AAA Las Vegas 51s

1B Dominic Smith

Smith is a great example of just how quickly the public perception of a prospect can change. At this time last year, Mets fans were clamoring for the highly regarded Smith to get a call-up to the big leagues. Now? They want to trade him after only 170 at-bats to clear the way for Peter Alonso. A first-round pick in 2013, Smith hit at every level in the minors but really struggled last year with the Mets, slashing .198/.262/.395. A rare hit-before-power first baseman prospect, Smith is going to really need to get on base in order to be anything more than league average.

One of the biggest criticisms of Smith has been his weight, but he looked a lot lighter this spring and I was floored when I saw him in person. He looked at least 20 pounds lighter and his athleticism is more evident now. Smith has always been considered a plus defender at first due to his soft hands and ability to scoop bad throws, and I saw much of the same in my look. Unfortunately, Smith didn’t see a single good pitch to hit on the evening; Fresno chose to pitch him cautiously, and it ultimately resulted in four walks for Smith. Smith has an old-school approach at the plate, which explains his high walk-to-strikeout ratio as well as his low home run output. I was impressed with his pitch recognition and approach, which need to be plus, and they are, if this profile is going to work in the big leagues. He’s the sort of player that really divides scout’s opinions: they either like him and think he’ll get on base enough, or they don’t think he profiles as a regular at first. I fall into the first camp and think Smith is going to be a major league contributor at first for some organization. With Peter Alonso doing his best Rhys Hoskins impression though, it’s become a real question whether Smith will get the chance to be that for the Mets. I don’t think it’s in the Mets best interests to sell him for pennies on the dollar based on his short major league stint last season, but I also think Alonso has passed him at this point and there may not be a spot on the major league team. It’s a good problem to have and if Adrian Gonzalez continues to struggle, one of them will get the call. Just who that is remains to be seen, although Alonso has to be the favorite at this point.

SS Luis Guillorme

Upon first glance, Guillorme looks extremely out of place on the diamond, much less at shortstop. Then you see him play defense and wonder why he’s in Triple-A and Jose Reyes is in the big leagues. I wrote about Guillorme in our first Prospect Watch of the season and think he’s going to be a valuable contributor for a long time. He has fantastic range at short despite his below average wheels and makes plays Reyes dreams of. I saw him make a diving stop on a ball up the middle and throw the runner out from his knees, just to give you an idea of the impact he could have at short. At the dish, Guillorme likes to go the opposite way and has an advanced two-strike approach; he walked 17 more times than he struck out last season at Double-A Binghamton. He’s never going to hit for much power and it’s likely his OBP is higher than his SLG, but couple that with his defense and we’re talking about an extremely valuable player. I think there’s utility man risk here, especially with the Mets, but Guillorme can get a starting role with a different organization at short. There’s no doubt in my mind he can be an asset for the Mets right now but the team’s in more immediate need of guys who can hit, which Guillorme can, but he still has some things to work on and can use the everyday at-bats he’s getting in Vegas.

3B David Thompson

Thompson, a 2013 fourth-round pick, hit .263/.325/.429 for Binghamton last season and showed enough promise to earn a promotion to Triple-A to begin the year. He’s a pretty “boring” prospect in the sense that he doesn’t do anything particularly well; instead, he does everything good enough. Thompson is intriguing as a hitter because he doesn’t strike out at an egregious rate and has some pop — he hit 16 home runs in Double-A last season — but it remains to be seen if that’s enough to outweigh his below-average on-base production. He’s never OBP’d higher than .344 in the minors and was at just .325 last season. Thompson went 1-3 in my look, with a single, a walk and a strikeout. I thought his defense was good enough to stick at third but I don’t think the bat profiles there. Thompson is currently a 35 with a chance for a 40, a below average regular, because he could be a guy who sees his home run rate spike in the big leagues.

UTIL Phillip Evans

Evans is the definition of a utility player and his defensive flexibility can be valuable for a National League team. Like other position player prospects at Vegas, he doesn’t strike out often and walks a healthy amount. Evans broke out in 2016 with a .321 average across two levels, but it’s an outlier among some subpar minor league seasons. Capable of playing “passible” defense at every infield position, Evans earned a spot on the Mets Opening Day roster but only made three appearances as a pinch hitter before being sent back down. Evans went 0-4 with two strikeouts in my look and was disappointing at the plate overall. The Mets have a lot of guys in the upper-level minors who can play multiple positions but project as utility players, which is a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you ask. Evans value will come from his defensive versatility, but I’m not sure he ever gets a long enough look with a major league club.

AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies

1B Peter Alonso

Alonso is all the rage these days and rightfully so: the dude is smashing the cover off the ball at Binghamton, hitting .393/.490/.762 with eight home runs to start the season. He’s struck out 18 times against 16 walks and has debuted a new approach at the plate to go along with the swing change he made at the end of last season. Safe to say it’s worked, as Alonso’s hit tool has caught up to his game power, resulting in the incredible output we’ve seen thus far. I’ve seen Alonso three times this season and he’s been impressive, to say the least: he homered in two of the three games and was 2-4 with a walk in the other. Alonso has always had 70 raw power, but he’s now got a 60 hit tool to go along with it. I do think he needs to work on his off-speed recognition, I saw him hit two soft lineouts on offspeed pitches to second in my most recent look, but it’s a minor qualm with an otherwise polished hitter. On the defensive side of things, he’s still a 40 for me at first, as I’ve seen him make great plays along with some really bad ones. Alonso takes bad routes to fly balls and completely whiffed on an easy popup in front of the dugout in my most recent look. He still pulls his head out on scoops and has dropped a couple balls because of it. That being said, I saw him snag a sharp line drive from Cavan Biggio to double up Vlad Jr. and it was a thing of beauty. The defense is better than last year but I don’t know if there’s much more room for improvement, he may just be what he is, which isn’t a problem when you can hit like Alonso. I think that some sort of transaction is going to be made before June 1, but I’m not entirely sure what it’s going to be. Dom Smith could get the call to the bigs while Alonso heads to Triple-A, or Alonso can follow the Michael Conforto route, jumping straight from Double-A to the majors. I think the latter is more likely and there’s no question the Mets are going to be aggressive in upgrading the position if Gonzalez proves he’s just not a good baseball player anymore.

RHP Nabil Crismatt

Crismatt’s gotten off to an incredible start to the season and he’s doing it with some pretty average stuff for a starting pitcher. He’s got a 2.28 ERA to go along with 32 strikeouts against only five walks in 27.2 innings for Binghamton. I saw Crismatt against the best team in the Eastern League, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Toronto Blue Jays Double-A affiliate) and I came away extremely impressed. Crismatt was efficient and finished with 92 pitches, allowing only one earned run while striking out six and only walking one. He was working with a fastball sitting 86-87 mph and touching 88 in the early innings, but it dropped to around 85-86 as we entered the fourth. The fastball has natural two-seam run and Crismatt keeps it low in the zone, which leads to a lot of groundball outs. Although it doesn’t have great velo, the fastball plays up due to Crismatt’s above average command, and he’s not afraid to attack hitters with it in two-strike counts. His best offering is a plus changeup that sits 78-80 mph and generates a ton of swings and misses. It has good drop and is his go-to two-strike pitch, and it wasn’t squared up once on the evening. He also throws a curveball which was 66-70 mph for me with 12-6 movement, but it can get loopy and advanced hitters are going to tee off on it. Crismatt hung a curveball to Vlad Jr. (note to MLB pitchers, this is a REALLY bad idea) and he smashed it to left center for an RBI single. Crismatt also has a slider but he only threw six for me; it was 76-77 mph with late break and flashes above average. I think it’s useful against right-handed hitters but it’s probably too slow to get outs against lefties consistently. Overall, I thought he had great pitch mix, limits hard contact, and wasn’t afraid to go after guys despite his average (besides the change) stuff. I think he’s a future No. 4/5 who should be ready to debut sometime next season.

RHP Andrew Church

Church was just placed on the 7-day disabled list, but I saw him in a start against New Hampshire and the results weren’t pretty. Church was in trouble all night and the Fisher Cats got to him early, as he allowed two runs in the first: a leadoff home run to Jonathan Davis and an RBI groundout to Vlad Jr. Church was sitting 88-90 mph with his fastball, which is consistent with what I had him at when I saw him earlier in the season, but it got him into trouble early and he went away from it after the first inning. Instead, he was working with his slider, which was 82-84 mph, and his curve, which was 70-74 mph and generated groundball outs. He was starting at-bats out with his slider, which has significant right to left movement, and it’s a real weapon against left-handed hitters. Church was reluctant to use his below-average curveball, but development of a useful third pitch is necessary for him to move up the minor league ladder. He works quickly and pitches to contact but based on my two looks, I think he’s a 30 who still has many things he needs to work on.

