2/2/12

Mets: Collin McHugh, Jeremy Hefner, Daniel Murphy, Zack Wheeler

1-30-12 - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/1/30/2757346/2012-amazin-avenue-top-50-mets-prospects-21-30   RHP Collin McHugh - After a slow start in St. Lucie, the 24-yr old righty got the call up to Double-A to pitch the back end of a doubleheader on May 31st and never looked back. He would go on to post a 2.62 FIP in Binghamton, absolutely dominating in the second half of the season and after hanging around the periphery of the prospect discussion before, he placed his name firmly in the discussion as a future big leaguer. The '08 18th rounder showed an excellent mastery of his four-pitch mix, while featuring a little more velocity on a fastball that now sits around 91-93 mph with excellent movement. As always, his slider was an excellent weapon for him, inducing plenty of strikeouts and pushing his K/9 up to the mid-9's. Strong command and the ability to throw any pitch in any count give McHugh the chance to anchor the back end of a rotation in the mold of a Dillon Gee or provide excellent relief depth. Though he seemed to tire and scuffled a bit in the AFL, he figures to reach Buffalo at some point in 2012 and at this rate Citi Field won't be too far away.

•Dec 12: RHP Jeremy Hefner - Like we've seen a few times now, Hefner is a player that was nabbed when he hit waivers due to Paul DePodesta's familiarity with the San Diego organization. The 25-yr old made Sickels' Top 20 Padres prospects list three consecutive years after being drafted out of Oral Roberts U. in '07 and was considered a good mix of solid stuff and command. He hasn't yet reached the show but in five minor league campaigns he has a career 3.84 ERA and a solid 2.82 K/BB. Now he was bad last year at Triple-A, though the PCL has made more than a few pitchers look worse than they really are. He'll likely fill out the Bisons rotation early on and compete with Chris Schwinden as SP depth if and when it is needed in Queens. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/1/31/2753903/taking-inventory-of-the-mets-minor-league-free-agents  

R.A. Dickey and Daniel Murphy each had mountains to climb this offseason. For Dickey, he scaled Kilimanjaro, and returned from Africa with his Mets' contract still valid. Murphy's mission, however, remains ongoing as he continues to ascend the learning curve at second base. Both will be counted on to play significant roles, and when asked Tuesday night about the club's chances in the NL East, they gave very different answers. "You can't just go in and say, we're going to be this team," said Dickey, who along with Murphy was honored at the 32nd annual Thurman Munson Awards dinner. "It's a real organic process. Hopefully it won't be dysfunctional and we'll all be able to cohese together and do it. But we're in a tough division and we have to be honest about that . . . we certainly have to be honest about where we are, and that's really the only way I see us getting any better is doing that." While Dickey took a more realistic approach, given the Mets' slashed payroll and the departure of Jose Reyes , Murphy was still very optimistic http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=AE993819A96D61B0AC9D.3220?site=newsday&view=sports_item&feed:a=newsday_5min&feed:c=sports&feed:i=1.3494223&nopaging=1

2-1-12: -  http://bigapplemetstalk.com/?p=2728&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter   Zack Wheeler is a hard-throwing righthander out of East Paulding High School in Georgia. He is tall at 6’3, has broad shoulders and loose arm action.  He was drafted 6th overall by the Giants back in 2009.   The start to his pro career was set back a bit as he cracked a fingernail after recording just one out in his pro debut. The persistent issue regarding his fingernail turned out to be good thing for him because it forced him to work on smoothing out his mechanics. As a result he got on more of a direct line with the plate and cut down the effort in his delivery.  The extensive work on his mechanics allowed him to have much better command near the bottom of the strike zone 

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