Mack’s Morning Report – 5-3-16 – Noah Syndergaard, Michael Conforto, Juan Lagares, Amed Rosario, Bartolo Colon

Good morning.

John Harper wrote a good story on the problems Noah Syndergaard is having with base runners stealing on him –

Surely not; if anything, the Mets are better off downplaying the stolen bases and encouraging their 6-foot-6 righthander to embrace his Thor mentality, which was on such ferocious display in his first three starts of the season.

As it is, Syndergaard may already be concerning himself too much with that part of the game. He made a point of seeking out Jacob deGrom for advice on holding runners, after studying how deGrom froze runners in Saturday’s game in part by varying how quickly — or not — he delivered to the plate.

Mack – Sure, there is a problem here and Syndergaard’s delivery is much slower than most other pitchers in baseball… remember all the time everyone spent blaming Travis d’Arnaud on this issue first?... but the main issue should be reminding this guy how special he is and the rare ability he has to keep runner off base in the first place.

Get this kid to concentrate on his pitching, not what’s going on around him. It really doesn’t matter who gets to second if the next batters facing Thor strike out.

Well, the secret is out. Michael Conforto got his own article on Fangraphs Fangraphs -

A casual stroll down the stacks of the FanGraphs hitting leaderboards for outfielders yields many interesting takeaways, but perhaps none more interesting than this: among the top 10 outfielders by wRC+, there’s a 23-year-old who played only 45 games above High-A before being called up to the majors last year. He came into this season with the expectation of being a left-handed platoon bat, and now he’s leading the majors in hard-hit rate and hitting third every day in the sixth-best offensive lineup in baseball. A year can change a lot of things, and it has changed more for Michael Conforto than for just about anyone else in baseball.

Mack – This is a good, deep article and should be read by all Mets fans. It ends with –

Right now, there’s a good way to get Michael Conforto out: put a left-hander on the mound. Short of that, take your best guess, because the book is already outdated.

I disagree. The more you play Conforto against a left-hander, the quicker he will become a well rounded all-star in this game.

I feel sorry for Juan Lagares.  NJ.com does point out that Lagares is making the best out a limited situation, but this guy definitely deserves more than this. –

The 27-year-old right-hander started in right field for only the 10th time in his career and batted leadoff, as the Mets opted to sit Curtis Granderson but kept Michael Conforto in the lineup against tough left-hander Madison Bumgarner.

Lagares converted an eight-pitch at-bat against Bumgarner into a leadoff single in the first and later scored the Mets' lone run of the game on David Wright's RBI single in the seventh. Despite starting only seven games this year, Lagares is now batting .306 (11-for-36) with two doubles, a triple and two RBI in 2016.

Mack – I was wrong about Lagares. I believe he’s a starter in this game and a definite CF gold glover. It’s simply a shame there’s no place in the lineup for him.

Keith Law on SS Amed Rosario –

I think he stays at shortstop. He's got crazy bat speed, too, and you can't teach a kid that kind of skill. You can improve his plate discipline, you can improve his approach, but one thing you can't improve is the physical tools and he's got tools across the board that I think are going to make him a future All Star.

Mack – We’ve talked about a lot of ‘prospects’ that could someday wind up the long term Mets shortstop… Cecchini, Reynolds, Carpio, and the five guys still coming out of the DSL teams.

My money remains on Rosario, the 20-year old that should be heading soon to Binghamton. He’s batting .305 for St. Lucie and tied for 5^th with 16-RBIs (in 23-G). He’s also 3^rd in slugging percentage (.537) which comes from three home runs and five triples.

Did I say he is 20 years old?

Boy, I can’t wait until 2018 when he’s on short with Dilson Herrera on second.


And lastly...

I had written a whole segment on how I feel that the Mets might be missing an opportunity here in not making Logan Verrett the SP5 until Zack Wheeler can prove he's ready to come back. I suggested that Bartolo Colon be moved to the pen which I'm sure, as a team player, he would go along with.

Then he pitched last night against the Braves...

Err... never mind.