Mack – New Weekly Post

Good morning.

PC - Anthony Ksy

Bobby Kay, brother of Mets prospect pitcher Anthony Kay, and I follow each other on Twitter. He ‘liked’ a ‘From The Desk I put on Mack’s Mets last week, which featured a blurb on his brother.

I contacted him and told him to tell his brother that he has the support of all the writers here on Mack’s Mets.

He shot back:

          Bobby Kay - @BKayZone  -  Replying to @JohnMackinAde

I love your guys support! Thanks man we appreciate it

The six-foot lefty throws a 95 fastball, sitting in the low nineties. His 3-pitch repertoire included a change-up and a curve.

Kay’s K/9 ratio fell drastically last season from 10 starts in A-Columbia (10.13) to the 13 starts in A+ St, Lucie (7.59). There also was in increase of walks (BB/9: 2.86 – 4.56). This is what we call a basic control problem.

Anthony had TJS four months after being drafted and did not pitch in his first professional season.

Brother Bobby dropped a tweet might help clear up the control thing:

          Bobby Kay - @BKayZone - Replying to @JohnMackinAde

I think the change up is going to be back with a vengeance this year ⚾️👌

If Anthony can master the change-up, to go along with his killer fastball, well… let’s keep an eye on this and see what develops in April.



The Mets resigned 25-year old catcher Natanael Ramos, brother of Wilson. He played nine seasons in the Mets chain, ending with 44 at-bats for Columbia. My guess is he will play for the St. Lucie Mets. I only have one other catchers (Carlos Chambers) on the board there.

Tim Kurkjian - @Kurkjian_ESPN

Michael Cuddyer met teammates in his first camp by dazzling them with card tricks. Years later, he did a trick for new Twin/locker mate Luis Castillo, who was so shaken and scared by the amazing trick, he moved his locker across the room, away from Cuddyer

Week one and two in college baseball have come and gone, so we have to take a quick look at eight starters that could make a difference this June:

          RHPs:

          Tyler Dyson – Florida           -        3.1-IP, 1-ER, 4-K, 4-BB

                                                                   4,1-IP, 2-ER, 3-K, 1-BB

          Tyler Baum – North Carolina  -     6.0-IP, 2-ER, 7-K, 0-BB, WIN

          Ryan Zeferjahn – Kansas     -        5.0-IP, 2-ER, 6-K, 2-BB, WIN

                                                                   4.0-IP, 0-ER, 5-K, 1-BB

          Alek Manoah – West Virginia  -    6.0-IP, 1-ER, 13-K, 0-BB

                                                                   6.1-IP, 0-ER, 8-K, 2-BB, WIN

          LHPs:

          Zack Thompson – Kentucky  -      4.0-IP, 0-R, 9-K, 3-BB

                                                                   5.2-IP, 4-ER, 8-K, 2-BB

                                                                  

          Nick Lodolo – TCU               -        5.0-IP, 2-ER, 2-K, 1-BB, LOSS

                                                                   7.0-IP, 2-ER, 10-K, 0-BB, LOSS

          Adam Laskey – Duke           -        (did not pitch)

                                                                  

          Graeme Stinson – Duke       -        3.0-IP, 0-R, 6-K, 0-BB, WIN

                                                                   4.0-IP, 0-ER, 7-K, 2-BB

Pitcher of the week has to go to Manoah, who struck out 13 of the 18 batters he faced two weeks ago and 21-Ks in 12,1-IP collectively.

Spring Training finally arrived this past week and some observations on Game One  –

First thing about spring training games… 

You don’t judge your team by their win-loss record here. It is all about individual performances.

What you want to watch is how certain ‘on the bubble’ players do here. It’s obvious if they end the spring hitting .600 which direction they are going. But, if another has 35 errors his ride continues on, past Queens, to Syracuse.

The tough decision what do you do with someone who could do both at the same time. 

                                                                                     

PC - Ernest Dove

I’m going to watch this Pete Alonso thing real closely this spring. When asked if he was going to send down Pete at the beginning of the season, our General Manager said: "We don't want to miss out on winning the division by one game or two games because we didn't break camp with the best 25 guys." I’m going to hold him to that statement (whatever that means) when this team goes north.

          Well… he didn’t take long to show us the good and bad of his game. He hit the first pitch in the first game of his major league game over the left center fence that seems to exit as soon as it was hit. I can’t imagine the outcome of a pitcher that could be hit in the head by a shot this hard.

          But… it did follow the other part of his game. Questionable defense. You can practice taking 1000 grounders but you still have to catch a ball thrown by your shortstop. He didn’t from Amed Rosario in the top of that inning, laying two runs on starter Walker Lockett.

Another thing worth noting about the first exhibition game is P Anthony Kay’s debut. Not only did he show off his 90 grade pick off move, but his fastball sat 94-95 for the entire inning he pitched (0.00).

I particularly was interested to see the inning pitched one of my past favorites, Chris Flexen. He looked extremely trimmed down and the ++ curve was still there. He did give up a little, and threw a tad too many pitchers, but if he continues to pitch like this during ST, he should be a major factor in Syracuse this season.

And what about those David Peterson numbers? 1.0-IP, 4-H, 1-BB, 3-ER. In his defense, he could have escaped early if the ump called a strike correctly and a hit only got through the infield because the positioning of the infielders was wack, but, as the say, 'it is as it is'.

Still, it has to be disappointing for someone this well thought off in the organization to start off this spring. 

I haven't read any explanation on this so I guess we should write this off to a slip out of the gate. It's not like the Mets are going to give up on the big guy, right?