Major Thoughts on Minor Players

Word out of Buffalo is that SP Pat Misch will be heading to Queens this weekend to join the Mets and take a turn. He pitched five scoreless innings last night and was pulled after 55 pitches. It sure sounds like a one-way on the shuttle to LGA.


                                              -


You all know that I spend most of my time writing about and talking with Mets minor league players. I’ll tell you a little secret about them if you promise not to tell anyone. You know when they realize that they are getting close to actually making it to the Majors, they close out all their social network accounts. Facebook is great for players in A-ball, but, when you’re promoted from Binghamton to Buffalo, and coaches tell you you’re one win or one home run away from getting a call-up… well, the last thing you want to be caught doing is having one of the beat reporters find you’ve been sending hot videos to your friends, or there’s a picture of online when you were drunk one night in college. (btw… the word “facebook” still comes up as a misspelled word… thank God).


                                                                                 -

The Mets have some decisions to make about a prospect that plays only one position which simply is not available on Roosevelt Avenue. 3B Zach Lutz has the talent to play MLB ball and his ETA is 2012 at the latest. He’s going to quickly learn what Shawn Bowman came to realize a year ago… his baseball future is probably not as a Mets.



David Wright is going nowhere, and now that Ike Davis is at first base, he’s not even going to that position. Wright is projected as the Mets third sacker through the 2019 season, so whoever is going to dethrone King David someday is probably in middle school as we write.


Lutz is a hitter, and his recent injury simply was a broken bone, not a series of nagging injuries. He wasted little time upon his return and let everybody know right away that he was back by hitting seven home runs in his first six games back. For the season, with three teams, he’s hitting:
.280/.393/.593/.985 in 189-AB, with 16-HR and 37-RBI. Lutz turned 24 this past June and, if it wasn’t for his recent hiccup, he would have been once of the major names bantered around before the trade deadline.

There doesn’t seem to be any plans to move him a round on the field, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he got an invite to Queens in September, simply to start showing him off. Regardless, watch for more press on a definite trade bait.


                                                                             -

Former Mets minor leaguer, RP Emary Frederick, was released yesterday from the Rockford Riverhawks of the Northern Independent League. Frederick was signed on July 30th and his stats so far for Rockford have been 6.0-IP, 6-ER, 9.00-ERA. Emary and I had a nice conversation late last month which you can read about at: http://macksmets.blogspot.com/2010/07/q-rp-emary-frederick.html .

There was no relief pitcher in the Mets system that was better when his game was on; however, Emary seems to have a difficult time keeping focused throughout a season. There never was any middle ground with Frederick. It was either lights out, or anything goes, which always seemed to go in periods of multiple outings. His K/IP ration was always one of the organization leaders early on, but he simply did not take care of business this season in Binghamton.



Still, I was taken back with his release, especially by a team that seemed to have pitchers with worse stats than his. Was there more to his release? I don’t know, but he was a great pitcher out of college that seems to have reached the limits of his God given ability on the mound and we wish him well when he returns to his home and family in Deltona, Florida.