Tom Brennan – RIGHTEOUS RIGHTIES

Tom Brennan – RIGHTEOUS RIGHTIES

The word RIGHTEOUS on the internet was noted to be defined as “(of a person or conduct) morally right or justifiable; virtuous.” A more informal definition given is “very good; excellent, e.g., righteous bread pudding".   I happen to love bread pudding, righteous or otherwise.

I also love “righteous” (very good to excellent) Mets minors righty prospects.  Which do I like the most?  Well, after writing about Progressive Lefties a few days ago, I knew you’d righteously ask me that question, and I will attempt to answer it equally righteously.  All right?  All right.

Righteous righties can throw fastballs with righteous anger, with anger levels detected by a radar gun.

 We sure have some fire-breathing fireballers at the big league level (Thor, Harvey, Jake, Zach, Gsellman, Lugo, Familia, Robles, and Reed) can all bring the cheese.  But this is about the minor leaguers, so let's quit dawdling, Tom, OK?  

OK, OK, relax, chill out, will ya, here's my Righteous Righty Twelve:

PAUL SEWALD - OK, he does not throw righteous high heat, but he is righteously effective, including an excellent AAA seaon in 2016.  Need more details?  See one of the 20 or so 2016 articles I did on Sir Paul.

LOGAN TAYLOR - hard thrower and big guy who had a very solid but not great year in AA.  2017 may tell us whether Mr. Taylor makes it to Queens.  In 2016, he pitched really well early on, but struggled after June, but still finished with an impressive 99 Ks in 86 IP.

TIM PETERSON - is a hard throwing right reliever, who is 12-4, 3.59 in 139 career outings with 250 Ks in 205 IP; throwing in A and AA last year, he K’d 85 in 62 IP and has good control – he should be fascinating to watch in 2017.

LUIS MATEO – while less impressive on strikeouts than Peterson, Luis, will turn 27 in March, having missed the better part of 2 seasons with the ubiquitous Tommy John surgery.   But in the year plus that he pitched in 2015 and 2016 (mostly in AA), he fanned 76 in 89 IP, and in 68 relief appearances, compiled a nifty 2.41 ERA.

KEVIN MCGOWAN – K Mack missed April and May in 2016, but when he pitched (38 relief outings, 4 starts), he was real good – 5-1, 2.35, and a K per inning.  He also pitched an effective 1.2 innings in Las Vegas, which he will probably someday he will tell his grandkids about (yep, boys, I went into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and I survived).  A Pelfrey-sized righty.

COREY TAYLOR – a man of girth at 5’11”, 245, Taylor closed for St Lucie in 2016, and saved 20 of 23, and has a 1.77 ERA after 63 outings spanning 2 years, following his 7th round selection in 2015. 61 K’s in 71 innings – his 2017 in AA should be a good test for him.

BEN GRISET - this righty reliever was outstanding for St Lucie in 2016, with a 1.80 ERA in 32 outings spanning 60 innings with a sweet 68 Ks in 60 IP, all even more impressive than his stint in Savannah the year before, when he tossed to a 2.97 ERA.  He is sure to be a Rumble Pony in 2017.

TYLER BASHLOR – after real challenging arm issues caused him to miss not months but seasons, he made it back in 2016 in A ball, and did very nicely, with 73 Ks in 55 IP; 4-3, 2.75 ERA in relief.  Perhaps he will close for St Lucie in 2017.

COREY OSWALT – he also had injury issues making him miss part of 2016, but he did fan 71 in 69 innings, for St Lucie, mostly.  He has a somewhat high career WHIP of 1.30, and he may show himself less than sufficiently righteous, but I thought the same about Matt Koch, and he made the majors successfully in 2016. 2017 will be big for Corey, who pitched well in the AFL the fall, too.

JUSTIN DUNN – the 2016 first round selection had a great innings-restricted debut in Brooklyn (30 IP, 35 K, 1.50 ERA).  Probably the righteously hardest thrower in this entire group, topping out in the high 90s, he should rocket towards the bigs very quickly.

HAROL GONZALEZ – he had a truly dominant stretch in Brooklyn in 2016.  Despite allowing an uncharacteristic 4 runs in 3.2 innings in his last outing, he finished up 7-3, 2.01 with 85 Ks in 83 IP.  His buddy Merandy Gonzalez did well too.

JOE ZANGHI – tough looking guy (his photo reminds me of Harvey), he had one heckuva relief season in Brooklyn (8 for 8 saves, 1.23 ERA, and a jaw-dropping 45 Ks in 29.1 IP).  Let’s see how the 2015 24th round overachiever  handles full season ball.

Lots of competent righties...but few are like our big league team’s ultra-righteous cannons - how many of these prospects are truly righteous enough to make the bigs remains to be seen.