AM I THE ONLY ONE EXCITED? WEEKLY MINORS RECAP: Tom Brennan

AM I THE ONLY ONE EXCITED? WEEKLY MINORS RECAP: Tom Brennan

 

A month of 2016 is now in the books for the Mets' minors lads, spanning early April through early May.  

So what's cooking in our latest episode of: 

ONE MINOR LEAGUE LIFE TO LIVE?

Last week, the bats of Wuilmer Becerra and T J Rivera were too hot for anyone but those 2 individuals to touch.  


In this past week, Becerra continued his thermonuclear hit pace, and T J?  Stayed hot as well.  But he always stays hot.
 

So how are some guys doing?  Let's lift the hood and look at last week's Monday thru Sunday fun and games.

SIX STARS OF THE WEEK: 

Lots of guys hit well.  Let’s pick 6 of them.

2B Dilson Herrera erupted this week going 11 with 3 bombs. Sweet.

 

IF Gavin Cecchini shakes off early offensive doldrums win a 15 for 30 streak in his last 9 games, leaving him flirting with .300.  Excellent.

OF Wuilmer Becerra: Yes, Star of the Week again.  Willie B erupted to .415, with a 20 for 37 explosion in his last 10 games.  Actually, he is an astounding 35 for his last 75. Very, very remarkable. Even more remarkable was him going 2 for 3 Monday, with a HBP and sac fly, to rise further to .424.  But see Ty Kelly below.

SS Amed Rosario: made a fine campaign even finer with his 5 games this past week – 9 hits and 3 walks, boosting the 20 year old budding star up to .328/.370/.526 with 20 RBIs.  Better than his league?  Appears so.  Much better than his 2015 St Lucie #’s: .257/.307/.335.

FIREFLY DYNAMIC DUO: DAVID THOMPSON AND VINNY SIENA: 

 Thompson has a terrific 8 RBIs in his last 5 games, and 35 RBIs in 31 games.  Hitting .303.  15 extra base hits.  Keep banging.

Siena has a ridiculous .366/.496/.495 line in 29 games.  On base 7 times in his last 2 games.  Amazing.

After last night, I add a 7th STAR to the list: Ty Kelly went 4 for 4 Monday night for Vegas and is hitting .427.  FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN, FOLKS!

AAA LAS VEGAS 51'S:  

Vegas hit squad hitting on all cylinders, climbing nearly 30 points in 2 weeks to .280:  

2B Dilson Herrera – co Star of the Week – see above

Gavin Cecchini – co Star of the Week – see above

OF Ty Kelly sits at .394/.494/.521. Amazing. (But see above)

IF TJ Rivera - over his last 22 games, only 2 games without a hit...one in which he only pinch hit, the other where he went 0-1, with a HBP and sac fly.  Hitting a consistent .352.  We should all be so consistent.

Brandon Nimmo has hit .357 over his last 10 games to climb to .262.  Just 6 doubles and a homer so far in the Pop Dept, though.

  

Pitching?  The Sean and Gabe Show rolls on. 

Sean Gilmartin is 4-1, 2.48 after 6 starts, and added a couple of hits in his last outing.  Trying to be the Big Sexy, Vegas style.

Gabe Ynoa has been quietly special, at 3-0, 1.91 after 6 starts with 19 K IN 37 IP.  We should all be so quiet.  Clearly doing a lot right.

Chase Bradford sports a spiffy 0.73 ERA after 9 relief outings.  Chase those bums outa the box! 

Rafael Montero? Sorry, lousy. 6.50 ERA. 10 runs in 9 innings in last two.  (PHEW...5.2 innings of shutout ball last night. Awesome.)

Paul Sewald – always doing well. Nothing ever changes.  In another season, he'd be pitching in Queens.

Dario Alvarez - Dario has K'd 23 in 11.1 IP, with a 7.15 ERA. Cool. I guess.

AA BINGHAMTON METS: 

B Mets hitting just .248.  But that is good for FOURTH in the low offense Eastern League.

Dominic Smith has climbed to 5th in the Eastern League at.295, with a team-leading 23 RBIs in 27 games.  Only 3 Ks in his last 10 contests.

Matt Oberste has been keeping pace with Smith average-wise, as he did last season.  Matt is hitting .287 with 12 ribbies. 

Pitching-wise:

Rob Gsellman has a 1.77 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 6 starts.  

Rainy Lara 2-3, 3.38, last 2 starts very solid.

Tyler Pill?  2-2, 4.25 after 5 starts, the last 3 of which were solid.

The Pen:

Big Logan Taylor 3-0, 1.72, 19 K in 15.2 IP. IMPRESSIVE.

Akeel Morris has strung together 5 straight scoreless relief outings.

A - ST LUCIE METS:  

Some young offensive stars leading the way: 

OF Wuilmer Becerra - see above. My co-star of the week. 

SS Amed Rosario - see above. My co-star of the week. 

Pitchers?  Slow week:

Casey Delgado sat at 4-0, 2.67 with his last start on May 1.  

Remaining really impressive out of the St Lucie pen are Tim Peterson, Kevin McGowan, Al Baldonado, and Ben Griset.

A - COLUMBIA FIREFLIES: 

Two hitting stars that show up every week here:

a.  IF Vinny Siena: see Stars of the Week above

b.  3B David Thompson: see Stars of the Week above

  

1B Dash Winningham and OF Ivan Wilson – neither were blistering last week, but both continue to show promise.  Ivan has gone 19 for 73 (.260) with 12 walks and “just” 24 Ks in his last 23 games, a terrific step forward for the toolsy outfielder from past years’ struggles.

Fire Flies' hurlers struggled a bit this past week, but not one guy.

P J Conlon (4-0, 1.50, 30 IP, 3 BB).  31 H in 30 IP is an area to focus. 

Lots of great stories.

I was excited this week.

I suspect I'll be excited next week too. 

What say you, reader?