Baseball Prospectus released their 2014 Top 101 Prospect list today and three Mets were featured.
The fact that three Mets prospects made the list doesn’t come as a surprise, but the third name may raise some eyebrows. Let’s take a look at the players rankings:
#11 Noah Syndergaard
This one comes at no surprise. The big right-hander known to Mets fans as “Thor” was placed in the exact same spot last week by MLB.com in their annual rankings. However, whereas MLB.com ranked just two pitchers ahead of him (Archie Bradley and Taijuan Walker), BP saw Syndergaard as the fourth best pitching prospect. Orioles Kevin Gausman (10th) joined Bradley (5th) and Walker (6th) in front of Thor.
#48 Travis d’Arnaud
Surely d’Arnaud was going to make this list, however it’s concerning to see him ranked so low. After being ranked 22nd overall and the top catching prospect by MLB.com, TDA fell to the middle of BP’s list and third amongst catchers. Perhaps they were concerned with his injury history, or his age. My guess, being a fan of Baseball Prospectus, is that they favor the upside of Austin Hedges and Jorge Alfaro.
#71 Wilmer Flores
This was the name that took me by surprise. Flores has been proving doubters wrong at every stop of the minors, usually as one of the younger players in each respective league. Yet he was continually overlooked when it came to these rankings. And while I’m happy to see him get some love from the prospect pundits, I’m disappointed to see that Rafael Montero didn’t make the cut.
While I surely have some issues with these rankings, mostly d’Arnaud’s placement and Montero’s exclusion, it’s hard to argue with the job Baseball Prospectus does. Their lead prospect guru Jason Parks has done a great job filling the shoes of his predecessor Kevin Goldstein, who is now the Houston Astros Director of Pro Scouting. Parks never shies away from making a bold statement about a player he believes in (ex. placing Yordano Ventura and Lucas Giolito in the top 15) and is great on the BP podcast he co-hosts with Mike Ferrin. I’d highly recommend anyone reading this blog to check out the site and consider the subscription option. They do a great job of covering the minors.
