MY FAVORITE ARTICLE OF 2018
Before I start today: GREAT, memorable "adieu" from. our Captain David Wright. GREAT. GREAT.
Now...now that the season is coming to an end, and with me about to throttle down on my writing for Macks Mets quite a bit during the off season as i attend to other personal matters, I reflected back on the article (first posted on May 31) that I most enjoyed writing during the 2018 season.
I thought I'd repost it because the subject of the article, Jeff McNeil, has exceeded all expectations since he was called up - everyone who knows baseball now knows this:
JEFF MCNEIL CAN SURE AS HECK PLAY THIS GAME.
AN INTERVIEW WITH METS MINOR LEAGUER JEFF MCNEIL
I love Mets minor league achievers and climbers, those who show REAL talent and then clearly make adjustments to get even better and ultimately get to the big leagues.
Undrafted righty hitter TJ Rivera was one who hit very well in the minors early on, had position versatility, but lacked superior speed and did not produce much power in his game. Bloggers, seeing that, wondered if he’d ever get his shot.
In 2016, Rivera fixed the power portion of his resume with a significant uptick in power. Good for him, as when injuries struck the Mets in 2016, the new and improved TJ got his chance with the Mets and he took full advantage of his opportunity, impressively hitting .304 in 319 major league at bats so far.
Jeff McNeil has followed a similar path, while exhibiting more base-stealing propensity than TJ. At the end of 2015, if I had to pick between the two, I would have picked McNeil – both were lower on the power scale, but otherwise had real similarities hitting-wise.
I’d go with the quicker, lefty hitting McNeil was my thought then.
Jeff fell behind TJ, however, in 2016 and 2017, due to several injuries that limited McNeil to a mere 51 games over those 2 seasons.
All told, McNeil is at .304/.374/.424 in his career after 380 games, with 50 of 65 in steals. Nice! Here's how he's progressed:
He was drafted by the Mets in the 12th round in 2013 with a reputation as a good, versatile hitter without much power. He had a great rookie ball debut in 2013, hitting .329/.413/.409 with no homers and 11 of 13 steals.
He then tore up A ball Savannah in the first half of 2014, hitting .332. Once promoted to St Lucie at midseason, he hit .246 over the remaining 58 games. Overall, a fine season.
He spent most of 2015 in St Lucie, showing great progress, hitting .312 over 119 games, and in 2014 and 2015, stole 31 of 42.
He also made excellent contact, averaging about 1 strikeout every 2 games in his career to that point.
But in 287 games from 2013 through 2015, he hit just 3 homers.
In a major league game today, where teams averaged over 200 homers per season, being a non-HR hitter is a disadvantage, I imagine, as a team ultimately decides who is heading to Queens.
Jeff did, however, hit 5 homers in 188 at bats spanning 2016 and 2017, so signs of added power began to emerge.
In 2018, McNeil, with 30 pounds of muscle added above his weight when drafted, has shown that a major power transformation, from “slap” hitter to “slam” hitter, is well underway.
Despite playing well in 18 games in 2017 in AAA, Jeff started out in AA in 2018, most likely because with Luis Guillorme, Phillip Evans, Gavin Cecchini and David Thompson manning 2nd, short and 3rd in Vegas, McNeil was only going to get regular playing time in Binghamton, and after missing about 230 games in 2016 and 2017, playing every day in AA was clearly the necessary, right decision.
Through Tuesday, Jeff has played in 42 games this year, and what has he done?
A whole lot.
As in, 39 runs scored, 11 doubles, 3 triples, 12 homers, 32 RBIs, and a .311 average, while still maintaining that excellent 1 strikeout every 2 games pace. Outstanding.
In my opinion, when a guy is hitting, hitting with power, scoring like mad, driving in lots of runs, making great contact, and hitting very well and getting on base at a high rate, that is a heck of a resume for the player promotion decision makers in Queens to be considering. I’m sure those same resume readers in Queens are hoping very much to read more of the same from Jeff as the season progresses.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff McNeil - follows here:
Brennan: Hi, Jeff, how are you doing, great to speak to you today. I’ve been a big fan of yours ever since you’ve been drafted. How do you feel about your breakout year this year you’re having after 2 tough years missing a lot of time with injuries?
McNeil: Doing real good.
Being out for most of two years is tough, and it is great to be out there now. After missing almost all of 2016, last year I was getting back into baseball shape in 2017, and while doing do, experienced some compensation injuries, such as with the quad, as my left side of the body was weaker. It was really unfortunate, but I’m feeling very healthy now, and doing real good.
