For the first two weeks of the minor league season, the Mets were represented with a prospect cracking the Baseball America Hot Sheet. Last week it was Rafael Montero. This week, it’s Wilmer Flores. Both players were listed “In The Team Photo,” which is basically considered an honorable mention.
As I stated in the Mets Minors Report earlier today, Flores is quietly having a nice season offensively. This fine hitting prospect seems like he has been overshadowed by Travis d’Arnaud and Zack Wheeler for these first couple of weeks. But Flores continues to put up solid numbers, and hit his first home run of the season last night, adding three RBI in the Las Vegas 51s victory.
For his efforts over the past week, he was selected to Baseball America’s Hot Sheet. Here’s what they had to say about him:
Wilmer Flores, 3b, Mets. Against the backdrop of Triple-A Las Vegas teammates Zack Wheeler (blister on middle finger) and Travis d’Arnaud (broken foot) dealing with injury woes, Flores just keeps hitting. The 21-year-old went 12-for-30 (.400) with a homer and four doubles this week, but more remarkably he has just three strikeouts in 15 games this season.
Baseball America has to update their files, Flores has been playing second base the majority of the year. But that is besides the point, and Flores is having an excellent season. With the news that d’Arnaud will not require surgery, he should be back in eight weeks or sooner. This could be a chance for Flores to pull himself out of the shadows again with a continued hot play.
I was kind of shocked to see no mention of Brandon Nimmo on the list. He has been virtually impossible to keep off the base paths this season, but it was most likely his power numbers that caused him to get snubbed. Out of all of his hits, he only has three for extra bases this year. Some players on the list had that many home runs alone this past week.
During the Hot Sheet Q&A session this afternoon, a couple of questions came up regarding some Mets prospects. I found one exchange very interesting, regarding Jacob deGrom, which is shared below:
- John (Chicago): Might not be hot sheet worthy, but Jacob deGrom had an 8 ip, 3 h, 8 k, 1 bb line in his first AA start. He’s already 24 (missed a year to injury), but he looks like a major league starter in the making, no?
- Matthew Eddy: Yes, deGrom has a great arm and *just missed* making the Mets Top 10. Some scouts who saw Savannah last year preferred him to Sand Gnats rotation-mates Michael Fulmer and Domingo Tapia. The area to watch for deGrom and all sinker-slider pitchers is the platoon split. Can he consistently retire lefthanded batters?
Players To Watch For Next Week’s Hot Sheet
- Watch out for Aderlin Rodriguez, who is on a tear, and has homered in his last three games.
- Jacob deGrom could crack the list with another solid start on his next visit to the mound.
- Rafael Montero is always a threat—the kid is the goods.
- Kevin Plawecki, who started the season hot and hasn’t started to cool off yet.
