Mack’s Morning Report – 4-13 – Jose Reyes, Merandy Gonzalez, Robert Gsellman, Wilfredo Boscon, Colin Holderman

Good morning.

I’m back home from my road trip to Clemson, so I should be able to spend a little more time with my Thursday report this week.

Jose Reyes –

Maybe I should have saved this for one of the ‘Questions Of The Week’ feature, but I’m starting to get quite concerned at the lack of production coming from our leadoff hitter. A team can never shake the reputation of being a homer driven offense unless the guy that hits first gets on base. Reyes isn’t doing this. In fact, Reyes isn’t doing much of anything. And any thoughts of replacing him are premature and would send the wrong signals to your entire team. No, we are going to have to wait this out and hope a hot streak at least raises his batting average by the end of April to the Mendoza line.

Give the guy a few days off and let Wilmer fill in on third. The rest and the fun on the bench will help clear his head.

Merandy Gonzalez –

John Calvagno of Notes From The Sally wrote this about our MM’s buddy, Merandy:

Gonzalez stands on the 1st base side of the rubber. He has a simple delivery that he repeats well, he finishes with his momentum going toward home plate.  He has a fast arm and despite being 6’1″ he gets to a decent plane due to his high 3/4 release point.  The effort level with the delivery is medium.

The Fastball- Sat 92-94 early (touched 95) fairly straight but it was coming down hill.  Mostly 90-91 in the 6th inning, not to much of a drop off. 

Conclusion:  I enjoyed watching Merandy work, he’s got a nice 3 pitch mix and upside to be a number 3 or 4 starter.

Mack – Gonzalez is one of the nine full season prospect pitchers I have targeted (Knapp, Flexen, Conlon, Dunn, Kay, Szapucki, Humphreys,    Harol Gonzalez) for major league potential. He’s pitching at the A-Rookie level at 21-years old, so there is a certain amount of need to get this guy moved to the next level before the season ends.

Robert Gsellman -

 Bernie Pleskoff  had a scouting report on Robert Gsellman on Fanrag –

SCOUTING PHRASE FOR GSELLMAN: A savvy right-handed starter with improving command and control of a full and fine repertoire.

SCOUTING GRADE FOR GSELLMAN: 55 – An above-average member of a starting rotation.

CONCLUSIONS - A sound and savvy starting pitcher, Gsellman offers the Mets a true rotation starter waiting in the wings to help when needed. Projecting to have a terrific future, the right-hander has many of the same qualities as the very highly-regarded Jacob deGrom. Gsellman has little to prove. He can step in right away when needed in the Mets rotation.

Mack – This is the kind of scouting report you usually read about your prime cut starter at the AAA level waiting to burst through. I love it! He and deGrom prove that you can’t draft enough quality arms, at any level of the draft. DeGrom was a 9th round ex-shortstop. Gsellman was drafted in the 13th round.

Wilfredo Boscan –

We probably may have to learn a little more about the 27-year old that threw five innings of scoreless ball against El Paso on Monday.

Boscan was born in Venezuela and was originally signed by the Texas Rangers in 2006 as a 16-year old. He pitched through their DSL team and five other affiliates, rising as high as AA in 2013 (San Antonio, 5-G, 4.26). He then bounced around various organizations (San Diego, Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta), and actually ended last season pitching in Pittsburgh for the Pirates (6-G, 6.46).

Boscon signed with the Mets during the off-season and as assigned to Las Vegas.

Known as a ground ball pitcher, Boscan throws an 88-90 fastball, a curve, and a changeup, all of which have been scouted as ‘average’.

Colin Holderman –

Speaking of pitchers we barely know, let me introduce you to the guy that tossed 11-Ks in 6-IP (16.50-K/9) for Columbia on Monday night.

Colin Holderman is a 21-year old 6-5 righty that had a meh year in 2015 for Southern Illinois (12-G, 4-starts, 2-3, 7.68) and then seems to have made a smart move prior to the 2016 season. He took a step back, transferred to Heartland Community College (ILL), and put up numbers like 12-starts, 8-1, 1.57, 0.97, 11.14-K/9. The assumption would be that his coach worked the phones with teams scouts, one of the Mets dudes came to town, and Holderman was drafted in the 9^th round last year.

The pool allotment for that pick was $163,700, but the Mets offered Holderman $400,000, $236,300 over slot. Obviously, they didn’t want this kid to return to school for his senior year. He also was the earlier over slot player in last year’s draft. Interesting.

So far, he has been completely off the Mets prospect ranking radar, but so was players like Jacob deGrom and Robert Gsellman when they were first drafted.

We will keep one eye on this guy.