Baseball America released their top 10 prospects for the Mets in 2009 today, and I think its worth it to also review the 2008 list at the same time to really get the full picture of what is going on with the Mets in terms of prospects and the farm system. In 2008 the Mets system looked like this, 1 through 10:
1. Fmart
2. Deolis Guerra
3. Carlos Gomez
4. Kevin Mulvey
5. Eddie Kunz
6. Brant Rustich
7. Phil Humber
8. John Niese
9. Nathan Vineyard
10. Rob Parnell
Best Avg Hitter: Fmart
Best Power Hitter: Fmart
Best Fastball: Brant Rustich
Best Curveball: Phil Humber
Best Changeup: Deolis Guerra
We all know the story with this group of prospects. Soon after this article was published, Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey, and Phil Humber were all traded to the Twins. So the Mets system looked prety depleted. Then injuries hit and the Mets had to start diving into the system to get help, which they found in Nick Evans and Dan Murphy, both not on this list. With all of the shakeups and trades, how does the list look now? Here is the 2009, the current, list:
1. Fmart
2. Wilmur Flores
3. Jon Niese
4. Brad Holt
5. Rob Parnell
6. Jefry Marte
7. Jenrry Mejia
8. Reese Havens
9. Nick Evans
10. Eddie Kunz
Best Average Hitter: Wilmur Flores
Best Power Hitter: Fmart
Best Fastball: Brad Holt
Best Curveball: Jon Niese
Best Changeup: Dillon Gee
As you can see, there are a lot of differences on this list compared to the old one, and thats a good thing. The Mets system has really developed a lot in the past year, but the bad thing is many of these players, like Fmart, Niese, and Flores are all very young. Flores I believe recently turned 18. There si a lot stuff being passed around about him, and he could be very special. If Fmart can stay healthy, he too will be very special. These could be the guys of the future for the Mets, we need to wait and see. Murphy is not on this list because of his success last year, he isn't considered a prospect anymore. I was going to critize the ordering of this list, but now that I look at, I really do agree with this list and its very exciting. Prospects are always very exciting.
