There's no doubt that the big name prospects at the top of the system are thin from shipping Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey out for Ryan Church, Johan Santana and Brian Schneider this offseason. You can't trade half of your top 10 guys and not have some holes at the top.
But, the Mets have a ton more talent than is being reported, and a lot of it is flying under the radar, because their early season stats are affected by the Mets development strategy, which puts their top players at levels where they play against much older more experienced competition. The young players are asked to fight thru those struggles to learn more and faster about themselves as players and what it takes to succeed against the toughest competition.
Take a look a how young Kingsport shortstop Wilmer Flores (.386/.410/.632 with 3HR and 17 RBI over 57 AB) is compared to the level he's playing at.
"Flores is a 16 year old playing in a league where the average age is more than 20" - BaseballAmerica
This is such a huge stat to keep in mind when evaluating the Mets system.
If a player plays a level a year, it makes sense as a rough projection on the way up...Kingsport 20, Brooklyn 21, Savannah 22, St Lucie 23, Binghamton 24. Here are the guys in our system at the full season levels who are at least TWO years ahead of the age curve.
AA - Binghamton
- RP - Eddie Kunz (22) - 3.79 ERA, 1.54 Whip, 21 saves, 33 K, 22 BB over 35.2IP
- SP - Jon Niese (22) - 5-5 3.14 ERA, 1.27 Whip, 79 K, 34 BB over 17 starts and 91.2 IP
- DH - Mike Carp (22) - .319/.390/.489, 10 HR, 47 RBI, over 276 AB
- 1B - Nick Evans (22) - .312/.372/.569, 13 HR, 49 RBI, over 260 AB
- SS - Jose Coronado (22) - .257/.338/.299, 1 HR, 27 RBI, over 384 AB
- 2B - Emmanuel Garcia (22) - .224/.298/.290, 2 HR, 26 RBI, over 255 AB
- OF - Fernando Martinez (19) - .302/.339/.450, 4 HR, 19 RBI, over 169 AB
Hi A - St. Lucie
- SP - Angel Calero (21) - 1-1 7.07 ERA, 1.79 Whip, 10 K, 7 BB, over 4 starts and 14 IP
- RP - Emary Fredrick (21) - 3.54 ERA, 1.03 Whip, 4 saves, 24 K, 7 BB, over 20.1 IP
- SP - Dillon Owen (21) - 6-5 3.62 ERA, 1.29 Whip, 78 K, 19 BB, over 16 sarts and 87 IP
- C - Josh Thole (21) - .299/.398/.426, 3 HR, 32 RBI, over 197 AB
- SS - Ruben Tejada (18) - .254/.316/.324, 2 HR, 26 RBI, over 303 AB
- OF - Ezeqiel Carrera (21) - .263/.330/.396, 2 HR, 19 RBI, over 255 AB
LoA - Savannah
- SP - Maikel Cleto (19) - 2-6 3.49 ERA, 1.29 Whip, 58 K, 24 BB, over 14 starts and 95.1 IP
- SP - Scott Moviel (19) - 8-7 3.49 ERA, 1.44 Whip, 53 K, 26 BB, over 16 starts and 78.1 IP
- SP - Elvin Ramirez (19) - 5-6 3.55 ERA, 1.42 Whip, 50 K, 29 BB, over 16 starts and 71 IP
- SP/RP - Josh Stinson (20) - 1-4 3.35 ERA, 1.55 Whip, 3 saves, 31 K, 21 BB, over 1 starts and 45.2 IP