5-10-12 - Mets Minor League Report

Date: 5-10-12 

1B Sam Honeck and pitcher Tyson Seng have retired. Old ‘Keeper’ stuff:

            1B – Sam Honeck – 4-18-11 – Stock Up – you can’t have a better month than Honeck is having this April for Savannah. So far, all his is: .500/.558//.763/1.321 in 38 at bats. Do you pitch around hitters in A ball. Honeck is back after playing six games for the Gnats last year, followed by suffering a broken tibia and fibula in a collision at home plate. He’s an 11th round pick in 2009 and hit .250 for Brooklyn in 2009. Didn’t think he was worth tracking, but after this month, he’s now on ‘The Keepers” list.

10-10-11: - https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/132edccbf718965f   - Sam Honeck began the season as the Gnats’ everyday first baseman, but side effects of a concussion ended his season in early July when he was hitting just .227/.306/.346. I feel for the 24-year old Honeck, who has had two straight seasons marred by injury after playing in just a handful of games in 2010 with a compound fracture in his leg.

8-8-11: - http://www.brooklyncyclones.com/news/topstories/index.html?article_id=1204  - TYSON SENG- A 33rd round selection in the 2011 MLB Draft, Tyson Seng has been one of the most effective relievers in the league’s most effective bullpen. The righthander has allowed only two earned runs in 28.0 innings for a 0.64 ERA. Since July 1st, Send has allowed just one earned run and has struck out 29 while compiling a 3-1 record with two saves out of the Brooklyn bullpen. 

“Retirement’ can mean a lot of things in the minors. In Sam Honeck’s case, it’s probably health related. Sam had a horrific collision at home plate two years ago and, though I don’t have any direct knowledge of this, I assume he’s had a hard time coming back at this level. We saw a similar ‘retirement’ scenario from Sean Ratliff earlier this season, due to eye problems. Shit happens and, sadly, it happens in baseball also.

The ‘retirements’ I like are when a minor leaguer does the math and figures out that applying his college education to a profession is going to put a lot more food on the table that playing second fiddle in A+ ball. There’s a lot of this going on right before the next draft. Teams are about to add at least 30 more players to an extended squad that is already manned with enough players to fill out their short season teams. Some have to be cut and others just see their own writing on the wall of the clubhouse.

14 of the 30 starting closers have lost their job

The Boston Red Sox released P John Maine

Dave (NJ) - Is Kirk Nieuwenheis the real deal over the long haul and who does he remind you of? Eric Byrnes?  - - - Klaw - Well, Eric Byrnes was a good fourth outfielder ... so,yes. - - - Nick (NJ) It hardly seems true, but Wilmer Flores is still just 20. He seems to be showing some actual improvements at the plate; his power is up and his strikeout rate is absurdly low. It also seems as if he's adapting well to 3B. There's still a lot of hope here, right? - - - Klaw - He's almost certainly going to end up in LF or at 1B and he's repeating that league. - - - Zach (Bayside) - Thoughts on Domingo Tapia? - - - Klaw - Big fastball, needs to refine secondary, but there's enough there now to see him as a starter.

John Sickles:

Valdespin's biggest handicap has been himself: he had some intense run-ins with coaches and managers early in his career and has been criticized for lack of effort. That said, he seems to have improved in those departments over the last year, and he's clearly made progress refining his skills. Scouts have long memories, but Valdespin has the tools to be a very useful player, at least in a utility role, if his progress with the mental aspects of baseball continues in a positive direction.

AAA-Buffalo:  

Josh Satin on being on the taxi squad:

“There's plenty of worse things to do than sit in a big-league clubhouse and watch the Mets play the Phillies."

Toby on Jeurys:

While the consensus among prospect watchers is that Familia will end up in the bullpen, the guy who was pitching Wednesday in Gwinnett has a chance to start. He still must tighten his command as he was able to get away with some mistakes on velocity and movement and gave away a few pitches that were not close to the zone when he lost his release point.

Toby is correct, though I have never seen a Mets pitcher get more static about his mechanics than Jeurys has over the years. Like Mejia, I think the future role that Familia will play for Queens is determined on how the other prospects work out. If Chris Young comes back strong and Matt Harvey makes a successful jump, you’ll see him in the pen. If not, he will start until he’s needed elsewhere.

Prospect wise, I have Harvey, Zack Wheeler, and Michael Fulmer as starters, and Familia and Mejia as 8^th/9^th inning pitchers. But, that’s just me. Past that is anybody’s guest.

I was asked recently: ‘if all the prospects (Harvey, Wheeler, Mejia, Familia) make it in Queens in the next 1 ½ seasons, what role would Darin Gorski have if he also excelled? My guess at this point would be that he would be playing for another team, in exchange for an everyday high level prospect, or an established player about to go into their last contract year

Binghamton:

Giving up six hits in the first five innings usually is too much, but Zack Wheeler worked his way through it with only one walk and two runs. It was 94 pitches in five innings, which will have to be improved on, but he ended with his seventh strikeout and lowered his seasonal ERA to 2.05. Twitter went nuts again asking every Mets beat writer when Zack should head to the city… calm down folks… this is a process… RF Juan Lagares’ bat continues to wake up, which included a two-run single in the sixth.

A+ - St. Lucie: -   

Lucy leads the league with the lowest ERA (2.63), and the lowest WHIP (1.18).

They also lead the league in slugging percentage (.411) and OPS (.743), HRs (26), and total bases (446).

OF Matt den Dekker is tied for the league lead in triples.

OF Cory Vaughn leads the league with eight home runs

This was the night Sandy and Company were waiting for. Would Chris Young return to the dominant force he was before his injury? Well, he was everything the Mets had hoped for: 5.0-IP, 0-R, 5-H, 4-K, 2-BB, 0.00… wow, this changes everything! SS Ronnie Cedeno started his rehab tonight… Danny Muno (.278) hit his 4^th home run in the season… CF Cesar Puello (.297) had two doubles… Here Comes The Funk: RF Cory Vaughn is 0-15 in last 4-games… RP Adam Kolarek (2-R, 0.98) is human…

.

A – Savannah:

SP Alex Panteliodis is second in the Sally League with a 0.89 ERA. It figures that he’s behind the guy I wanted drafted last year instead of Brandon Nimmo, Matt Barnes (5-G, 2-0, 0.34, 0.60, 26.2-IP, 42-K, 4-BB) What the hell do I know?

What’s interesting is the fact that the Sand Gnats have the lowest ERA (2.55) in the league, but the highest any of their pitchers are ranked in strikeouts is tied for 30^th.

Collectively, Savannah has given up only 78 walks in 293.0 innings pitched, lowest in the league by 22

The best pitching performance Thursday night was not Chris Young or Zack Wheeler. It was Savannah’s Domingo Tapia who never gave up a hit. What he did; however, was walk three, wild pitch another, give up an unearned run and had to exit in the 6^th after the unraveling. Five errors is just too many, especially in a game this good. 1B Brian Harrison (2-3, 3-RBI) continues to raise his BA (.227)…