Outfield Depth Chart, 2017

[Edgy MD]

The outfield scene for the Mets is seemingly a lot thinner than the crowd of their infield brothers. There's depth up top, but down below, barely a prospect at each level. And them that ain't prospects haven't even tended to demonstrate themselves as useful role players. A whole bunch of outfielders at about the NY-Penn League and Appalachian League levels put up stats no better than Tim Tebow in AFL, and this was over a full (half) season.

Things don't look a whole lot better from Brooklyn on down either, unless you think that some of the teams' infield prospects will move to the outfield.

One thing to watch is how fast Desmond Lindsay moves up. There are a lot of guys he can leapfrog this season.

	NEW YORK
=#0040FF] Rk.	=#0040FF] Outfielder	=#0040FF]2017 Age	=#0040FF]2016 Pos.	=#0040FF] MLB	=#0040FF] AAA	=#0040FF] AA	=#0040FF] A+	=#0040FF] A	=#0040FF] SS A+	=#0040FF] SS A	=#0040FF] Rookie
1	Yoenis Céspedes	31	lf, cf	.280 / .354 / .530 // .884 in 543 PA			.222 / .222 / .333 // .556 in 9 PA
2	Curtis Granderson*	36	rf, cf, lf	.237 / .335 / .464 // .799 in 633 PA
3	Jay Bruce*	30	rf, cf	.250 / .309 / .506 // .815 in 589 PA
4	Michael Conforto*	24	lf, rf, cf	.220 / .310 / .414 // .725 in 348 PA	.422 / .483 / .727 // 1.209 in 144 PA
5	Juan Lagares	28	cf, rf, lf	.239 / .301 / .380 // .682 in 160 PA		.333 / .368 / .444 // .813 in 19 PA
	LAS VEGAS
=#0040FF] Rk.	=#0040FF] Outfielder	=#0040FF]2017 Age	=#0040FF]2016 Pos.	=#0040FF] MLB	=#0040FF] AAA	=#0040FF] AA	=#0040FF] A+	=#0040FF] A	=#0040FF] SS A+	=#0040FF] SS A	=#0040FF] Rookie
6	Brandon Nimmo*	24	lf, rf, cf	.274 / .338 / .329 // .666 in 80 PA	.352 / .423 / .541 // .964 in 444 PA
7	Travis Taijeron	28	rf, lf		.275 / .372 / .512 // .884 in 541 PA
9	Victor Cruzado#	25	lf, rf, cf			.261 / .353 / .374 // .727 in 420 PA
9	Kyle Johnson	27	cf, lf, rf		.244 / .298 / .333 // .631 in 84 PA	.199 / .292 / .292 // .585 in 196 PA
10	Jayce Boyd	26	lf, 1b			.259 / .336 / .341 // .676 in 304 PA
	BINGHAMTON
=#0040FF] Rk.	=#0040FF] Outfielder	=#0040FF]2017 Age	=#0040FF]2016 Pos.	=#0040FF] MLB	=#0040FF] AAA	=#0040FF] AA	=#0040FF] A+	=#0040FF] A	=#0040FF] SS A+	=#0040FF] SS A	=#0040FF] Rookie
11	Champ Stuart	24	cf			.201 / .264 / .261 // .525 in 203 PA	.265 / .347 / .407 // .755 in 315 PA
12	Jared King#	25	rf, cf, lf			.188 / .274 / .271 // .544 in 95 PA
13	Kevin Kaczmarski*	25	rf, lf				.301 / .383 / .405 // .788 in 175 PA	.268 / .347 / .418 // .764 in 301 PA
14	Patrick Biondi*	26	cf, rf, lf				.271 / .352 / .332 // .685 in 395 PA
15	Wuilmer Becerra	22	rf				.312 / .341 / .393 // .734 in 263 PA
	ST. LUCIE
=#0040FF] Rk.	=#0040FF] Outfielder	=#0040FF]2017 Age	=#0040FF]2016 Pos.	=#0040FF] MLB	=#0040FF] AAA	=#0040FF] AA	=#0040FF] A+	=#0040FF] A	=#0040FF] SS A+	=#0040FF] SS A	=#0040FF] Rookie
16	John Mora*	24	rf, lf				.246 / .341 / .346 // .688 in 506 PA
17	Jeffrey Diehl	23	rf, 1b, 3b					.234 / .335 / .413 // .748 in 233 PA
18	Tucker Tharp	25	rf, cf, lf				.264 / .328 / .283 // .611 in 58 PA	.210 / .282 / .296 // .578 in 210 PA
19	Enmanuel Zabala	22	cf, lf, rf				.225 / .301 / .350 // .651 in 430 PA	.280 / .330 / .339 // .669 in 204 PA	.132 / .195 / .211 // .406 in 41 PA
20	Ivan Wilson	22	cf					.197 / .275 / .352 // .628 IN 213 PA
	COLUMBIA
=#0040FF] Rk.	=#0040FF] Outfielder	=#0040FF]2017 Age	=#0040FF]2016 Pos.	=#0040FF] MLB	=#0040FF] AAA	=#0040FF] AA	=#0040FF] A+	=#0040FF] A	=#0040FF] SS A+	=#0040FF] SS A	=#0040FF] Rookie
21	Desmond Lindsay	20	cf						.297 / .418 / .450 // .868 in 134 PA		.364 / .563 / .455 // 1.017 in 16 PA
22	Jacob Zanon	22	cf, rf						.197 / .284 / .287 // .571 in 184 PA
23	Gene Cone*	22	rf, lf, cf						.227 / .312 / .275 // .587 in 261 PA
24	Arnaldo Berrios#	21	rf						.185 / .239 / .218 // .457 in 139 PA	.325 / .437 / .410 // .847 in 144 PA
25	Tim Tebow*	29	lf

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Of all those guys, Desmond Lindsay might be the best prospect.