RHP Tyler Bashlor

Bashlor is one of many hard throwing right-handed relievers in Binghamton, but he wasn’t great in my most recent look. Bashlor was brought in with one out and a man on first, and he proceeded to walk the bases loaded on only eight pitches. He was able to escape trouble though, with a strikeout and a fly ball to end the inning. Bashlor was missing up and out of the zone with his fastball consistently, and pitching coach Frank Viola went out twice during the inning to try and calm him down. Overall, Bashlor has been terrific this season with a 0.96 ERA and 12 strikeouts against five walks in 9.1 innings. Fastball command is going to be a big key for Bashlor, who’s already on the 40-man and looks likely to take a ride on the Mets bullpen shuttle at some point this season.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

On the surface, a light-hitting infielder with one career home run and average speed doesn’t sound all that entertaining to watch and follow as a prospect. Yet, “entertaining” is pretty much the best way to describe the Rumble Ponies’ shortstop, Luis Guillorme. Guillorme—a Spring Training celebrity after catching a flying bat in the dugout—brings one of the best defensive games in all of professional baseball to the table. He has impressively quick hands and excellent reaction times that allow him to dazzle defensively without exceptional speed or athleticism. The biggest question for Guillorme in 2017 and going forward remains his bat, which is the final obstacle standing between the former 10th round pick and Queens. While he will never be confused for a power hitter, Guillorme’s .052 ISO in St. Lucie in 2016 would have ranked as the lowest such figure in the major leagues for any player with greater than 150 plate appearances last year. Improving his gap power while maintaining a respectably high on-base clip will be essential for Guillorme to stay on track for a major league role. And even just a passable bat could give Guillorme a real shot at having a long major league career as a defensive-minded infielder.

Although he is currently on the shelf as he recovers from a recent knee operation, Tommy John survivor Chris Flexen is among the best pitching prospects in the Mets system and perhaps the “ace” of the 2017 Rumble Ponies. Flexen, who was added to the Mets 40-man roster this winter, boasts a fastball that has touched as high as 97, and a full four-pitch repertoire that makes him an intriguing starting pitching prospect. While he is risky even by pitching prospect standards, having already undergone Tommy John Surgery and now knee surgery by the age of 22, Flexen’s current profile is not all to far off from former Mets pitching prospects, such as Robert Gsellman and Michael Fulmer, as they entered the upper minors. While Flexen has not yet consistently missed bats at a high clip, posting only a 16.6% K-rate in 134 innings for St. Lucie last season, his stuff suggests that could improve in a hurry (see: Gsellman, Robert). With his option clock now running, 2017 will be an important year for Flexen if he looks to establish himself as an emerging option in the Mets’ suddenly less crowded starting pitching situation. Given his injury history and relatively high effort mechanics, it is quite possible that Flexen’s quickest and most likely path to the major leagues will come as a short reliever. Consistency, health, and breaking ball development—well, he’s in the right org for that one— will be essential for Flexen as he looks to make an impression this season in Western New York.

Short Hops

2015 4th round pick and ACC home run champion David Thompson figures to be the everyday third baseman for Binghamton in 2017. While Thompson’s defense has been better than advertised to this point in his professional career, he must hit for more power in Binghamton if he is to continue to rise through the ranks…Northern Irish southpaw P.J. Conlon will look to continue his improbable rise to the major leagues with a stop in Binghamton to open the 2017 season. Conlon, a soft-tossing lefty with a good change, posted an incredible 1.79 ERA split between Columbia and St. Lucie in his first full professional season. Double-A is always a test for this profile…yet another fast rising member of the Mets’ 2015 draft class, Corey Taylor, joins the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Like Conlon, Taylor has had little issue yet with professional hitters, posting a 1.87 ERA out of the bullpen for the St. Lucie Mets. Taylor’s stuff showed well in the Arizona Fall League, flashing a fastball that could bump the upper-90s and a plus slider. In an admittedly small sample size—though a very tough pitching environment— he missed bats at a higher clip (17 strikeouts in 14 innings) than he had previously in the minor leagues. If Taylor is able to keep up his stellar results and maintain his fall bump in stuff and strikeouts, he might not be long for Binghamton and could have a real shot to pitch out of the Mets’ bullpen sometime this season…center fielder Champ Stuart might be the fastest player in the Mets system and he’s a plus center fielder to boot, but he’s never shown the ability to hit offspeed and might never be more than a late-inning pinch-runner and defensive caddy. He’s ready for that role right now though and the 2017 Mets sure could use that.

