For the last several days we’ve been at an awkward phase with our NRI Preview series – players were are previewing have already been sent to minor league camp. This happens every year when we space out on preview a day and we had a feeling that it would happen sooner this year with the delayed start to camp leading to regulars getting more reps in games, no split-squad games early in spring, and the lockout leading to a late announcement of players invited to camp.
Carlos Cortes was drafted by the Mets, twice! The Mets drafted him out of high school in round 20 back in 2016 and he opted to go to college instead. Two years later the Mets drafted him in the third round. Carlos Cortes is also ambidextrous. In this profile from the NY Post, he talks about growing up lefty, but having righty motor schools – even to the point that he thought being an ambidextrous pitcher in high school.
MLB.com currently has Carlos listed as the Mets #15 overall prospect. He’s a power first prospect hat has shown power at various points in his life, like slugging .528 through college, despite his size at 5-foot-7 (and being 5’4″ myself, I’m all for shorter baseball players with some pop). The Mets didn’t put him on the 40-man this past year, which made him vulnerable to a Rule V draft that never happened.
Before the pandemic, he hit .256/.336/.397 in St. Lucie over 526 PA’s. He started to stand out more the following year. During the Covid shut down of the minors, he went to Australia and hit .392/.429/.706 over 56 PA’s. When he returned to minor league baseball in the states, he hit .257/.332/.487 in Binghamton. That was an 80 point OPS gain compared to his time in St. Lucie.
MLB.com suggests that he may be eventually destined for a platoon rule in the majors. His age (24 right now, will be 25 during the season) suggests that he could be ready for a taste of the majors this upcoming season. The Mets have several different platoon style players and after everything that happened to the roster last year with injuries, it’s not impossible seeing a way that Cortes is called up at some point this year.
