APPALACHIAN HIT SQUAD – Tom Brennan
I love offense. The NY Mets have turned
from offensive jelly beans to juggernauts over the past month. Millions of Mets
fans smile, while Nat fans sweat.
Offense is sugar, and as long time Mets fan
Julie Andrews once sang, "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go
down." (Well, maybe it is the Metropolitan Opera "Met" that she
loves, but let's not quibble. Mary loves
the way the Mets are Poppin homers).
Another Mets squad (one not playing in
rarified western air) that has some slugging to smile about is the Kingsport Met team. A fine-tuned offensive assault unit. A hit-generating hit squad.
In case you haven't noticed, here's what is
generating Mets smiles down south (league-wide rankings in parens):
BATTING
AVERAGE:
Pat
Mazelka .353 (1st)
Kevin Kaczmarski .349 (2nd)
Luis Carpio .312 (9th)
DOUBLES:
Pat
Mazelka - 27 (1st, next guy is 6 behind him)
Dash Winningham - 17 (#5)
Kevin
Kaczmarski - 14 (tied for 10th)
RBIs:
Dash
Winningham - 49 (ranked #1)
Pat
Mazelka - 47 (#2; next guy has 43)
STOLEN BASES:
Kevin
Kaczmarski - 18 (ranked #2, leader has 20)
RUNS:
Kevin
Kaczmarski - 43 (2nd, leader has 47)
Pat
Mazelka - 40 (7th)
SLUG %:
Pat
Mazelka - .549 (2nd)
Dash
Winningham - .505 (#8)
Kevin
Kaczmarski - .485 (#11)
Pat
Mazelka .447 (#1)
Kevin
Kaczmarski .414 (#5)
Luis
Carpio .382 (#11)
Who are these terrific 4 guys who
are atop the Appalachian League charts?
·
Pat Mazelka: 8th rounder this season, a
6’3”, 215 left hitting catcher, who at 21 years of age has played 29 games
behind the dish, 11 at 1B, and the remainder as DH. Just one error. The likely player of the year in the
Appalachian League.
·
Kevin Kaczmarski: 9th rounder this
season, a 6’0”, 190 lefty hitting OF, who at 23 years of age has played mostly
LF (11 games in CF). No errors! 4 OF assists.
·
Dash Winningham: 8th rounder in 2014,
and is just 19 in his 2nd season.
A lefty bopper listed at 6’2”, 230. Five errors in 50 games at 1B.
·
Luis Carpio was an international signing in 2013
for $300K (he was ranked the #30 international prospect at that point).
Recently turned 18, the righty hitter has hit great for his age, and has made 6
errors in 20 starts at SS, and 2 errors in 15 games at 2B, not an unusual rate
for a guy his age.
Besides the above four, a note
on a potentially promising hitter who has struggled.
Ivan
Wilson, a toolsy high draft pick out of high school in 2013, has struck out
at a truly high rate so far in his career, but “just” 13 in his last 12 games,
a dramatic drop for him. And he hit .176
in 2014, .250 so far this year, another promising sign. Hopefully, he is figuring things out in
regards to making more consistent contact. When he does, he's dangerous.
Keep it up, fellas.
6 comments:
I've been keeping one eye on Ivan Wilson this season (ok, on the box scores) as he's slowly seemed to figure things out a bit. Still a long way to go from a contact perspective, but the power-speed combo is intriguing if he can get it together.
Wilson will play 2016 as a 21 year old.
He needs to have a banner year for a full season team (I expect Columbia) in order to turn some internal heads
Right now, Wilson in my mind is clearly behind Mazelka, Winningham, Kaczmarski and Carpio in terms of true prospect status. Hopefully he catches up.
At 21 & 23 are some of these guys old for this league. How does t,he league compare to NY Penn?
Hey Natalie -
21 is about as old as you want to be at this level. Remember... over 24 is no longer considered a prospect and you still have Brooklyn + 4 full season teams to go.
23 is just plain stupid, but they Mets do tend to send a fair amount of players this age to the rookie teams below Brooklyn... especially the late round 'roster fillers'.
Thanks Mac.. BTW, it's Natale, the male version not Natalie. You are not the first person to make that mistake.
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