Being out for most of two years is tough, and it is great to be out there now. After missing almost all of 2016, last year I was getting back into baseball shape in 2017, and while doing do, experienced some compensation injuries, such as with the quad, as my left side of the body was weaker. It was really unfortunate, but I’m feeling very healthy now, and doing real good.
Brennan: Great to hear. Before this year, I saw in you a fine 4 tool player – lacking a power tool - but this year, you’ve added tremendous power production to your game. No homers in college, slow career start with homers, and now this big change. Please tell our readers about that.
McNeil: My college field was one of the most difficult to hit homers at. Adding power to my game was something I knew I needed to work on, really working on hitting the gaps more.
So I hit the weights real hard, and am continuing to do so, bulked up, and now I am healthy and it’s good to be barreling balls up and having balls going over the fences.
So I hit the weights real hard, and am continuing to do so, bulked up, and now I am healthy and it’s good to be barreling balls up and having balls going over the fences.
Brennan: And how. It caught my attention that, besides just the number of your extra base hits this year, your power increase is substantial and real when I heard announcers calling the play-by-play on a few of your homers saying “that one was WAY out”.
McNeil: It has been good to be hitting some balls real well, and I am happy to see the results.
Brennan: I was a kid loving to watch Mantle and Maris have their home run race in 1961, and you two have kind of a similar home run race of sorts going on so far this year, which is cool for fans to watch. It’s been fun watching you and Peter Alonso hitting homers the way you both have. But how do you two compare on the power grade, is Peter Alonso still a little ahead of you?
McNeil: Yep, Peter’s got stupid, raw power – his homers are absolute no doubters - when he squares it up and gets the right launch angle, it goes a long way. Peter’s done real well – he’s fun to watch.
Brennan: Former Mets Daniel Murphy (13th rounder), Justin Turner (7th rounder) – both started lower on the “power grid” and then added power, with great results. You were a 12th rounder – you appear you might be following after their changed approach.
McNeil: Yeah, Daniel Murphy’s last few years have been awesome. For me, I feel like I’m real close, and hope to be up there sometime soon.
Brennan: If you will, please share with Mack's Mets readers what you consider your strengths - I see you are versatile, playing 2nd, 3rd, and short as a pro, but have played very little outfield in the pros to further diversify. What are your thoughts on that?
McNeil: My strengths are that I put the barrel on the ball and put it in play to all fields, have a very solid strike out to walk ratio, get on base a lot, make things happen, and look to put together good, solid ABs.
I have the versatility to play out there just about everywhere. I played a lot of center field early in college before moving to 2nd base and the infield. I feel very comfortable playing the outfield.
I have the versatility to play out there just about everywhere. I played a lot of center field early in college before moving to 2nd base and the infield. I feel very comfortable playing the outfield.
Brennan: What player do you feel in the majors your style of play most resembles?
McNeil: Ben Zobrist – Ben puts up quality ABs, is versatile, plays anywhere, puts the bat on the ball, makes things happen.
Brennan: Ben's been great. Your brother Ryan is in pro ball – you ever think about playing him in the NCLS someday?
McNeil: Ryan was a 3rd rounder of the Cubs who had surgery at the end of last year and is pitching again now. It would be great to face him in pro ball, I look forward to that someday.
Brennan: What’s your favorite position?
McNeil: Probably 2B, although I am also comfortable at other infield positions, and I’d be real comfortable in the outfield too.
Brennan: A little off subject Mets-wise, but what do you think of Vlad Guerrero, Jr., who your team has played several times?
McNeil: He’s an awesome hitter, pretty great, hits pretty much everything we throw at him, fun to watch him.
Brennan: After the Mets’ great start, with all of the injuries in Queens again this year, perhaps you and some other guys might have an excellent chance be up here in Queens sooner rather than later.
McNeil: I just hope to keep hitting the ball, control what I can control, and see what happens.
Brennan: Thanks so much for your time. Please wish Pete, Tim and the rest of the guys in Binghamton our best and we hope to see you and other teammates up here in Queens soon.
McNeil: Thanks, I appreciate that.
7 comments:
The only issue that was a little surprising when McNeil came up was his lack of power.
Reese, I agree. I think we settle for his all-time best Mets rookie average of .329, great D, and excellent scrambling, and superior contact, and I bet the power shows up more in 2019. I think he wanted to show his hot start in 2018 was for real and wouldn't fade. Hitting a bunch of warning track tryouts would do that. He avoided that.
