Minor League Mondays: Amed Rosario, Tomas Nido Represent New York Mets in Futures Game

While the New York Mets of the present laid up a stinker in St. Louis yesterday, two of their brightest prospects were among the players at the All Star Futures Game in Miami. Shortstop Amed Rosario and catcher Tomas Nido both played for the World team, which lost 7-5 to the U.S. team in the game. Rosario went 0 for 2 in the contest with a pair of strikeouts while Nido came off the bench and went 2 for 2 a pair of RBI singles, including one that brought the World team within a run in the ninth inning. Nido and Rosario are the focus of this week’s edition of Minor League Mondays.

Rosario, who is the Mets’ top prospect, recently rated as the fourth best prospect in baseball on Baseball America’s mid-season top 100 list. In 83 games for Triple-A Las Vegas, Rosario is hitting .327 with seven homers, 52 RBI’s, and 16 stolen bases. Rosario told Newsday’s David Lennon that he feels like he is 100% ready to play in the majors, but that he isn’t focusing on when he will be recalled to make his major league debut. The Mets are apparently the only ones who don’t think Rosario is ready to help at the big league level, resisting a promotion despite numerous opportunities to do so in the first half. As the team fades out of contention, however, Rosario should eventually get his chance to play in Flushing.

The other Mets’ farmhand to play in the Futures Game was Nido, who the Mets added to their 40 man roster during the winter. Nido, who was the Mets’ eighth round draft choice in 2012, is batting .246 with five homers and 39 RBI’s for AA Binghamton this season. The overall numbers don’t look great for Nido, who put himself onto the Mets’ radar by winning a batting title with High-A St. Lucie last season, but he has adjusted nicely after hitting only .196 in April. Nido is a prospect the Mets are definitely keeping an eye on since Travis d’Arnaud has failed to fully reach his potential over the past few years. d’Arnaud will be arbitration eligible for the second time this winter and is eligible for free agency after the 2019 season. If Nido spends the rest of this season in AA and starts 2018 in Triple-A, he could make a push for d’Arnaud’s job by that point.