This is the second year where we are walking through the previous season’s Baseball America’s Top Prospect handbook, looking at the all the Mets to see how they are developing against Baseball America’s Projections.
The Mets acquired Franklyn Kilome at the 2018 trading deadline for Asdrubal Cabrera. When he became a Met, he posted a 4.03 ERA over 7 games and 38.0 innings for Binghamton with a 1.079 WHIP and 9.9 K/9 (4.20 K/BB) but then he needed Tommy John. Before publication of the 2019 Baseball America Prospect guide, it was already known that he would miss all of the 2019 season.
So there’s not much to reflect on here, this article is more of a hey, do you remember being excited when the Mets acquired him? Because since the Mets acquired him and since he had surgery the Mets lost Justin Dunn, Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods-Richardson to trades making the depth chart in the minors thin at starting pitching.
When the Mets traded for him, he had a mid 90’s fastball with a high spin rate, midish high 70’s curveball and as BA reports, a “fringey” slider and changeup. The concern for Kilome is his control and walk rates. BA ended their review of him by saying that if he doesn’t improve on his command then he projects out to the bullpen, which implies if he does improve on his command, to the rotation he shall go.
The question for the Mets this year is how soon do they move him to Syracuse. Does he start the season in Binghamton? Does he spend a lot of time there? Is it worth him starting the season in cold unrelenting Binghamton or Syracuse? Does extended Spring Training mean his overall health would be better. Between David Peterson and other pitchers the Mets have signed this off-season for starting pitching depth (Porcello, Wacha, Erasmus Ramirez, etc), there’s no need to rush Kilome, who will be 25 this season. We’ll just wait and see how this plays out and adjust our hype accordingly.
