Comments on: New York Mets 2011 Minor League Review

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:28:20 +0000

Honestly completely forgot about Nimmo when writing that. There’s just nothing there to really evaluate yet. I’ve also heard that he’s not a lock to be able to stay in CF, though its obviously plausible. His running style actually reminds me a lot of Hunter Pence–kind of awkward and choppy, but it works and he’s clearly an above average runner. I’m sure they’ll leave him in CF as long as possible. From what I know about both of them Puello’s probably the better pure defender, though Nimmo’s probably a better overall prospect than Puello just based on pedigree, existing polish, and the same type of projectability. They’re both interesting though–good athletes who are still very young who have the frames to add plenty of strength without losing too much athleticism. Puello needs to learn to walk a bit more though, he really relies on the HBP to prop up his OBP. He actually had more HBPs last year (20) than BBs (18)! He was also hit by 22 pitches the previous year and drew only 32 BBs. Overall, he’s got 62 HBPs in 1341 career PAs, so at least it looks like a repeatable skill in his case and not a one year fluke. I have a feeling walks won’t be as much of an issue for Nimmo, most reports on his zone judgment are pretty positive.

It could really go either way. My gut tells me Puello’s probably going to wind up a bit rangier, and he’s also going to rely more on his power developing if he wants to be an offensive weapon, so to me that says he’s more likely to be either a pure CF or more of a role player. But if they do both wind up as offensive weapons and have similar defensive range, Puello’s also got the cannon arm that could be better taken advantage of in RF, though Nimmo’s got a pretty good arm from what I hear too.

As for Gorski, from what I understand, there was some discussion about moving him to Double-A, but there was some concern that he was starting to wear down when he put up his worst month of the year in July (wasn’t terrible, but the 3.60 ERA was almost 2 runs higher than any other month in which he made 5+ starts, and the 12 BBs were also the highest of any month). His control was a bit off and his strikeouts were down a touch throughout the second half of the year, but of course his command and some of the Ks came back in August. By the time they were giving second thoughts to promoting him again, the season was almost over, and I think the org just decided to let him close out the season on a strong note instead of putting pressure on him for 2 or 3 starts against stiffer competition. FWIW, under Omar, I’m almost certain he’d have been in Double-A by June, lol. Either way, he’ll probably again get lost in the shuffle of upper level pitching the Mets already have Harvey, Wheeler, Familia, and hopefully Mejia sometime early in the summer, so if he puts up another strong campaign he could make for an interesting sleeper down the road.

By: Scott Evans

Scott Evans — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:18:19 +0000

@Mark: I agree that Puello’s skill-set suits any OF position, including CF. But don’t you see Brandon Nimmo ending up there, ultimately? Granted, he’s probably two years behind Puello, developmentally, but I hear the Mets are giddy about their 1st-rounder from this past June.

Regarding Gorski: It’s certainly fair to put him on your fantasy radar based on his HiA numbers, alone. But as you allude, 2011 may have been an anomaly stemming from his advanced age. Surprising that the Mets didn’t promote him to Binghamton mid-season, no?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:45:23 +0000

I actually think there’s a decent chance Puello winds up in CF, and you could make a case that he’s the best OF prospect in the system (though Nieuwenhuis probably deserves the nod at this point, followed by Puello, and then Lagares in a distant third assuming you no longer count Fernando Martinez). I know he’s played more RF so far in his career, but he’s got tremendous range and is already an excellent route runner. He has all the tools to be a CF and is probably the second best defensive outfielder in the system right now. I’m not so sure why the Mets defaulted Pedro Zapata to CF in Savannah in 2010, but in 2009 and 2011 there was another capable CF who was an older, albiet lesser, legit prospect on the same team (Darrell Cecilliani in 2009 and Matt den Dekker in 2011) as Puello. Even though Puello’s younger than either, he’s also ahead of both offensively and has a lot more projection left. My guess is Puello starts 2012 in Binghamton’s CF with den Dekker and Cecilliani playing CF and LF, respectively, for St. Lucie (with Cory Vaughn in RF). Den Dekker may be in for a midseason promotion, and if on the same roster would likely get CF preference over Puello since he’s the best pure defensive outfielder in the system, though if Puello can replicate his second half line of .284 / .336 / .463 from last year in when he hits Double-A, he could bump up to Triple-A before long as well. Cecilliani shouldn’t be much of a threat, he’s probably the weakest defender of the three (though a solid one in his own right) and the least polished offensively. He is younger than den Dekker though and had a monster year in SSA in 2010 as a 20 year old (.351 / .410 / .531), so he’s something of a system sleeper, though he probably also doesn’t have the power potential of Puello or den Dekker.

I’d also give LHP Darin Gorski a pitcher HM. 11-3, 2.08 ERA, 0.995 WHIP, 140 Ks, 29 BBs, 138.2 IP. He’s 23 and it was HiA, so he’s a bit behind the age curve, but he’s a lefty, not really a soft-tosser, and was outright dominant. He at least put himself on the organizational radar.