Today's Baseball Prospect of the Day

New York Mets prospect Mike Carp is a power hitting left-handed bat who's currently playing first base in the minors. He's one of the Mets' top-ranked prospects. A late draft pick taken out of high school, Carp wasn't selected until the 9th round of 2004. A high school player, he adjusted quickly to pro ball, slugging .476 and .450 in his first two seasons of A ball.

Carp's 2007 was derailed by a broken ring finger that cost him almost eight weeks, and he never really recovered, especially after being moved up to AA Binghamton.

Carp is a seasoned, mature hitter with a great eye for the strike zone and an ability to hit to all fields with power. He has a weakness handling left-handed pitching, however, and his defense at first is only average. He'd be a better bet with an AL team, but as a National Leaguer, his future looks likely to be in a platoon role.

Update: Carp is lighting the board up at Binghamton again this year, with a career-high .355 average and .964 OPS at the season's halfway point. But the Mets clearly aren't convinced that the young slugger is a sure thing just yet, as they used their first pick in the 2008 draft to select another promising young first baseman, Ike Davis. Carp might be on the way to a new team soon, as there are a number of contenders who would love to add his bat.

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Height: 6-2

Weight: 105

Birthdate: 6/30/1986

Bats: L

Throws: R

Team: NYM

Birthplace: Long Beach, CA

College: Lakewood CA

ABs pre-2008: 0