For those of you lamenting Pedro Martinez's contract and how he seems, as some predicted, that he may not live up to fulfilling the full extent of it, remember the ancillary benefits of having Pedro Martinez on the team. “The Pedro Effect” was responsible for many players deciding to join the organization, and marked a significant turn of fortunes for the Mets after the Art Howe era. One such player is one of the brightest stars in the Met organization, Fernando Martinez. The Metropolitans take a look at the effect that Pedro had on Fernando joining the Mets, quoting Omar Minaya.

Ben Shpigel in The New York Times talks about the limitless potential of Fernando Martinez.

They consider him
a rare talent, a player who can hit for average and power while
fielding at a Gold Glove caliber, which was why they engaged in a
bidding war before paying him a $1.4 million signing bonus in July 2005.

Adam Rubin on his Daily News Mets Blog relays this quote from first-base prospect Mike Carp on Martinez.

“He’s got a cannon in the outfield,” Carp said. “He’s got good power
potential. He uses the whole field. He hits the ball really well the
other way, which is unheard of for somebody as young as him. He was
able to come in with a team that had been together for a while and
really play his role and fill in. He batted leadoff for us and really
did a good job of getting on base and helping us out.”

The thought of Martinez, Beltran and Gomez or Milledge in the same outfield someday to go along with Wright and Reyes has me feeling quite excited about the future of the Metropolitans.

Michael Saflino on SNY.tv takes a close look at Mets prospect Fernando Martinez. Compiling quotes and analysis of the young outfielder from the leading minor league analysts in the industry, Saflino tries to project when Martinez may make the leap to the major leagues and winds up projecting him to join the team in 2009.

John Sickels of MinorLeagueBall.com believes Double-A is the likely destination for Martinez this year.

If things progress as they appear, Martinez will join a small group of players who arrived in the majors before their 20th birthday.

The Mets are moving the youngster along at a rapid pace but Salfino believes there is good reason, and its not just because of his maturity and talent.

Gotham Baseball brings us this update from the GM meetings taking place in Naples, Florida…

From StLucieMets.com…

The St. Lucie Mets were perfect in the playoffs. After sweeping the
Palm Beach Cardinals 2-0 in the division series, they completed a three
game sweep of the Dunedin Blue Jays, en route to capturing their fifth
Florida State League Championship.

Jose
Sanchez earned his second win of the playoffs throwing six and
two-thirds innings, allowing just four walks, while striking out four.
Carlos Muniz earned the save. Muniz saved all five of the Mets playoff
wins.

The Mets were paced at the plate by catcher Jesus Flores
who went 4-for-4 with an RBI. Corey Coles had three hits while Fernando
Martinez collected two hits and Jose Coronado, JE Cruz, Alhaji Turay
and Jonathan Malo all chipped in with one.

Congratulations to manager Gary Carter and the St. Lucie Mets!!!

In part three of a four part series, BP gives their picks for which player’s stock rose or fell the most in each organization.

For the Mets organization, Fernando Martinez was selected as the player who shined the brightest in terms of where he was and where he is now.

While he was limited to just 76 games due to a pair of
injures to his wrist and thumb, 17-year-old Fernando Martinez sparkled
in his pro debut, batting .333/.389/.505 for Low Class A Hagerstown and showing
surprising power.

Honorable Mention: Last year, catcher Josh Flores
had a .589 OPS in the Sally League, this year he tied for the Florida State
League home run crown with 21. Philip Humber returned from Tommy John
surgery earlier than expected and pitched better than expected–getting a
September call-up after limiting opposing hitters to a .199 average in 14
starts.

Mets Low-Class A Hagerstown Suns RHP, Deolis Guerra makes another appearance on the Baseball America Hot Sheet this week. It is his third appearance this year, and possibly the youngest player as well.

Fernando Martinez fell into the Not-So-Hot-Sheet

Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez make the list of Baseball America's top centerfield prospects in the minor leagues…

5. Fernando Martinez, Mets

Age: 17.8 Hitting: .333/.386/.532 in 51 G (1
R/45 A-/5 A+)

Martinez was the big prize in last year's international
signing period, as the Mets won a bidding war for his services with a $1.4
million bonus. Point No. 1: 17-year-old players are not supposed to be ready
for full-season leagues. Point No. 2: 17-year-old players are certainly not
supposed to be good enough to earn a promotion to High Class A by getting a hit
in every three at-bats. Martinez is a ridiculous offensive talent with ability
well beyond his years, but he still has room for improvement. He's coming
into his power, which should at least be average, and while he's a free
swinger, he gets away with it because of tremendous plate coverage. The only
knock against him is his defense. A slightly above-average runner now, his
instincts in center are lacking, and he'll almost assuredly need to move to a
corner in the not-so-distant future. This is a still remarkable season for
such a young player, and over the next couple of years we will figure out if he
develops into an ideal number two hitter, or a middle-of-the-order power
threat.

