1. CL Rhiner Cruz had his 19th save, in 19 opportunities, for the Sand Gnats Thursday night… Cruz was originally signed as an undrafted free agent, in 2003, out of the D.R… played two years for them, then dropped, and the Mets signed him. Did nothing special in 2007 and 2008 (Savannah: 2-2, 5.04), then comes this year and… boom…
2. Another draft pick we need to keep an eye on is Darrell Ceciliani, down in K-Port. He went 4-5 last night. He’s now got his BA up to .301, after going .417 in his last 10 games. Full hitting stats: .301/.393/.452/.845. The 6-1, 185 Cecillani was drafted in the 4th round out of Columbian Basin College, in Oregon, where he hit .364, with 4-HR, 6-3B, and 40-RBIs. The Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and the Tampa Bay Rays all shown the most interest in him prior to the draft.
3. Look for B-Mets 1B Ike Davis to start playing the outfield occasionally. Who knows, the Mets could someday have an all-ex 1Bman outfield in Davis, Daniel Murphy, and Lucas Duda.
4. Cole Abbott emailed me today:
“I'm hoping to get in games In late August. I'm throwing bullpen's right now.”
(I hope this email was more accurate than the one I got from John Maine yesterday…):
Cole Abbott P R R 6-2 175 7-14-88 Weber High School (Utah)
The Mets selected Nicholas "Cole" Abbott in the 25th round (783rd overall) of the 2007 amateur draft out of Weber High School in Utah. Regarded as an early-round talent, Abbott's sign ability was in question with his commitment to BYU. However, the Mets were able to sign him quickly after the draft.
From Baseball America: “Abbott was rivaling Tanner Robles as Utah's top prep pitcher despite having a much lower profile. Known more as a basketball player in his prep career, Abbott started getting more attention last summer when he pitched in the Area Code Games. He's athletic and loose-armed, with a projectable 6-foot-2, 175-pound frame. Quick-armed and athletic, Abbott topped out at 92 mph early in the spring, settled in around 88-91 mph with his fastball and has more velocity in him for the future, as he does it easy and repeats his delivery well. Most impressive, he's shown the ability to spin a breaking ball-—at high altitude--consistently for strikes. While Abbott considers it a slider, it's a slurve right now with some depth, and with more repetition and instruction it could become a true power curveball. His commitment to Brigham Young could cloud his sign ability, and if he and Nevada's top prep, righty Taylor Cole, both showed up at BYU, the Cougars could be a national force in the next three seasons.”
In 2007, Abbott pitched for the GCL Mets (0-3, 7.31 in 10 games, 2 starts, 1.88).
In 2008, Abbott spent the entire season assigned to the GCL Mets, but on the disabled list.
5. Talked with an old Sand Gnat buddy today, RP Emary Frederick. Frederick is a brain from Southrn University that grew up in the same town my mother-in-law is from, Deltona Florida. We used to talk many times about the importance of K/IP and he had some thoughts on that, and his season, in general:
“WELL MY K/IP RATIO IS DEFINITELY DOWN THIS SEASON AS AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE MY OVERALL EFFICIENCY ON THE MOUND. BUT I HAVE BEEN HAVING MY BEST PRO SEASON TO DATE... I HAVE 5 APPEARANCES IN AA NOW AND I'M MAKING AN ADJUSTMENT TO THE NEW LEVEL, WORKING HARD EVERYDAY AND CONTINUING ON THE PATH TO MY ULTIMATE GOAL OF BEING SUCCESSFUL IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES, NOT JUST MAKING IT THERE. BUT I'M FEELING VERY HEALTHY AND STRONG, LIKE I CAN PITCH EVERY SINGLE DAY IF NEED BE... IT'S ALSO COOL TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM AS MY COLLEGE TEAMATE AND FELLOW SIDE-ARM PITCHER ROY MERRITT. HOPEFULLY WE CAN BOTH KNOCK THE MLB DOOR DOWN IN THE NEXT YEAR OR SO.”
6. Lastly, congrats to Jonathan Niese for his promotion to pitch Saturday. Don’t go crazy if he doesn’t look like Sandy Koufax right out of the box, and, as in the case of Fernando Nieve, we all learned how good that does… but I expect Niese to stay up for the remainder of the season and comfortably slot into the SP5 position in 2010.
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