Keith Law of ESPN.com and Scouts Inc. ranked SS Wilmer Flores as his 55th best prospect in baseball, second best Mets prospect, and the seventh best middle infield prospect.  You can read Law’s full write up at the first link in this paragraph, but I wanted to excerpt a few choice nuggets.

Overall

Flores’ calling card is his bat — he has quick wrists and is very short to the ball, squaring very well except on balls toward the bottom of the zone.

On Flores’s Defense:

Flores plays short now but is below-average already, and he’ll move to another position as he fills out, probably third base given his arm strength and the fact that his bat will play there.

On Flores’s Power

His power potential is an open question. He has some power now because he makes such hard contact and has loft in his finish; if he fills out physically, he should end up with plus power, topping 30 in his best years.

Bats/Throws: S/R

Height/Weight: 6’1”, 175 lbs

Acquired: NDFA (08/03)

Born: 4/31/86 (Guige, VZ)

Why Ranked Here: Big league skills at shortstop, one of the two most difficult defensive positions to play. Coronado has average MLB range and arm to go with fine hands. He’ll play 2009 as a 23-year old in AAA. Over the course of the last year, the switch-hitter has shown steady, modest improvement with the bat culminating in a VWL season in which he hit .308/.373/.429 in 27 games. Coronado makes contact, rarely striking out and can take a walk.

There’s something to the argument that Coronado’s bat is just starting to catch up with the pace at which the Mets have rushed him through the system. In 2004, he played in 33 games in the VSL. In 2005, the Mets reasonably moved him to the GCL where he hit .404/.429/.468 in a whopping 11 games. That prompted the Mets to promote him to Kingsport, where he hit a more modest .266/.338/.382 in 39 games. Nothing strange about moving a guy who was off to a hot start in the GCL up to the Appalachian League, but what follows is harder to justify. The Mets had Coronado finish 2005 in the SAL in Hagerstown where he hit .225/.295/.282 in 18 games as a 19 year old. With no indication that he had conquered the SAL, the Mets promoted Coronado to the FSL to begin 2006 where, as a 20 year old, he hit .226/.283/.278 playing every day in 138 games. To begin 2007, for the second year in a row, after struggling at the previous level, the Mets promoted Coronado, this time to AA Binghamton. Predictably, he struggled to a .212/. 284/.257 line in 81 games. Coronado improved on that in ’08 both in Binghamton and in the VWL. While fans have focused on Mets propensity to push higher profile players, such as Fernando Martinez and Francisco Pena, few players have been hurried through the system as quickly as Coronado.

2008: Coronado hit .253/.330/.291 in 340 AB before the All-Star Break and .275/.346/.359 in 167 AB after the break. Sure, a .084 isolated slugging percentage isn’t usually something to brag about it, but it’s sure better than the .038 he put together before the ASB. Even better, Coronado showed incremental progress in the area, with an isolated slugging percentage of .119 in the winter in VWL to go along with his first .300+ AVG since 11 games in the GCL in 2005.

Dr. Pangloss Says: Coronado can play an MLB caliber SS. In 2008, MLB SS averaged a .272/.327/.391 batting line, a mark within Coronado’s reach. Coronado who has the athleticism for second, would be an asset off a bench as a defensive specialist.

On the Flipside: Coronado, who has below average power, might just never hit enough to play everyday.

Projected 2009 Start: AAA Buffalo where he’ll be looking to prove that his VWL showing was no fluke.

Bats/Throws: R/R

Height/Weight: 6’3”, 185 lbs

Acquired: NDFA

Born: 10/10/89 (Santo Domingo, DR)

Why Ranked Here: Familia ranks here on the basis of a nice pitcher’s frame and a fastball that boasts average to plus MLB velocity already. Familia, despite inconsistent velocity, consistently threw strikes. In his first start of the year, Familia was throwing 93, 94 mph while that was down to 89-92 in his second appearance. The previous fall, scouts reported that he was consistently in the mid-90s. Familia’s off-speed stuff, a slider at 78 mph and a change at 84 are both about as far away from MLB caliber as one might expect from a 19-year old.

2008: Familia had a nice 11 start run in the GCL, striking out almost three times as many batters as he walked and walking fewer than 2.3 batters per nine innings.

