This is part four of four of our series looking at players who made last year’s Top 41 Mets Prospects who will not join the list again this time around. Part one on the recent MLB position players is here, part two on recently graduated pitchers is here, while part three on the pitchers who slipped is here.
#7 – Fernando Martinez
He’s an Astro now that the Mets have released him, in a decision I found perplexing at the time. He would have fallen down the rankings, but remained in the top 20 on age, legacy of potential and in fact, underrated production at triple-A given his age. Again, he showed above average power at AAA last year as measured by isolated slugging percentage.
#22 – Brad Emaus
The Mets gave him his chance out of spring training and he responded by hitting .162/.262/.162 in 42 plate appearances in 14 games in April before the team put him on waivers. The Rockies traded minor leaguer Chris Malone to the Blue Jays for Emaus. Despite hitting .313/.389/.564 in 45 games for triple-A Colorado Springs, the Rockies were not interested in brining him up for another big league look and in fact might be interested in Justin Turner, reigniting the Mets’ thrilling 2011 open competition at second base. (Correction: the Rockies traded Emaus to the Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash on January 11. He appears destined to be the Paw Sox starting 2B in the International League.)
#32 – Sean Ratliff
He’ll be 25 for Opening Day 2012 and is coming off a career threatening injury that including damage to his eye and eye socket. When he last played, he combined to hit .298/.353/.505 with 21 homeruns over 130 games between A+ St. Lucie and AA Binghamton.
The bone has healed nicely, but his eye is not yet back to game ready. He’s hoping it will be ready in time.
As he told Metsmerized online:
My vision has been steadily improving since my last surgery in late August, and is fairly close to hopefully being game ready by the time spring training ends.
Here is Ratliff explaining his surgery history:
I received an emergency laser repair for a giant retinal tear two days after my injury, which unfortunately did not hold. The Mets staff connected me with one of the premier retina hospitals in the nation, the Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, where Dr. Harry Flynn performed my first major eye surgery. The recovery was 4-6 months with a follow up surgery at the completion of the recovery (from the first surgery), my final procedure in August. Now my recovery mainly consists of working with optometrists to find a custom contact lens that will bring my vision back to where it needs to be.
The bottom line is that at 25, he no longer has the upside of a regular, and the downside is that his vision doesn’t finish recovering to the point where he will ever play professional baseball again. That stinks, but it’s a possibility.
#38 Robbie Shields
Injuries have robbed Robbie Shields of crucial development time. He missed time in 2009 with Brooklyn, Tommy John Surgery cost him the first half of 2010, and then back pain cut his 2011 to just 80 games between Savannah and St. Lucie. The bottom line is that he’ll be 24 in 2012 with just 20 games to his credit at the advanced-A level.
The Mets moved Shields from shortstop to second base because his range plays better on the right side of the diamond. Add it all up, and he looks like organizational depth.









