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| Image from Metsmerized |
With
Spring Training in full swing, it is time for people to start making their baseball
predictions for 2015. Sleeper prospects are my favorite offseason predictions,
so below I compiled several Mets sleeper prospect lists I found online.
-
Amazin
Avenue sleeper picks
o Brandon
Brosher
o Luis
Guillorme
o Blake
Taylor
o Luis
Mateo
o Logan
Taylor
-
Bleacher
Report’s Sleeper prospects for Spring Training
o Brandon
Nimmo
o Kevin
Plawecki
o Gavin
Cecchini
o Steven
Matz
o Luis
Guillorme
o Ivan
Wilson
o Jayce
Boyd
o Champ
Stuart
o Vicente
Lupo
o Adrian
Almeida
o Raphael
Ramirez
o Erik
Manoah
o Brandon
Brosher
o Gabriel
Llanes
o Corey
Oswalt
o Dash
Winningham
o Brad
Wieck
o Vicente
Lupo
o Robert
Gsellman
Lots of good sleeper picks here,
although most of these prospects will be playing in the lower levels of the
minor leagues. Here are my top sleeper picks that
didn’t make those lists (note that this list can always go longer):
C – Ali Sanchez – The Mets signed this now 18-year old
Venezuelan catcher for $690,000 back in 2013, and he spent 2014 hitting
.303/.406/.394 in the DSL, which was good enough to put him 27th on
Baseball America’s top-30 2015 Mets prospect list. BA describes him as having
‘advanced catch-and-throw skills,’ who ‘uses a contact-oriented, inside-out
approach to hit for a high average, though with added strength and maturity he
could approach average power.’ He’ll end up with a stateside team after
extended Spring Training this year, and could possibly see time in Brooklyn
this year.
3B now, 1B/LF possible in future – Eudor Garcia – ‘Hodor’
made the BA list right behind Sanchez at 28 thanks to his plus power from the
left side. He got off to a slow start as a professional, hitting only 2
homeruns in 55 games with Kingsport, but BA describes him as the ‘best bat
available from the state of Texas in the 2014 draft.’ He’ll have to find that
power if he wants to reach the big leagues, as BA says that ‘most evaluators
expect him to shift to LF or 1B down the line, for his arm and range are
below-average, as is his speed.’
RF – Eudy Pina – As he’s getting to be a little older for a
prospect (he’ll be 24 for the 2015 season), this is a make-or-break season for
Pina, but he has real breakout potential. For 6 weeks in 2014, he was the best
hitter in the Mets system, and probably the Florida State League, as he hit
.395/.426/.739 with 22 extra base hits (8 homeruns) in 130 PA, which was good
for a 226 wRC+.
RF – Victor Cruzado – Cruzado is a year younger and a year
behind Pina in the minors, and his advanced approach at the plate has allowed
him to be more consistent offensively in the minors. Cruzado had a solid 2014
in his full-season debut with Savannah, combining average ISO power numbers
with above average plate discipline numbers and strong defense in the outfield,
but he hasn’t done anything to standout yet. Hopefully he can improve
upon his 2014 homerun total of 7 this season with St. Lucie, as he should
benefit from a more
offensive home environment.
SP/RP – Cory Mazzoni – Mazzoni is a little too well known to
be a sleeper prospect, but he’s here because it seems like he has been
overlooked as a future major league piece at this point. He finished the 2014 season
with Las Vegas very strong, and is likely slated to begin the year starting in
their rotation again. He had his splitter looking
great in August, and it was complementing a fastball/slider combination
that has already been considered average-to-plus. As long as he stays healthy
in 2015, he could fight his way into a starting or bullpen spot at some point.
SP – John Gant – I feel like Gant was a bit underrated after
his great 2014 with the Sand Gnats, as his numbers (2.56 ERA/3.31 FIP/22.4 K%:
7.8 BB% over 123 IP) compare favorably to the two Savannah righties who got a
lot of attention over the past year – Robert Gsellman (2.55 ERA/3.34 FIP/18.4
K%: 6.8 BB% over 116.1 IP) and Robert Whalen (2.01 ERA/3.46 FIP/20.8 K%: 7.5
BB% over 62.2 IP). Compared to those two, Gant has age working against him, as
he’s 11 months older than Gsellman and 17 months older than Whalen, and he
doesn’t throw consistently as hard, so I understand him not ranking as high
just yet, but think he’s a good candidate to surprise with St. Lucie this year.
I like his big
loopy curveball, that he’s been able to strikeout lefties more often than
righties – 28.2 K%: 8.6 BB% vs. L, 18.6 K%: 7.7 BB% vs. R – and that he’s gone
5+ innings in 40/46 starts over the last 3 seasons.
Honorable mention goes to a personal favorite in Tyler Pill, whose merits as an interesting prospect have been discussed here previously. With 23 different ‘sleeper prospects’ between Amazin Avenue, Metsmerized, Rant Sports, and Astromets Mind, there are a lot of potential breakout prospects to keep an eye on in the Mets system during the 2015 season – are you getting excited yet?
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