Mack’s Morning Report – 10-18-15 – Desmond Lindsay, Fan Fight, Utley Revenge, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Reynolds

Good morning.

 Rotographs thoughts on OF Desmond Lindsay – 

The ’15 Draft Pick: Desmond Lindsay, OF: The Mets didn’t pick until the second round of the 2015 draft but the club found Lindsay available and snapped him up. A Florida prep star, he had a solid pro debut and showed a little bit of everything. With that said, he struggled to make consistent contact at times and whiffed 40 times in 35 games. A strong spring could push him to full-season ball but he might need some time in extended spring training to work on his contact and pitch-recognition issues.

Mack – Obviously, it is far too early to project Lindsay; however, we said the same thing about Michael Conforto this time last year. The difference here is his age and the fact that he will only play 2016 at 19-years old.

My guess is he will be extremely lucky to start the 2016 season in Columbia, but, right now, he looks like a good draft pick.

I missed this one from  ABC News LA -

A violent fight broke out between Dodgers and Mets fans outside of Dodger Stadium, leaving a Mets fan in critical condition Friday night. Witnesses said the New York Mets fan was punched and then fell, hitting his head. The fight happened in the stadium parking lot after the National League Division Series opener between the two teams. People rushed to help the victim and one person, Maria Cerecer, caught the scene on camera.

Mack – I have attended a lot of sports events in my life and I think the dumbest thing in the world is for a fan of the opposing team to get drunk, wear his colors, and then depart the event surrounded by local fans of the other team.

I’m sure there was an Utley remark somewhere here and I hope those on both sides are okay in the long run, but frankly, moderate your drink and keep your mouth shut as you head to your car.

Tim Kurkjian said on ESPN that the Mets will eventually retaliate for the bogus Chase Utley slide, be it in the last game of this series, or the first game of next year. The thing about waiting until next year is both Utley and manager Don Mattingly could both be gone and it just won’t have the same effect.

Frankly, the moment has past. You saw Monday night that even a 10-3 lead came close to not being enough.

I would move on here.

Most of us Mets fans know the story about Noah Syndergaard’s slider, but  Jeff Sullivan added his thoughts, including this about that explosive first inning in Game 2 - 

One thing to talk about: Syndergaard made an immediate impression. There’s evidence that pitchers throw harder in the playoffs, and Syndergaard didn’t do much to hide his own adrenaline. According to Brooks Baseball, during the year, Syndergaard’s fastball averaged 98.1 miles per hour in the first inning, and 97.7 in the second. Against the Dodgers, it averaged 100.2 in the first inning, and 99.5 in the second before settling down. Of Syndergaard’s 20 fastest pitches of the year, he threw 13 on Saturday, all in the first three frames. Syndergaard was very conspicuously feeling it, and it took the Dodgers a while to catch up.

And lastly, Chris Mitchell Chris MItchell had this to say about Matt Reynolds –

Reynolds spent the 2015 season in Triple-A Las Vegas, where he hit .267/.319/.402 in 115 games. There wasn’t much remarkable about Reynolds’ minor league line this year. His power and walk numbers were both worse than the PCL average, and he struck out a bit much for someone with so little else going for him offensively. He showed a touch of speed with his 13 stolen bases, but not enough to really get excited about. For what it’s worth, he hit a much better .335/.395/.444 in 2014, when he split time between Double-A and Triple-A, although those numbers were inflated by a .407 BABIP. If you strip away some of that BABIP luck, Reynolds’ 2014 numbers look awfully similar to those from 2015.

Due to his unremarkable stat line, KATOH isn’t particularly enthused with Reynolds’ game. My system pegs Reynolds for just 1.4 WAR through age 28, and gives him just a 8% chance of accumulating even just 4 WAR over that span. The statistical comps, calculated by way of some Mahalanobis distance calculations, share KATOH’s pessimism.