There is Minor Hope for Mets Fans

It’s been a pretty depressing year for Mets fans, but there are some things to be excited about for the future. Along with the resurgence of former No. 1 draft pick Ike Davis and the emergence of teenage pitcher Jenrry Mejia, some lesser-known names are stepping forward. Outfield prospect Kirk Nieuwenhuis was recently named the Florida State League player of the week by MiLB.com.

Originally a 2008 third round draft pick out of Azusa Pacific University (an NAIA school), the 22-year-old left-handed hitter raised his draft stock after being named Baseball America’s Alaska League player of the year in the summer prior to his junior year of college. He had a modest pro debut and hit .277/.348/.396 with three homers and 11 steals in 285 short-season at-bats. Nieuwenhuis stepped things up this year despite skipping over low-A ball and going directly to high-A.

He is currently hitting .270/.355/.463 with 16 homers and an equal number of steals in 467 at-bats. His walk rate is reasonable at 10 BB% but his strikeout rate is a little high at 24.2 K%. He’s also struggled against southpaws and is hitting just .227/.287/.333 against them this year. Nieuwenhuis has seen his ISO increase from .119 in ’08 to .193 in ’09. If he can continue to develop his power game, he has more than enough arm to play right field.

Nieuwenhuis had an inconsistent performance for much of the year in high-A but he’s finishing the year strong, having hit .442 with five homers and 13 RBI in his last 10 games. For the month of August, he’s hitting .337/.402/.653 with 22 RBI in 24 games. With any luck, the outfielder will build confidence off of this strong finish, which will help him with the jump to double-A in 2010. Although he is no sure-fire Top 10 prospect, Nieuwenhuis is an intriguing name to keep in mind in 2010. Keep the faith, Mets fans… Keep the faith.





Marc Hulet has been writing at FanGraphs since 2008. His work focuses on prospects and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter @marchulet.

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big baby
14 years ago

it’d be nice if a couple met prospects came out of nowhere and saved this team from itself.