Photo Credit: Steve Mitchell- USA Today Sports

The Top 10

1. Steven Matz, LHP

Current Assignment: New York Mets

2016 to date: 60.1 IP, 2.39 ERA, 25% K, 5.3% BB, 54 H, 4 HR

Well this has gone well.

Before our national list came out, I argued hard for Matz over Julio Urias; I also think there was an case for Matz as the best pitching prospect in baseball over even Giolito. Being able to do it in the majors matters, and Matz had already shown flashes of that. He has taken another step forward this season–and my No. 2 starter projection on him might even end up low–although the command needs to get more consistent and he still has his own durability questions to answer. 30 starts and 180 major league innings this year will go a long way towards silencing the last concerns about the Mets southpaw.

Graduated (and pretty pretty good)

2. Amed Rosario, SS

Current Assignment: Advanced-A St. Lucie

2016 to date: 262 PA, .307/.359/.445, 7.6% BB, 13% K

Rosario is repeating the Florida State League, but is still one of the youngest players in the Sunshine State. On the preseason list I noted that his defensive tools were more advanced than his offensive ones, but the bat has begun to catch up in a big way. He’ll be in Binghamton in the second half, where I will get to see him live for the first time since 2014, but we already have big internal reports on him, and I had a scout sing his praises to me recently as well. The mothership starts our midseason top 50 list discussion soon, and Rosario will be in the conversation for the top half.

Stock Up

3. Luis Carpio, SS/2B

Current Assignment: Minor League Disabled List

Carpio was the most aggressive ranking on this list. I definitely stand by it, and I think he’s still a top-10 prospect in the system even after shoulder surgery that will keep him out for the whole year. The issue is with his throwing arm which may accelerate a move to the right side of the infield, but we won’t know that (or anything else) until he gets back on the field on the field in 2017.

Stock Down

4. Gavin Cecchini, SS 

Current Assignment: Triple-A Las Vegas

2016 to date: 177 PA, .314/.375/.409, 9% BB, 12.4% K

All Cecchini has done for the past season-and-a-half is hit. Well, he’s hit enough to be a valuable up-the-middle bat in the majors at least. He tinkered with a large leg kick in A-ball, and while that did give him a little more pop into the gaps, it left him vulnerable to offspeed. When I saw him the next year in Binghamton, he was using a simple toe tap to close from a slightly open stance and a flatter overall swing plane. This has improved his contact ability, but sapped whatever gap power he might have had. Cecchini is mostly a singles hitter nowadays, so I do wonder if major league arms will challenge him more once the book gets out, cutting into his on-base numbers despite his strong strike zone control.

The defense was always supposed to be the sure thing for Cecchini. He was drafted as an advanced shortstop glove, and although no pundits promised Gold Gloves, he was seen as about a sure thing to stick at short as you will find coming out of high school. But as a pro, Cecchini has struggled with the responsibilities on the left side of the infield. The arm is short for the position, and can be scattershot at times, especially when he has to reach back for more. The range is a step short as well, and he struggles with his actions at faster game speeds. He’s played every one of his professional games at shortstop, but it is hard to see him being more than a once-a-week guy there in the majors. At second base, there probably isn’t enough offense to be a starter unless he hits .280. But there is a major league role to be found when you can hit a bit and play up-the-middle.

Stock Holding

5. Dominic Smith, 1B

Current Assignment: Double-A Binghamton

2016 to date: 241 PA, .273/.324/.386, 7.1% BB, 15.8% K

Of course you should never scout the stat line.

But sometimes there are reasons for the stat line.

Stock Down

6. Brandon Nimmo, OF 

Current Assignment: Triple-A Las Vegas

2016 to date: 222 PA, .325/.403/.521, 11.3% BB, 16.7% K

Nimmo’s hot May and June has piqued Mets fans interest again, but there doesn’t appear to be a ton of real change here (unless you buy into the newest offseason swing/stance tweak). In fact, his profile really hasn’t changed in five years. Nimmo’s the Casey Stengel quip come to life; in five years he’s actualized his chance to be 23. That might sound pessimistic, but while he hasn’t figured out how to hit lefties, or added as much power as projected, Nimmo has several skills that will serve him well in the majors. He won’t kill you in centerfield, and he can get on-base and hit for average power against righties. He isn’t Jose Fernandez, and he isn’t left-handed Hunter Pence, a common comp during his first couple pro seasons, but Nimmo is potentially a useful long-side platoon bat.

