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.
We are finally done! It’s over! Around a month after starting to review the 2019 Baseball America’s prospects, we have reached the very end, Andres Gimenez, who after 2019, with the success of Alonso and the rise of Mauricio, the drafting of Baty and Allan, feels like a lost prospect. Let’s remind ourselves who he is and where he fits.
Andres Gimenez is only 21. We’ve been hearing about him since he was 17 back in 2016. Gimenez is next in line in a system that has produced top prospect shortstops, starting with Rosario, and coming up with Mauricio. Before the 2019 season, BA wrote, “scouts regarded him as one of the top talents in both the Florida State and Eastern leagues.” One of his ground ball outs was was the fifth hardest hit balls in the Future’s game.
BA hails his quick hands, his IQ, his arm and field, and someone that projects to above-average to plus hitting potential. They end their write up projecting him has a first-division short stop and imagine him moving over to 2nd because of Rosario. They thought he could get a late 2019 call up and should get regular big league work this upcoming season.
2019 Binghamton: 479 PA, 432 AB, .250/.309/.387
2019 Fall League: 75 PA, 70 AB, .371/.413/.586
Andres played in Binghamton at a whopping 4.1 years below the average player and his offensive stats took a step back, which is probably why the noise around him dipped. Often in trading scenarios based around Rosario, Andres’ name comes up as an obvious replacement. In a universe where the Mets don’t acquire Robinson Cano, we probably would be talking about him sliding to 2nd base more.
But Andres had a terrific Arizona Fall League. He will be in Syracuse at some point this year and is already on the 40 man roster but BA is wrong about him seeing regular playing time in 2020, barring a major trade or injury else where. If he has a tremendous minors season, and Rosario has a tremendous major league season, it’s possible the Mets decide to trade one of them. Come July, depending on the Mets record, Rosario’s play and Gimenez’s play the Mets will probably make a decision about whether or not we see him in 2020. He’s close, just not ready yet. (Or he’s close, but there’s no spot for him yet).
