Get To Know a Prospect: Reese Havens

In the 2008 Baseball Draft, the Mets selected Reese Havens, a shortstop/infielder out of the University of South Carolina. Despite his struggles this past season with Brooklyn, mainly due to injuries, he is receiving praise and hype. Baseball America named him number 8 on the Mets top 2009 Prospect List. He only played in 23 games this season, and in 85 AB he had 13 R, 21 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 3 SB, .247 BA, .340 OBP. His extra base hit to hit ratio here is pretty nice, especially for a shortened first minor league season. Out of his 21 hits, he has 11 extra base hits, including a nice distrubution over doubles, triples, and homers. The Baseball Cube gives him the following scouting report:
     Power 82
     Speed 14
     Contact 57
     Patience 87
(The Scores are Based out of 100)

Before playing professional, he played in 2006 and in 2007 between college and in the Cape Cod League. In 2006 he batted .259, and 2007, he batted .274. Then he went to the
Cape Cod league where he batted .315 over the 2007 summer and he really
turned it up in 2008 batting .360. So there is a positive progression.
He also has had a huge increase of walks going 30 in 06, 21 in 07 and
58 in 08. The Power numbers have jumped as well going 4 homeruns, to 5,
and this past season he knocked in 18. His RBI's have increased over
time as well, but not as dramatically, 40, 43 and then last year 57. He
played for the University of South Carolina.

When he was in high
school, he was a highly touted prospect hitting .530 with 48 RBI's his
senior year. In 2005 he was drafted by the Rockies in the 29th round
(867 overall). MLB.com says that this was mostly due to his “strong
commitment” to South Carolina, which he fulfilled. He was going to play in the Hawaiian Winter League, but due to his injuries during the season, the Mets brass thought it would be better if he continued rehabing and staying on their program. The real test of abilities of Havens will be when he plays a full minor league season without injuries.