William Toffey, 3B

Ht: 6’2″ Wt: 205 lb. Level: California League (A)

B/T: L/R Age: 12/31/94 (23) Age Dif: 0.7

Drafted: Fourth Round of the 2017 Draft from Vanderbilt University

Acquired: Acquired from Oakland Athletics as part of Jeurys Familia trade (7/21/18)

Stats: 48 G, 197 PA, 164 AB, 40 H, 8 2B, 5 HR, 32 RBI, .244/.357/.384

Baseball America Athletics Ranking: 19

FanGraphs Midseason Ranking: 7

MLB Pipeline Mets Ranking: 20

When the Mets made the trade to acquire Toffey, Bobby Wahl, and international bonus pool money, there were a number of reactions. One of the more positive reactions came from Christopher Crawford of Rotoworld, who believes Toffey is a good defender with “untapped power potential.”

Despite his career .365 career slugging, Crawford is not the only ones who believe in Toffey’s power potential. In fact, Baseball America said of his power, “With his size and ability to wait for his pitch, Toffey could develop into more power.”

Even if the power does not come, Toffey has the ability to contribute offensively.

As seen with his excellent 14.7 percent walk rate and his .357 OBP, Toffey has the ability to get on base. This is also indicative of his being selective at the plate and waiting for his pitch.

The converse of this is with Toffey going deep into counts, he has a very high 24.9 percent strike out rate.

One factor to consider in all these offensive stats is Toffey suffered a separated left shoulder earlier in the season.

Defensively, Toffey is seen as average despite his being athletic and having a strong arm. A possible reason for that could be his below average speed.

As noted by Eric Logenhagen of Fangraphs, with his ability to play third, his good feel for the strike zone, and his power, Toffey looks like a future bench bat.

Of course, Toffey’s ceiling from bench bat to more rises or falls with his ability to hit for more power. Another potential game changer could be a position change.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported a talent evaluator wondered “if the Mets might consider shifting Will Toffey to catcher.” Passan noted there are some who believe Toffey has the tools to move behind the plate.

No matter what position Toffey plays, how far he goes, and really how many will judge this trade, will be dictated by how much his power develops.