AM I THE ONLY ONE EXCITED? WEEKLY MINOR LEAGUE RECAP - Tom Brennan

AM I THE ONLY ONE EXCITED?  WEEKLY MINOR LEAGUE RECAP  - Tom Brennan

As I noted last week, in the past 2 years that I've been writing for Mack’s Mets, the Mets' minor league teams collectively have been far above .500, and I suspect (without checking) that those teams had the best collective win-loss records of any organization in baseball over that time span. No complaints there!  The Mets promoted, and traded, a slew of minor league fellas, especially of the pitching persuasion, in 2015…but it's a new day and a new season down under.

Sooooo....how's 2016 going? What went on last week?

So far, through Sunday's games, AAA Las Vegas is 5-4; Binghamton post-snow is 5-3; St Lucie with no snow is 7-4; and Columbia is close to .500 at 5-6.  A combined 22-17, which ain't shabby.

How'd they do in this first full week (Mon. through Sun., Apr. 11-17), after the opening short week?  Some guys did great, some not so great. Like most weeks.

One not-so-great aspect is the dead ball era lives in Mets Minors Land, with the 4 squads tallying just 13 homers in 39 contests so far. I love the long ball, and so I don't love that.

STARS OF THE WEEK: 

PTICHERS!  The best of the best for this week were the starting pitchers, especially Sean Gilmartin, the Giz (Rob Gsellman), and Mickey Jannis. And Tim Peterson has been sterling out of the pen in St Lucie, too. Others excelled as well.  Read more on these cool cats below.

AAA LAS VEGAS 51'S: I think this 5-4 Vegas team has real offensive potential, but is slower out of the gate than the teams from 2014 and 2015, which both exceeded 6 runs per contest in the early season.  The 2016 squad is way off, hitting just .256 with 4 homers and 43 runs, with a .369 slugging %, in 9 contests. 

The week featured a great start by misplaced major leaguer (we want you back) Sean Gilmartin (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 8 Ks, 0.84), another great one by Gabe Ynoa (6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2.38 ERA), and yet another fine outing by Seth Lugo, who bounced back from a tough first start with 6 innings of 1 run, no walk, 6 K ball.  Tossing mighty well out of the pen is Paul Sewald, naturally, with 5.1 innings of 3 hit, one walk, 7 K ball so far, and 2-0 Chase Bradford (1.29, 7 IP).  Not so well?  Dario Alvarez (13.50).

No 51's hitters had a dazzling week, but Roger Bernadina, Travis Taijeron, TJ Rivera, and Matt Reynolds are all hitting well, and Matt is still catching his breath after tripling twice in one of the weekend's games.  Matt and Johnny Monell, however, cooled down after the season-opening week.

Disappointing so far are the "highly rateds": Gavin Cecchini, Brandon Nimmo, and Dilson Herrera combined are hitting .220 in 91 at bats, no HRs and 6 RBIs.  Slugger Marc Krauss is off to a bad, high K start as well. 

AA BINGHAMTON METS: Ah, warmth returned to the Northeast, relatively speaking, and helped spur a strong week for the B Mets, despite lackluster hitting in their first 8 games (.251, 3 homers).  

Journeymen Niuman Romero and Derrick Gibson each have played in 7 of the 8 games and been on base a combined 29 times, good for a .450 OB %. The only 2 hitters doing poorly are another first rounder, Dominic Smith (.194 in 36 ABs) and Stephan Sabol going 3 for 22.  Jeff McNeil has been in just 3 games to date.

Pitching-wise, Rob "the Giz" Gsellman followed his first week gem with another nearly-as-fine start and sits at 1-0, 1.46.  Rainy Lara tossed 5 innings of 7 hit shutout ball in his first start, Kelly Secrest has been solid in the pen, and Akeel Morris had one bad outing to taint his early stats. 

Logan Taylor has been strong early, tossing 4 shutout innings in a recent start, and Mickey Jannis nearly knuckled his way to a no hitter before faltering a bit late, but still getting the win.  Tyler Pill has now been miserable thru 2 starts (8.38 ERA) but he started poorly last year too, then ran off a slew of consecutive wins for the B Mets.   Let's go, Tyler. 

 

A - ST LUCIE METS:  This 7-4 juggernaut went 4-3 on the week, after getting shellacked on Sunday, and 2 hit to boot.   Hitting has not gotten them where they are, as they sit at .242 with a mere 3 HRs in 11 games. The pitchers, tho', sport a 3.18 ERA and an impressive 108 Ks in 99 IP.

Top prospect Amed Rosario went hitless, like most everyone, on Sunday, slipping under .300 at .298.  Tomas Nido declared that hitting .400 was cake as he was sitting at, well, exactly .400. 

Casey Delgado and Ricky Knapp are each 2-0. Corey Oswalt and Chris Flexen's starts in week 2 went much better than the bad ones in week one, thank you for asking.  The ugly side: Scarlyn Reyes is 0-2, 10.57.

Impressive out of the pen are Tim Peterson (5 IP, 1 H, 10 K) and Kevin McGowan (8.1 IP, 2.16, 13 Ks). Oh, let's not forget hard throwing Al Baldonado (4.2 IP, 1.93, 7 Ks).

A - COLUMBIA FIREFLIES: Another Mets Minors squad that is allergic to the long ball, so far, with a scant 3 dingers in the first 11 contests.  Can't blame the weather.  The two hitting stars so far have been IF Vinny Siena, who's been on base almost 50% of the time (not shabby) Anne 3B David Thompson, hitting .333 with 7 extra base hits in the early going.

Ivan Wilson has not hit well yet, but it is great to report that his strikeouts are relatively low so far (struck out 13 times in 43 PAs), and just 5 Ks in his 6 starts last week.   Keep it up, Ivan.

Kevin Kacsmarski, Jeff Diehl, Milton Ramos, and Dash Winningham are all off to slow starts but promise to do better.

The Fire Flies' Flingers who are doing well include Joltin' Joe Shaw (2-0, 1.50, 16 Ks in 12 IP) and Chase Ingram (1-0, 1.80, 15 Ks in 10 IP).  Let's not forget Stingy Tom McIlraith, allowing just 2 hits in his first 10.2 IP.

 

Lots of great stories. Can't wait to do next week's update.