MAJORING ON THE MINORS WHO'S HOT - SHORT SEASON TEAMS - Tom Brennan
“Here we be”,
Steve Somers…I know you read these missives.
“How I be?” you ask? “I be well,
thanks, Steve.”
Earth to Tom,
come in please. I'm OK. Just late season delirium.
Yes indeed. We’re late in
2015 short season ball heaven. So:
Which Mets minor leaguers do I think have stood up and loudly proclaimed:
"You want a hot ballpayer?
I'm it!"
Here's my top 11:
Jeff Diehl (Bklyn 3B): on a team with by far the worst NY Penn League offense (.217), Jeff is a 6'4", 200 1B who has hit .279/.408/.457. Not bad at all. His 52 Ks in 47 games needs work.
Alex Palsha (Bklyn RP): 20 GMs, 0.40, 12 SVs, 10 H, 29 Ks in 20 IP. Fantastic.
PJ Conlon (Bklyn RP): season's 80% over, and his ERA is 0.00. 14 IP, 5 H, 20 K. PJ is more than A OK.
Pat Mazelka (K-port C): the MVP (IMO) of all of Mets’ short season ball so far: .363/.454/.564, just 1 error, low Ks, high RBIs.
Kevin Kaczmarski (K-port OF): an excellent .350/.407/.486, ZERO errors in 55 games, 17 for 25 in steals. Close to the best.
Luis Carpio (K-port SS): just turned 18, hitting .312 with a .388 on base %. Nine steals, 6 errors in 36 games. Defense at SS does not count until you turn 19.
Dash Winningham (K-port 1B): seventeen doubles, 12 homers, 49 RBIs in 58 contests. Impressive indeed.
Nabil Crismatt (K-port SP): 6-1, 2.41, 10 BB, 56 K in 56 IP.
Tom McIlraith (K-port SP): 4-1, sub-2.00 ERA. Terrific.
Desmond Lindsay (GCL OF): .323/.413/.495 in about 75-80 PAs. Off to Brooklyn for a season-ending cameo. Bravo.
Max Wotell (GCL RP): only 10.2 IP, but just 2 H, 16 K. Nice ratios there. But high 9 BBs, which I am certain will come down in 2016.
So there is my top 11, folks.
But as an addendum, Kingsport relievers have not been lights out, but they love to strike folks out. Eusebio Arias, Seth Davis, Witt Haggard, Joe Shaw, Dillon Becker, and Chase Ingram have combined for 75 IP and 122 Ks. Hopefully a diamond or two in the rough in that group of six.
That's all for today, folks.
I want to be excited about Kaczmarski, but his being 23 already really puts a damper on this numbers - I need to see him repeat this in Columbus and St Lucie next year
ReplyDeleteWinningham seems to have legit power and (unlike the others) is clearly age appropriate for this league
I agree with Lew......
ReplyDeleteThere's only so much eexcitement we can have for guys in their 20s dominating rookie ball.
For example nobody in the organization seemed to care when Cecchini was hitting .250 all year last year at that higher level.
And nobody seems to care about the .250ish hitting of Roasario this year in st Lucie.
Numbers dont necessarily mean a heck of a lot in the minors, especially low minors.
Lew, I think Mazelka at 21 for Kingsport is OK. Not too old. I'd like to see him jump to St Lucie like Conforto did to start next season. Kaczmarski should, as you say, go to Savannah (along with Dash), and hopefully scorch there. Seems the outfield trio of Becerra, Biondi, and Mora should open the season in St Lucie. And for first base, Oberste to AA, and Katz to Lucie to allow Dash to play every day in Savannah.
ReplyDeleteI'd put Smith in AAA to start next year and let him grow into it. While Brandon Allen has had a good year, Smith is the future. Maybe Allen goes elsewhere and Boyd backs up Smith. Boyd has had a disappointing year power-wise. I no longer see him as a future major leaguer unless something changes.
If Conforto can jump to majors from St Lucie, with a brief stop in Bingo, Smith can go straight to AA.
Smith straight to AAA, that is.
ReplyDeleteErnest, I will say this for Kaczmarski. He is hitting .350, but far higher the last month (.397). In my opinion, he likely could hit .250 in St Lucie right now.
ReplyDeleteI hear that Carpio might be the real deal. Probably as a 2nd baseman.
ReplyDelete