In 1988, Harnisch was one of top pitching prospects in the country, eventually drafted at the end of the first round of the draft. For the Fordham Rams, he had a career 21-3 career, a 2.29 earned run average and 213 strikeouts in 204 innings. His final season was particularly impressive, as he went 8-1 and led the Rams into the NCAA Regionals. The one game he lost that year? To the St. Peter’s Peacocks, in a 10-inning, chilly, rain-soaked contest that was a dual shutout until SPC scratched out a run in the bottom of the 10th. The winning pitcher was Doug Falduto, who pitched all 10 innings, matching Harnisch pitch-for-pitch. Falduto usually played one of the corner infield spots and batted third in the lineup for the Peacocks, who had no home field, 10-year-old uniforms, one scholarship to split among 16 players, and spent most of that year fighting the Manhattan Jaspers to stay out of the MAAC cellar - metstoday.
Nick Evans:
The team’s treatment of Evans has done him no favors. He has never been given the opportunity to start on a regular basis at the major league level, having only started 38 games since making his debut in 2008. Of those games, he has never started more than six starts in a row, a stretch from 06/30/09 to 07/5/09 in which he hit .280. He has also fallen victim to the double switch more often than not, costing him valuable ABs. As a result, his major league experience has been comprised of mainly spot starts and pinch hitting opportunities. - metsfever
Armando Benetiz:
Listed on Baseball-Reference at 260 pounds, Armando Benitez is the heaviest player in Mets history. This is, of course, not totally accurate. Mo Vaughn reportedly tipped the scales at 275 pounds during his time with the Mets, but Baseball-Reference has him kindly listed at 225 pounds, presumably because he must have weighted that when he was a teenager. Or a child. Or with one foot off the scale. Benitez can still claim to be the heaviest pitcher in Mets history, at least until the 6’10”, 280 pound Chris Young makes a start at power forward this season. More importantly, Benitez can also claim to be one of the most reviled characters in Mets history. There are a handful of former Mets that are always instinctively jeered: Jeff Kent was still booed loudly in 2008, twelve years after he left Flushing. I still cringe whenever I see Kenny Rogers’ name. Armando Benitez remains one of those unfortunate fellows — he’s not necessarily hated, but it does seem as if it’s a Mets fan’s civic duty to boo him. If you saw him in the street, you might shake his hand and tell him you were a fan, but between those white lines it’s open season. - patrickfloodblog
Brian Harrison:
http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/1/17/1939161/mets-farm-system-top-5-sleepers - Another late-round find by Omar & Co. - 13th round in 2010 - Harrison boasted early-round talent but dropped thanks to injury concerns. The Hilton Head, SC product managed just one season of 200+ ab's in his three year collegiate career as a Furman Paladin but when he was on the field he played like a star. Aside from an excellent hit tool, very real power and solid plate discipline, Harrison is an excellent athlete who plays a good third but some teams even saw him as a center fielder at draft time. Thus he becomes a bit of a high-risk, high-reward gamble as he enters the Mets system but his brief debut where he posted a .900 OPS and knocked 7 long-balls in just over 100 ab's with Brooklyn illustrates the kind of talent he possesses. Of course, his season did end early thanks to - what else - an injury. I see Harrison much in the same way I view Zach Lutz: A solid third baseman and an overall very strong hitter with the offensive tools to potentially be an impact player in the bigs IF he manages to stay on the field enough to develop them.
John Olerud:
My favorite player from the nineties, as Olerud was an OBP machine. He fit that offense perfectly, and benefited from hitting in front of Mike Piazza. Only Keith Hernandez was better defensively at first. Will never forget the second half of 1998 where it seemed he was always on base, and just missed winning the batting title with his .354 average. Only played three years in New York, but had a .315 batting average, and OPS of .926 at that time. Huge mistake letting him sign with Seattle in 2000. - nybaseballdigest (note: not true... no one that ever touched a Mets first baseman's mitt played that position bettr than Gil Hodges)
No comments:
Post a Comment