F-Mart Starting To Drive The Ball

by Duece on May 9, 2008 7:48 PM EDT

From BA's Hot Sheet:

No. 7 FERNANDO MARTINEZ, CF, METS

Team: Double-A Binghamton (Eastern)
Age: 19
Why he's here: .360/.370/.720 (9-for-25), 4 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBIs, 1 BB, 5 SO
The Scoop: He's the youngest player in Double-A—heck, if he were in high Class A, he would still be the second-youngest player at that level. Teenagers in Double-A shouldn't be hitting for power, a skill that normally blossoms later in a player's career. But that's exactly what Martinez did last week, as four of his nine hits went for extra bases, highlighted by yesterday's two-homer game, the first multi-homer game of his career. It's not as though Martinez is dominating the league—in 144 at-bats, he's hitting .264/.297/.403—but his ability to drive the ball against much older competition is encouraging as he starts to take advantage of his prodigious tools in game situations.[/quote]

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still not sold

that 7/38 BB/K is pretty darn bad

by Bravesin07 on May 9, 2008 8:03 PM EDT reply actions

sure

but everything in context. for him to be able to make solid contact, hit for power, and do that in AA is plenty impressive.

it’s one thing to have a high K rate, it’s another to have it at a level where you shouldn’t even be playing for another 3 years.

by scooter on May 10, 2008 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree

He also had more power in 2006 as a 17 year old in A ball. I’m glad he seems to be improving, but the gains don’t seem to be especially dramatic as of yet

by OldProspects on May 11, 2008 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions

He's an excellent prospect...

But I’m not convinced that performance really belongs on the “Hot Sheet” just yet. He was a good prospect coming into the season, he’s a good prospect now. He hasn’t exactly raised his stock by putting up a .700 OPS in Binghamton after putting up a .713 OPS there last year. If, as they say, this is not supposed to be a ranking of top prospects, but “a snapshot of who are the hottest prospects right….now”, then why not wait until FMart actually shows some significant improvement before running him up there? This is the second time they’ve put him up there graded on a bit of a curve. As we know he’s one of the best prospects in baseball, there’s a decent chance he’ll be tearing that league up in a few more months.

As for “hot prospects right now”, there are two other Mets who I think deserve mention more based on recent performance and actually rising prospect status:

Nick Evans has a .972 OPS in the Eastern League, second only to Like Hughes, at age 22. He has a 1.026 OPS over the last 10 days. And, he’s 22, and unlike Carp a good defender at 1B (and adequate at 3B but without the range you would want there).

And Francisco Pena is a good defensive catcher (and son of a 4 time gold glover/5 time All-Star at the position) who has hit .333 over the last 10 days with 5 extra base hits in A ball as an 18 year old. While conditioning was an issue in the past, he has really improved there and is noticeably leaner in photos.

Now, granted, in the big picture, a .700 OPS in AA at 19 is still more impressive than a .717 OPS in A- at 18. Fernando is still the Mets best prospect. But the other two are legit prospects as well, and have clearly improved their status more than Fernando has so far this year, and haven’t gotten a bunch of attention. Isn’t that what the “Hot Sheet” is supposed to be for, rather than reminding us of guys everyone has heard of many many times already, and whose status hasn’t really changed much?

by acerimusdux on May 10, 2008 3:32 PM EDT reply actions

criteria

it’s sort of unclear what the actual criteria is for the hot sheet. i don’t mind, i get in general it’s meant to be taken as a bit of a goof . per your example, they often put a guy like Pena on it even while saying he’s not nearly the overall prospect of someone in the same organization isn’t on it that week.

so clearly not meant to be about the best prospect.

that said, they do clearly prefer to focus on guys who are actual prospects rather than wannabes - the bar’s a lot higher for a guy who isn’t really a prospect. so…seems sort of a mix of both - and I’m okay with that.

per Martinez, he’s 3-4 tonight, so his hot streak continues—i guess his OPS is around .730, now. fun guy to follow. very hard to rate a guy playing at his level at his age. at some point you have to produce and, yet, gotta give props to a guy who can hit as a 19 year old in AA.

by scooter on May 10, 2008 8:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Pena's defense

is still really bad.

by number_twentyone on May 10, 2008 4:26 PM EDT reply actions

Wow - Pena's defense

11 passed balls already, plus 37 SB allowed, and only 18% CS.

OK that is bad. I guess he maybe has good potential? Or else I just assumed it because he’s Tony Pena’s son. Which may not be the soundest of reasoning.

It does take time to develop a catcher though, so hopefully it’s just a matter of getting more experience. But with those numbers he won’t rank all that high even if he does hit some.

by acerimusdux on May 11, 2008 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions