With Melky Cabrera jettisoned to the Braves, Melky Mesa took over the crown as the best Melky in the organization, and he cemented that status by being named the Player of the Year in the High-A Florida State League today. This comes after Austin Romine took home the same award last year. The 23-year-old Mesa has a .351 wOBA in 505 plate appearances for High-A Tampa this year, and he’s a duel threat: he’s second in the league with 19 homers and fifth with 31 steals.
The book on Mesa has always been that he’s extremely talented but raw, with his greatest weakness being his inability to make consistent contact. He improved on that this year by bringing his strikeout rate down to 25.3% (it had been in the low-30’s the last few seasons), but needs to continue that improvement to have an impact in the big leagues. Regardless, congrats to him on the award.