Mack Ade – AM Report – 8-7-13 – Rotation, Catching, BA Rankings

You got lucky again last night, Mets fans. You just can't keep playing games to 2-2 ties, waiting for that one more run to decide who wins. Nothing changes here. Plenty of pitching... never enough bats.

 

There looks like there will be another rotation shuffle by the weekend. Jon Niese's rehab session last night in Binghamton is supposed to be his last and he should be back in the 5-man... err... 6-man... err... let's see... Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Dillon Gee, Jenrry Mejia, Niese... well, you're on your own now. I guess Jeremy Hefner remains in the 6-man as we whittle down to the remaining innings let for both Harvey and Wheeler. They've already sent Torres back to the pen s, hopefully, no one else gets hurt before the season ends.

 

We continue our review of the system. So far, my suggestions are based on who is in the system, who is ready to play at this level or has already done so, and (the tie-breaker) who can increase the run production at this position. My suggestions (and players throughout the decade that could make a difference) so far are:

                1B – Wilmer Flores – Jayce Boyd – Dominic Smith

                2B – Daniel Murphy – Wilmer Flores – LJ Mazzilli

                SS – Ruben Tejada – Gavin Cecchini – Amed Rosario

                3B – David Wright – Dustin Lawley – Pedro Perez

We move on to catcher, a position that John Buck has held down nicely this year while Travis d’Arnaud healed on the disabled list. We should see d’Arnaud very soon and Buck will move on at the end of this year to a new team. Let’s review next year’s starter and two others that could influence the rest of the decade:

Travis d’Arnaud – No one is questioning the talent of d’Arnaud. His problems have been a combination of back problems and bad luck. He was always a good hitter but developed his power in 2011. More important, he was named the Defensive Catcher of the Year in the Eastern League by Baseball America. No one expected Toronto to trade this guy. No one.

His latest injury, was not back related. He suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left foot during a AAA game in April. This is considered a ‘shit-happens’ injury’ and has just slowed down our first view of him.

The plan here is simple… play d’Arnaud behind the plate until he gets close to arbitration status. Then, tie him down to a similar Jon Niese-like long term contract… this, of course, if he can stay healthy.

D’Arnaud should (at least) be able to duplicate Buck’s HR and RBI totals, but, along with it, bring a higher BA, a huge increase in throwing out runner percentage, and defense in general.               

 

Juan Centeno – Centeno has been labeled as a workhorse defensive catcher that has put in the work that was necessary to turn himself into a respectable bat as well. He was drafted in 2007 in the 32^nd round which is like wearing a sign around your neck that you’re going to be a bullpen catcher in the system forever (every minor league team usually carries three catchers just because of the work needed throughout the season). His past three seasons, as either a platoon catcher or starter, have been impressive: 2011: St. Lucie – 157-AB, .318… 2012: Binghamton – 281-AB: .285… 2013: Las Vegas – 162-AB: .296.

Centeno will play 2014 as a 24-year old and there really isn’t anything else for him to do in the minors. He would make a perfect (bats left to d’Arnaud’s right) back up to d’Arnaud for the next couple of years.

 

                Kevin Plawecki – Now, here is your potential insurance policy if d’Arnaud doesn’t pan out.

Plawecki has basically been a hitting machine out of Purdue University. He hit .343, .341, , and .359 over the 2010-2012 seasons for the Boilermakers, leveled off at .250 for the remainder of the 2012 year (‘the grind’) at Brooklyn, and got back on the horse in 2013 for Savannah (.314) and St. Lucie (.323).

He’s not know for his defensive play, but he’s also not a liability behind the plate. He does have limited pop (14-HRs in 588-minor league at bats), but he also has struck out only 69 times throughout his professional career. A team leader, Plawecki is a gap hitter with a combined 33 doubles so far this season.

He’s also a mature 22-year old and will more quickly through the system. He only has 127-at bats at St. Lucie this season, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him open the 2014 season in Binghamton. The Mets are going to want to season him as quickly as they can to make sure they have an alternative plan behind the plate.

 

Overall, like third base, there’s a lot of talent and depth here and I don’t see any problems for the remainder of this decade… however, all of this is based on if an when d’Arnaud would finally take the damn field in CitiFied.

 

Baseball America came out with their annual ‘best tools’ list. Mets on it were:

                MLB –

                                Best Pitcher NL - #2 – Matt Harvey

                                Best Slider NL - #3 – Matt Harvey

                                Best Defensive 3B - #1 – David Wright

                AAA –

                                Best Pitching Prospect – Zack Wheeler

                                Best Fastball – Zack Wheeler

                AA –

                                Best Pitching Prospect – Noah Syndergaard

                                Best Fastball – Noah Syndergaard

                                Most Exciting Player – Cesar Puello

                A+ -

                                Best Pitching Prospect – Noah Syndergaard

                                Best Fastball – Noah Syndergaard

                A –

                                Best Control – Gabriel Ynoa

                                Best Defensive 1B – Jayce Boyd