Yesterday, we looked at a bunch of guys who played third base in the upper minors, and are unlikely to be successors to David Wright.  Today, lets move down the chain and check out two interesting a-ballers who just might be the Mets’ third basemen in a post-Wright world, if the Mets ever have to face a post-Wright world.

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On the surface, Jefry Marte had a disappointing regular season, hitting .248/.313/.346 in 131 games for St. Lucie after spending the previous two years in Savannah.  On the other hand, the mitigating factors for Marte are his age – he turned 20 in June, and the league – the FSL hit .262/.331/.386.  Marte got off to a hot start in April (.321/.396/.524 – 5 2B, 4 HR), producing the most extra-base hits of any month in 2011 in his first try.  However, as the summer wore on, he wore down, hitting just .210/.263/.284 in the second half.

One reason for optimism about Marte’s offensive game: his 2011 strikeout rate of 16% was his lowest in his three years of full-season baseball, a full 6% lower than his 22% whiff rate in 2009 with Savannah.   A second reason for optimism: his strong Arizona Fall League performance, in which he had an equal number of walks and strikeouts (12 in 22 games) or 12.8% of plate appearances.  That kind of strike zone control is a very large step forward.

I saw him only very briefly in 2011, but I thought he was moving better at third base than when I saw him in 2010.   I should point out that he started playing first base in Arizona, and it was while playing first, that he broke his wrist.  There’s no good time to break a wrist, but the fall, when he should have a full three and a half months to heal the bone and strengthen the muscles before spring training seems like one of the less bad scenarios.  If you’d asked me in August, where Marte would rate on my list of Mets prospects, I’d tell you he would be way down from his pre-season rank at #31.  Now, I think he’s more “holding.”

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Lets make this simple: Aderlin Rodriguez, who turns 20 today, has plus power.  His 17 homeruns were the most by a Gnat as a Mets affiliate (exceeding Sean Ratliff’s 15 in 2009), and the most by any Gnat since Luke Montz hit 19 in 2005.  He was just the fourth Gnat as a Mets affiliate (since 2007) to hit double-figures home runs.

Everything else in his game needs work.  He hit just .221/.265/.372 overall.  Sure, some of that was hurt by his .245 BABIP, but that BABIP is also a product of lot of weak contact, especially popups.

He committed 44 errors at third.  His arm, to my eyes is stronger than Marte’s.  His footwork was at least ast good.  However, his hands aren’t as good.  It’s very possible that he will have to slide across the diamond to first base eventually.

Last Friday, Jefry Marte broke his left wrist in the Arizona Fall League.  According to Mets Farm Director Adam Wogan, Marte it was a distal radial fracture and after having surgery in New York, the team expects him to be at “full go before spring training.”

The radius is one of two bones in the arm, and distal simply refers to the wrist end as opposed to the elbow end.

This past season, Albert Pujols suffered a distal radial fracture, and faced with a diagnosis that he would miss 4-6 weeks, (some experts suggested he would need more time), returned to the field in a mere two and a half.  The man is a machine.

In other mortals, wrist injuries tend to linger and sap a player’s power.  There’s never really a good time to break a wrist, but Marte should have plenty of time for a full recovery coming off a statistically impressive showing in the Fall League.

Lets go to the Desert, where the Arizona Fall League is winding down.

Jefry Marte - The 20-year old was removed from the Peoria Javelinas roster on Friday, the 11th after sustaining an injury in the 8th inning of the game on Thursday, the 10th.  I do not know the severity, nor the specific injury, yet.  (EDIT: Marte was involved in a collision at first.)  In 22 games, he hit .333/.436/.538 with four doubles and four homers.  That’s nice, but the most impressive thing is that he drew 12 walks and fanned just 12 times.  His K/BB this past season for St. Lucie was 2.1 (86/41), the best of his his career, and a mark that’s steadily improved over time.  Note too that Marte played as much first base as he played third base in Arizona.

