Tom Brennan - Rumble Ponies Roster Rumblings

The snow seems to have stopped in brisk Binghamton, the thermometer mostly stays above freezing there now - so it's clearly time to play BASEBALL!  Let the Rumbles begin!

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE, PONIES!

Binghamton’s AA opening day roster for 2019 is missing 2 huge pieces that made last year’s opening day team extra special: Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil.  There is no way to get around that.  

But even with them contributing mightily for part of 2018, the Ponies ended up 12 games under .500 for the season.  

"Better Players Needed" signs were hung all around Binghamton.  Thankfully, many showed up.

In that regard, this 2019 team is clearly a Brodie VW team and not an Alderson team - because many of the roster's players:

1) came from other organizations in the off season, 

2) are older - as in 25 or older, and 

3) collectively are IMO much more talented than last year's Bingo squad.  

This team has the potential to win - a lot.

When you are like me, and don't know where to start, start with:

THE STARTERS!

PC - Ernest Dove

Binghamton’s starting pitcher contingent is led by two fellows looking to accelerate their careers in 2019, namely first round lefties Anthony Kay and David Peterson. 


And Kay has been designated as the team's opening day starter!

That dynamic duo, who admittedly were not as dominant as they would have liked to have been in 2018, will share the starter’s mound with 30+ knuckleballer extraordinaire Mickey Jannis, who made nice strides in 2018. 

Also back is righty Harol Gonzalez suffered through a 1-16, 4.80 nightmare last season and will be looking for redemption.   

Also expected to start:

Chris Mazza, who is 29 years old, one of many who are new to the Mets organization, and has been a competent minor league arm - 23-21 career, 3.11 ERA, 408 innings, 312 Ks.  He only has 16 innings in AAA to date.  A starter and reliever in his career, he should be a solid addition to this Ponies squad. 

Michael Gibbons, soon to turn 26, was an undrafted Mets' signee who started his career in 2015.  Almost entirely pitching below AA so far, he is a career 10-18, 4.15 ERA, with 149 Ks in 195 career innings and a career 1.42 WHIP.  He has started in 38 of his 39 career games – the question is, can he take his game to a higher level?  We’ll see in 2019 in AA, where he has logged just 14.2 innings so far, while allowing just 3 earned runs. 

BULLPEN?  

Boy, do we have a bullpen for you.  Talented, but a lot of wildness:

PC - Ed Delany

Matt Blackham - the diminutive fireballer was 5-3, 2.70 last season, with 65 Ks in 50 innings - but 30 walks, too. A high K rate and walk rate never did Jack Leathersich much good - matt must tame the walks in 2019.   

Stephen Nogosek, another hard throwing 2017 trade acquisition, really struggles after being promoted to AA last year in mid-season - he walked 39 in 52 innings, an entirely unacceptable rate.  Job 1 for Steve is control, baby.

Ryder Ryan has been one of the best 2017 reliever acquisitions - up to this point.  He was dominant for St Lucie, then help his own with a low 4's ERA for Binghamton.  Time in 2019 to see if he can start dominating AA. 

Adonis Uceta was wicked great in 2017 in A ball - last year also showed slippage in AA. We'll see in 2019 if he can recapture the dominance of 2017.

PC - Ernest Dove

Stephen Villines had a 96:13 K to walk ratio in 2019, over 67 innings.  What can he do against tougher cometition in 2019?  With a ratio like that he (and we) deserve to find out.

Joshua Torres – he totally killed it in AA last year.  AAA, though?  Almost killed him. Let’s see how Josh does in 2019.

Joe Zanghi has performed very nicely up to now. - he like others noted above killed it in A ball in 2018, but stumbled above A ball. 2019 will be a time for "the Mets' J Z" to show he is ready to take down higher competition.

Austin McGeorge - the 2016 7th round righty did well in St Lucie in 2018, but got torched to a 7.96 ERA in Binghamton in 26 IP.  Time to shrug off the adversity and grind higher.

And, of course, a real wild card in:

Zack Jones – from another organization, the 28 year old righty is 6’1, 195, and a former 2012 4^th round pick. In 2017, he missed the entire season.  

Last year, he was killing it – well, mostly - in relief in AA, with 39 Ks in 25 innings and just 10 hits allowed – but 25 walks!  He then pulled a hammy and was released.  

Can he tame his control?  Before his super wild 2018, he had walked guys at a high rate, too - 94 in 168 career innings.  To date, in 193 innings, he has fanned 277, though - 13Ks per 9 IP.  Seems like a worthwhile Jack Leathersich type of gamble...can Jones drink from the Fountain of Control in 2019?

Time will tell as far as seeing which of these bullpen gents will show the talent and grit to push their way into the big leagues.

INFIELDERS?  OURS ARE WELL-GROUNDED:

PC - Ed Delany

Top Mets prospect SS Andres Gimenez - if you don't know about him yet, buddy, I can't help ya.