Ivan Wilson retired last summer.

[Edgy MD]

Well, then Desmond Lindsay has already leapfrogged one! I thought, after the damage he wreaked on the New York-Penn League last year, that he might just skip the Sally League and go straight to St. Lucie. Mentally bump him up there, and add Jay Jabs to Columbia. Jay had an awful debut with Brooklyn last year (.498 OPS in 200 PA), but like I said, outfield pickin's are slim.

[Guest 41Forever]

Wow, once you pass Nimmo, the outfield is about as deep as a kiddie pool.

[Benjamin Grimm]

My sense is that the lack of outfield depth in the organization probably won't be a problem for 2017. Next year, though, with Granderson and Bruce presumably gone, hopefully Lagares and Conforto will be able to step in. But the Mets will almost certainly have to backfill their depth between 2017 and 2018.

[MFS62]

He may never make it to the majors, but Tucker Tharp is one heckuva' name.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, they've got perhaps six big-league ready outfielders, and the three reserves among them (Conforto-Lagares-Nimmo) probably wouldn't be the worst starting trio in the majors.

Besides that, they'll probably get outfield service this season from some reserve infielders—Reyes, Rivera, and Kelly. So the crisis isn't as acute as all that. But the system just isn't particularly shored up. MFS62 posted an MLB.com list of the top 30 prospects, and only four were outfielders.
[list:1rdjnczo][*:1rdjnczo]One (Nimmo) has already debuted.[/*:m:1rdjnczo]
[*:1rdjnczo]One (Becerra) is coming off a year half lost to injury and the other half spent playing hurt and drained of almost all his power.[/*:m:1rdjnczo]
[*:1rdjnczo]One (Ricardo Céspedes) hasn't played above Kingsport and is ranked 19th, and is about 80% projection at this point, and may be getting a publicity boost from his name.[/*:m:1rdjnczo]
[*:1rdjnczo]It's the last one (Desmond Lindsay) who is the basket where you're going to put most of your eggs.[/*:m:1rdjnczo][/list:u:1rdjnczo]

[Edgy MD]

I was wondering which minor leaguers weren't getting floated up to big league games, while Tim Tebow was, and I notice Jared King hadn't appeared. Turns out, after two lousy seasons at AA, King has turned in his spikes.

This would seemingly bump John Mora up to Binghamton, Jacob Zanon up to St. Lucie, and Ricardo Céspedes joining the lefties and and switchies in Columbia, and gives the fireflies a little bit more prospect juice. It's certainly possible that the Mets open Tebow in St. Lucie.

New York (MLB)
Yoenis Céspedes
Curtis Granderson*
Jay Bruce*
Michael Conforto*
Juan Lagares

Las Vegas (AAA)
Brandon Nimmo*
Travis Taijeron
Victor Cruzado#
Kyle Johnson
Jayce Boyd

Binghamton (AA)
Champ Stuart
Kevin Kaczmarski*
[crossout]Jared King[/crossout]
Patrick Biondi*
Wuilmer Becerra
=#008000]John Mora*

St. Lucie (A+)
[crossout]John Mora*[/crossout]
Jeffrey Diehl
Tucker Tharp
Desmond Lindsay
Enmanuel Zabala
=#008000]Jacob Zanon

Columbia (A)
Tim Tebow*
[crossout]Jacob Zanon[/crossout]
Gene Cone*
Arnaldo Berrios#
Jay Jabs*
=#008000]Ricardo Céspedes*

[Edgy MD]

And on that note, Newsday hits with a quote from Alderson that T is indeed opening in Columbia.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: And on that note, Newsday hits with a quote from Alderson that T is indeed opening in Columbia.

By placing him between the Rookie level teams and Port St Lucie, this at least partially kills those theories that this is all an attendance ploy for one of the Wilpon-owned minor league squads.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: And on that note, Newsday hits with a quote from Alderson that T is indeed opening in Columbia. By placing him between the Rookie level teams and Port St Lucie, this at least partially kills those theories that this is all an attendance ploy for one of the Wilpon-owned minor league squads.

Columbia's a new affiliate. Help them out. good PR.

[Frayed Knot]

Sure, but any attendance spike most directly helps the owner of the team which, in this case, is not the Wilpons.

Ya know who else is going to like this placement? The other Sally Lg owners: Two visits (six games) by T.T. coming to play YOUR _____________, get your tickets before they sell out!!!!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Lots of college football cities in that league as well.

[MFS62]

For a player who repeated AA Binghamton and only hit about .250 with little power there last year, I don't see Jayce Boyd being promoted to AAA Las Vegas this year. I don't see who obviously might be promoted instead of him. But after what he has shown this spring, maybe they'll jump Champ Stuart over him.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Sure, but any attendance spike most directly helps the owner of the team which, in this case, is not the Wilpons. Ya know who else is going to like this placement? The other Sally Lg owners: Two visits (six games) by T.T. coming to play YOUR _____________, get your tickets before they sell out!!!!

I can see it now.

By which, I mean, I can actually see it now.

[Frayed Knot]

So do they get a refund on those tickets if he does real well and gets promoted to PSL in mid-season?
Or if he plays so poorly that that he's back to the SEC Network before all of those games come up on the schedule?

[Frayed Knot]

The Greenville (S.C.) Drive, the Red Sox affiliate in the South Atlantic Lg, announce a promotion where fans get a free BK Whopper if Tebow strikes out three times over the length his first series in Greenville.