HOUSTON, TX – OCTOBER 17: J.D. Davis #28 of the Houston Astros warms up during batting practice before Game Four of the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox at Minute Maid Park on October 17, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /
The New York Mets made another deal this weekend, and this one has all players that are technically prospects. Let’s take a look at them.
The New York Mets and Houston Astros made a five-player trade on Sunday that sent J.D. Davis and Cody Bohanek to New York for Luis Santana, Ross Adolph, and Scott Manea. Those names may not be exactly household guys, so let’s take a look at each, starting with the Mets side of things.
J.D. Davis
Davis is the key player of this deal for the Mets, though not the best player in the deal in my personal opinion, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
One of the best college players in the nation in his draft year, Davis was drafted by the Houston Astros from Cal State-Fullerton in the 3rd round. He was a talented two-way player in college, hitting .338/.419/.523 with 27 extra bases over 58 games as a hitter and working as the closer, striking out 22 over 20 innings.
Davis has been an excellent hitter in the minor leagues, putting up a .282/.362/.521 line in the minors with 105 home runs over 5 seasons. He’s primarily played third base in the minor leagues, but he does have experience in the outfield corners and first base.
Over the last two seasons, Davis has received 67 games of playing time with the Astros at the big league level (along with 3 relief pitching appearances). He’s hit just .194/.260/.321 with 5 home runs in 181 plate appearances, striking out at a 27% clip.
While Davis is seen by many as a good power gamble for the Mets, for me, he’s not worth the package of players that were sent to Houston for him. While his raw power is certainly plus, if not double-plus, and he has a double-plus arm. He’s not a bad athlete, but he’s a below-average defender at third if he’s asked to be there too much.
Davis will likely be expected to be an additional bat off of the bench for the Mets, essentially replacing Wilmer Flores…with the added bonus of the ability to hop on the mound.
Now let’s look at the prospects in the 5-player deal, beginning with the other player going to the Mets, Cody Bohanek.
Cody Bohanek
After a sophomore season at Illinois-Chicago where Bohanek hit .314/.425/.351 and showed off excellent defense up the middle, many figured he’d be a pick in the first two days of the 2016 draft, but he slumped badly in his junior year and went undrafted. A slight bounce back to .297/.411/.448 got him picked in the 30th round by the Astros in 2017.
Bohanek has a definite high floor, as he’s a guy with a good eye at the plate, posting high walk rates so far in his minor league career. He had his first full season in 2018, working across both A-ball levels, finishing with 11 games at the AAA level to help with a playoff run. He had a good OBP delta with an OBP 110 points over his batting average, but his overall line of .214/.324/.293 certainly isn’t going to turn a lot of heads.
Bohanek defensively could be an elite contributor at second or third base, and he has an above average arm that would work at third defensively. He can handle short, but he would grade right around average at short, whereas he grades above-average to plus at second or third.
While the glove can carry him, and his on-base abilities will certainly help, Bohanek needs to use his instincts on the bases well like he did in 2018 (14 steals in 19 attempts) to maximize his chances at a possible bench career, but beyond a utility bench role, the upside is quite limited for him.
Now to the Astros return…
Ross Adolph
After a big junior year at Toledo that saw him hit .322/.445/.654 with 15 home runs over 55 games, Adolph was drafted in the 12th round by the New York Mets. He spent his pro debut in the New York-Penn League with Brooklyn, hitting .276/.348/.509 with 9 doubles, 12 triples, 7 home runs, and 14 steals.
Defensively, Adolph is a plus-plus outfielder, regardless of whether he’s playing center field or a corner. He’s got an average to above-average arm that plays up due to excellent defensive instincts that allow him to put himself in prime position to make a big throw.
He played all three outfield positions with Brooklyn without making an error in 109 chances in his pro debut. He also flashed his across-board skillset with his power and speed combination of the stat line.
Adolph certainly has the raw skills, and he’s an all-out player that will endear himself to fans and coaching staffs alike as he works his way up the minor league chain. While he is an elite raw defender and has plus speed, the rest of his raw skills are more average across the board, but a lot of players with more average skills have been able to have a level of a major league career due to their “grit” underneath those raw skills, and Adolph has that aura around him.
Scott Manea
Somehow, when the initial trade was reported, Oakland A’s fans panicked, thinking the A’s had somehow entered into a 3-way deal and then seen their promising left-handed starter Sean Manaea traded to a division rival. Scott Manea is essentially nothing like Manaea…
A 40th round pick in 2014 out of high school, Manea played just one season with North Carolina State before he left for St. Petersburg College, where he hit .377/.481/.531 but went undrafted in the 2016 draft. The New York Mets signed Manea as an undrafted free agent.
He struggled through his pro debut and in 2017 at Brooklyn, combining in 2016 to play 50 games, picking up 189 plate appearances, with a .193/.354/.240. He then had a breakout year in 2018 in low-A with Columbia, hitting .261/.368/.432 with 23 doubles and 12 home runs.
Manea is not a guy with standout tools in any one facet of his game. His catching behind the plate is average, his arm is average, his contact skills are below average, his eye is a tick above-average, and he has above-average raw power.
One intriguing thing is that Manea has been hit by pitch 38 times over just under 600 plate appearances, which is a very high rate. For perspective, Manea was hit 24 times in 405 plate appearances last year. The major league leader was Brandon Nimmo, who was hit 22 times in 535 plate appearances. Only four players were hit 20 times in the majors in 2018, and the 5.93% rate that he was hit by pitch was nearly a full percentage point higher than any of those four.
Manea may peak as a backup catcher, but he has a good frame for a catcher and his work in 2018 certainly could give him a chance to do something more than just be minor league filler.
Luis Santana
Finally, the player who I truly believe is the best player in the entire deal is Luis Santana. The Mets originally signed Santana out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2016 for a $200,000 signing bonus.
Just 5’9″ and around 170ish pounds, Santana is by no means a big guy, but he’s got very good feel around the second base bag, and while he’s raw at times, he has the arm to really make some special plays at second base. He even got time at third base in 2018, and a big part of why he was trusted there is due to his strong arm.
However, there’s not anyone making waves about Santana right now because of his defense. What has a number of people on the New York Mets case on this deal is the advanced bat that the 18-year-old displayed in 2018 in the Appalachian League.
Santana may be small in stature, but he swings a quick bat through that zone that generates a ton of loft. His incredible eye at the plate has allowed him to have a 64/52 BB/K ratio over 611 plate appearances in his minor league career thus far. Considering that as a near full season, you can look at Santana’s minor league line as a full season line – .329/.426/.465, with 29 doubles, 10 triples, 7 home runs, and 24 stolen bases.
Santana’s above-average power and above-average speed combined with his plus ability to contact the ball and plus eye at the plate gives him an excellent opportunity to succeed. He is just 19, but with very high upside, he is a very good “get” for the Astros from the New York Mets in this deal alone, let alone also adding Manea and especially Adolph to the deal as well.
Next. Where Angels turn after losing Britton. dark
This deal seems to be on the surface fairly even, but when you look deeper, the Houston Astros may have taken advantage of New York Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen’s eagerness to shuffle the deck in the Big Apple.
