SATURDAY IS CHURCH DAY

SATURDAY IS CHURCH DAY by Tom Brennan

Usually, for the church-going faithful, Sunday in Church Day.

Yesterday, on Saturday, it was Church Day in Mets Land.

Andrew Church spun a brilliant 1 hit shutout, needing just 99 pitches, allowing just 1 walk and fanning 10 for the Columbia Fireflies. 

He is now 5-1, 2.38 in 9 starts this year, with an 0.99 WHIP.   Great control this year in all but one start, too.

After a rough and injury-plagued 2013-15, the 2nd round 21 year old righty is looking like, well, a 2nd rounder.  

Who else is doing well, in case you did not know?  

Here's a few:

Amed Rosario and Dom Smith - the 2 future major league stars (hopefully).  20 year old Amed is hitting .331 in 85 games, including a fabulous .414 thru 19 games in AA.  Smith in 87 games in AA has a splendid 62 RBIs, and emerging power to go with an average closing in on .290, nice for a guy who just turned 21.

PJ Conlon is a stunning 11-1, 1.94, split between St Lucie and Columbia.  In relief for Brooklyn last year, an ERA of 0.00, with which I found 0.00 things to critique.  This guy may be someone special, possibly another John Tudor?  I'm getting a little crazy here, I know, but we're both Irish.

Kevin Kacsmarski (last year's 9th rounder) tore up Kingsport in 2015.  Bypassing Brooklyn in 2016, the OF started slow with Columbia, then hit the DL - but once off it, he hit nearly .300 for 2 months, and has gone 7 for 16 for St. Lucie post-promo.  He seems to have a lot of Nimmo in him.

The high end Kingsport lefties, Tom Szapucki and Max Wotell, are totally getting it done as their season approaches the 1 month point.  Both have lots of Ks and really low ERAs, and may be bringing really high excitement to Queens within a few years.

Lastly, 17 year old SS Andres Giminez signed for big bucks and is hitting .350 with 15 extra base hits in 32 games in the DSL.  Could he possibly turn into Amed II?  Time will tell,

That's it, folks…happy Sunday.