GOING TO EXTREMES by Tom Brennan

I’m an extremist…when it comes to baseball, that is.  Extremely interested, since I first fell in love with all things Mets.  Extreme highs, and even more extreme lows.  Quite a roller coaster ride.

Other teams have had guys with extreme minor league stats, like Billy Hamilton’s 155 steals in 132 games in 2012 (how’d he manage to get caught 37 times too)?

Minor league HR guys?  How about Joe Bauman of the Roswell Rockets in the Longhorn League, who hit 72 home runs in 1954.  I was more concerned with when Mom was gonna feed me my pureed bananas than how Big Joe was doing back in 1954, but it did intrigue me later on. 

But I love tracking Met minor league guys who go to extremes.  I get a kick out of seeing guys pull off major achievements and milestones, or do extraordinary things.

First tip of the cap goes to Jack Leathersich, who (at 298 thru Thursday)) is flirting with 300 career strikeouts this week in less innings than anyone in Met history. 

A couple of obscure guys whose names you might or might not be familiar with tried to, but couldn't, keep up with the Leather Man’s K rate, namely pickle brine, finger-soaking Nolan Ryan, and my favorite physician, Doc Gooden (well, OK, also I'm pretty partisan about a doctor with a different specialization, one Doctor J, but let's stick to baseball for now).

In fact, Blazing Jack through Thrusday's game had reached 298 career Ks in a mere 174 innings (a ho-hum 15.4 K’s per 9 innings). Nolan Ryan in his first full minor league season, had 307, but for Pete’s sake, it took him 202 innings (yeah, he was only 19, but he clearly couldn't keep up with Jack), and Doc had a pedestrian 300 in 191 innings at 18...maybe it’s just a “late teen” thing and if they were both, say, 20 years old instead, they coulda kept up with the Rocket??  Dunno.)

Jack also has an extreme that hinders him...he is a lefty who kinda struggles a lot against lefties.  Oh, he still mows them down (as of a few days ago, 138 Ks out of 268 hitters faced), but lots of walks (40) and hits (58, for a .270 BAA). Also amazingly, other than K’s, BBs and hits, only 32 of the 268 lefties Jack has faced made out without striking out! How’s that for a batting average on balls in play, Mr. BABIP? Tom Jones may think “It’s Not Unusual”, but I dunno, I find it VERY unusual.

Hey, figure out how to get lefties under your thumb and you will punch your ticket to Citi, Jackie boy.  It would be awesome to start a K Korner when a relief pitcher comes in, don't you think? Why should starters be the only ones to get Ks hung up?

Another pitcher I dig is Akeel Morris. First, with a name like Akeel, what's not to dig?  Second, he is the patron saint of the extreme turnaround.  In 2012, a sliver away from an 8.00 ERA (7.98).  Awful.  So, after that grueling season, what did Akeel have in mind for an encore? 

How about a combined ERA of 0.67 in 80 innings in 2013 and 2014, with 114 Ks and 42 hits? Lethal. From worst to first. Basement to pinnacle. Nadir to apex. Basically, an Akeel vs. Boys scenario.  Two years of dominance is no fluke, so I am looking forward to Akeel hopping on board the Leather Rocket (it's a 2 seater) with Jack to Citi too, within a year or two.  Oh, by the way, Akeel has K’d 253 in 194 career innings.  Even Jack is impressed.  Sweet.

One guy who I'd like to see fix his fairly extreme K problem so his other extreme can shine in Citi is Travis Taijeron.  371 in 1,375 plate appearances, or 1 K every 3.7 times up.  Wow.  When he isn't striking out, though, the 25 year old former 18th rounder is an extra base hit machine, with 160 extra base hits in just 1,176 minor league official at bats. One every 10 at bats is a great threshold for almost any hitter not named Barry to cross...Travis is at one every 7.3 official at bats.  Straw Man’s best such year with the Mets in 1987 resulted in one every 7.0 official at bats, by comparison.  In fact, Travis has had more extra base hits than singles!  Cool! 

We've seen too many high K guys just not make it, but I'd love to see Travis fix his strikeout thing and bring that Taijeron Tree Trunk of a bat to Citi. Slick fielding may win games, but I am enamored with power.  Bring it on!

Some other notable members of the “Extremes”:

• Matt Reynolds, up 140 points over last year’s average.  Extremely attention-getting.
• Cory Vaughn, extremely bad this year in Binghamton (.190), so why not promote him, right? So they do, and he is hitting .284, with a .384 OB%, in Vegas.  Etremely better.
• And Dario Alvarez, a household name in the Alvarez household, has quietly struck out 70 guys in 41 innings in Savannah this year.  Pretty nuts, and very impressive.

So who are your favorite extreme minor league Mets performers, whether for a season or for a career?  Or major leaguers too?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Hey, by the way, the Mets are into extremes…prior to the two 10 run games early this week, they were 2^nd as a team in the majors in walks.  Exciting!  My favorite category is the base on balls.  Less wear and tear on the bats.

6^th in strikeouts (that’s the hitters, folks).  2^nd in all of baseball in sacrifices, despite Bartolo Colon promising to never sacrifice for the cause!   And most exciting, they had left 3.97 runners in scoring position per game this year, leading the entire major leagues. 

OK, the Magic isn’t all the way Back…but hope springs eternal. Even now that spring has turned to summer.

Enjoy your day. Extremely.