I do think the risk here does get understated at times though. His overly passive approach might fall apart against major league pitching, but his first half in Vegas is a step in the right direction. Like Cecchini, Nimmo may end up a bit of a disappointment as a high first-round pick, but both should have significant major league careers.

Stock Holding

7. Desmond Lindsay, OF

Current Assignment: Extended Spring Training

I had hoped the Mets might push Lindsay to Columbia this year. It would have been an extremely aggressive assignment given the background (learning a new position, missed most of his senior season), but he impressed me in a brief cameo for Brooklyn at the end of last summer. A minor leg injury and a couple hit-by-pitches in minor league camp put the kibosh on that though. Lindsay will now head back to Coney Island, surrounded by a much, much better crop of prospects than he was last year.

Stock Holding

8. Wuilmer Becerra, OF

Current Assignment: High-A St. Lucie

2016 to date: 167 PA, .338/.370/.409, 4.2% BB, 15.6% K

Man, heck if I know.

For most of his pro career, Becerra looked like he was built right to factory specs for “right field profile:” A tall Venezuelan with a projectable body, he checked off every box: plus speed, arm, and pop. He was raw at the plate, but had a plan and a swing by the time he got to Savannah and you could easily see him growing into an everyday bat in a corner. Then he went to St. Lucie and hit like Tony Gwynn for two months.

Now it does go back further than that. The Savannah staff made some changes to his stance in 2015, and in the second half there he hit .291/.348/.355. Savannah’s home park was brutally tough on power, but that makes just 22 extra-base hits in his last 94 games and only one home run. If you want to hand wave some of the power outage, he has dealt with shoulder and back issues in 2016. I also got a positive scout quote on him recently, but there is a reason we don’t make Tony Gwynn comps.

Stock the heck if I know

9. Robert Gsellman, RHP

Current Assignment: Triple-A Las Vegas

2016 to date: 69.1 IP, 17% K, 5.9% BB, 67 H, 2 HR

Gsellman added a slider this spring in major league camp, and that, along with a small bump in velocity, boosted his K-rate from 12.7% in 2015 to 17% so far in this year’s campaign. That’s still nothing to write home about, but the slider would flash plus in my April look, and the organization has done a very good job developing this type of arm recently. The future projection here hasn’t moved all that much, but he’s another step closer to the majors after his recent promotion to Vegas–although his first start didn’t go well … welcome to the PCL!–and a better bet to reach that OFP now.

Stock Up

10. Ali Sanchez, C

Current Assignment: Extended Spring Training

No real surprise here. Sanchez is a long, long way away, between being a catcher and having just come stateside to the complex last year. He could start at either Kingsport or Brooklyn, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the Mets push him to the New York-Penn League to get some experience catching their new crop of arms.

Stock Holding

The five who were just interesting

Matt Reynolds, IF

Current Assignment: New York Mets

Reynolds was listed here in the winter due to the likelihood he would be able to help out the 2016 team. And he’s bounced back and forth between Vegas and Flushing this year, functioning as the 25th man and extra infield glove. He’s never hit all that much in Vegas, considering that it is Vegas, so he has fallen behind guys like Travis Taijeron, Ty Kelly, and TJ Rivera in #MetsTwitter’s ever-changing #FREE________ hierarchy. But he is younger and a better defender than those three, and is likely to have a major league job until the Mets trade for Juan Uribe in six weeks.

Raphael Ramirez, OF

Current Assignment: Extended Spring Training

Ramirez will be flanking Desmond Lindsay in Brooklyn with either Arnaldo Berrios or the next of our interesting five.

Ricardo Cespedes, OF

Current Assignment: Extended Spring Training

I think Cespedes heads to Kingsport, where it will be easier to get him centerfield reps (although I don’t see him sticking up the middle long-term). The Mets could get aggressive though and assign him to Brooklyn and Lindsay to Savannah. A lot of these decisions down to how guys look in extended Spring Training.

Gabriel Ynoa, RHP

Current Assignment: Triple-A Las Vegas 51s

Ynoa’s profile is exactly the type that you’d expect to get hammered in Vegas. He’s a strike-thrower with a 55 fastball and nothing else you would expect to miss bats or even barrels. And through 12 starts in 2016, Ynoa has again only struck out 12 percent of the batters he’s faced, and has seen his walk rate creep up . Yet somehow he has bobbed and weaved his way to a sub-3.00 ERA. Despite his success so far, Ynoa’s profile hasn’t really changed. He offers a four-pitch mix, with an average change and two below-average breakers. We are well-past the point of dreaming on a major league slider or curve here, but with a lower arm slot and a low-impact delivery, it’s possible you could develop a Robles-like reliever. For now, Ynoa will continue to start as long as the smoke and mirrors act holds up. And hey, it’s beats getting shelled, however you do it.

