OF Prospects

[Frayed Knot]

There are snippets about these two in the individual minor league team threads, but I just thought I'd put this up seperately.
Baseball Prospectus does it's usual thorough take here - this time on future CF prospects - as they manage to give you what's up while skipping all the breathless hype that permeates many sites as they trip over each other in an attempt to be the first to tout every other youngster with a decent season as "CAN'T MISS"

These two Mets make their list of 17


Fernando Martinez, Mets

Age: 17.8 Hitting: .333/.386/.532 in 51 G (1 R/45 A-/5 A+)

Martinez was the big prize in last year's international signing period, as the Mets won a bidding war for his services with a $1.4 million bonus. Point No. 1: 17-year-old players are not supposed to be ready for full-season leagues. Point No. 2: 17-year-old players are certainly not supposed to be good enough to earn a promotion to High Class A by getting a hit in every three at-bats. Martinez is a ridiculous offensive talent with ability well beyond his years, but he still has room for improvement. He's coming into his power, which should at least be average, and while he's a free swinger, he gets away with it because of tremendous plate coverage. The only knock against him is his defense. A slightly above-average runner now, his instincts in center are lacking, and he'll almost assuredly need to move to a corner in the not-so-distant future. This is a still remarkable season for such a young player, and over the next couple of years we will figure out if he develops into an ideal number two hitter, or a middle-of-the-order power threat.




Carlos Gomez, Mets

Age: 20.7 Hitting: .287/.347/.431 in 93 G (AA)

The Mets don't have just one toolsy outfielder moving quickly through their system, they have two. The organization has always loved Gomez's long body and outstanding tools, but starting him this year at Double-A seemed curious, if not downright wrong. Only 20 years old at the start of the year and coming off an uninspiring .275/.331/.376 campaign at Low Class A Hagerstown, his performance didn't merit skipping a level, and he was overmatched in the first half of the season, with his batting average sitting at .211 at the end of May when he hit the disabled list with a back injury. Whatever happened during that time off changed everything, as Gomez now has pretty respectable numbers thanks to a nifty .406 (41-for-101) average in July. While Gomez hasn't shown much power, scouts believe it's in him, and he's very close to establishing new career highs in doubles, triples and home runs with almost a month still to go in the season. He's a plus-plus runner with 95 stolen bases in the last two years, and he covers a ton of ground in the outfield while featuring a strong, accurate arm. Gomez still needs to refine his approach, as with 73 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 344 at-bats, he doesn't work well at the top of the order, and his speed has less value at the bottom. The Mets can afford to slow him down a little, and he might repeat Double-A next year.

[Elster88]

]Point No. 1: 17-year-old players are not supposed to be ready for full-season leagues. Point No. 2: 17-year-old players are certainly not supposed to be good enough to earn a promotion to High Class A by getting a hit in every three at-bats. Martinez is a ridiculous offensive talent with ability well beyond his years

Are we sure he's 17?

[MFS62]

Yes, Omar has known his family for many years. He started scouting him when Martinez was 15.

Carlos' AB/K ratio of about 5:1 is very good for someone so young in an advanced league. That's a positive sign at this stage of his career, considering he is seeing some pretty good breaking pitches at the AA level. Apparently, he's seeing them from a very close distance, since he has been HBP 18 times in fewer than 100 games.

EDIT: One writer in Philly thinks Martinez is the next LeBron James:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/baseball/15239362.htm?source=rss&channel=philly_baseball

Later