championship clinching game and finished with 11 strikeouts in 7.1 innings. He was also given the Mets Sterling Pitcher of the Year award for the entire Minors.
Matz impressed the Mets brass with a solid spring and then dominated the hitters heaven that is the Pacific Coast League. He was 7-4 with a 2.19 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, both would lead the league if he still had enough innings to qualify. He was also 7-23 with three RBI with the bat for the Las Vegas 51’s this year.
All he has done since being promoted to the big leagues is go 2-0 while allowing less runs (4) to the opposition than he has driven in (5) for the Mets. He has given up only 11 hits and struck out 20 compared to seven walks. His 3.3 B/9 inning in the big leagues (SSS) is his highest since 2013 with Savannah which gives him something he needs to work on.
I love his fastball, tough to square up and even harder to lift as you can tell by the measly 17 homeruns he has given up in 399.2 career innings. His curveball has improved over the last year or so getting more depth on the break while being able to keep in down in the zone. If he can improve his command of the fastball and the consistency of his changeup he has the opportunity to become the fourth ace on this Mets pitching staff. Video from his second MLB game. Matz is listed as the #16 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline.
Mets Midseason Prospects 25-21
Mets Midseason Prospects 20-16
Mets Midseason Prospects 15-11
Mets Midseason Prospects 10-6
