Tom Brennan - YOUNG METS DUDES IN SPRING TRAINING – REPORT CARD
How are our young dudes A/K/A wannabes doing?
(Definition: a guy is a wannabe if he does not have a lock on the Mets’ 25 man
opening day roster). I broke them into 3 categories:
CATEGORY 1: Playing So Danged Good Even Vet-Loving Terry Collins Must Be Impressed
Boy, the top Category #1 is oh so C..R..O..W..D..E..D. Six hitters, 10 pitchers.
Philip Evans – two
Brooks Robinson quality plays at 3B and a solo homer and a grand slam, all in
his first 10 plate appearances? Says Phil: "HELLO! Just letting you know last year's AA batting title was no fluke."
Amed Rosario – so
far, the 5 for 13 bat is saying, “you can make me wait if you have to, but I am ready for the
big leagues RIGHT NOW.”
Michael Conforto –
would be a 25 man lock if the Mets did not have a bazillion outfielders, but he
is swinging with AUTHORITY in the early going.
I still see a future star in Mr. Conforto. 8 for 16 with a double and 2 homers shouts "I'M BACK!!"
Gavin Cecchini - hey, 6 for 11 and 2 walks, with just one K? A double and a homer, and a steal? This guy sure seems to be trying to force the issue. Give us some adequate 2nd base defense and we are going to have to think about him as a legit starting IF in the bigs for 2018.
Brandon Nimmo - 8 for 18 (.444). Unfortunately, his slugging % is also .444, but a very nice start from a guy I surely hope can show us more than singles.
Matt Reynolds - on base 6 of 11 times so far. He is competing in a very crowded infield scenario.
Seth Lugo - pitched great last year, and 5 fine scoreless innings already this spring. In many years, he'd be a lock for the starting rotation.
Rob Gsellman - at the risk of sounding repetitive, pitched great last year, and 2 fine scoreless innings already this spring. In many years, he'd be a lock for the starting rotation.
Raffles Montero - hopefully, Raffie has a winning lottery raffle ticket to the Mets' squad this spring: 6 innings so far of 1 hit shutout ball with 8 Ks.
PJ Conlon - 2 (what else) scoreless innings...he never cared much for people putting their feet on plates, something he learned back in Belfast.
Paul Sewald - 3 hitless innings so far - what does a guy have to do to impress folks around here, anyway?
Josh Smoker - tossing fireballs, he has tossed 3.1 shutout, one hit innings. The big lefty is looking to go north with the big club.
Adam Wilk - 3.2 scoreless innings, 4 Ks, just 2 hits, no BBs. So far, so great.
Ben Rowan - 2 scoreless. 1 hit, 2 K innings.
And finally, the TAYLORS (Logan and Corey) - both with 3 innings of 1 hit, shutout ball. Nice.
Gavin Cecchini - hey, 6 for 11 and 2 walks, with just one K? A double and a homer, and a steal? This guy sure seems to be trying to force the issue. Give us some adequate 2nd base defense and we are going to have to think about him as a legit starting IF in the bigs for 2018.
Brandon Nimmo - 8 for 18 (.444). Unfortunately, his slugging % is also .444, but a very nice start from a guy I surely hope can show us more than singles.
Matt Reynolds - on base 6 of 11 times so far. He is competing in a very crowded infield scenario.
Seth Lugo - pitched great last year, and 5 fine scoreless innings already this spring. In many years, he'd be a lock for the starting rotation.
Rob Gsellman - at the risk of sounding repetitive, pitched great last year, and 2 fine scoreless innings already this spring. In many years, he'd be a lock for the starting rotation.
Raffles Montero - hopefully, Raffie has a winning lottery raffle ticket to the Mets' squad this spring: 6 innings so far of 1 hit shutout ball with 8 Ks.
PJ Conlon - 2 (what else) scoreless innings...he never cared much for people putting their feet on plates, something he learned back in Belfast.
Paul Sewald - 3 hitless innings so far - what does a guy have to do to impress folks around here, anyway?
Josh Smoker - tossing fireballs, he has tossed 3.1 shutout, one hit innings. The big lefty is looking to go north with the big club.
Adam Wilk - 3.2 scoreless innings, 4 Ks, just 2 hits, no BBs. So far, so great.
Ben Rowan - 2 scoreless. 1 hit, 2 K innings.
And finally, the TAYLORS (Logan and Corey) - both with 3 innings of 1 hit, shutout ball. Nice.
CATEGORY 2: Not Too Shabby So Far
The other was a deftly snagged, quickly flying bat, snatched out of thin air in the dugout as others ran for their lives that got national attention (heck, I saw it on the Breitbart website, not typically a sports site).
Luis IS CLEARLY a defensive wizard. 165 pounds when signed, 190 now (a weight Bud Harrelson never came close to), so the 5’9”, 22 year old Luis may show some more pop as his minor league season progresses. He's 2 for 9 and a walk so far, just one strikeout.
Dominic Smith - just 2 for 13 so far, but his walks give him a .353 OB %. Most likely needs another full season in the minors, where he'll turn 22 in June.
CATEGORY 3: Whoever Said This Game Wasn’t Hard?
Champ Stuart - some are big fans of the fanning, fleet OF, but his 7 outs so far? All by strikeout.
Travis Taijeron - 1 for 7 with 2 walks, and 4 Ks. Another man who fans too much, sadly.
Kevin McGowan - in a camp where virtually all young pitchers have done great, he has struggled early: 3 innings, 7 runs...was not going to make the Mets in 2017 anyway, so it is a learning experience for Mac G/
9 comments:
The article popped up unfinished, so I finished it - read it and be impressed by our young wannabes.
I think of the young dudes (nice Mott the Hoople reference, BTW), the offensive ones had better not spend on cold weather gear for April. T.J. Rivera will likely go north due to the DL stint by David Wright.
On the pitcher side of the ledger, I think Lugo and Gsellman both come north with RG in the rotation and SL in the pen. I am watching closely how Erik Goeddel fares because his slot is the one Rafael Montero could sneak in and steal if Goeddel is not fully healed yet. Smoker will come north.
I'm starting a new feature that will post up every Sunday at 8am. It will recap the past week in MetLand and my thoughts.
I have a bunch to say about this tomorrow morning.
Great...look forward to it
Carry the news:
stick a fork in Mssrs. Stuart & Taijeron. Tai even strikes out in RF.
Give their LV gigs Victor Cruzado. Seriously
Movie, soon time to think of moving on from those 2.
Hobie, soon time to think of moving on from those 2.
Another good game for the kiddies today, and a great first outing for Jake.
An acknowledgment of Luis Guillorme: I had him at 36 due to extremely low triple and HR power. Saw him today on TV...he took action. He worked the body and looks very strong, Luis already has a triple and HR this spring. I move him up 20 slots to mid-teens on my list, and congratulate him for doing what is needed to improve and perhaps correct an offensive deficiency. Nice to see Taijeron get 4 hits today too.
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