Adam Rubin, of ESPN.com, has reported that Mets’ outfield prospect Cory Vaughn has earned an invite to spring training with the major league club.
He will join fellow prospects Steven Matz, Jeff Walters, Jacob deGrom and Erik Goeddel in camp, who were recently added to the 40-man roster. Rubin also adds that Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero should be joining Vaughn as non-roster invitees.
I would not project Vaughn to make the team out of spring training, but the tools are there, so he will be an interesting player to watch this season in Las Vegas. His 2013 season was spent recovering from injury, so the Mets sent him to the AFL where he put up some decent numbers against some of the top prospects in the game.
Vaughn hasn’t been able to take advantage of his tools thus far—his swing is still a little on the long side, and I would like to see him finish his swings better. But if he can work out the kinks, and cut down the strikeouts, the Mets could have avery dangerous player on their hands.
Vaughn has maintained pretty solid BABIP thus far in his career, which means if he cuts back on the strikeouts and puts the ball in play more often, good things will happen. BABIP can be volatile from season to season, but Vaughn has excellent speed, which could attribute to the higher BABIP.
The average amount of balls put into play that turn into hits is about 30 percent, and Vaughn’s BABIP was .343 at Binghamton and carried to the AFL where he posted a .339 BABIP.
The potential is definitely there, and Vaughn will be my sleeper choice for having a breakout season in the hitter-happy environment of the PCL.
Many of the Mets top prospects will be on display during the Mets’ spring training in 2014. In addition to the prospects named earlier, the Mets will have Juan Centeno, Wilmer Flores, Travis d’Arnaud, Cesar Puello, Vic Black, Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia, all in camp.
The battle for that fifth rotation spot should be fun to watch, as well as all these young prospects getting a taste of the big-leagues. Why can’t we just fast forward to February?
