Minors: The Next Generation
In an interesting report for the Daily News yesterday, Adam Rubin talked with Mets VP Tony Bernazard, who oversees the team’s minor leagues, which he is very high on.
...there’s still some close to major-league ready talent there, with the bevy of college relievers and a number of Double-A starters, but the real excitement should be at the low levels this year…we’ll see this year whether that 
excitement is justified…but either way, what do you expect him to say, his young guys are scrubs…
On Monday, the Mets held their third-annual STEP Program, which was started to give extra baseball attention and life lessons to the team’s top prospects, such as Fernando Martinez and Francisco Pena.
The program teaches not only how to adjust to a full-season schedule, but also how to deal with media, cook for themselves and manage their finances, among other issues.
During the event, reporters had the opportunity to talk with the youngsters, who in turn had an opportunity to meet the reporters.
…i’ve read it in multiple places before that minaya and his staff have made it a priority to teach life lessons, not just baseball lessons, to the team’s minor leaguers, which is really admirable…
…this is beneficial in two ways: for those that make the majors, especially in new york, it will help them cope with the great demands and pressures being a met inherently carries…
…and second, for those who don’t make it, it helps ensure they will be able to function on super low salaries for years in the minors and make a life for themselves once they retire…having worked in the minor leagues for a number of years, i realized that ballplayers at that level have to do the same things we do and have the same worries, i.e. money, family, etc…
In a post to his blog for the Daily News, Rubin talks with prospect LHP Nathan Vineyard, who was a supplemental first-round pick for the Mets in 2007.
Vineyard went 0-3 with a 5.27 ERA in the Gulf Coast League, though he gave up just four earned runs in his final 18 innings
According to a report from Kevin Kernan in yesterday’s New York Post, Willie Randolph cares about the development of his young players.
Randolph, as quoted by Kernan…
“As a coach, we feel our work is really about trying to teach the game on and off the field, and hopefully the players will grasp what it means to play the game with respect and to play the game right so to become a winner the right way. That’s what it’s all about…Players don’t always like to hear what you’ve got to say, but you hope they absorb it. But, you still get excited about the prospects of what you give them and if they are open and receptive to them, you pass the game along to the next generation.”
Fernando Martinez, the Mets’ top prospect, was ranked 20th in Baseball America‘s Top 100 Prospects list, released online Tuesday.
BA projects that Martinez will make the big leagues in 2010, though he could arrive much earlier than that.
…afterall, he is a teenage hitting machine, right?…
Martinez has played in the Mets’ first two spring games, going 1-3 in the intrasquad game Monday and getting a base hit in yesterday’s exhibition against the University of Michigan.
