Mets deal Victor Diaz to Texas for Catcher

Mike Nickeas is the newest Met, although I don't know if we will ever see him wear a New York Mets uniform. Nickeas plays catcher which is the weakest position in the Mets system, but Nickeas isn't much of a hitter. In fact, Nickeas did not even start on his AA team. What's more is that the man he backed up, Kevin Richardson, struck out 93 times so far this season in only 293 at bats, so that shows you how good a hitter Nickeas is. Nickeas' best abillity is his plate discipline. This season Nickeas has a batting average of .266 in 177 at bats split between A and AA. However, despite the mediocore average Nickeas has a very impressive .386 OBP which is .120 points higher than his batting average. Despite the higher OBP a .362 slugging percentage makes Nickeas available, and makes him the newest Met for a one time top prospect.

Victor Diaz, once compared to Manny Ramirez, has clearly lost his confidence this season, and it was clear he was going to be traded eventually. Diaz's .224 average in AAA was not even the most troubling statistic. More troubling then the average was the disgusting .276 on base percentage, and the equally disgusting .330 slugging percentage. After Diaz hit .300 in AAA last season with a .353 on base percentage and an excellent .541 slugging percentage he completely fell off, and is now considered a non-prospect to most.

With all that said, I would still rather have Diaz over Nickeas since Diaz has shown he can hit, something that cannot be said about Nickeas. This could wind up being a steal for the Rangers, but most likely not.

In other news Baseball America released its AFL preview. Playing for the Mesa Solar Sox are Mets top prospects Phil Humber and Fernando Martinez. BA says that martinez well start to learn the corner outfield positions in the AFL for his inevitable call up. As for Humber BA says

When healthy, Humber shows two quality pitches: a 91-94 fastball and a curveball with true 12-to-6 break. Humber's command has always been ahead of his control, which is one of the main reasons he's headed west. Another is to further refine his changeup, which is below average now and needs work.