Photo by MiLB.com
#15 Ali Sanchez
Preseason: Unranked
Age: 18 – January 20th, 1997
Signed: 7/2/2013
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
The 6 foot, 180 pound catcher was signed out of Venezuela for $690,000 and was ranked by Baseball America as the 25th best international prospect for that July 2nd signing period. He was ranked as the #2 catcher in that class behind Jose Herrera who is also currently playing in rookie level ball for Arizona.
Sanchez started his Mets career off last year playing in the Dominican Summer League and hitting .303/.406/.394 in 50 games. He hit seven doubles, three homeruns, twenty-four RBI, and stole six bases to go along with a 27/31 BB/SO ratio. He also threw out 51% (3rd in league) of base stealers (37 of 72) in 39 games behind the plate. He was awarded the Sterling Award (MVP) for the DSL Mets #1.
He came stateside to play baseball for the first time this year for the GCL Mets and started off with a bang hitting .373/.427/.413 in his first 20 games. He has slowed down in the last 21 games and is hitting .279/.342/.305 with four doubles, sixteen RBI, two stolen bases and a 11/24 BB/SO over that span. He is throwing out 47% (23 of 48) runners trying to steal this year. Ali has been clutch in his short career hitting .367/.436/.531 with twenty RBI in 49 AB’s with two outs and runners in scoring position.
He has been noted by several publications as a great receiver behind the plate that has a quick release and good accuracy that is combined with a solid arm. He is also a good athlete for a catcher which should make it easy to stick at the position. Ali has an advanced contact approach at the plate allowing him keep his strikeout numbers down for an 18-year old. Scouts question his ability to hit for power in the future but he uses the whole field well already which could help him develop gap power. Video on Sanchez by MLB.com.
#14 Eudor Garcia
Preseason: Unranked
Age: 21 – May 17th, 1994
Drafted: 4th round in 2014
Bats/Throws: Left/Right
Eudor made his Mets debut last year in the Appalachian League with the Kingsport Mets after he was drafted out of El Paso Community College in the fourth round. n his first 202 professional at bats he struggled some hitting .262/.327/.347 with nine doubles, triple, two homeruns, and twenty-eight RBI. He had twelve errors in 42 games playing exclusively at third base.
This year has been a different story offensively for Garcia who has shown off the his potential the Mets hoped for hitting .293/.330/.446 with twenty-one doubles, two triples, nine homeruns, and fifty-three RBI. All while playing in Grayson Stadium which is notoriously tough place for hitters especially left-handers. He has scored fifty runs and stole his first four bases of his career.
Finding a left-handed power hitting third basemen is pretty rare and Eudor has held his own against lefties this year batting .284/.360/.363 in 102 at bats. His strikeout numbers have jumped significantly this year though going from 14.2% last to 23.4% in 2015 while having his walks dropped 2.8%. He has improved ion his defense going from a .889 fielding % in 2014 to .928% this year.
Scouts still wonder if his fringe arm strength and below average agility at third base will make him potentially move to left field/first base. I don’t see him having the foot speed to be able to play left everyday. He has worked on using the whole field more this year which would ultimately help him count down on the strikeouts. Video of an opposite field double.
#13 Milton Ramos
Preseason: #15
Age: 19 – December 26th, 1995
Drafted: 3rd round in 2014
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
The Mets drafted Milton out of American Heritage High School in Florida last year when they were shocked that possibly the best defender in the entire draft dropped to the 3rd round. He has not disappointed with the glove showing off his great range, plus hands, and a solid accurate arm. He did impress some with his offensive debut in the Gulf Coast League while being almost two years younger than the rest of the league.
In his pro debut he hit .241/.299/.355 with nine doubles, five triples, twenty-nine RBI, and six stolen bases with a 14/34 BB/SO ratio. Milton started this year on fire for Kingsport hitting .341/.370/.455 in his first 11 games before being demoted back to GCL Mets for what has been rumored to be an “immaturity” issue (source is not Sal Licata). He hit just .194/.256/.222 in 11 games in the GCL before heading back to Kingsport.
