THERE'S A BASEBALL WORLD BEYOND QUEENS by Tom Brennan

THERE’S A BASEBALL WORLD BEYOND QUEENS by Tom Brennan

My wife and I dropped a Brazilian friend of at LaGuardia the other day, and drove past Citifield.  While beautiful, and making me thing about our World Series contending Mets, it made me think about more those Metsies, the boys from Queens.

There’s a baseball world beyond Queens, as in the Mets’ farm teams in gambling mecca Las Vegas (pronounced “Lost Wages”), Binghamton, St. Lucie (the patron saint of minor league ball), Columbia, Brooklyn, and Kingsport.  The first 4 teams start up THIS WEEK TOO, while the rest wait until after the draft in June to kick off.

I like to follow those fellas who are in the sticks, doing baseball’s version of an American Idol audition in hopes of being picked the next Queens Idol.  Last year, we got treated to Noah (High Octane) Syndergaard, Steve (Koufax) Matz, Michael (Corleone) Conforto, Kevin (Yogi) Plawecki, and other auditioners becoming Queens Idols. 

I dig following the minor league boys, seeing who might bust through the Flushing doors in 2016 and beyond, from those 6 sub-major locales.

For today, who is on the Las Vegas 51s AAA roster, a mere notch from reaching the big leagues?  Quite an interesting squad.  Here they are, as listed on the 51s website on Tues, April 5, with brief Brennan notes:

PITCHING: No Syndergaard or Matz, but a strong squad:

Name	Pos	Thw
Gabriel Ynoa	P	R	Can he raise his low K rate, or stall at AAA?
Jeff Walters	P	R	Poor spring, time running out.  Needs to show more.
Zach Thornton	P	R	Good, but is he good enough for the next step?
Josh Smoker	P	L	Fireballer needs more command for a ticket to Queens.
Paul Sewald	P	R	Great start vs. Cubs.  Can his stuff get out big leaguers?
Stolmy Pimentel	P	R	He is a AAAA guy…can he get better?
Rafael Montero	P	R	Former phenom – will he get back to that in 2016?
Seth Lugo	P	R	34th rounder in 2011 looks like another Dillon Gee?  Better?
Chase Huchingson	P	L	Does Chase have what it takes to make it up one more rung?
Erik Goeddel	P	R	We’ll see him in Queens in 2016 if he stays healthy.
Sean Gilmartin	P	L	Fine 2015. We’ll see him in Queens in 2016 if he stays healthy.
Chasen Bradford	P	R	Does Chase have what it takes to make it up one more rung?
Dario Alvarez	P	L	Erratic – can he get better and make it back up?

CATCHERS: A decent trio:

Name	Bat	Thw
Nevin Ashley	R	R	AAAA player in case of emergency?
Jeff Glenn	R	R	Has never hit in minors.
Johnny Monell	L	R	Very sad he did not make Mets. Great spring. BB needs 3 catchers.

INFIELD: Some Fine Squad:

Name	Pos	Bat	Thw
Gavin Cecchini	SS	R	R	Former 1st rounder.  Big leagues soon.
Dilson Herrera	2B	R	R	Future Mets 2B.  He’d be starting now if Mets were losing team.
Ty Kelly	2B	S	R	With other guys in system, not sure how much he plays.
Marc Krauss	1B	L	R	A guy with lack of big league success (.188/.255/.344).  AAAA?
Danny Muno	3B	S	R	Did not succeed in 2015.  CROWDED field in 2016.
Matt Reynolds	SS	R	R	Almost made the Mets out of spring.  Keep improving.
T.J. Rivera	SS	R	R	Hit machine who defies odds,  Will make majors somewhere.

OUTFIELD: Good talent:

Name	Pos	Bat	Thw
Roger Bernadina	LF	L	L	More MLB success than Krauss, but on the down side.
Brandon Nimmo	CF	L	R	Will former first rounder break out or break down in 2016?
Travis Taijeron	RF	R	R	Plays Powerball.  Keeps climbing. A huge 2016 would help.

Overall, a whole lotta squad with a lot of ability to win a lot of games, in my opinion, continuing the well above .500 play of Vegas teams over the past few years.

Next article: AA Binghamton B Mets.