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A look at the (very) young Met prospect from Adam Rubin's blog (NYDN):
As a 14-year-old at the Agua Linda Academy in Valencia, Venezuela, Wilmer Flores already stood out against players preparing to sign contracts as international free agents, belting 90 mph fastballs at the young age and clearing a 300-foot wall to the opposite field. Organizers at the academy were so impressed with Flores’ arm, they debated grooming him for professional baseball as a pitcher before opting for shortstop. Flores, still so young that his childhood braces remain on his teeth, signed with the Mets in 2007 for $750,000. He has drawn comparisons to Miguel Cabrera. Flores became the youngest player to ever represent the short-season Brooklyn Cyclones when he finished the 2008 season in the New York-Penn League.
Flores proved to be a dangerous hitter in the rookie-level Appalachian League because of his pitch-recognition skills, which once even led Danville to intentionally walk him with runners at first and second. Facing a lot of 20- and 21-year-old pitchers, he carried himself like an older player, whereas many teens would have been free swingers. Flores’ patience improved as the season progressed. He began taking more pitches, getting a sense of the pitcher’s approach against him and began to look for the offspeed pitches - which he steadily received. Flores has a plus-arm at shortstop, though he doesn't flash it on routine plays.
Kingsport manager Pedro Lopez had to teach the teenager how to dive for balls because Flores was so young. Scouts weren’t impressed with the speed of his first step, and timed him at 4.6 seconds down the line. A lack of range at shortstop might be partly explained by fatigue because of playing every day at his age, except for a brief interruption after tweaking a hamstring. Flores did show a tendency to expand the strike zone on pitches up. He predominantly pulled the ball.
"He expands his zone a bit, and he likes to hit early in counts, but he makes it work,” one scout said. “I saw him hit some crazy pitches. He's the best guy I saw in the league.”
The combination of Jose Reyes as the Mets’ long-term shortstop and Flores’ power potential and growing body size could result in him eventually moving to third base or a corner outfield spot, though the Mets typically leave their shortstops and center fielders at those positions until close to their big-league promotions. Just 17 years old, he’ll likely begin in the low-A South Atlantic League, though he could find himself as high as Double-A Binghamton by his 18th birthday.
“Some people say, ‘I don’t know if he’s a shortstop.’ He’s going to be playing shortstop until he shows cannot play shortstop or he outgrows it,” said Tony Bernazard, the Mets’ VP for player development. “This kid is 6-3, 175 pounds. He shows good actions at shortstop, good instincts. He’s advanced in terms of the anticipation of the game.”
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