Juan Lagares – Apparently, the 22-year old Lagares was moved from the Taxi Squad to the regular roster as he played Wednesday, Friday and Saturday last week and of course picked up two hits both Friday and Saturday.  He’s now sitting at .364/.407/.582 overall in 55 AB in 12 games.    He’s played mostly centerfield and a few games in right.

Lets make this an every Monday thing and go around winter-ball to check on Mets still playing ball.

We start in the Arizona Fall League where the hitters are enjoying themselves.

Overall:

• Juan Lagares: .432/.462/.730 (16-for-37), 6 XBH – 8 games
• Juan Centeno: .355/.429/.452 (11-for-31), 3 2B, 4 BB, 2 K – 9 games
• Jefry Marte: .308/.431/.558 (16-for-52), 4 2B, 3 HR, 10 BB, 8 K – 15 G
• Wilfredo Tovar: .315/.351/.481 (17-for-54) 7 2B, 1 3B, 3 BB, 3 K – 14 G

There’s a nice video of Peoria Javelinas manager Pedro Lopez discussing Mets prospects 3B Jefry Marte, OF Juan Lagares, C Juan Centeno and SS/2B Wilfredo Tovar here, with highlights from a few of the players.  Lopez managed Marte and Lagares in Savannah in 2010 and St. Lucie in 2011 and Centeno in St. Lucie in 2011.

Here’s the Lopez quote that caught my eye.  After answering a question about Marte’s plate discipline, which remains a work in progress, he answered a question about Lagares’ big 2011:

You talk about Marte having that plate discipline, [but] Lagares has been that guy [who] used to swing at a lot of pitches outside the strike zone. Even last year in Savannah, in 2010 he had a good year for me … before he went up to St. Lucie, but he was still swinging too much out of the strike zone.  This year he was able to do a better job managing the strike zone and it’s paid off for him.

As part of an 8-7 loss in Surprise Monday, Jefry Marte homered for the second straight game.  The 20-year old is now hitting a clean .300/.405/.533 in nine games.

The big news, and I missed this last week, is that Marte’s started playing first basebase.  Marte had committed 121 errors in 361 games at third in the minor leagues, but was better in 2011 with just 28 in 131 games.   The odd thing was that I thought he’d improved defensively this year.  I saw him for only one game, but he made a slick spinning play after a short-hop pick that was at least as good, and probably better, than any I’d seen from him in 2010.

On Saturday, Mets prospects Jefry Marte and Juan Lagares each homered and drove in two runs to lead the Peoria Javelinas to a 8-7 victory over the Scottsdale Scorpions.  Marte’s homerun, his first of the AFL season, broke an eighth inning tie.

Peoria hitting coach, Alonzo Powell (a former big league outfielder) had some good things to say about Marte and Lagares: (via MLB.com)

Powell on Marte:

He’s a young kid with a lot of potential with pretty good strength and good bat speed.  He got a 1-0 fastball up in the zone and he put a good swing on it to left-center field.  I see a kid that has got really good bat speed and gap-to-gap power. He just needs to be more confident.

In 8 games for Peoria Marte is hitting .259/.364/.407, HR, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 6 K (27 AB).

Powell on Lagares:

Juan came through with two strikes.  He got a fastball up in the zone, too, and hit it into the bullpen. He is a five-tool type of player and he plays a real good center field. He has a lot of potential.  We make sure we try to get him in there on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He’s done a good job and he’s been working hard.

Powell is referring to Lagares being on the Peoria taxi squad, which allows him to play two games per week.

Lagares has made the most of his opportunity so far, hitting .389/.421/.778, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB, 3K in 4 games (18 AB) for Peoria.  What I am most impressed with is the fact that Lagares has been playing center-field and hitting third in the lineup, comprised of higher end prospects.

I got a chance to watch Lagares play in Binghamton this season, and I was impressed with his ability.  Here is my scouting report on Lagares.