Is Melky Mesa Back on the Prospect Map?

Written by Greg Fertel | 12 September 2010

The extremely athletic Melky Mesa was recently named the Florida State League's player of the year after showing significant improvements over his first four seasons, which were all disappointing. As you can see from the strikeout numbers that Mesa has put up throughout his career, it's clear that making contact is his biggest problem.

Before the 2010 season, Mike Newman called off-speed pitches Mesa's "major weakness" and that he would never be considered a legitimate prospect unless he lowered his strikeout rate. Well, in 2010, Mesa did just that. He cut his strikeout rate down from 29.9 percent in '09 to 25.3 percent this season, a new career low.

Obviously, striking out 129 times in 121 games is nothing exciting, but it shows a legitimate improvement for Mesa and the rest of his numbers benefitted from the change. He set career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. He also showed his power with 49 extra base hits and showed off his speed with 31 stolen bases.

Mesa's tools and athleticism have always made him an outstanding defensive outfielder, as he has a ton of speed and also has a terrific arm. In 2009, he had a ridiculous 19 outfield assists and had a TotalZone rating of +13 runs between playing time in center and right field. TotalZone for the 2010 season is not available yet, but Mesa only notched 6 assists this season. I would guess that this has more to do with runners not testing his arm anymore than Mesa suddenly losing his powerful throwing arm.

Mesa definitely improved his approach at the plate this season and performed way better against breaking balls, but I'm not sold on him being a solid prospect just yet. At 23, he is quite old for A-ball, and you would expect a player with four seasons of experience under his belt to perform well in the low levels.

His season took a sad turn and early end when he was hit by a pitch on his wrist on August 29th. He has yet to return to a game and is likely out for the season, but I haven't heard how serious the injury is.

Overall, my outlook for Mesa hasn't changed much. He remains a talented athlete who hasn't put it together yet and probably never will. However, you never want to write a guy off who has the amount of raw tools and athleticism that Mesa does. He'll always be a guy to keep an eye on, but I won't be getting too excited about him until I see a more impressive offensive performance.

Photo Credit: Flickr User BeGreen90