From The Desk – David Peterson, Andres Gimenez, Nike, Justine Siegal, Dillon Gee

Good morning.

Fangraphs  Top 25 Mets Prospects –

  

PC - Ed Delany

         6. David Peterson, LHP Video

         Drafted: 1st Round, 2017 from Oregon (NYM)

       Age     23.3    Height 6′ 6″    Weight            240     Bat / Thr         L / L     FV       45

       Tool Grades (Present/Future)

Fastball          Slider  Curveball       Changeup      Command      Sits/Tops

50/50                50/55    45/45                50/55              45/55           89-91 / 93

Peterson was a known prep prospect as an underclassman in Colorado due to his 6-foot-6 frame and ability to touch 90 mph from the left side at an early age. The limitation here is that Peterson has essentially never had a plus pitch and doesn’t project to have one, working downhill from a steep plane and great extension with a low-90’s sinker and an above-average four pitch mix. He doesn’t have high spin rates on his breaking stuff and pitches more to weak contact, looking like a steady, durable, roughly league-average starter even as a college player. His feel to pitch and mix offerings in different locations is advanced, so the expectation here is for Peterson to save the Mets some money on that No. 3 or 4 starter that so many teams overpay for in free agency.


Mets average velocity for rotation...

        Syndergaard:    97.4

         deGrom:           95.9

         Wheeler:           95.9

          Matz:                93.4

          Vargas:            86.4

The Top 100 Prospects For 2019   — Prospects Live-

        

   

PC - Ed Delany

        24. Andres Gimenez, SS

Age: 20 (9/4/98)

Highest Level: AA

.281/.347/.409, 6 HR, .128 ISO, 116 wRC+, 6.2 BB%, 18.3 K%, 38 SB

SFV: 60 | Risk: High | #1 Mets Top 30

Nike Enters 10-Year Partnership With Major League Baseball –

           Beginning in 2020, Nike will become the the exclusive provider of Major League Baseball’s on-field uniforms (which will feature a Nike Swoosh), including baselayers, game-day outerwear and training apparel.

Justine Siegal:  a playing and coaching pioneer in baseball -

         

PC - Associated Press

  "Baseball for All" works to empower girls who want to play the game and follow their dreams. Its founder, Justine Siegal, serves as a pioneer and ideal role model for them. She has played baseball at the high school level and beyond. She has coached at the college and professional levels. She has thrown batting practice to big leaguers and coached them in the Arizona Instructional League. She is, in other words, a true ambassador of the game, and a pioneer on behalf of women who want to be part of it.

Siegal's message - that girls and women deserve a chance to play on the big diamond - will come through loud and clear Thursday night, when she serves as keynote speaker at the Western Mass. Baseball Hall of Fame's sixth annual induction banquet. She also happens to be a member of its Class of 2019 - its first female electee.

           I saw that Dillon Gee announced his retirement on Twitter and Instagram:

            “Thank you to this great game! I gave it everything I had and now it’s time to move on. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity for my career! Thank you to everyone who has supported…”

          I met Dillon in 2009 at Picture Day during spring training at Port St. Lucie. Every Met that was in attendance was in line to go down the line where each photographer opened their lenses to them… and here was the 21^st round pick in the 2007 draft sitting on a wood chair, trying to stay out of the way.

            I felt as out of place as he was, so it was natural for me to introduce myself and ask  if I could take his picture (check the number out). That was probably a first for him that day, and, who knows, could have been a last as well.

I wished him well in his career and asked him to check out the web site where I would be loading his picture to. A short while later he begun being a long standing follower of the site.

I don’t know what Dillon will chose to do with the rest of his young life. I hope it is teaching young pitchers the art of the game. He was quite the find late in the draft out of the University of Texas-Arlington and I’ve love to see him return to his alma mater to work with the team there.

Thank you Dillon for your hard work as a New York Met.