SaberMETrics took the Met’s top prospect position players and compared them to three of the best players to recently come through the Met’s farm system.  We looked at prospects Fernando Martinez, Carlos Gomez, and Mike Carp and compared them to the minor league stats of David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Lastings Milledge.

Analyzing minor league stats can be very subjective.  All these players are 18 to 20 years old and have only played in Rookie, Low A, High A, and AA ball.  They are still learning the game and developing into ball players.  To focus on only a few select stats like we do with major leaguers would be unfair.  To really get a feel of a minor league player you really have to look at their whole body of work.

First we will go through the players individually and then we will compare them to Wright, Reyes and Milledge.  I have attached my spreadsheet if you want to go through the data yourself.  You can also find these stats at web sites like Baseball Cube.  Most of the stats are standard baseball metrics.  Their are two exceptions.  The first is RC (Runs Created); it is in the simple formula version: OBP * TB.  The second is RC27: it is (RC/Total Outs Made)*27.  This gives us a Runs Created stat that on a per game basis.

Fernando Martinez - OF
Year	Team	Lg	Age	Level	G	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	RC	Outs	RC27
2006	GC Mets	GCL	18	Rk	1	4	0.250	0.250	0.250	500	1	0.3	3	2.25
	Hagerstown	SAL	18	A	45	192	0.333	0.389	0.505	894	97	37.7	128	7.96
	St. Lucie	FSL	18	A+	30	119	0.193	0.254	0.387	641	46	11.7	96	3.29
Minor Totals - 1 Season					76	315	0.279	0.336	0.457	793	144	48.4	227	5.75
Year	Team	Lg	Age	Level	G	AB	R	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO
2006	GC Mets	GCL	18	Rk	1	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	Hagerstown	SAL	18	A	45	192	24	14	2	5	28	7	15	36
	St. Lucie	FSL	18	A+	30	119	18	4	2	5	11	1	6	24
Minor Totals - 1 Season					76	315	43	18	4	10	39	8	21	61

Fernando Martinez had his first year of minor league ball last season at the age of 18.  He played primarily in low A and high A (only 1 game in the rookie league).  His low A numbers are outstanding and I think they are the most relevant of his 2006 season.  He hit   .333/.389/.505 in 192 at bats.  Fernando’s RC27 of 7.96 was superb.  14 double in 45 games shows some nice power for an 18 year old and you have to like his BB to SO numbers (15 to 36).  The Mets say he can hit to all fields and has excellent pitch selection at the plate (so did a 19 year old David Wright in A ball).  That is some sweet plate discipline for a young player. 

Fernando struggled a little bit in high A, but considering he was only 18 last season and the youngest player in the league, you have to expect him to struggle a bit when adjusting to higher levels – especially high A were the competition gets much better.   Fernando is young, fast, has a strong arm and could be a corner outfielder for the Mets.  Realistically the earliest he would be in the majors would not be until some time in 2008 as a call up, but he looks to be the best offensive player in the Mets farm system right now.  He has a long way to go, and plenty of prospects don’t pan out, but we will be keeping an eye on him. 

Carlos Gomez - OF
Year	Team	Lg	Age	Level	G	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	RC	Outs	RC27
2004	Kingsport	App	18	Rk	38	150	0.287	0.333	0.427	760	64	21.3	107	5.38
	GC Mets	GCL	18	Rk	19	71	0.268	0.303	0.366	669	26	7.9	52	4.09
2005	Hagerstown	SAL	19