Morning Report – July 9th – Dustin Martin, 2014 Draft Update, Jhoan Urena, Lucas Duda

                                                                                                                                            

Coming Later Today –      

                                                                                            

            10 00 am – Reese Kaplan -  Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?

             12 00 pm - Stephen Guilbert - Future Major Leaguers - Pt. St. Lucie

             2 00 pm -  Pitcher Of The Week - Dario Alvarez        

                                                                         

            6 00 pm – 2015 Draft Profile  - RHP  -  Kyle Cody  -  Kentucky - UPDATED 6-30-14

Rich MacLeod ‏@richmacleod 

I understand people have issues with Castro, but look around the league and show me the perfect player that's avail. There isn't one.

It was great to see Dustin Martin in the Reno lineup against Las Vegas. The 30-year old somewhat professional minor leaguer came out of the Mets system where he hit .315 (2006) for Brooklyn and then .287 (2007) for St. Lucie before he was traded in a three team deal that included the Mets getting 2B Luis Castillo. He resigned a minor league deal with the Mets in 2012, where he hit a combined .279 for Binghamton and Buffalo. It’s good to see him still around.



Yesterday's roster moves... RHP Greg Peavey (AA: 2.86... AAA: 12.21)was transferred back again from Las Vegas to Binghamton. He also was placed on the 'temporary inactive list'.  LHP Angel Cuan was activated and filled the slot left open after RHP Tyler Pill was transferred to Las Vegas. After two tries, he just can't seem to make the conversion to the PCL league.


Per Fangraphs - 

       Jenrry Mejia had the night off after a longer outing last night and the Mets said they would use Jeurys Familia in his place. Although there wasn’t a save situation, Familia was brought in for the final two outs in the ninth as Buddy Carlyle and Dana Eveland left the door ajar. Mejia’s hold on the job is still firm and tonight’s outing helped show Familia’s grasp as the main setup and backup closer is as well.



I love this story... Bobby Parnell came to town two days ago for some tests and he spent the last two games sitting in the pen. He offered as an explanation: "this is my home."  

2014 Draft Update –

            This is the first update of the Mets 2014 draft. My original comments (the ‘nameless’ draft) isn’t producing that much to write home about yet:

                                    (all stats through end of games – 7-7-14)

                        -there is no one from this draft player A-Savannah or above ball

            -9^th round 1B Michael Katz (OF-1B) is producing the best numbers in Brooklyn (.291) followed by 30^th round OF Tucker Tharp (.233), 6^th round C Tyler Moore (.200), and 22^nd round 2B William Fulmer (.214).

            -5^th round pitcher Josh Prevost (4-G, 2.08) and 7^th round Brad Wieck (5-G, 3.185) have impressed out of the Cyclones pen.

            -the Mets 4^th round pick, 3B Eudor Garcia, is hitting .269 for Kingsport, while their other top pick, 3^rd round SS Milton Ramos, is hitting only .147 for the GCL Mets.

It’s early and, yes, this is the intro to the ‘grind’, but (IMO) this was the strangest of all the Sandy-team drafts so far.

As you all know, I research the high school seniors and college juniors every day of the entire year and I am dumfounded how for the fourth year in a row the way Alderson and Company make their picks. I only had research or had heard of four players drafted in 2014 and two of them weren’t signed. They seem to approach this as a contest… what scout can pick the least known player from the smallest most remote school in the country.

I just don’t understand it. Why does everyone do the research and how come do the other clubs seem to respect it enough to use it as a primer going into the draft?

(Shaking head…)

Soto –

            Jhoan Urena ranks 3rd in NYP in AVG(.333), 5th in OBP(.402), & 7th in OPS(.902). He's the only player among the leaders younger than 20.

We’ve talked about the potential of Brooklyn Cyclones 3B Jhoan Urena. He homered again on Monday and at one point his batting average hit .342. This is a 19-year old who is beginning to make Mets officials re-evaluate the long term future of David Wright at third base. Yes, there is little pop here and he could easily disappear as he goes up the affiliate chain, but he already impressed as an 18-year old in 2013 with the GCL Mets (.299) and only Cole Frenzel stands in his way in Savannah. ETA: 2018

TTF on Lucas Duda –

            Leave Duda at cleanup - Those of you who read my column know that I’ve been a Lucas Duda enthusiast ever since I rightly hopped off the Ike Davis bandwagon (yes, I must admit I was in the ‘I like Ike’ brigade for a his first season and a half). Duda has enormous natural power, a good eye at the plate and an ability to drive the ball to all fields. He’s among the National League’s leaders in hard-hit balls, and of late, he’s become more assertive at the plate and put more pressure on the folks trying to get him out. Duda is 13 for his last 42, and he’s the only Mets player with a season OPS over .800. He’s on pace for 24 home runs and 84 RBI, despite being buried in the order and stuck in ill-advised platoon situations for too much of the spring. As he continues to get more confident, his raw power will continue to emerge and his drives to left and left-center will force teams to abandon the shift. He’s a better option than a lot of teams have at cleanup, and in a more well crafted lineup, he’d have even more chances to produce runs. http://throughthefencebaseball.com/mets-need-figure-out-lineup/43376#DS1RkcHTyXZqcfpf.99

            Mack – I’m pleasantly surprised at Duda. I was an Ike Davis fan, but it looks like I might have been wrong here. I don’t expect Duda to ever lead the league in hitting, but his determination to get on base via walks has made his OBP impress me.

            I’ve said before that this team has much bigger problems right now than first base. Duda and Eric Campbell have don’t a great job here.