Meet NY’s hottest prospects

‘Unbelievable’ Rosario could bang down door to majors late this season

PORT ST. LUCIE — Amed Rosario is the lucky kid who gets to hang out with his favorite baseball player.

In this case, Rosario only has to walk across the home clubhouse at Tradition Field to the corner locker occupied by Jose Reyes.

“Jose just doesn’t give me advice on the field,” Rosario said Monday. “He really tells me how to carry myself as a person off the field, to always make the right choices and do the right thing. That’s a really great thing to have.”

The 21-year-old shortstop remains the organization’s top prospect, set to begin the season at either Double-A Binghamton or Triple-A Las Vegas. Before this season concludes, he could be in position to make his major league debut.

It’s because the Mets see Rosario, a lanky 6-foot-2, 190-pound specimen, as such a jewel they have made him off-limits in trade talks over the past year. Now, other teams don’t even bother to inquire about Rosario.

“He has it all,” said a talent evaluator who has seen plenty of Rosario.

A second talent evaluator agreed that Rosario is the total package.

“He is just so athletic,” the evaluator said. “He’s an outstanding shortstop and you know it when you see it. He’s got a little bit of [Carlos] Correa in him, a little bit of [Francisco] Lindor, a little bit of [Addison] Russell.”

The first evaluator said the Mets haven’t had a prospect with as many tools as Rosario since outfielder Carlos Gomez a decade ago. And the last infielder with as much talent to be developed by the Mets was either Reyes or David Wright, depending on your preference, according to the evaluator.

Rosario received immediate notice from manager Terry Collins during Sunday’s initial full-squad workout by hitting a ball over the centerfield fence. Though Rosario hit only five homers in 479 at-bats last season in SingleA and Double-A, his power could be just emerging.

“Unbelievable talent,” said Reyes, who spent a week with Binghamton last summer after the Mets signed him to a minor league deal. “Basically he can do whatever he wants on the field. How relaxed that he plays, that got my attention. I said, ‘Man, this guy looks like he played in the big leagues already.’ He is a very confident guy — you want to see that for a young player. You need to have that comfort level.”

Rosario added about 10 pounds of muscle after participating in Mike Barwis’ physical conditioning program this offseason and says it is boosting his power.

At Binghamton, Rosario had a .341/.392/.481 slash line in 54 games, only whetting the Mets’ appetite for his arrival. Until Rosario emerges from the minors, the Mets have Asdrubal Cabrera set to play a second season at shortstop. The Mets hold an option on Cabrera for 2018 and conceivably could turn him into a utility player who helps mentor Rosario.

Both Reyes and Rosario hail from the Dominican Republic and have a facial resemblance, but there is a difference in their styles.

“I think he is going to have a little bit more power than me,” Reyes said. “Last year when I played third base in Binghamton, I saw him make all these plays like everything is made too easy for him. I said, ‘Man, this guy is going to be something else in the big leagues.’ ”

Not long ago the 33-yearold Reyes was the kid in awe of meeting an idol. Now Reyes is amused by the fact he’s in the same clubhouse as a kid who always wanted to be him.

“That made me feel old, but at the same time that means I was doing my job right,” Reyes said. “I was once that guy saying that to [Derek] Jeter. Now I’m in the same place.”