2011 Scouting Report, 40-man Roster- Jenrry Mejia

Jenrry Mejia- #32

21 years old
2nd major league season (5th professional season)
6'0" 160 pounds (someone weighs less than Acosta)
Bats R/Throws R

Profile: He didn't start playing baseball until he was 15, and did so only because he saw how much money he could make. The Mets signed him for $17,500, and he was thrilled; it beat shining shoes every day for $8. His development last year was inexcusably halted as Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya were trying to save their jobs and realized he could help the major league job as a reliever instead of developing him into an ace of the future. He missed time twice last year due to an injury, which isn't much of a surprise when you look at his mechanics. Still, he has pure talent, and is the #1 prospect in the Mets system.

Good: Plus-plus fastball that sits 94-97 and has a ton of sinking movement. He loves it though, and threw it 76% of the time last year. He also throws a plus change 86-88 mph with plenty of late fade, and a plus curve 79-81 mph (but he's inconsistent with his release point). Due to his heavy fastball, he is able to produce plenty of ground-balls.

Where is his Right Arm? You should be able to see it...this is referred to hyperabduction, and this puts a pitcher at a high risk for future injury

Bad: His career high in innings is 94, and last year he only threw 81 due to the mismanagement/injuries. There are some concerns about his future ability to throw 200 innings/be a front-end starter, or if his body type would be better suited in the bullpen. His K/9 rate with the Mets last year was 5K/9 and his W/9 was 4.6. NOT GOOD. Due to the high number of walks, his WHIP was 1.69. And even though he has great "stuff", he had below league average swing and misses (7.4% versus league average of 8.5%). How much of this needs to be written off because he was 20 years old?

He also doesn't use his front side as leverage at all; so more stress is being transmitted/absorbed by his right elbow/shoulder. This and the hyperabuction noted above are two strikes...

Role: He is ticketed to be a starter in Buffalo, as the Mets will try to safely increase his innings total this year, with a target of 125 I would think to prevent a significant innings jump. He also needs to work on control/command of his secondary pitches and gain confidence so when he does return to the majors, he doesn't throw his fastball 75% of the time.

Future role: I used the comparison of Mejia to J Isringhausen to someone recently; he was tried as a starter, but ultimately his body/mechanics couldn't handle the stresses, and he moved to the bullpen. Unless the Mets spend a lot of time reworking this young man's delivery (and they've shown no foresight that they will do this), I don't foresee him being able to throw 200 innings each year.

Video: Yes I was completely impressed and excited when I saw Mejia throw during Spring Training, but when I slowed the video down/looked at the pictures, I was scared/shocked at how poor his mechanics are.

3rd base view 2011.


I hope I'm wrong and he stays healthy/the Mets realize they have a special talent and need to rework his delivery to prevent him from having two shoulder injuries again this year.

Previous 2011 Scouting Reports:
Dillon Gee
R.A. Dickey
D.J. Carrasco
Chris Capuano
Taylor Buchholz
Pedro Beato
Manuel Alvarez
Manny Acosta

Scouting Reports that will be posted this week: Misch, Niese, Parnell, Pelfrey, Perez.
As an FYI, all the pitchers on the 40-man roster will be finished by this time next week, as the weekend will once again feature four scouting reports: A Rodriguez, J Santana, Stinson, and C Young. 

Feel free to post any comments/questions in regards to what you'd like to see more/less of with these reports.