Marcos Molina, RHP

Current Assignment: Minor League Disabled List

Molina is still a few months away from throwing off a mound after Tommy John surgery late last summer.

Five more who are interesting … now

As Toby Hyde noted when we chatted with him in Episode 5 of For All You Kids Out There, one of the notable surprises for the Mets affiliates in the first half has been … the lack of surprises. But here’s five more names of note for the second half of the minor league season:

Andrew Church, RHP

Current Assignment: High-A St. Lucie Mets

The Mets second round pick in 2013 was a bit of a head-scratcher at the time. No one had really seen him pitch much in high school.  Coming into 2016, Church had thrown just 132 innings across three season, after losing parts of the last two seasons to injuries. And all of the three were spent in short-season ball. He popped back up a few weeks ago in Columbia, sitting 90-95 and throwing a slider. After two dominant starts in the South Atlantic League, he was bumped up to St. Lucie. He is still very much an unknown quantity, but in a pitching-depleted system, a healthy Church certainly qualifies as interesting.

Chris Flexen, RHP

Current Assignment: High-A St. Lucie Mets

Flexen spent much of 2015 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, but once he got back on the field he showed plus fastball velocity and a developing curve. He could have easily made the interesting list before the season and had an argument for third-best pitching prospect in the system (not that it was a high bar). His 2016 has been uneven, but he has put together a string of strong starts recently and is still only 21. His long-term future is likely in the bullpen, given the fringy command and lack of a third pitch, but a strong second half in the Florida State League could get him top 10 consideration for 2017.

Kevin McGowan, RHP

Current Assignment: Double-A Binghamton Mets

When I saw Kevin McGowan in Brooklyn in 2013, he was a tall drink of water that could touch 95 and flashed a decent curve. After 190 innings of mediocre work as a starter in St. Lucie across 2014-15, the Mets converted McGowan to relief this season and he’s proceeded to strike out 27 percent of the batters he has faced, and walked just 3 percent. That’ll play. McGowan is still 92-95, but now uses a slider as his primary secondary. If he can keep missing bats in the upper minors, he has a real shot to be the first Franklin Pierce alum to play in the majors.

David Thompson, 3B

Current Assignment: Single-A Columbia Fireflies

I generally give guys coming straight from a long college season into the Penn League a bit of a mulligan. It’s their first time playing deep into the summer, and they are learning the specific rigors of pro baseball on the fly. That said, Thompson looked as bad as any first-or-second-day Mets college draftee I have seen on Coney Island. The bat looked slow, and he was overmatched by short-season offspeed stuff.

After a full offseason and a spring in the complex, Thompson has come out blazing in Columbia, hitting .296/.352/.487. The over-the-fence power that he showed in college hasn’t shown up in the pros yet, but 20 doubles in 50 games is a good sign. Thompson is a first baseman long term given his range and shoulder issues, and this may very well be just another example of a polished college guy whacking the Sally league, but it beats writing about another future reliever.

Ivan Wilson, OF 

Current Assignment: Single-A Columbia Fireflies

Wilson has long been a personal concern. When I saw him in Kingsport in 2014 he showed off a toolset that was the best in the system. Easy plus run and arm, you could throw a 70 on the raw if you were so inclined, and he looked like he’d be a good centerfielder down the line. If he could even hit a little, that would be a slam dunk top five prospect in the system, any system.

Just one small problem: he couldn’t hit.

I sat on him for three games that summer and he hit three absolute bombs, but he struggled mightily to pick up spin even at that level, striking out even 47 percent of the time in the Appalachian League. 2015 was marred by injuries, and I was a little surprised to see him pop up in Columbia this year. He’s gotten the K-rate down to 33 percent (which isn’t good, but better than I expected) and the tools are still in there. There still may not even be a Double-A player in here, but if you want a guy to dream on, Wilson’s given you a glimmer.

***

So with Matz’s graduation, and the lack of breakout guys, the Mets system is a bit down from where it was even in April. But four top 100 picks in this year’s draft should help replenish the thin system, and make the Brooklyn Cyclones a must-follow over the rest of the summer.

Photo Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports