1/10/12

Mets – Cesar Puello, Cory Vaughn, Chris Young, Jeremy Hefner



1-3-12 - mets360.  - 7. Cesar Puello, OF, Hi-A, .259/.313/.397 in 488 PA - Last year Puello was ranked fourth on this list due to glowing scouting reports combined with a borderline acceptable walk rate. The scouting reports are still positive, but he posted a dismal 3.8 BB% last season. The only reason his OBP cracked .300 last year was due to being hit by 20 pitches. Puello has made steady progress through the farm system but he could benefit from starting 2012 back in St. Lucie. Last year he had a .670 OPS in road games, 78 points lower than his home mark

Joe D's place   - 32. Cory Vaughn (OF) The 23 year-old Vaughn, who was taken in the 4th round of the 2010 draft out of San Diego State, had his short minor league career hit a wall right in the middle of the 2011 season. I don’t know what could make the Mets do something so stupid as to take a guy who was having a very good year at Savannah, and yank him out of the league rather abruptly at mid-season, to promote him to the Florida State League. Why? Who knows? But it definitely did not have the desired effect as Vaughn’s season fell completely apart. In the first half at Savannah, Vaughn hit .286 in 245 AB’s, while in 210 AB’s at St. Lucie he hit .219. You can say it’s the minors and it doesn’t matter but it couldn’t have done any good for the man’s confidence. And was the second half slump due to injury, or fatigue? Or is it a matter of Vaughn being unable to hit advanced breaking pitches? Now Vaughn finds himself between a rock and a hard place because he is mired in high A ball after having played a brutally bad half-season there. What’s more, there are some very talented outfielders coming up through the system behind him, and the prospects of the big jump to AA, loom ahead. The next year will go a long way to seeing whether Vaughn moves up this list, or drops off it altogether.

In four starts last season, Chris Young totaled 24 innings, allowing five earned runs on 12 hits and 11 walks while striking out 22.  His final outing of the year came against the Phillies, where the tall righty tossed seven scoreless innings, surrendering two hits and three walks while punching out seven.  The sample size is too small to form an accurate prediction of how young would pitch in 2012, but it does serve as a reminder of the type of pitcher Young used to be when healthy. Over his career, Young is the owner of a 3.74 ERA (4.66 xFIP), 1.202 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and 2.21 K/BB.  He is traditionally a fly ball pitcher, recording just 28.2% of outs on the ground.  Given this fact and a career BABIP of .248, it’s possible that Young has simply benefited from playing the bulk of his career at pitcher friendly Petco Park in San Diego.  This is somewhat the case. http://risingapple.com/2012/01/06/should-the-mets-re-sign-chris-young/

Jeremy Hefner:  Claimed off waivers by the Mets on December 12th, Hefner is coming off his fifth minor league season with the San Diego Padres since being drafted in the fifth round of the 2007 entry draft.  He features three pitches, including an 88-91 mph fastball, a sweeping slider and a heavy change up that he uses more effectively against left-handed hitters.  Though not overpowering, Hefner is described as a cerebral competitor who has a heightened concept of how to get hitters out.  Having pitched nearly 700 innings through every level minor league baseball has to offer, Hefner averages nearly eight strikeouts per nine innings and is not particularly susceptible to the long ball. http://www.metsfever.com/2012/01/what-options-do-mets-have-if-johan.html

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