Lastings Milledge

NEW YORK METS TOP 20 PROSPECTS

1. Lastings Milledge, OF, Grade A-
   
2. Mike Pelfrey, RHP, Grade A- (changed from book)
   
3. Anderson Hernandez, SS, Grade C+
   
4. Brian Bannister, RHP, C+
   
5. Carlos Gomez, OF, C+
   
6. Emmanuel Garcia, SS, C+
   
7. Brett Harper, 1B, C+
   
8. Fernando Martinez, OF, C+
   
9. Robert Parnell, RHP, C+
   
10. Phil Humber, RHP, C
    
11. Alay Soler, RHP, C
    
12. Jeff Keppinger, 2B, C
    
13. Mike Carp, 1B, C
    
14. Ryan Coultas, SS, C
    
15. Matthew Durkin, RHP, C
    
16. German Marte, RHP, C
    
17. Shawn Bowman, 3B, C
    
18. Nick Evans, 3B, C
    
19. Jon Niese, LHP, C
    
20. Evan MacLane, LHP, C
    

Boy, what a depressing farm system, the guts ripped out by trades this winter.

Pelfrey is rated at B+ in the book, but I think it likely that I should have given him an A- based on his college performance and scouting reports.

Carlos Gomez and Mike Carp aren't in the book. I cut them for space reasons, but in retrospect there were others players that it would have been more appropriate to cut. Both Gomez and Carp are quite young and have lots of development time ahead of them. Gomez has very good tools, particularly speed, but is raw enough that I can't rate him higher than C+ just yet. In many systems he would not be a top ten prospect.
Carp is a power guy as opposed to Gomez the speed guy. He slammed 19 homers in 89 games last year for Hagerstown in the Sally League, strong power output, but he also struck out 96 times in 313 at-bats. He has intriguing offensive potential but has to show he can make sufficient contact at higher levels.

Fernando Martinez hasn't played yet, but scouts drool over his tools. Obviously we have to see when/if/how he puts those tools to use on the field.

Cuban defector Alay Soler is another guy with a problematic grade since he hasn't pitched in North America yet, and is already 26 years old. I'm also not wild about the track record of Cuban players, most of them having been disappointing.