Mack’s Morning Report – 6-12-15 – Matt Harvey, Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, 2015 Draft

 

ESPN 

Good morning.

Well, another week goes by and the Mets came up with the ultimate no-show when it comes to lack of offensive prowess. Temporarily, I could live with that and I’ve told you that everything will be okay once some of the walking wounded return to join in with the superior starting pitching on this team.

Yes, I said ‘superior starting pitching’.

I’m not going to bother to stat out what Matt Harvey’s last four outings look like, or analyze the last three times Noah Syndergaard pitched. Remember, these are two-fifths of that golden rotation the Mets are supposed to wind up with when Steven Matz is promoted and Zack Wheeler heals.

I’m actually not worried about Thor. It reminds me a lot of when Wheeler first came up. Give him some time and I think he will be a great pitcher.

I can’t say the same right now for Harvey. Something is wrong and, trust me, he’s be the last one to tell you if it was. Pitching is all about velocity, positioning, and movement. Throwing a 97 mph fastball that just goes straight is totally hittable at the major league level. I’m not exactly sure what the hell happened out there Wednesday night. Was it a badly called game by d’Arnaud or did Harvey just think it was okay to keep throwing fastballs?

And while we’re on the subject, does Terry Collins try to come up with more reasons to be pissed at him all the time? What was with leaving him in the game after the Belt home run?

I don’t know folks… I hate to say this prematurely, but we may have seen the best of this team for the season.

MiLB 

I’ve been feeling a little more chipper lately so, though I no longer can travel and attend games, I can still pick up a telephone and call some of my old contacts for some skinny.

I talked this week with someone very close to what’s going on with outfielder Michael Conforto and his debut in Binghamton. Everybody expected him to do very well, but no one expected him to be churning out the kind of numbers right away.

Ballplayers normally have a period to adjust to a new level, but Conforto is proving more every day that he was the right person to draft with that 10^th pick overall in the 2014 draft. What Mets officials are hoping for is a return to hitting home runs, something he was doing very well when the season started in St. Lucie. He now has eight for the season, his 6^th came 4-26, 7^th on 5-20, and last this past Sunday.

What has increased in Binghamton is his OBP, slugging percentage, and OPS.

My source says the Mets have no immediate plans to move him any higher right now, but they would consider sending him to Queens if there was a major injury to one of the starting outfielders there and the Mets were in a pennant race.

“Conforto is only one year younger than Wilmer Flores”, said my guy, “and team officials feel assured he would hit well at Vegas if sent there. We easily could see him helping the Mets during this pennant race if the team’s players keeps dropping like flies.”

Opinion: You know me. I’ve always been a fan of playing the most talented player. And I’ve been disappointed in Curtis Granderson since he put a Mets uniform on.

I wouldn’t panic here. Let Conforto continue to play AA ball while the team heals. Try to get to the all-star break still in contention and first realign the rotation adding Steven Matz. That should be the first move.

But, I will tell you this. I want this guy competing for a starting outfield job at spring training next April.

MiLB 

I also talked to one of my guys that is ‘involved’ with the St. Lucie Mets and he said that you might see the next promotion to come out of here to be 2B-3B Jeff McNeil.

McNeil moved back to third base when LJ Mazzilli returned, but Mazzilli was promoted to Binghamton on June 6th and now the whole ‘who plays where’ in St. Lucie is all up in the air.

McNeil and has hit well all season in St. Lucie, but his only road now to Binghamton would be through third base.

The Mets are very concerned with the evolution process (or lack of it) of their third base players in the system. Both Jhoan Urena (St. lucie) and Dustin Lawley (Binghamton) have been disappointing so far this season.

McNeil is a carbon copy of Matt Reynolds. Fair fielder, good bat, nice guy. Not really prospect material but so are a lot of other players that have been promoted to Queens these days.

I’m always asked right after the three draft days how well the Mets did. I’m sure this is based on the amount of work I do trying to churn out information to you, my readers, on what the Mets did on these three days.

Frankly, I really have no idea how to project most of the draft picks, especially the high school kids. I will tell you this… it’s a lot easier to project someone that did well for a powerhouse high school like Los Angeles’ Harvard-Westlake, or South Carolina’s Wando. You know they are playing quality competition every night.

This was the problem I had with Brandon Nimmo only playing American Legion ball. And it is also the problem I have with this year’s number one pick, outfielder Desmond Lindsay. What kind of school is ‘Out-Of-Door’ Academy? I understand it’s at the D-3 level. What kind of competition could this be?

Okay, the kid ‘has tools’… God, I’m sick of hearing that expression.

I have to have some faith in the Mets scouting system when it comes to high school players, especially arms. It’s impossible to project any of them three or four years down the road. It’s all high-risk, high-reward, and all you can do is hope they find one great pitcher per draft.

I’ll say this about the draft picks… there are at least two legitimate future major league ballplayers here. LHP (if he signs) Thomas Szapucki may be the steal of the draft… and 3B David Thompson, who led the nation in runs batted in this past season, could someday be the closest thing they find for a legitimate replacement for David Wright.

Past that, steak knives. There did seem to be an overflow of pitchers drafted (especially lefties this time), but there always are a ton of pitchers drafted. Remember, there are an average of 13 pitchers on a 25-man squad.

Is it a good draft. At this point, I really don’t know.