Andres Gimenez is the only top 100 prospect close to the majors in the Mets‘ system. Look out for him to make an impact in 2020.
Andres Gimenez is a top-100 prospect in baseball. Almost every single prospect ranking site can agree on that. He came into last season ranked by many as the Mets’ top prospect ahead of Pete Alonso. That’s how highly thought of Gimenez was. With a strong season he would likely have been regarded as a top-30 prospect in baseball right now.
Sadly, he didn’t have the strong season many hoped for. He struggled in his first prolonged stay at AA in 2019. He slashed just .250/.309/.387. It was an incredibly disappointing year that was marred by injury. However, a quick look at Gimenez’s slash line isn’t a fair evaluation of him.
In the second half of the season Gimenez was markedly better hitting .271/.313/.425. The low OBP is an issue, but it was a new one this year. Prior to this season Gimenez ha never had an OBP under .340. The question is whether or not this is a new trend. There is reason to believe it is.
Gimenez had a career-low walk rate in 2019, but it’s not that surprising. He’s seen his walk rate drop at every level he’s gone too. Gimenez also had a career-high strikeout rate. That one is a little surprising. His strikeout numbers have been up and down throughout his minor league career to this point. The high K-rate and low BB-rate is bad news, but hopefully one that can be mitigated.
Over the second half of last year, Gimenez struck out just 17.3% of the time. A huge drop from his season average of 21.3%. It was clear that Gimenez was getting better as the year went along. One reason for that is that Gimenez was playing a large chunk of the early season injured. After he went on the IL and came back he was refreshed and became a different player.
Gimenez carried over that play over to the Arizona Fall League. Gimenez slashed a staggering .371/.413/.586, a slash line that won Gimenez the AFL batting title.
On top of Gimenez’s emerging bat is his excellent base running ability and defense. Gimenez is one of the best defensive SS in all of minor league baseball. He is thought to have a potential gold glove caliber glove. There is no question that his defense will be above average at SS at the very least.
Gimenez is also an accomplished base stealer. In the last two seasons Gimenez stole 66 bases. The last time a Met stole 30 bases in a season was Eric Young Jr. in 2014. Gimenez could change that and add a dimension the Mets lineup has lacked for years.
Andres Gimenez will likely start the year in AA again, but it’s possible he starts in AAA. Either way he is expected to make his MLB debut in 2020. However, there is no immediate spot for him on the roster with Amed Rosario at SS and Robinson Cano at 2B. The Mets are going to need to figure out how to make room for one of their top prospects because he’s coming.