eMailbag: What Happened to Francisco Pena?
An anonymous user emailed in asking:
“Wasn’t Francisco Pena supposed to be a top prospect when we signed him? What happened to him?”
The Mets signed Pena out of the Dominican Republic in 2006 for $750,000.
The son of former big leaguer, and now Yankee coach, Tony Pena, he’s a big bodied catcher, measuring in at 6’2 and 230 pounds. That’s a body that led some scouts to tell Baseball America‘s John Manuel that Pena had “cankles”, a story he relayed in a recent chat.
As a 17-year old with Low-A Savannah last season, Pena hit .210 in 326 at bats, hitting 12 doubles and five home runs. He walked 24 times with 76 strike outs.
…basically, the Mets continued their trend of challenging their top Latin American signees, and it backfired with pena…
…i talked recently with Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein, whose Top 11 Prospect List came out yesterday, about pena and he says the Mets still believe in the young catcher, who is strong defensively behind the plate….but, goldstein says, he takes ‘bad swings at bad pitches,’ and the bat has a ‘LONG way to go.’
…still, he’s only 18 this season, when most kids are still in high school or playing in rookie ball after being drafted…obviously, some players can be rushed and some don’t respond as well to that, and pena obviously falls into the latter group…patience will be required…