Dr. Pangloss Says: Familia’s potential plus fastball and youth allow one to dream of seeing him in a big league rotation a few years from now.

On the Flipside: Familia is largely fastball and size. He is a long way away.

Projected 2009 Start: Savannah or XST on the way to the Kingsport rotation

Thursday, Keith Law will be releasing his list of the 100 best prospects in baseball.  Wednesday, in an article at ESPN Insider, he ranked the top farm systems, placing the Mets at #17, between the Colorado Rockies and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Regarding the Mets, Law writes:

It took a few major trades, but their system finally has thinned. Their international scouting department has saved the system, with three of their top six prospects (Fernando Martinez, Wilmer Flores and Jefry Marte) all coming via that route. Keep an eye on Brad Holt, a potentially fast mover from the 2008 draft whose curveball is improving.

This story in the Star News of Wilmington, NC suggests that Brad Holt will be a NRI to big league Spring Training.  Morover, Holt will actually arrive in St. Lucie “almost two weeks early.”

Holt tells Chuck Caree:

“I definitely have to work on my change-up…. The breaking ball has come a long ways and now the next step is getting the change up down pat.

“It is just a matter of throwing it and getting a feel for the change. I will take the same approach I have with making the breaking ball better. You have to keep throwing it, and once you throw it enough and get a feel for it, it becomes natural.’’

Hattip to reader WC for the link.

Bats/Throws: S/R

Height/Weight: 6’2”, 215 lbs

Acquired: 3^rd rd 2007 (Clemson)

Born: 9/22/84 (Parkland, FL)

Why Ranked Here: Clyne flashes two average pitches – a fastball and a slider – out of the bullpen. His fastball was 89-93 for Brooklyn and the slider had average movement showing nice depth and tilt.

2008: Clyne began the year with St. Lucie where he posted ERAs above nine in April and May while fighting his own mechanics. He began to right himself in June and the early part of July before he was dispatched to Brooklyn where he had pitched in 2007. As Brooklyn’s closer, Clyne posted a ridiculously good 4.86 gb/fb ratio.

Dr. Pangloss Says: With his mechanical issues smoothed out, Clyne could move quickly to help the Mets bullpen.

On the Flipside: There is little projection in Clyne and much of his success has come in the NYP.

Projected 2009 Start: St. Lucie bullpen, although a jump to Binghamton is a possibility too.

Bats/Throws: R/R

Height/Weight: 6’2”, 205 lbs

Acquired: 12^th Rd 2002

Born: 12/9/84 (New Westminster, BC)

Why Ranked Here: Finally healthy after missing the better part of the previous two and a half seasons with a chronic back problem, Bowman showed that he still possessed significant tools. Bowman has soft hands and a strong arm at third to go along with average range. At the plate, he has average power and some batspeed, but a longish swing that pitchers in AA found ways to exploit. Understandably, Bowman was more interested in staying healthy in 2008 than in making major mechanical adjustments. Whether he both stays healthy and adapts in 2009 will determine whether he has a big league career or not.

2008: Shawn Bowman announced his return to health with a 3-5 performance in Jupiter for St. Lucie on June 17^th. Bowman raked his way through the FSL for a month and a half before a late July promotion to Binghamton. While tearing the cover off the ball in St. Lucie, Bowman was very aggressive, drawing just four walks, an approach that would be exposed as too simple in AA. Once again as a B-Met, Bowman got off to a quick start, going 2-4 with a homer in his AA debut that sparked an eight-game hitting streak. However, in his last 84 AB in AA, Bowman hit a paltry .214/.209/.333 with no walks. Bowman was hitting well again in the Arizona Fall League before heading home to be with his ailing father.

Dr. Pangloss Says: Bowman can play third and has some pop. While the Mets are well stocked at the position, Bowman might have a chance to start for some other team or slot in as a reserve bench bat who can man both corner infield spots.

On the Flipside: None of Bowman’s virtues will come to bear unless he adopts a much more disciplined approach at the plate. Walking eight times in 247 AB in 2008 is simply not going to cut it. Bowman will be 24 on Opening Day 2009 so he must learn to make adjustments quickly from here on out.

Projected 2009 Start: AA Binghamton