Niese, who went 11-7, with a 4.29 ERA in High A ball with the St. Lucie Mets last season. Of the 27 games he started, he tallied two complete games in 134 innings. Niese struck out 110, while walking only 31.
Niese will be taking Pedro Martinez's position in the rotation this go-around, until Pedro is ready to pitch in early March.
Adam Rubin profiled Niese in his latest post on his blog Surfing the Mets.
From Rubin:
Niese, the top southpaw in the Mets’ minor-league system, features a 12-to-6 curveball (picture the hands on a clock) that you don’t see much from lefthanders anymore, with Barry Zito one notable exception.As our new "top prospect" he'll see a lot of attention over the next few years. It's so hard to pick a guy out from A ball and crown him a top prospect, especially after only one year.
The term prospect is thrown around so wildly recently, it has lost it's true meaning. Pretty much every player is a "prospect" now if the show the tiniest bit of ability. That's why they were picked up by a team in the first place, because they have talent. The baseball gods need to limit the use of "prospect" to those that show true major league level potential.