Minor League Mondays: Desmond Lindsay Has Tough Year For St. Lucie

The New York Mets’ farm system isn’t very highly ranked in comparison to the rest of the league. A part of the problem is a series of sketchy drafts between 2012 and 2015. That last draft class took a hit since General Manager Sandy Alderson forfeited his top draft choice to sign Michael Cuddyer to a two year deal. That left the Mets’ top choice that year in the second round, where the Mets tabbed high school outfielder Desmond Lindsay. Scouting director Tommy Tanuous emphatically dubbed Lindsay a “hitting machine”, but the results haven’t always followed for the injury prone outfielder. Lindsay is the focus of this week’s edition of Minor League Mondays.

In his first three years as a pro, Lindsay failed to play more than 65 games in a season due to a series of injuries. Lindsay got on the field more in 2018, playing in 90 games, but the results didn’t follow. 84 of those games were with High-A St. Lucie, where Lindsay hit .218 with only five home runs and 30 RBI’s. Despite all the setbacks, scouts are still high on Lindsay, who is ranked as the Mets’ 11th best prospect according to MLB.com’s rankings. Lindsay has drawn high marks for his tools, including the ability to run, hit to all fields, and play solid defense in center field. A big part of the problem for Lindsay has been simply staying healthy and getting reps in order to develop those skills.

With that in mind, the Mets have decided to send Lindsay to the Arizona Fall League this year. The Arizona Fall League is a who’s who of the game’s best prospects, so getting extra reps against top competition should be a big boost to Lindsay’s development. Lindsay will need to be added to the 40 man roster after the 2019 season, so the Mets will need to see a big jump from him at this time next year before that decision has to be made. Sending Lindsay to the Arizona Fall League will, hopefully, help the Mets inform that decision and see where he can be placed to start the 2019 minor league season. Given how much he struggled this season, Lindsay will likely repeat the High-A level to start, but if he hits Lindsay could quickly earn a promotion to AA Binghamton.