New York Mets 2012 Top 15 Prospects | Bullpen Banter

The guys at Bullpen Banter are working their way through the top 15 prospects of every Major League Baseball team and made their way to the New York Mets today. Here are their top 15 lists:

1 Matt Harvey / Matt Harvey
2 Zack Wheeler / Zack Wheeler
3 Brandon Nimmo / Brandon Nimmo
4 Jenrry Mejia / Jeurys Familia
5 Reese Havens / Jenrry Mejia
6 Cesar Puello / Michael Fulmer
7 Jeurys Familia / Reese Havens
8 Michael Fulmer / Cesar Puello
9 Kirk Nieuwenhuis / Juan Urbina
10 Juan Urbina / Kirk Nieuwenhuis
11 Jordany Valdespin / Domingo Tapia
12 Domingo Tapia / Cory Mazzoni
13 Wilmer Flores / Bradley Marquez
14 Cory Mazzoni / Jordany Valdespin
15 Akeel Morris / Wilmer Flores

While I'm not surprised by Harvey, Wheeler, and Nimmo being the top three, I'm surprised both writers have Havens so high, which I agree with, and Tapia and Mazzoni in the top 15, which I do not agree with.

An interesting list nonetheless and yet another opinion on the Mets future stars. What's more telling is the two top draft picks of 2011 and a 2011 trade acquisition are in the top ten and occupy #'s 2 and 3 on these lists, giving you a good idea of how depleted the system was prior to the arrival of Alderson and Company.

MMO Top 20 Mets Prospects – #5 Brandon Nimmo, OF

The Top 20 Prospect countdown at Mets Merized Online continues today with #5 Brandon Nimmo. I mentioned a few months ago that this kid has the potential and, more importantly, personality to be the Mets' Derek Jeter. Let's hope he stays healthy and lives up to the potential everyone sees in him.

So, as I said in my blog post last week, the top six will end up being Nimmo, the four pitchers, and either Neiuwenhuis or Rodriguez. Since Captain Kirk was #6 and Nimmo was #5, I guess the four pitchers Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, and Jennry Mejia will round out the top four. Not much of a surprise left except for the order in which they'll show up in the list. That is, unless Mejia's major league service disqualifies him, in which case we'll have to see who replaces him on the list.

MMO Top 20 Mets Prospects – #6 Kirk Nieuwenhuis, OF

As I mentioned last week, Mets Merized Online is counting down the top 20 prospects in the New York Mets organization. Today we got prospect #6, OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

So now we have to wait until Thursday to see which of Nimmo, Wheeler, Harvey, Familia, and Mejia makes #5 on the list.

Replace "Derek Jeter" with "Brandon Nimmo" and replace "good Yankee" with "good Met"

I recently heard a story during a Yankee telecast (one of the few I watched this season) that when the Yankees drafted Derek Jeter with the 6th overall pick in the 1992 draft, he was brought to meet the team and management at Yankee Stadium. Upon meeting Jeter and his parents, then-manager Buck Showalter remarked, "I don't know if he's going to be a good ballplayer but he's going to be a good Yankee." Now the die hard Met fan will question the existence of "a good Yankee" but I think Showalter's point was that he would represent the organization well and not embarrass himself or the team, which I begrudgingly admit is generally the norm for Jeter.

Watching this video of the Mets first-round pick in this year's draft brings that statement to mind. Keep in mind that this kid is only 18 years old.



Aside from the maturity in the press conference, I noticed he has a sweet swing, which is really smooth. He is often compared to Andy Van Slyke, which is a pretty good comparison if he has that kind of glove to go along with that kind of bat.

Of course I'm no expert on evaluating talent but out of the big three outfield prospects the Mets had in the mid-2000's, I thought the order of talent was Carlos Gomez, then Lastings Milledge, and then Fernando Martinez (I may be proven right here). On the pitching side, I felt that Mike Pelfrey should have gone in the Johan Santana trade and the Mets should have held on to Philip Humber (which I was nearly wrong about but may be proven right in the end too.) Perhaps it was the years prior to then hearing about the over hyped Alex's (Ochoa and Escobar) that conditioned me to look for signs of talent rather than take everyone else's word for it.

Then again, if I'm what I've read about Bryce Harper blowing a kiss to the opposing pitcher after hitting a home run is an indication of his psychological state, I may be proven right in the end with what I said about him two years ago.