A Scouts Take on Keith Hernandez and The 1988 Mets

The football season has now come to an end which means baseball is right around the corner as some players have already reported and officially will starting on February 15th.

But as we patiently wait for the team to finally be together and getting ready for the season, I wanted to give you a look at what a scout thought of one of the better Mets teams in franchise history.

The 1988 Mets, a team that won 100 games and the NL East before losing to the Dodgers in the NLCS, could arguably be considered one of the best Mets teams that never won more than a Division Title.

One of the coolest things online right now is the Diamond Mines section of the Hall of Fame website which honors the roles that scouts have played in the history of baseball.

So I decided to take a look at what a scout thought of Keith Hernandez and in turn the 1988 Mets, and while sadly this is the only one they have about Keith, it is still pretty cool.

The Scouts name was Steve Vrablik and he was working for the Seattle Mariners at the time that he compiled this report.

Although it would seem odd that the Mariners would have a scout at a Mets game in September, I assume he was compiling reports for free agency and just to keep track on one of the best teams in baseball in 1988.

Some of the more interesting observations made by Vrablik was…

Lenny Dykstra had above average hitting contact with no power. I can guarantee Lenny disagreed about the power part.

Darryl Strawberry showed maturity in 1988. I wonder where it went after 1988 for the next 10 years or so.

Mackey Sasser has an erratic arm. Pretty much nailed that one.

Gooden, Darling and Ojeda were all considered good competitors. There is no doubt about that and Ojeda is so passionate, he sometimes raises his voice on the post-game show.

Sid Fernandez was inconsistent. I’m pretty sure that was an apt description of him from the stories I have heard.

And last but not least Keith Hernandez comes through in a clutch. I have never seen the word clutch used that way but Keith was as clutch as they came for sure.

It is pretty cool to see what a professional scout thought about one of the better teams in Mets history. The Hall of Fame, with this section on the history of scouts has hit a home run. (Pun intended)

I suggest checking it out and hopefully as time goes on more current Mets players will have their old scouting reports added to the database so we can see what scouts thought of them in their careers.