The final entry in this 30 part article series! Last year’s #1 prospect – Andres Gimenez!
From 2013 on the Mets farm system was turning out starting pitching prospects between the surprise success of Jacob deGrom, to the heavily anticipated arrival of Noah Syndergaard to the oft injured campaigns of Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz. (And, of course, Matt Harvey‘s rise to 2015 dominance). Since then, the Mets farm system has been a little light.
But with Amed Rosario debuting in 2017, the Mets have hit a new crop of prospect clustered around a position. The Mets have Luis Guillorme who made his debut last year and is defensive wiz, Ronny Mauricio who has a ways to go with last year being is first year, Mark Vientos and the #1 prospect according to Baseball America in the Mets farm system: Andres Gimenez.
Gimenez right now is not projected to have the same upside as Rosario. Baseball America gave him a 55 overall ranking with a 55 hitting, 40 power, 50 speed, 60 field and 60 arm. Right now it’s his defense that projects him to Queens some day with the Mets hoping that he can develop his hitting as he continues to grow. When he signed with the Mets he was the #2 prospect in the International Market (2015) and hit .340/.478/.500 with the Mets top Dominican Summer League team. His .478 OBP was probably a major reason why in 2017 he went directly to Columbia at the age of 18 which put him at 3.5 years below the average player. His numbers came back down to Earth, slashing .265/.346/.349. (Which are still great numbers especially considering his age).
The Mets continued to push his growth last year, having him split time between St. Lucie and Binghamton. In St. Lucie he was 3.4 years below the average age and hit .282/.348/.432 over 85 games and 351 PA’s. In Binghamton he was a whopping 5.2 years below the average age where he hit .277/.344/.358 in 153 PA’s.
Baseball America’s concern about him Gimenez was his lack of power combined with his lack of speed. As of right now, he’s still getting on base a ton. Last year Baseball America labeled him as a second-division regular or a utility player due to his defense (the former is a term that probably describes most Mets players on most Mets teams in the last several years). Gimenez didn’t have a drop-off in OBP despite going up to Binghamton at 19 years old.
Right now, there’s no reason Gimenez should be in Queens before mid/late 2020. Not acquiring Realmuto and trading Rosario helps the urge to rush him more than he’s already been moved. We predict he’ll start the year in Binghamton and probably move up to Syracuse before the end of the year, barring an unforeseen drop in performance.
