Trio Of Mets Crack Top 30 In MLB's Prospect Rankings
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There may be a cushion for the Mets' free-fall from National League relevance over the past several years.
The Amazin's have three players on MLB.com's Top 100 Prospect List, each ranking in the top 30. Most notably are catcher Travis d'Arnaud (ranked sixth) -- who was snatched up in the R.A. Dickey deal -- and Zack Wheeler (ranked eighth), who has been slowly developing his pitching chops in the minors since 2010.
Minor league hurler Noah Syndergaard, who was also acquired in the trade that sent Dickey to Toronto, ranked 29th.
"Honestly, it's an honor to be ranked really high, but I try not to think about it," d'Arnaud told MLB.com. "I just go out and work hard, and try to contribute to each game I play."
D'Arnaud and Wheeler climbed the ranks from last year's list, when they checked in at 25th and 28th, respectively.
The Mets have big plans for the 23-year-old catching prospect, who crushed 16 home runs in less than 70 games last summer with Toronto's Triple-A Las Vegas team. He was sidelined with a knee injury halfway through the season. The Mets will most likely start d'Arnaud on their Triple-A team, thus delaying arbitration a full year.
"I wouldn't say I'm really too anxious," d'Arnaud said. "I can't really control if I can make the big league squad or not. I'm really just going to go out there and meet as many new faces as I can, and learn everyone's name as fast as I can, and then just go out there and play as hard as I can. That's all I can really do."
The Mets were the only team in baseball to have two prospects in the top 10. Seattle was the only other club to have three players crack the top 30.
The list, released on Tuesday, was assembled by MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. Mayo utilized scouts and scouting directors in an effort to rank players based on criteria such as skill set, upside and closeness to reaching the big leagues.
The future is bright, Mets fans. Sound off with your thoughts and comments below...
