{"id":6004,"date":"2012-02-20T17:23:44","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T23:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=6004"},"modified":"2012-02-20T17:30:33","modified_gmt":"2012-02-20T23:30:33","slug":"spring-training-prospect-invitations-new-york-mets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/6004","title":{"rendered":"Spring Training Prospect Invitations: New York Mets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Matt Harvey<\/em><\/p>\n

As Spring Training rapidly approaches and speculation surrounding the future of baseball\u2019s brightest prospects spreads like wildfire, The Golden Sombrero will highlight some of the notable and intriguing Spring Training invitees from each organization.<\/p>\n

Cesar Puello<\/a><\/strong>*, OF:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 17-year-old, Puello is a toolsy outfielder with power potential.\u00a0 Between his two seasons in Rookie ball (2008 and 2009), Puello slashed .300\/.363\/.398 with 22 extra-base hits and 28 stolen bases.\u00a0 Playing for Low-A Savannah in 2010, the right-handed hitter slashed .292\/.375\/.359 and swiped 45 bags in 55 attempts.\u00a0 Even though Puello improved his power production at High-A St. Lucie in 2011, he also saw some of his weaknesses exploited.\u00a0 In 441 at-bats, he posted career-bests in triples (five), home runs (10), RBI (50), and total bases (175).\u00a0 However, Puello fanned 103 times compared to only 18 walks due to poor pitch recognition and count manipulation.\u00a0 He\u2019ll likely never hit for a great average, but his power\/speed combo does project well at the big league level \u2013 as evidenced by the Mets decision to add him to the 40-man roster.\u00a0 He has the potential to be the Mets\u2019 starting right-fielder at some point in 2013, but will have to refine both his offensive approach and ability as a base-stealer at Double-A in 2012.<\/p>\n

Jeurys Familia<\/a><\/strong>*, RHP:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 After making a strong professional debut in the GCL in 2008 and following it up by earning Mets minor league pitcher of the year honors in 2009, Familia had an off-year in 2010 at High-A (5.58 ERA, 1.58 WHIP in 121 innings).\u00a0 One encouraging aspect of his otherwise disappointing season, the 22-year-old Familia fanned 137 hitters \u2013 though he walked 74.\u00a0 Since then he has somewhat regained his form as the 6-foot-3 right-hander posted a 3.49 ERA and 96\/35 K\/BB ratio after a promotion to Double-A in 2011.\u00a0 Familia has always featured an above-average fastball that sits in the mid-90s and reaches the upper-90s, as well as a mediocre breaking ball and change up.\u00a0 Neither pitch has to be exceptional; but definitely good enough complement his fastball and be thrown in fastball counts.<\/p>\n

Familia\u2019s ceiling will continue to be determined by his command, which has been consistently iffy.\u00a0 Despite working primarily as a starter in the minors, his cleanest path to the Major League might be as a high-leverage reliever, possibly even closer.\u00a0 Out of the bullpen, his fastball will likely sit towards the upper-90s, which should inherently improve both of his offspeed pitches.\u00a0 Already on the team\u2019s 40-man roster, will definitely make his MLB debut in 2012.\u00a0 The only question is whether it will be as a starter or reliever.<\/p>\n

Matt Den Dekker<\/a><\/strong>, OF:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 Unlike Puello, den Dekker is more of a fringe outfield prospect.\u00a0 In his first professional season in 2010, den Dekker posted a slash line of .336\/.396\/.459 with 17 doubles over 122 at-bats between the GCL and Low-A.\u00a0 He responded well to a promotion to High-A to begin the 2011 season, batting .296 with 33 extra-base hits and 12 stolen bases in 302 at-bats.\u00a0 Den Dekker didn\u2019t fare as well after a mid-season promotion to Double-A, though, as his slash line dropped to .235\/.312\/.426 while posting a 91\/27 K\/BB ratio.\u00a0 However, he did tally another 27 extra-base hits (including 11 home runs) while once again swiping 12 bags.\u00a0 Although he took a step in the right direction hitting for more power, the left-handed hitting den Dekker doesn\u2019t project as a Major League power threat.\u00a0 He will also need to cut down on his strikeouts (156 in 539 at-bats in 2011) in order to progress through the Mets\u2019 weak system.\u00a0 Den Dekker projects as a defensively savvy outfielder who will hit enough doubles to make him serviceable as a reserve.\u00a0 But given the state of the Mets\u2019 outfield \u2013 and lack of genuine outfield prospects \u2013 his arrival in the Major Leagues may happen ahead of schedule.\u00a0 For the time being, den Dekker seems destined for another crack at Double-A to begin to the 2012 season.<\/p>\n

Matt Harvey<\/a><\/strong>, RHP:<\/span><\/strong> Ranked by The Golden Sombrero as the No. 45 prospect in baseball<\/a><\/strong> headed into the 2012 season, Harvey was the clear No. 1 prospect in the Mets\u2019 organization until Zack Wheeler<\/a><\/strong> was obtained for Carlos Beltran<\/a><\/strong> in late July.\u00a0 A first-round selection by the Mets out of North Carolina in 2010, Harvey breezed through the Florida State league (High-A), posting an 8-2 record, 2.37 ERA, and 92\/24 K\/BB ratio over 76 innings.\u00a0 After a promotion to Double-A Binghamton, Harvey struggled initially but finished the season strong with five wins and 50 strikeouts over his final 47 innings.<\/p>\n

The right-hander\u2019s fastball usually works in the mid-90s but has been clocked as high as 97-98 mph, and more importantly, is sustainable late into games.\u00a0 His other plus pitch, a hard, late-breaking slider, is a genuine out pitch that plays off of his well-located heater.\u00a0 Harvey also features a big breaking ball and change up, although the latter lacks feel and is the least advanced of his offspeed offerings.<\/p>\n

At 6-foot-4, 210-pounds, the 22-year-old is built for innings.\u00a0 Although Harvey currently may be one of the five best starters in the organization, it\u2019s highly unlikely that he\u2019ll begin the season in the Major League rotation.\u00a0 However, he\u2019s not too far away and should definitely crack the rotation at some point this season, possibly even before the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

*On team’s 40-man roster<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Want to discuss prospects with Mike? Be sure to follow him on Twitter: @GoldenSombrero<\/strong><\/a><\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Harvey As Spring Training rapidly approaches and speculation surrounding the future of baseball\u2019s brightest prospects spreads like wildfire, The Golden Sombrero will highlight some of the notable and intriguing Spring Training invitees from each organization. Cesar Puello*, OF:\u00a0 Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 17-year-old, Puello is a toolsy outfielder with power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1300,6,16,9,11,13,10,14],"tags":[482,3194,3195,3196,2909,3192,2928,3191,3193],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6004"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6004"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6007,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6004\/revisions\/6007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}