On Tuesday, Cleveland Indians catching prospect Francisco Mejia hit in his 31st straight game, making his the longest hitting streak in the minor leagues this year. What kind of prospect is he?
When Mejia singled in the 7th inning of his game tonight for Lynchburg against Frederick, he moved his hitting streak to 31 games, the longest hitting streak in the minor leagues this season. That brings to question what kind of player Mejia is. Is he a real prospect? Is this just a lucky streak or indicative of the type of player Mejia is? How long could he go?
Mejia was signed by the Indians out of the Dominican Republic in 2012 for a modest $350K bonus. A switch-hitter, he has a stout 5’10, 175-pound frame that fits well at catcher, and he immediately got the attention of prospect types due to his solid receiving skills and excellent stolen base numbers.
The Tribe started him out in the Arizona Rookie League in 2013 at 17 years old, and he hit well, going .305/.348/.524 in 113 plate appearances, with 4 home runs and 3 stolen bases, putting up a 5/18 BB/K.
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His 2014 caught some eyes, as he was moved to short-season A-ball, where he hit .282/.339/.407 with 2 home runs and 2 stolen bases, along with an 18/47 BB/K over 274 plate appearances. What caught the eye of scouts was Mejia’s defense as much or more than his offensive skills. Mejia has tremendous footwork behind the plate and a cannon for an arm, and it started to really come together toward the end of the 2014 season. Baseball Prospectus even ranked him in their top 100 prospects at #84.
In 2015, he was moved to Lake County in the Midwest League, and his defense maintained the step forward it had taken in 2014, but the bat didn’t follow suit, as he hit .243/.324/.345 with 9 home runs and 4 stolen bases, with a 38/78 BB/K ratio over 446 plate appearances.
The Indians sent him back to Lake County to start 2016 as he was only 20 and had time to get his bat going, and going it did, as he hit from day one and hasn’t stopped. He earned a promotion the last week of June to high-A Lynchburg, and he’s kept hitting. Overall on the season, he’s hitting .346/.377/.532 combined with 7 home runs as part of 31 extra base hits. He’s got a 15/44 BB/K ratio over 285 plate appearances. He’s kept up the strong defense as well, throwing out over 40% of runners this season.
Mejia was in consideration for my top 50, but if I would have gone out to 100, he would have fallen around #70 in the rankings. He has a very compact swing that generates a ton of contact, and being a switch-hitter, this streak certainly could continue, though of course, like any hitting streak, much of it is predicated on luck as well.
It should be fun to watch him play and see how long he can keep this up!
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Here are a few videos of Mejia in action: