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