Tej from Mets Prospect Hub was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for me the other day via email:
In Baseball America’s most recent rankings of the Mets top prospects, Zack Wheeler, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Fulmer held three of the top ten spots with Wheeler tabbed as the organization’s top prospect. Is that an indication of how talented these three prospects are or how poor the Mets farm system was to begin with? When do you think we’ll see them on the big club?
Wheeler is absolutely the goods, mid to upper 90s fastball, and an absolutely devastating curveball to go along with it. The only reason (IMO) he didn’t see Binghamton this year is because both the Giants and Mets had him on a strict pitch/innings count. He should open there in 2012 and form one of the nastiest rotations in minor league ball with Familia, Harvey, and… yeah, Gorski. (big sigh)
Nimmo is a raw, toolsy high school outfielder we took with our first overall pick, but everything you’ve heard about him says he’s highly advanced for his age, and should move quicker then the normal HSer. We’ll see on that, because I wouldn’t be surprised to see him open 2012 in Savannah.
Fulmer almost seems like a Wheeler clone, from what I know of him. Low to mid 90s fastball and a good curve. To answer your question, I’d say it’s an indication of how talented these three players are. They rank 2, 6 and 7 on my personal prospect list (Shameless plug alert: https://www.metsprospecthub.com/minor-league-report/postseason-2011-top-50-prospects/)
I’ve been hearing a great deal about Juan Lagares in recent months. What can you tell me about him, and is this someone we can project for the big league roster in the future?
Juan Lagares was supposedly a very toolsy, athletic shortstop and the FIRST thing I remember reading about him was that “he’s better then Reyes was at this age (16)”. That would be an eyeopener, and the person who said that was the scout who signed both of them.
However, the Mets were really stupid and jumped Lagares from the DSL to Savannah (a 3 level jump), and Lagares languished for years before breaking out last year (2010), and then exploding this year. However – words of caution: His BABIP was crazy nutso, .376 in A+ and .436 in AA. His IsoD was 42 in A+ and 21 in AA, and his IsoP was 156 in A+ and 142 in AA. Basically – his breakout season was carried by being very lucky, he had below average plate discipline and average-ish power. And I apologize for dropping SABR stuff all over my answers.
In the words of Darth Vader – “Apology accepted”. Thanks, Tej…
