Mack Ade – AM Report – 8-22-13 – Cory Vaughn, Yanks Farm, 2013 Mets, September

 

Ike Davis has the 3rd best OBP (1.013) in the majors since the all-star game.

 

Going into Wednesday's game, Sand Gnat OF Brandon Nimmo since 7/18: .349/.493/.453/.945, 37 for 106, 15 runs, 6 2b, 3b, HR, 27/34 BB/K

 

Binghamton 1B Alan Dykstra has reached 20-HRs and 79-RBIs, both career highs.

 

Mets announce that OF Cory Vaughn will play in the Arizona Fall League

                This makes sense. The word ‘potential’ has always been written in the first paragraph of any story written about Vaughn, even as far back as 18U. The second word always written was the first name of his father, which is a monkey you just don’t want on your back your entire career.

                I wasn’t a big fan of this pick and said so on draft day.

                Here’s what I said on 6-10-10:

                                Round 4 – #122 overall – OF – Cory Vaughn – San Diego State

Mack: Well, it didn’t take long for the Mets to pull one out of their arse. I have basically nothing on Vaughn, other than a couple of 200+ round picks on some early mocks. It is very hard to find anything positive about this guy, other than the fact that his father was named Greg. He seems to swing at anything that’s thrown his way and has been one of the divisional strikeout leaders, both in school and the Cape Cod League. Had 55-K in 180-AB and 180-K in 592-AB career wise. Multiple scouting services have reported that his hitting mechanics are horrible.

Projection: Boy, who the heck knows. Personally, I’m pissed that left on the board were RHP Sam Dyson and LHP James Paxton, and, if you wanted a toosy outfielder, what about Cody Hawn or Austin Wilson? Look, I have no problem drafting someone that shows potential, but save these kind of picks until the 15th round. There is no way of projecting any kind of ETA on this kid. Everything I have read said he is not a potential major leaguer. ETA: never

Draft Grade: F

We later met in a Savannah bar for Press Day and I can’t say he was the happiest person to meet me. He has run hot and cold over his four year professional career, hitting for power in 2012 (St. Lucie: 23-HR, 69-RBI) and average (Brooklyn 2010: .307, Binghamton-present: .292), but there has also been the .219 for St. Lucie in 2011 and .243 in 2012 for St. Lucie. What he hasn’t done was hit for both average and pop for one team in the same season.

Nothing has changed about the strikeouts. This year, even with a .292 batting average for the B-Mets he’s whiffed 62 times in 219 official at-bats. He has now played 251 games in right field, 34 in left, and 25 in the position he was originally projected to play, centerfield.

IMO, the Mets are still looking for three full time outfielders in 2014. Vaughn is not going to be one of them, but he could get his act together and join Cesar Puello as 2/3^rd of a homegrown 2015 outfield. My money will stay in my pocket on this one. Don’t get me wrong… nothing would make me happier to see him succeed as a Met. He’s actually one of the nicest person you would ever meet and, you know me, I love home grown weenies.

The appointment to the AFL couldn’t come at a better time.

BTW – the guys I mentioned in 2010:

              James Paxton – 7-10, 4.26 - AAA-Seattle

              Sam Dyson – 1-2, 2.12 – AAA-Miami

              Cody Hawn – .238 – A+ - Brewers

              Austin Wilson – didn’t sign, was drafted this year, hasn’t played yet

 

 

Bill Maddon -

In the meantime, the Yankees have not developed a single impact power hitter or a top-of-the-rotation starter under Newman’s stewardship. They have only two players on the current roster — outfielder Brett Gardner and reliever David Robertson — who have developed into frontline performers out of the draft. Prospect observers say the Yankees have four potential top-tier prospects — catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielders Slade Heathcott, Tyler Austin and Mason Williams. But none of the four has been above Double-A or particularly impressive this season. They are extreme longshots to be any help at the major-league level in 2014. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/hall-calls-tampa-meeting-address-barren-farm-system-article-1.1431853#ixzz2cXKwcUj5

 

 

(Before Wednesday's game) The Mets are 34-27 in their last 61 games. That’s a .557 percentage. Prorate that over a 162-game season and it would be 90-72. Prorate that over the current season (125 games) and it would be around 69-56. This would place them one loss out of the last wild card slot.

More importantly, all of this is being accomplished by players that simply weren’t in the plan… Juan Lagares, Eric Young Jr., David Aardsma, Zack Wheeler, Travis d’Arnaud, Josh Satin, Wilmer Flores,  Andrew Brown, Gonzalez Germen, and Carlos Torres.

At some point next year Cesar Puello, Jack Leathersich, Rafael Montero, and Matt den Dekker will be added to this list.

Add this to the existing David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Bobby Parnell, Justin Turner, Matt Harvey, Dillon Gee, Jon Niese, Jeurys Familia, Josh Edgin, and Marlon Byrd and the list grows to 24.

One could make a case of operating 2014 lean with remaining decisions in the pen, at short, and one outfield slot.

 

Zack Wheeler is 6-2 this season with a 3.49 ERA and 62 K's in 69.2 IP, 1.38 WHIP. I know I should be more excited about this, but I’m just not. It just seems to me that he is throwing too many pitches and is just having extreme trouble the third time around the lineup. Tuesday night was especially disappointing because he couldn’t finish the seventh inning. Forget the triple that scored the three runs against the Mets… there never should have been bases loaded that inning. We’re getting deep into a long season and it seemed like he wasn’t throwing everything he could have all night. He sat in the 92-93 range, but shot it up to 95-96 in the 7^th when he knew he wasn’t coming back for the 8^th. In my opinion, I think Wheeler will be a very successful pitcher for the Mets. But I’m just not sure if he will be a superstar like Matt Harvey looks to be.

 

The Bleacher Report says that the Mets are going to promote SP Rafael Montero, CF Matt den Dekker, and SP Jake deGrom.

I never liked The Bleacher Report. I never thought they spent any time caring if their writers were accurate or not. It’s nothing more than a web site full of independent bloggers, most of which aren’t being paid to make definitive statements about ballplayers.

We all have opinions, so here’s mine.

We won’t see Montero.

We will see a lot of den Dekker after their playoffs.

deGrom will get one, maybe two starts.