9. Carlos Gomez, Mets

Age: 20.7 Hitting: .287/.347/.431 in 93 G (AA)

The Mets don't have just one toolsy outfielder moving
quickly through their system, they have two. The organization has always loved
Gomez's long body and outstanding tools, but strating him this year at
Double-A seemed curious, if not downright wrong. Only 20 years old at the
start of the year and coming off an uninspiring .275/.331/.376 campaign at Low
Class A Hagerstown, his performance didn't merit skipping a level, and he was
overmatched in the first half of the season, with his batting average sitting at
.211 at the end of May when he hit the disabled list with a back injury.
Whatever happened during that time off changed everything, as Gomez now has
pretty respectable numbers thanks to a nifty .406 (41-for-101) average in
July. While Gomez hasn't shown much power, scouts believe it's in him, and
he's very close to establishing new career highs in doubles, triples and home
runs with almost a month still to go in the season. He's a plus-plus runner with 95
stolen bases in the last two years, and he covers a ton of ground in the
outfield while featuring a strong, accurate arm. Gomez still needs to refine
his approach, as with 73 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 344 at-bats, he
doesn't work well at the top of the order, and his speed has less value at the
bottom. The Mets can afford to slow him down a little, and he might repeat
Double-A next year.

Here's a rundown of yesterday's minor league action, by way of the fantastic Toby's Mets Minor League Report…

AAA

AA

A+

A-

New York Penn League (Brooklyn Cyclones)

Note : The Cyclones have won 19 of their last 23 games.

Always Amazin' brings us the report from Baseball Prospectus's Kevin Goldstein that says Mets minor league prospect Fernando Martinez is 'among the highest ceiling-players in the game':

As crazy as people are for Yankees outfielder Jose Tabata, and
deservedly so, Fernando Martinez deserves just as much acclaim.
Actually two months younger than Tabata, Martinez has outhit the
Yankees' top hitting prospect with a .333/.391/.481 line. Tabata has a
better approach and much more power projection, but Martinez is a
center fielder, while Tabata is destined for a corner. They're both
among the highest-ceiling players in the game.

Here's a rundown of yesterday's minor league action. This comes from the magnificent Toby's Mets Minor League Report…

Three
different Mets pitchers were honored with pitcher of the week honors: Binghamton’s Miguel Perez, Hagerstown’s
Deolis Guerra and Brooklyn’s Nelson
Portillo.

In other news, the Binghamton Mets have won 12 straight.

AAA

A+

A-

NY Penn League (Brooklyn)

Rookie Appalacian League

Rookie Gulf Coast League

Here's some highlights of last nights minor league action courtesy of Toby's Minor League Report…

AAA

• Royce Ring blew his second save of the season.
• Chris Basak,
  who took over for Keppinger was 2-2, with a solo HR.

AA

• Carlos Gomez doubled twice and has now
  hit safely in 12 straight games to improve his season line to
  .261/.325/.390.  Over his streak he’s
  raised his batting average from .225 to .261 and has doubled six times.
  
• Michel
  Abreu was 3-3 with a double and a pair of walks

A+

• Philip Humber, as we reported yesterday by way of Metsblog, dealt five shutout innings while allowing four hits
  and striking out nine without issuing a walk.

  Kevin Goldstein from Baseball America had this to say about Humber before the start…

  Righthander Philip
  Humber has returned from Tommy John surgery and earned some rave
  reviews. “He has two big power pitches with the fastball, which is 90-94
  mph, and that curve which is just a hammer and a real out pitch,” said one
  National League scout about the third overall pick in the 2004 draft. “He
  also has a power changeup–and I love those–it's not a touch/feel pitch; its
  velocity is in the 80s so it gets there with some speed and just bottoms
  out.” Having just returned after missing nearly a year, Humber
  still struggles with his location, but the scout didn't see it as a long-term
  concern. “It's really going to depend on command and control with
  him,” the scout added. “It has to improve, but that's always an issue
  for guys coming back from TJs–there's no reason it shouldn’t improve.”

• Jesus Flores led St. Lucie’s offense
  with a 2-3 that included a solo HR in the first inning.

Metsblog reports that Baseball America's Matt Meyers profiles Mets LHP Jon Neise

Adam Rubin reports that Royce Ring is en fuego in Triple-A Tidewater. Ring extended a scoreless streak to 21 innings last night with Triple-A Norfolk.

Having taken over the closing role since Heath Bell – the
lone bullpen call-up this season – departed Norfolk, Ring has a 2-0
record, 1.54 ERA and five saves. He hasn’t allowed a run since April
17. Opponents are hitting only .202 against him – lefties .135 and
righties .255.