He has played in 21 games since returning to the Appalachian League and continued has struggled hitting .247/.275/.329 with twenty strikeouts. Ramos has picked it back up lately though hitting .315/.316/.370 with twelve RBI in his last 13 games and his slash line in Kingsport is now .279/.307/.372.
Milton is ranked here more on the potential he has with an already plus glove in the middle infield with the quick hands and athleticism that could help develop him into an asset with the bat as well. He already has some good bat speed and swings pretty level but needs to learn to lay-off off-speed pitches. He has played eleven games at second base this year in part because of the emergence off Luis Carpio. Here is video of swing and defense in 2013.
#12 Jhoan Urena
Preseason: #10
Age: 20 – September 1st. 1994
Signed: September 8th, 2011
Bats/Throws: Switch/Right
The Mets decided they were going to be aggressive with some of their top prospects this year including Jhoan Urena who great 2014 campaign pushed him passed Savannah and right to St. Lucie. Last year in 75 games for Brooklyn the young switch hitting third basemen hit .300/.356/.431 with twenty double, triple, five homeruns, forty-seven RBI, and seven stolen bases. He did go 2-7 with a walk in two playoff games for the Sand Gnats as well.
He was a New York-Penn League All-Star as he led the league in games played, hits, at bats, and finished second in RBI, third in total bases, third in doubles. He has not had the same success in the Florida State League this year hitting only .220/.263/.273 in 61 games for St. Lucie. His bad year was compounded by a wrist injury that had him out from May 20th to July 10th.
The injury came at a bad time as he was starting to turn his season around at the plate batting .283/.317/.300 in his last 17 games before hitting the disabled list. He played in just five rehab games and looked rusty as he returned to St. Lucie going 0-18 in his first six games back. Since then he has hit .277/.320/.340 while having to work around the David Wright rehab tour.
He has shown the ability to hit from both sides of the plate as a very young player and has the raw power to be an above average offensive third basemen. He has a good arm. strong hands, and has surprised many evaluators with his agility at third given his atypical body build for the position. Here is video of him hitting in PSL this year.
#11 Gabriel Ynoa
Preseason: #12
Age: 22 – May 26th, 1993
Signed: November 19th, 2009
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Gabriel Ynoa is highly regarded for his ability to limit walks and keep balls in the ballpark which impressed the Mets enough to add him to the 40-man roster this offseason. In 2013 he was named the Sterling Organizational Pitcher of the Year after leading the entire Minor Leagues with 17 wins including two in the postseason for the Savannah Sand Gnats.
Last year in split time between St. Lucie and Binghamton he went 11-4 with a 4.07 ERA and a 1.311 while allowing only 25 walks in 148 innings. He was 3-2 (plus a win in the playoffs) with 4.21 ERA allowing 74 hits and 12 walks while striking out 42 in 66.1 innings in AA for the B’Mets. Before this season Baseball America said he had the best control in the Mets farm system.
This season has been one of ups and downs for Gabriel who started the season off poorly going 2-3 in April and May with ERA’s of 4.86 and 4.65 respectively. Then came a stretch from June 16th to July 27th when he was flat out awesome over 58.1 innings that he had a 1.84 ERA and held the league to a .193/.212/.269 slash line. He had three straight complete games in that stretch and was named Eastern League Pitcher of the week on July 6th.
Overall this season Gabriel is 9-8 with 3.88 ERA, 1.216 WHIP, and only eleven homeruns in 139 innings. His strikeouts have gone down to only 4.7 K/9 with the walks going up slightly in AA from 1.6 BB/9 to 1.7 BB/9. He has lowered both his hits per nine innings and homeruns per nine this year though.
When I saw him this year he was sitting at 93/94 MPH with his fastball with the high being 96. He has a great changeup, is a very slick fielder off the mound, and his delivery is as clean and crisp as it gets. He has struggled to develop his slider that he can’t control at times. He has started working on a curveball which has yet to be an effective pitch. One of the two breaking balls needs to be average for him to take the next step.
I talked to multiple scouts about Ynoa and most were on the same page that they believed he would be a fine 4/5 starter in the big leagues with potential to be a #3 if he can hone a breaking ball. Here is video of strikeout against the Erie SeaWolves.
Mets Midseason Prospects 25-21
Mets Midseason Prospects 20-16
