Finally we are knocking on the door to Spring Training, which is great since winter in the North East decided to show up this past week. Before we jump into and look at who got a special invitation to camp this year, I was curious as to how the players who came as a non-roster invitee performed during the 2016 season and where they ended up. Last year the Mets invited 18 players to Port St. Lucie:
- Dominic Smith
- Gavin Cecchini
- Johnny Monell
- Xorge Carrillo
- T.J. Rivera
- Travis Taijeron
- Paul Sewald
- Zack Thornton
- Chase Bradford
- Nevin Ashley
- Jim Henderson
- Stolmy Pimentel
- Ty Kelly
- Danny Muno
- Raywilly Gomez
- Buddy Carlyle
- Duane Below
- Marc Krauss
Out of the 18 players listed above, 4 players made it to the big leagues in the 2016 season (Cecchini, Rivera, Kelly and Henderson). Out of those four, only T.J. Rivera has a possible place on the 2017 squad (Henderson is now with the Cubs). Kelly has an outside chance, but he has to fight back to get on the 40-man, that is if he actually makes it though his current DFA period. Also out of the 18 players listed above, 5 players are back as NRI’s this year (Smith, Carrillo, Taijeron, Sewald, Bradford). (This becomes 6 if Ty Kelly makes it through the DFA process and the Mets give him an invite). Out of those 5/6 players, Smith is the main prospect coming back. Read more about the 2016 journey’s of the NRI’s below:
Dominic Smith went from Spring Training to the Mets up to Binghamton. I was lucky enough to see him on a cold, April night game against Giolito who was heads and shoulder’s above most of the Binghamton Mets roster. Dom finally had a season where he developed more into what has generally been projected for him and finds himself somewhere on most Top 100 prospect lists for the 2017 season. He is a non-roster invitee again for the 2017 season
Gavin Cecchini made his way to the 40-man over the course of the 2016 season as he made his major debut playing in 4 games, getting 7 PA’s and two hits, both doubles. I’m not sure what the Mets do with Gavin. Defensively he doesn’t make sense long term at shortstop although he can play second. The Mets have a log jam all over the infield though with Cabrera/Walker/TJ Rivera/Reyes/Flores who all can play some combination of 2nd, 3rd and short. Plus there’s Wright and the eventual arrival of Rosario.
Johnny Monell, the catcher from the Bronx. A hometown hero in the 2015 season, he never made it back to the majors in 2016, thanks to Rene Rivera. He played 113 games in Las Vegas and became a Free Agent in October.
Xorge Carillo played for both the Binghamton Mets and Las Vegas over the 2016 season. In 80 games for Binghamton he hit .269/.347/.364 and in 5 games in AAA he collected 5 singles in 15 AB’s. He has a 2017 non-roster invite to Spring Training and will also play for Mexico in the WBC.
T.J. Rivera finally did it last year. He turned heads all spring with his hitting ability and finally got the call when the Mets continued to fall apart due to injuries throughout the 2016 season. He put together an impressive 2016 campaign, and was another hometown hero for the Mets. He now finds himself on the 40 man roster and will be battling for a bench role this year.
Travis Taijeron just keeps hitting homers in the minor leagues knocking 25 in 2015 and 19 last year. He was intriguing to watch in spring last year and we’ll get another chance to do it this year as he comes back as a non-roster invitee as a 28 year old.
Paul Sewald left camp last year and went to one of the toughest places for any pitcher: Las Vegas. He still put up an impressive 3.29 ERA and struck out 80 over 65.2 innings. He’ll be back in camp as a non-roster invitee this year.
Zack Thornton, who came to the Mets as part of the Ike Davis trade, was granted free agency after last season (at least, as far as I can tell). He pitched in 35 games in Vegas with a 7.03 ERA and is currently, possibly going to be a pitcher for Israel in the World Baseball Classic.
Chase Bradford didn’t have the best year at Vegas last year, watching his ERA climb from 4.95 to 5.35, but his strikeouts did climb from 46 to 54 in only an additional 2 innings of work. He’ll be joining the Mets again as a non-roster invitee in 2017.
Nevin Ashley was granted Free Agency in November. He was purchased by the Rangers before at the August 31st deadline last season.
Jim Henderson saw himself thrust into a critical role last year with the Mets bullpen/pitching staff falling apart on a regular basis (read: injury bug not inadequacy). Henderson posted a 4.11 ERA over 35.0 innings and signed a contract this off-season with the Chicago Cubs.
I had high hopes when the Mets brought Stolmy Pimentel to camp last year. That didn’t pan out though. He posted a 10.45 ERA over 14 games in Las Vegas and then posted a 4.65 ERA in Mexico. The Mets released him in the middle of the season.
The Mets had two hitting stars that finally made the majors. You already heard about T.J. Rivera, now it’s Ty Kelly’s turn. He played in 39 games for the Mets with a .241/.352/.345 line. He finally cracked the 40 man! And then the Mets resigned Jerry Blevins and DFA’d Kelly two days ago. Jury is still out if he lands back in the Mets system, and he does, I’m sure the Mets give him a NRI to camp.
The Mets had a parade of infielders who could hit in AAA last year (Rivera/Kelly/others) so Danny Muno lost his spot. If it wasn’t for Rivera/Kelly, Muno probably gets called up, despite only hitting .239 in Vegas. Anyway, the Mets released him in late June, he then signed a few days later with the White Sox who released him in mid-August and then he signed with the Marlins two days later who gave him free agency in November.
Raywilly Gomez, a catching prospect on a team that seems flushed with catching prospects, almost catching prospects, and slightly/severely damaged former catching prospects just didn’t have a spot on this club. After a season campaign in Binghamton he became a free agent.
My favorite pitcher in the Mets organization, Buddy Carlyle, was released in March of last year. Two months later, he was hired as a coach and and has been with the Braves organization.
Duane Below‘s one year stint in the Mets organization ended in November with Below become a free agent. The former big league pitcher couldn’t crack his way into Queens and posted a 5.27 ERA over 24 games in Vegas.
If Marc Krauss had a better time in Vegas (.214/.327/.437) he almost certainly would have been called up as the Mets were fumbling though 1B/OF types before signing Loney mid-season. Alas, Marc struggled where several other Mets did well and he was granted Free Agency at the end of the season.