“I’m getting righthanders out too, which is nice to show,” Ring said.

Ring worked so hard to correct his drop-down mechanics during extra
bullpen work, and spent so much time in the gym early this season, he
was out for two weeks beginning in late April with a strained shoulder.

Ring has not had the opportunity to join the big league club because the Mets bullpen has been so solid there hasn't been any need to request support from the minor league system.

Ring, bypassed for a promotion in September last year, hopes he’ll
earn one this time around. That is, if he’s not summoned sooner.

“That would be nice,” he said.

Philip Humber allowed four runs in four innings for the Gulf
Coast League Mets on Thursday in his first rehab start from Tommy John surgery.

Here are some more highlights from Rubin's blog…

Willie Collazo was named Eastern League pitcher of the week.
He shut out New Britain, then limited Trenton to two runs in seven
innings in a no-decision five days later. After earning the award,
Collazo had a rough start Friday. He became the first B-Met pitcher in
10 games to fail to last five innings – allowing a season-high eight
runs while falling one out shy of that mark

Fernando Martinez, the 17-year-old outfielder who received a
$1.4 million signing bonus last summer, returned from a wrist injury
that sidelined him for a month in early June. But Martinez – a South
Atlantic League All-Star selection, who is hitting .321 at low-A
Hagerstown – played only three games before suffering a knee injury
that has sidelined since June 10

Florida State League All-Star Ambiorix Concepcion, who was tied for the league lead in doubles with 21, was promoted from St. Lucie to Binghamton. Catcher Yunir Garcia was demoted to make room

The only thing cooling off Jeff Keppinger is the birth of his son, which caused him to leave the Tides to be with wife Morgan.
Since June 7, Keppinger has gone 20-for-49 (.408) in 13 games. That
stretch has included seven multi-hit games, and five starts in left
field.

Henry Owens is 1–1 with a 0.83 ERA, sporting seven walks and 41 strike outs in
21.1 innings pitched since returning from an elbow injury.

For a rundown of last nights minor league action, check out Toby's Minor League Report.

In Adam Rubin's Daily News “Blog”, he gives a lengthy rundown on Lastings Millidge

Milledge had the least experience in right, which can be tricky at
windy, on-the-water Harbor Park, the Tides’ home. He slammed into the
wall hard going after one foul ball, but came away unfazed.

GM Omar Minaya has said he wouldn’t hesitate promoting
Milledge if needed, though that’s not expected soon, especially with
Beltran’s MRI coming up clean after being reviewed in New York
yesterday. Had Beltran needed to go on the DL, Willie Randolph said it was more likely the Mets would have recalled Victor Diaz and used Endy Chavez
in center. Still, Milledge could be up before September, though an
injury likely would be required, since he’s not going to sit on the
bench.

Center field has become perhaps the deepest position for the Mets’
organization, with the top three prospects all leadoff hitters, too.
Double-A’s Carlos Gomez, also 20, is a rawer version of Milledge, but thought of just as highly. And 17-year-old Fernando Martinez,
signed for $1.4 million last summer, is hitting .333 at low-A
Hagerstown despite being the youngest player in any organization on a
full-season minor-league team.

Rubin gives updates on some other notable folks in the Mets minor league system including Mike Pelfrey, Henry Owens, Chris Shelton, Willie Callazo, Evan Maclane..

Heres a list of the organizations leaders…

Average: Lastings Milledge, Norfolk, .396; Brett Harper, Binghamton,
.382; Jorge Padilla, Binghamton, .367; Corey Coles, St. Lucie, .340;
Fernando Martinez, Hagerstown, .333.

HR: Nick Evans, Hagerstown, 3; Jorge Padilla, Binghamton, 3.

RBI: Bobby Malek, Binghamton, 11; Nick Evans, Hagerstown, 10; Jorge Padilla, Binghamton, 10.

Steals: Carlos Gomez, Binghamton, 9; Ambiorix Concepcion, St. Lucie, 7; Lastings Milledge, Norfolk, 4.

Wins: Willie Collazo, Binghamton, 2; Evan MacLane, Binghamton, 2;
Jonathan Niese, Hagerstown, 2; Marcelo Perez, Hagerstown, 2; Kevin
Tomasiewicz, Hagerstown, 2.

ERA: Carlos Muniz, St. Lucie, 0.00; Alay Soler, St. Lucie, 0.60;
Orlando Roman, Binghamton, 0.93; Eddie Camacho, Binghamton, 0.96.

Strikeouts: Henry Owens, Binghamton, 21; Mike Pelfrey, St. Lucie, 18; Alay Soler, St. Lucie, 17.

Saves: Carlos Muniz, St. Lucie, 4; Henry Owens, Binghamton, 4; Heath Bell, Norfolk, 3.

Check it the entire article here.