Get your bids in: These Mets are for sale!
It’ll be fascinating to see the fate of GM Brodie Van Wagenen under new ownership. Luckily for him, the team is obligated to pay his clients several million dollars regardless of his own future. Wild times in New York these days, but their scouting and development teams have done well over the past few cycles, so the system remains solid despite the purge of Jarred Kelenic, Simeon Woods-Richardson and more.
Format: Position Player | Age on 4/1/2021 | Highest level played | ETA
1. C Francisco Alvarez | 19 | R | 2024
Francisco Alvarez is fun. He’s a fleet-footed catcher with an outstanding swing. Loft and bat speed are not issues. Whatever issues Alvarez might need to solve to make his way up the chain remain a mystery. He’s plus or better at everything baseball, and he’s climbing prospect lists faster than you can say Bobby Bonilla.
2. OF Pete Crow-Armstrong | 19 | NA | 2024
A five-tool outfielder who’s always faced elite competition at Harvard-Westlake, Crow-Armstrong was seen as a top-ten talent by many evaluators and is a big win for the Mets in the 19 spot. He’s a better defender than a hitter today, but only because he’s elite on that side of the ball already and might need to add some loft, like many young hitters working with pro coaches in the launch-angle era.
3. OF Isaiah Greene | 19 | NA | 2024
Could copy and paste a lot of the Crow-Armstrong blurb here. Greene was one of my favorite players entering the 2020 draft and will be a First-Year-Player Draft target for me in all leagues because of his 30/30 topside. He probably won’t match PCA’s defense, but I think Greene, a third-round pick who signed for $850,000, could wind up the better hit, power, speed producer than Crow-Armstrong.
4. SS Ronny Mauricio | 19 | A | 2023
A skinny kid with phat bat speed, Mauricio generates a lot of hype in certain prospecting circles, even pulling somewhat frequent comparative mentions of Fernando Tatis Jr. That’s pretty loud but has always felt more like clickbait than analysis to me. His swing has never generated such superlatives from me, but he is extremely young and signed for 2.4 million as one of the top international prospects in his class. In his favor is the Mets recent success in developing their own bats like Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith. Working against him is the possibility that he’ll add weight, lose mobility and move off shortstop, where his bat will have to find the loft it’s lacking and actualize the power potential some scouting see in his batting practice sessions.
5. LHP David Peterson | 25 | MLB | 2020
Bit of a weird one here, as Peterson has 49.2 innings pitched and won’t qualify for Rookie of the Year, having been promoted prior to August 14, but he’s still prospect-eligible in the classic sense, and there’s more fantasy baseball meat on the bone here than anyone I might shoehorn into the ten spot. If he can add some spin or command to his fastball, he’ll make a little leap because his off-speed command is impressive.
6. 3B Brett Baty | 21 | R | 2023
Corner bats who didn’t play in college and haven’t graduated rookie ball at the age of 21 aren’t exactly acing the model-tests teams tend to use these days, but the age-to-level models will have to be adjusted for the pandemic, so maybe that matters less than usual at the moment. Some thought Baty was the best high school bat in the 2019 draft. Some excluded him from consideration because he was a year older than his average competitor. If he hits in 2021, the Mets will be aggressive in promoting him.
7. 3B Mark Vientos | 21 | A | 2023
A 6’4” high school shortstop with plus raw power, Vientos’ perceived value has ridden something of a roller coaster over the past couple years. Maybe one of those mini coasters where you don’t even have to strap in? He caught some helium thanks to a 60-game stretch in rookie ball when he slashed .287/.389/489 with a 14.1 percent walk rate and a 16.4 percent strikeout rate. Like Baty, Vientos will likely see an aggressive assignment to open 2021 and could earn a quick promotion if he’s successful in St. Lucie.
8. RHP Matthew Allan | 19 | A- | 2024
Allan has thrown all of ten professional innings since signing for $2.5 million as an overslot, third-round pick in 2019. Some scouts thought he was the best high school arm in that draft, and the Mets received glowing reviews for taking the risk in drafting him and then finding enough in the budget to bring him in. His best pitch is a plus plus curveball, which fits great in 2021, and his fastball isn’t far behind. He’ll even show an effective change up. Big upside here.
9. RHP JT Ginn | 21 | NA | 2022
Selected 30th overall by the Dodgers in 2018, Ginn fell to the 2nd round in 2020 due to Tommy John surgery combined with signability worries. The Mets have done good work navigating the draft pool and found 2.9 million in the budget, 1.4 million more than slot value for the 52nd pick and a few hundred thousand more than LA reportedly offered in 2018, which was probably the key number in the Ginn camp informing their negotiating position. Ginn was last seen working in the 94 mph range with a lively fastball slider combination that propelled him to six shutout innings in the College World Series against Louisville as a freshman at Mississippi State.
10. C 1B OF Endy Rodriguez | 20 | 2024
A six-foot switch hitter with plus power, Rodriguez doesn’t have one position yet because he’s athletic enough to cover a few of them. He might move off catcher to let the bat race its way through the minors, but he’s promising behind the dish, so whoever is running this club in 2022 will have a tough decision to make. I think they should let him play outfield and grow into his talent, but that would decrease his perceived prospect value around the game, which gets an extra tick or two as long as anyone thinks he might catch. Dalton Varsho comes to mind in part because I don’t believe he’s benefited from being an everywhere man listed as a catcher.
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