Daily Mets Minors Report – 7-2-12

 Date: 7-2-12

MLB - Mets:

Pittsburgh and Mets are 1-2 in NL June scoring runs.

The first reason why is that the Mets' core group of players are aging. New York's top three players according to WAR are all at an age where it's not typical for players to improve any further. Wright has experienced a big rebound at age 29, but he's dealt with some major injuries throughout his career and there was concern that he was in decline last year. It's a miracle that 33-year-old Johan Santana is pitching this well after missing the entire 2011 season with a shoulder injury. And while Dickey has been phenomenal, he's also 37. They've all churned out great performances this year, but there should be a healthy dose of skepticism as to w hether they'll be able to replicate their performances next season. espn

Adam Rubin‏ - ESPN Stats & Info: David Wright’s .355 BA is 2nd-highest in Mets history entering July -- Mike Piazza .364 in 2000 only higher.

Buster Olney‏  -  Very interesting around the Mets the last couple of days. Pretty clear they are feeling better and better and better about their chances.

New power rankings: 1. Texas. 2. NYY. 3. Angels. 4. San Francisco 5. Washington. 6. Cincinnati. 7. White Sox. 8. Mets. 9. LAD. 10. Boston 

AAA – Buffalo:

RHSP Jeurys Familia  gets the ball for the 17th time this season. The righty has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his last six home games. On Tuesday, Familia yielded just one run in five innings of a no-decision against the Bats. On the season, Familia is third on the Bisons with 65 strikeouts. Buffalo is 9-7 in his 16 previous starts.

2B Josh Rodriguez  (.382/.400/.676/1.076) has hit in seven of his first eight games with the Bisons, including four multi-hit efforts. Combined with his 57 games with Binghamton (AA), Rodriguez is hitting .302 (75-248) with eight home runs, 34RBI and 36 runs scored

Today:

            Jeurys Familia -  3.1 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP. 70 pitches (34 strikes).

            Pedro Beato  - 3.0-IP, 0-R,  32 pitches

            Sloppy infield wrok with throwing errors by 2B Jordany Highlight Film (.283) and SS Josh Rodriguez (.395).

            7^th AAA HR for 1B Josh Satin (.292).

            Cold spell… only 82 degrees at game time. 

AA-Binghamton:  

OF Pedro Zapata placed on disabled list (right hamstring strain), retroactive to June 29

1B Allan Dykstra transferred from St. Lucie (High-A) to Binghamton (AA)

Wilmer Flores, rated by Baseball America as the 10th-best prospect in the New York Mets farm system, was 3-for-4, the only B-Mets player with more than one hit on Friday night. A resident of Valencia, Venezuela, Flores wrapped up the series going 6-for-13 with a home run, three runs, and three RBIs. He batted .289 with 10 home runs and 42 RBIs in 64 games with Single-A St. Lucie in the Florida State League, and he has not slowed down since being promoted to Double-A on June 21. - link

RHP Cory Mazzoni (1-1, 4.15) makes his third start of the season for the B-Mets. The righty comes off a loss to the Bowie Baysox on June 26. He allowed a career-high seven runs (six earned) on ten hits over six innings. He walked on and struck out four, suffering his first loss as a B-Met. Selected in the 2nd round of the 2011 draft out of North Carolina State, Mazzoni started his season with the St. Lucie Mets (High-A), going 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA in 12 starts in the Florida State League.

RHP Matt McSwain (2-2, 4.76) makes his fifth start of the season and 18th appearance for Altoona. The North Carolina native has mainly pitched out of the bullpen for the Curve and sprinkled in a handful of starts, with his last coming against the Baysox on May 27. McSwain has gone 1-2 as a starter with a 4.09 ERA. All six games for the righty in June were relief outings. He issued 9 walks in 10.1 innings and allowed an opponent’s batting average of .293. McSwain faced just one B-Met on June 17, striking out pinch-hitter Joe Bonfe in the sixth inning in a 15-6 win for Altoona.

Today:

            SP Cory Mazzoni list this game: 4.0-=IP, 9-H, 6-ER, 3-K, 1-BB, 6.35, 79-51... oh, he is hitting 1.000.

            RP Jeff Stevens pitched well (1.59), but let’s remember this is someone who was demoted from a bad AAA half-season.

            LF Eric Campbell (.327) continues to rake. He plays RF-3B-1B-LF and owns AA pitching this year. The next Vinnie Rottino.

            Two more hits for 3B Wilmer Flores (.372). The 2B experiment was just that and his combined AA/A+ numbers are: .302/.347/.470/.817, 285-AB, 11-HR, 51-RBI, only 34-K, 22-BB. Flores will play somewhere, every day, in Flushing, come 2014.

            Would someone explain to me the fascination of Travis Ozga (.179)? First, he plays 1B and now that Alan Dykstra is back, they put him in LF. Am I missing something?

A+ - St. Lucie: -  

Tonight:

            Lucy just can’t seem to get her shit together since the break.

            SP Angel Cuan (3.34) just gets up on the bump every 5^th game, waiting for the phone to ring. This is Cuan’s 5^th season as a Met. There’s some kind of rule about that, right?

            There’s nothing else to say about this team right now.

A – Savannah:

Rained out.

A-Low – Brooklyn:

SP Rainy Lara was the 22^nd pitcher in franchise history to strike out 10 or more batters in one outing.

Brandon Nimmo, who is slumping, changed his number from 8 to 9. Also, he killed his Facebook account.

Tonight:

Allright, SP Luis Mateo is eating up the NY-Penn league. Six more scoreless innings today, with yearly stats of: 3-starts, 17.2-IP, 1-ER, 22-K, 2-BB, 0.51. I don’t want to go through this again, but Mateo might be 37 years old and originally born in Qatar. Seriously, he should be at the St. Lucie level. Now.

Only four Clone hits.

Rookie – Kingsport:

Tonight:

You know this team isn’t that good. And you know my thoughts on the lack of projectable major leaguers from the 2012 draft. And lastly, you know the majority of this team are 2012 draft picks and International players that didn’t get big bonus money. Any questions?

SP Akeel Morris (8.31) continues to be just freaking horrible… but that was nothing compared to RP Miller Diaz (13.50). How’s this for a line:  1.0-IP, 8-R, 4-BB.

C Tomas Nido left the game due to injury in the third inning. Nido, the Mets' 10th-round pick in June's draft, was knocked out after a wicked collision with Toney at the plate. That play began when Morris' pitch went in the dirt, giving Jean Batista the opening to advance to second base. When Nido threw to second, Toney broke for home. Shortstop Anthony Chavez fired the ball to Nido, who tagged out Toney despite the impact of the collision. Alex Machillanda replaced Nido

DSL Mets:

Getting stats from the Australian Leagues are easier than the DSL… (think about that).

No games today.

League leaders:

            OF Oswal Caraballo – 3^rd in league with .400 BA

            OF Vincente Lupo – 6^th in league with .385 BA (also 4^th with .659 slug%, 3^rd with 1.121 OBP, 9^th with 4-HRs)

            C Adrian Abreu – 6^th in league with .591 slugging percentage (also 7^th with 1.048 OPS, 2^nd in league with 5-HRs)