The trade deadline marked a period of transition for the New York Mets, who waved the white flag on 2023 in order to improve their future. The Mets sold off six players at the deadline, a selling spree that began with the trade of David Robertson to the Miami Marlins, in order to gain access to top flight talent to accelerate the improvement of their farm system. The rest of this season at Minor League Mondays will focus on prospects acquired in these trades, beginning today with shortstop Marco Vargas, one of two players the Mets got from Miami for Robertson.
Vargas, 18, was one of the Marlins’ best values of the 2022 international signing period after landing a signing bonus of just $17,500. Miami assigned Vargas to the Dominican Summer League last season and he raked at that level, hitting .319 with an .877 OPS to earn team MVP honors. That performance earned Vargas a trip stateside for this season, where he began 2023 with Miami’s Florida Complex League affiliate, hitting .283 with an .899 OPS in 33 games. Those numbers caught the eyes of the Mets, who made him the headlining piece of their return for Robertson, a pending free agent who slid into the closer’s chair in Miami.
Vargas is off to a solid start with the Mets’ FCL affiliate, batting .286 with a .444 on-base percentage over his first five games in the organization. Scouts have raved about Vargas’ advanced approach at the plate as he has showcased tremendous plate discipline for an 18-year old. Over the course of 91 career minor league games, Vargas has walked 77 times and struck out just 54 times in 316 at bats, an outstanding 17.1 percent clip. Vargas has shown the ability to generate hard contact with his swing, utilize the opposite field, and has potential to develop into a 15-20 home run type hitter as he adds muscle to his frame in the coming years.
This move was a high-upside play as Vargas immediately slots in as the team’s ninth-best prospect according to MLB.com. The Mets have listed Vargas as a shortstop but his long-term home may be at second base, where his arm and speed profile better. It will be a long time before Vargas is a consideration for the big league roster so the Mets will simply let him develop in the low minors to become part of a sustained pipeline of talent that will help the organization become consistent contenders.
The process behind the decision to acquire Vargas and Ronald Hernandez was also strong because the Mets took a bet on lower-level talent with immense upside that can be harnessed with proper development. The organization rarely scouted rookie ball towards the end of the Wilson regime, often opting to trade for prospects that were closer to the majors with less upside. This new approach is something that the analytically savvy organizations like the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers pursue, which is a good model for the Mets to be emulating.
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