The Star-Ledger – USATODAY Sports
It’s no secret that the New York Mets have not had a great season. However, their minor league farm clubs are almost all winning ball clubs that are having successful seasons in 2013.
Normally, the wins and losses of minor league teams don’t matter; all that’s important is the development of an organization’s top prospects into big league players. But for the Mets, winning at the minor league level is something they can hang their hat on, as well as something that indicates that their farm system is improving.
Of the seven domestic farm clubs the Mets have, two are virtual locks to reach the postseason in their respective leagues, while four more have a realistic chance of making the postseason with roughly a month left in the minor league season. Winning is often overlooked in the minors, but when nearly all of your farm clubs are winning, it means something.
While it’s important for young players to learn fundamentals and develop their skills during their time in the minors, it’s also important that they learn how to win games, because ultimately that will be the only thing that matters when they get to the majors.
A culture of winning in the minors can carry over into the big leagues. Furthermore, players on winning minor league teams will be more excited to come to the ballpark every day, and be more willing to work hard and improve, as they will want to retain the good feeling they get from winning and want to make sure they are a contributor to a winning team.
For many years, the Mets had bad minor league teams especially in the upper levels, so when young players reached the big leagues, they were accustomed to losing and accepted it. This contributed to the Mets continuing to have losing teams at the major league level.
However, things appear to be turning around for the Mets. Their farm system is beginning to be ranked higher compared to the rest of MLB; they are bringing up more young players; and finally, almost all of their farm clubs are playing winning baseball, which means that their prospects are playing in important games that mean something team-wise.
There’s no way that it can be bad for an organization to have their farm clubs at the top of the standings; after all, playoff games give prospects more reps and more development before the season ends. For a franchise like the Mets that has suffered through many years of losing, having young players that are accustomed to winning and want to continue to win in the majors can only help turn things around.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google+.
