Tom Brennan - SPUTTERING LAS VEGAS

Tom Brennan - SPUTTERING LAS VEGAS

The Las Vegas 51s, through Thursday night, were 24-37, which can be classified, by an objective observer such as myself, as not exactly setting the house on fire, pretty stinky.  (UPDATE: After I wrote this article, they got shut out 9-0 on Friday night to fall to 24-38),

The presumption of Vegas being a hitters' paradise where any schmo can pick up a bat and hit like Ty Cobb is proving false in 2017, with the 51s only averaging 4.66 runs per game, only good enough for 9th in the PCL, behind even a few of the teams playing in cities in the non-hitters-paradise eastern half of the US.

Pitching has been a sore spot for the 51s, with them allowing an average of a full run per game more than they are scoring, at 5.64 runs per game. 

The pitching weakness is not surprising, as the Mets from Queens have been utilizing Vegas' higher quality pitchers (not an ace in the bunch) to try to staunch the 2017 pitching bleeding in Queens.

The two Studs have kept the 51s from being horrible:

Dom Smith has played in all 61 games, and Amed Rosario has played in 59.  Both future major leaguers have been the heart of the 51s' offense, hitting .323 and .340, respectively, with a combined 47 extra base hits, 83 RBIs and 74 runs.

The rest of the team is hitting just .248.  After a strong start, Travis Taijeron has lost all steam and slid down to .256. 

Then we have the 2 disappointing first rounders on this team:

Gavin Cecchini hit .325 last year, but is 70 points lower this season, with a very disappointing .353 slugging percentage.  Doesn't scream "promote me, you won't be sorry."

Brandon Nimmo hit .353 last year, and while he has been quite hot of late, is still hitting just a woeful .225 in 33 games in AAA post-rehab.

Phil Evans may have won the AA batting title last season at .335, but thoughts of him building upon that in the AAA hitters' paradise have been way off - he is hitting just .213 in 52 games, making last season appear to be an aberration.

Desmond Jennings started off well, but the former major leaguer (who will turn 31 in a few months) has faded to .235 as the result of a 9 - 65 stretch since May 15.  It is certainly time to bench him in favor of much younger Victor Cruzado, who has hit .289 in 45 spread out at bats post-injury.

Pitching wise, high ERAs abound...the 3 best pitchers (besides Tyler Pill, who at the time of this writing was still with the Mets, and who had a 1.96 ERA in 46 innings for Vegas) have been Kevin McGowan (4.28), Logan Taylor (3.07) and Rafael Montero (the mystery man has thrown 23 innings for Vegas, fanned 32, and sports a 1.57 ERA in 4 starts).

Aside from those guys, the rest of the staff have an ERA of near 6 runs per game.  Ugghh!

So there you have it, the (un)happy recap on the LV 51s.