AJ Ich's Comment on Bringing Back Catcher Devin Mesoraco...
Definitely not. He is too scary looking. Those eyes, my God those eyes, staring out from behind the catchers mask and searing through everyone and everything that gets in his way.
We call him "Chuckie 2" here.
No, actually he is an above rated defensive catcher, but his hitting could be a little bit better and it did not appear to be improving much as the season went on. The Mets need a new starter for certain, a homerun type batter. The closest we have right now is Kevin Plawecki.
Tomas Nido finally changed his stance in the last few games. But if he were to be the backup next season, he would probably need to go to Winter Ball and work on it a lot. However, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that he could actually improve his hitting, maybe even a lot. he has the upper body strength to be something more than we saw in 2018.
Down the road...Maybe Patrick Mazeika or Ali Sanchez I think his name is. But just how far they are down that road, I am not certain right now.
I'd go after JT Realmuto to start here. Why not.
I still like Jim Duquette for Mets GM. While watching SNY this season, I thought his commentaries were always right on.
What about Ron Darling?
Why some teams struggle with player personnel decision making...
Actually, there is more than one reason. I wish this was simpler but it isn't.
First, some teams management tend to "fall in love" with certain of their players that they have been developing. The problem is that success at A, AA, and AAA ball does not always mean that a certain player will be just as good once they reach the majors. The pitching at the major league level, my God the pitching, often does that to a player. And the major league level does tend to separate out the proverbial men from the boys, so to speak.
To cite examples here with these NY Mets, maybe Gregg Jeffries, Wilmer Flores, Terry's favorite Ruben Tejada, Benny Ayala, and Craig Swan come to mind quickly for some of us longer-in-tooth NY Mets fans. But there were many, many more than just these over the years. More recently perhaps Hansel Robles, Paul Sewald, and even AJ Ramos.
Most respective team's management want so much for a certain player that they have been developing to be what they were coming up through the ranks, that they almost cannot see (until they absolutely have to) that the player's MiLB success does not translate over well to the major leagues and it may not ever. It's sort of akin to trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. Yet every single team in MLB has this same problem at some point, mainly because of their own humanness. Staying completely objective is very, very difficult for most humans and fascimiles, even a sports team's management.
Secondly, no one season's draft picks ever all work as planned. In other words, you have players that can play in the majors (maybe something like 15% overall of a team's entire draft picks each season) and then you have the vast majority that cannot.
So when a highly touted and counted on draft pick fails, this tends to leave a gaping hole in any team's plans. As a result, usually veteran players from outside that organization have to be brought in, often last second. This is where many team's managements get into serious trouble in their team building process, as we have seen.
This problem then becomes one of almost a compounding scope, especially for teams that do not want to spend an exorbitant amount of money (last second) to cover for their own team's developmental players that cannot succeed at the major league level. Thus enters in a grouping of second tier veteran players who may or may not succeed at all. They can look pretty good on paper sometimes, but often do not translate out for having much of a real impact. They show up to cheers of fan optimism, then disappear. It happens to all teams too, more than you may think. This list is endless.
It's all attributable to that darn humanness factor, where results do not equal expectations. And we are all blessed with it too. Maybe AI?
Home Plate
In the 2018 regular season, I found it almost impossible to not see at least one or two incidents where the home plate umpire was almost knocked completely out after being hit by a pitch or a foul ball. I cannot remember seeing that 20 or 30 years ago.
What's going on?
The pitching is more ferocious in mph now, the average speed of a pitcher's fastball has gone up to around 100 mph. Batters are overall larger in this timeframe as well, capable of generating more power. It all adds up to less time for a catcher to catch the ball, and either the catcher or the umpire behind the plate getting away from being hit. I have seen some very devastating results and injuries this season because of all this.
And on a similar note, line drives coming back to the mound. Same thing. Pitchers are not always able to escape those line drives coming back at them at a 125 mph.
It's becoming a very dangerous sport at the MLB level. And it does need to be seriously looked at again.
Tonight's game...
I honestly never have heard of the Oakland A's starting pitcher. His stat sheet is relatively bare, except he does tend to strikeout over one batter per inning, which is good.
On the other hand, the Yankees have their second best starter (Severino) going tonight. However, Luis has been kind of "iffy" of late.
To me it is too close to even, and anyone can win tonight's game depending upon probably which team hits the most homeruns. And there will be homeruns!
Reyes was up 228 times, McNeil 225. Reyes had 43 hits. McNeil had 74. What a difference.
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