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4/30/18

Mack - Some 'Minor' Observations: Starting Pitching




Good morning.

Las Vegas –

Chris Flexen 

                        Monday:        4-IP, 5-H, 2-ER, 3-K, 0-BB, 3.79

Flexen was the back end of a Jason Vargas piggyback and he did fairly well, considering it was in the Vegas atmosphere. Anybody with an ERA under four in that league is alright in my book.

Saturday:      5.2-IP, 7-H, 2-ER, 6-K, 1-BB, WIN (2-1), 3.65

The object of any starter is to win and Flexen did that Saturday night. He also lowered his PCL ERA, a double win in my book. I still consider this guy one of the top Mets starter prospects and my guess, if things keep going like they are in Queens, we might see him again real soon.
           
P.J. Conlon  

                        Wednesday:         6.2-IP, 6-H, 0-R, 3-K, 2-BB, 6.63

Wow! Conlon finally produced the kind of outing we all have expected him capable of, even in the PCL. Drew Smith and Matt Purke helped him to compete a 7-0 shutout of Albuquerque.
           
Marcos Molina –

                        Friday:         4-IP, 8-H, 5-ER, 2-K, 1-BB, 9.35

This will be the last time we list Molina on this pitching prospect post. The boy just doesn’t seem to be able to get thejob done at this level.
(note: Molina was transferred to AA-Binghamton on Sunday morning)
           
Binghamton -         

            Nabil Crismatt

                        Wednesday:        6-IP, 3-H, 1-ER, 6-K, 1-BB, 1.21

Another great 2018 outing. Seasonal stat line: 4-starts, 2-1, 1.21, 1.03, 22.1-IP, 27-K, 4-BB. Crismatt now has the third lowest ERA in the league. I consider him a top Mets pitching prospect and a candidate for the 2019 rotation.
                                   
St. Lucie:

            Justin Dunn

                        Tuesday:     5.2-IP, 8-H, 2-ER, 6-K, 2-BB, WIN (2-1), 1.80

Hopefully, this will be Dunn’s worst outing this season. His seasonal ERA is still the sixth lowest of all starters in the league. I’ll take this all day long.
What I particularly like here is the 25 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched.

Sunday:     5.1-IP, 5-H, 2-ER,3-K, 1-BB, 2.13

                                   Dunn got off to a rough start in the first inning, but then settled down to retire 15 out of the last 16 batters he faced. A quality start.     
                       
Harol Gonzalez

                        Thursday:    5-Ip, 8-H, 5-ER, 1-K, 2-BB, 4.74, LOSS (0-2)

Another sub-par outing for Gonzalez. In his first two outings, he gave up only one earned run in 10 innings, His next two outings resulted in nine earned runs in nine innings.

Harol needs to bear down next week in his fifth start this season.        

Columbia:   

Anthony Kay

                        Saturday:     4-IP, 7-H, 3-ER, 4-K, 4-BB, LOSS (1-1), 2.70

A Mets pitcher once said: ‘one third of the time you pitch lights out, one third of the time you have nothing, and the other one third of the time you have to fight for every at-bat’. This was one of those fight outings when a pitcher simply is having a hard time finding the zone. He throws hard and misses causing a walk… then he slows things down to become more accurate and he’s hit all over the field.

My hope is this is Kay’s worst outing of the season.        
           
David Peterson

                        Tuesday:      5.2-IP, 9-H, 5-ER, 3-K, 1-BB, 4.63

For as good as his first outing was, this was equally bad. Hopefully, he can shake this one off and prove to us that his first outing this season was no fluke.

Chris Viall -

Last week’s Helium Alert recipient had 12-Ks in 5.1-IP this past Tuesday, raising his seasonal total to 29-Ks in 14-IP, for a lead leading 18.21-SO/9.

On Sunday, he had a wild outing… 5-IP, 5-K, 5-BB. Still, his seasonal ERA is 2.33 so we need to keep an eye on him.

Joe Cavallaro -       

another plus outing this week… 6-Ks in 5-IP… that’s 24-Ks in 24-IP… 2.25-ERA for the season
           
Current rankings…

            Two great outings…  Conlon, Crismatt

            Work Needed…   Molina

6 comments:

  1. Nice update.

    It is frankly astonishing how different the ERAs of the western PCL teams are from the "normal atmosphere" Midwest teams. A quick run of the tape says the 9 western squads are 5.51 ERA, and the Midwestern clubs are 3.73.

    Amazingly, in the same league, OK City is 2.59, Nashville, is 2.67, but Vegas is 6.97 and Albuquerque is 7.17.

    I wonder how Flexen would be doing pitching in Nashville?

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  2. Tom -

    I believe both Oklahoma and Nashville do not have the air problem that Nevada and other PCL states have.

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  3. I am very pleased that the Mets will move from Vegas to Syracuse in 2019. You have to wonder how much the crappy environment (weather, air quality, field condition) in Vegas gets into our prospects heads?

    That has to play a role in their uneven performances.

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  4. I wondered in previous years how much the disdain for younger players got into their heads, knowing that no matter how well they would do they wouldn't get a fair chance? Hopefully that has changed.

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  5. As much of an improvement Syracuse will be over Vegas, I don't like the idea of having both of our top teams in cold climate areas. Gotta worry about arm injuries to our kids every April.

    As for Molina, I wonder how much of his AAA struggles were simply Vegas-related rather than reflective of his ability. Ditto for Jannis.

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  6. Tom Brennan:
    In that photo of "Spare Parts" which person is you? I won't guess but may know, the guy on the right?

    Mets in good shape for tonight. Wind is blowing in the right direction. Look for new players in the outfield having very big nights tonight and Noah's Arc Descending.

    5-3

    Is Dom Smith up here now? Thought I saw that on a previous page here.

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