Kids showing some worth.

The 2010 season is just a week away, spring training baseball is almost over, time to see if there will be any surprises on the 25 man roster. If there is something we have found out in these spring games is that the future does not look as bleak as some experts would have you believe with the Mets farm system. Several young guns on the Mets have taken this spring opportunity to open some eyes, 3 of them, Fernando Martinez, Ike Davis & Jenrry Mejia, "with high praises".

When spring training began, I said that these games are about getting back into playing shape & about finding that diamond that one can bring back up north, we have found a few good options.

Let's start with the hard throwing 20 year old Dominicano, Jenrry Mejia, who already has been mentioned in the same ridiculous breath as Mariano Rivera, PLEASE SLOW DOWN PEOPLE!, so far this spring Mejia has been pretty much lights out, consistently popping the mitt at 95mph with a fastball that darts out of the strikezone, he has clearly shown to be the best pitcher out of Mets spring baseball, it is why he is pretty much a lock to make it on the opening day roster. He has shown the stuff but we cannot forget that all this Mejia magic is just in 13 innings or so of spring baseball. We also need to keep in mind that the kid was a walks machines down in the minors last season as a starter. The pitching starving NY Mets want to bring Mejia up as a middle relief man to help out their weak bullpen, then possibly work him in to be the 8th inning setup man for K-ROD. He is a starter & I just hope the Mets don't make the same mistake the Yanks made with Joba Chamberlian. It may be too much too soon for the youngster, but these games are about finding someone who looks ready to bring up north & Mejia looks hella ready right now. We shall see.

Up next is the Big kid Ike Davis, a natural 1st baseman who last season was the Mets top minor leaguer of choice in the Mets system. Since last season Mets fans have herd of the name Ike Davis & how he could be something in the future, now we get to see him in action & we like what we see from IKE. The 21 year old has hit some impressive bombs this spring & looks poise to do damage in the big leagues soon., but not right now. Right now Davis is heading back down to the minors where he will start the season for some more seasoning, just don't be surprise if we see Davis doing damage in the bigs by the end of the season. So let Ike Davis marinate for now because we still have to see what we have with Daniel Murphy.

And then there is Fernando Martinez, for 3 years now we have herd all the praises, "F-MART the prize of the Met system". He is now 21, has had a injury prone minor league career, but is coming off a solid Winter ball season where he won the CWS MVP. Last season Martinez made his MLB debut when the injury parade hit the Mets, he was there to try & spell Carlos Beltran but after 29 games where he struggled to hit 179, F-MART would also join the DL lister's & would never make it back. Now he has a few pro seasons under his belt & looks more ready to take that next step. My guess is that Martinez will start the season in the Minors like Davis because right now the Mets have Gary Matthews JR. in his place as the 4th OF. But if he does make the opening day roster, & is able to stay on the playing field, I think he has the tools to make an impact.

And that's not all..... there is also 23 year old Jonathan Niese who the Mets see as the 5th man in the rotation. Last year we saw flashes from Niese when he came up for 5 starts until "he too" went down on the mound like a ton of bricks in severe pain for all to see. Now he is back healthy & ready to battle it out with John Maine, Ollie Perez & Mike Pelhey to see who can step up & be that #2 guy behind Johan Santana. If I'm the Mets I stay with Niese until he gets it right, at least 3 years must go by before I give up on Mr. Jonathan Niese.

I'm also keeping my eye on 23 year old catcher Josh Thole who came up for a cup of coffee last season, didn't showed much power but what I did like about Thole is that he showed some grit & patience at the plate. In his 17 major league games last year, Thole batted 321 & is looked on to be the Mets catcher of the future.

Nothing like routing for some home grown talent, someone we can get behind on as one of our own, like Wright & Reyes, hopefully one of these cats can turn out to be the real deal. So far they have impressed so time will tell if their time is here and now.