At the beginning of last season Ali Sanchez was the #27 prospect in the Mets system according to Baseball America. He ended the season playing in the Arizona Fall League, a major step for a #27 prospect.
We wrote about Ali Sanchez for the first time at 213 back at the start of October. Main point in that article:
Baseball America points out, “hit just .223 outside of the complex Rookie leagues, but his defensive tools are so tantalizing – and catchers develop later than other position players – that he remains a prospect of interest.”
Ali made his debut in the Mets organization at the age of 17 in 2014 and spent the season in the DOSL. He did well (.303/.406/.394) so at 18 the Mets moved him state side where he started the year in the Gulf Coast league where he did well again (.272/.330/.306) so in the same year he was transferred to Kinsport. That’s where he hit his first rough patch, hitting .182/.182/.182 over 3 games. He also was 2.6 years younger than the average player in that league.
The Mets continued to push him at an accelerated rate to Brooklyn in 2016 where at age 19 he was still 2.1 years younger than average and he struggled hitting .216/.260/.275. This is where the BA quote starts to come in. Brooklyn is a tough place for some prospects to hit and catchers do develop more slowly. Plus he was still only 19.
Anyway, the Mets continued to push Ali through the system. In 2017 he opened in Columbia where he was 1.5 years younger than the average player and hit only .231/.288/.264. It’s at this point that the Mets start to slow down Sanchez and he opens 2018 in Columbia. Starting two years in a row at low A ball probably leads to his low prospect ranking at the start of 2018. Sanchez responds positively to this and hits .259/.293/.389, his best line since Kingsport so the Mets move him up mid season to St Lucie (where he’s young for the league again) and hits .274/.296/.385. So now it looks like the prospect has found his bat and is becoming intriguing. The Mets brass thought so too and sent him to the fall league where he hit a disappointing .120/.241/.160 over 29 PA’s but probably got a lot of great experience being in a league with so much talent.
This brings us to this year. Ali Sanchez is one of 7 catchers in Mets camp. He’s the only one though with a prospect billing where the Mets don’t expect to sniff the majors at all, rather this is all for him seeing major league pitching as a catcher and as a hitter. Last October we speculated that he would open the season in St Lucie and probably move to Binghamton at some point. With the amount of catchers the Mets now have, we still feel this is the most likely scenario unless he can secure enough playing time to be the starter in Binghamton.
