Ruben Tejada does not project to be a knockout, all star, but there are aspects of him that are very interesting, and one of the most intriguing pieces is his age. I had no idea until recently (this season) that during this baseball season he will be 19 years old. I thought he was much older than that (and really I have no idea why I thought he was much order than that). He first played for the Mets in the VESL and in the Gulf Coast League in 2007 when he was only 17 years old. The short stop was named the Mets best defensive infielder by Baseball America (12/19/2008) and Best Strike Zone Discipline (11/9/2007) (Since then, Corey Coles was named best strikezone discipline followed by Reese Haven, Coles was traded for Pagan).

Statistically speaking, his first year was very good as he had 78 hits in 241 AB (.324 BA), 9 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 41 RBI, 18 SB. The next season, 2008, he played for St. Lucie where he had 114 hits in 497 AB (.229 BA), 19 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 37 RBI. This past Spring he had 22 AB with the Mets team where he got 6 hits, a double and 4 RBI. So far this season he has played with the Binghamton Mets where he has 74 hits in 275 AB (.269 BA) with 13 2B, 3B, 2 HR, and 22 RBI.

 Its pretty incredible how fast Tejada has moved up the Mets farm system that in only three season he is playing fairly well in AA at the age of 19, which is a positive sign. Its hard to predict what the Mets will do with Tejada if he turns on a hot streak to finish off the season, or if he has a breakout season next year. He's a young player that has shown signs of success and people tend to like his defense. The mysteries with him are where is he going and what will the Mets do. He seems to be a player the Mets will watch next Spring or over the winter to try to determine his worth between being a New York Met or being a trade chip.