3B Will Toffey - a trade acquisition in 2018, he has real potential.  In fact, were it not for the logjam at AAA, Toffey would in my mind certainly be playing for Syracuse to start the season.  

The 24 year old 2017 4^th rounder of Oakland, acquired in the Familia trade in 2018, has just 507 career at bats, but has already hit well in 41 games for AA Binghamton last year.  Having had a sore shoulder last season that did not require surgery, but still allowed him to perform OK, he should be good to go – the career .254/.375/.383 hitter, who slugged at a .433 clip for Bingo in his time there, should be expected to excel in 2019.

2B?  How about speedy switch hitter Sam Haggerty.  Sam, acquired in the Kevin Plawecki trade, has played about the equivalent of 2 full major league seasons.  In that period of time, he has scored 183 runs, stolen 90 of 112 bases, and has 21 triples.  His hitting needs improvement, but his career split is .244/.349/.373.  He has talent and speed.

PC - Ed Delany

Michael Paez - the 2016 4th rounder had a solid season for St Lucie in 2018 - 121 games, .270/.340/.404, but just .226 with RISP and 22 errors, 20 of them at 3rd base.  Continued hitting and fielding improvement should fuel his rise in the ranks.

Lastly, but not leastly, a Jack of All Trades with a real resume: Alfredo Escalera was a recent acquisition, who started out as an 8th rounder in 2012, yet is still only 24 for all of the 2019 season.  The 6’1” 185 Escalera has solid speed, having stolen 68 of 89 times in his career. He had an injury-shortened 2018, but in 2017, he hit .261/.305/.353 in AA, which was roughly flat to his performance the prior year.   He has averaged almost a K per game in his career.  Perhaps the Mets feel they can take him to a higher level.  That will be interesting to watch.  Hey, Escalera has played 2B, SS, and the OF, so he has much to offer.  OUTFIELDERS?   SEVERAL TALENTED VETERANS WHO SHOULD EXCEL IN AA: The five hombres below are older than league average, and highly seasoned.  Only one of them was in the Mets’ organization in 2018, so perhaps Brodie VW is thinking that maybe at least one of them can catch fire and redirect his career towards future success in the majors.   Also, for AA, this outfield will be a whole lot more productive than the outfield the Ponies had last season, which will add offense to a team that hit poorly in 2018, except for Alonso, McNeil and Gimenez. Barrett Barnes is a 27 year old righty outfielder from the Pittsburgh organization, a former compensation round pick in 2012. He had his best season, in AA, in 2016, hitting .306/.377/.477 – but after a brief stint in 2018, most likely injured, he was released in March 2018.  This could be a redemption story in 2019 for Barnes. Kevin Kaczmarski sadly finds himself demoted to AA despite hitting .299/.380/.364 last year in AAA.  My speculation is his lack of long ball power has badly impacted him in management’s eyes – he only has 7 homers in close to 1,200 plate appearances in the past 3 years.    Adding power helped get Jeff McNeil to the majors – lets see if Kevin alters his power game as a 27 year old to try to advance. Jason Krizan is a lefty hitting outfielder from the Tigers organization who will turn 30 in June.  In his 8 seasons as a pro, he has a .271/.349/.390 career split.  JK has also spent time in the infield, and is a decided upgrade over 2018 Rumble Pony Champ Stuart, who hit .136 for the Ponies in 2019.   Braxton Lee is another recent acquisition, a 5’10”. 185 lefty OF who has demonstrated some speed but a lack of power in his career.  The now-25 year old Lee had quite a nice .309/.395/.384 season in AA in 2017…last year, though, in the Marlins organization, Lee split time between AA and AAA and slid to .233/.316/.294, plus had a cup of coffee with the Marlins where he went 3 for 17.  A strength is that he has 57 outfield assists in 476 minor league games, including a remarkable 18 assists in 125 games in 2017, so he must have a strong and accurate arm.  Can he up his game in 2019?  We hope he can. Dario Pizzano – yep, another Mets acquisition…the 27 year old lefty hitting 5’11”, 200 Pizzano hit a solid .285/.361/.433 in AA last year, and has a career split of .283/.363/.434.  he has had 387 career Abs in AAA for Tacoma in the PCL, hitting just .248 in that hitters’ league.  Only 19 career steals in 681 games, but he has the best contact rate of the bunch at just 311 Ks in nearly 2,800 plate appearances.  Can he improve in 2019? We’ll see.

Finally, the thing pitchers need most are....CATCHERS!

Slapping on the CATCHERS’ shin guards are:

PC - Ed Delany

Ali Sanchez is the epitome of great defense and weak offense - he made strides in the latter area in 2018, and we can hope that the 22 year old makes similar great strides in 2019.  Ali is the sort of player that will have a much better shot at a big league career when rosters expand to 26 and a team wants to carry a superior defensive 3rd catcher.

Also catching is former 8^th rounder and lefty hitter Patrick Mazeika, who had a rough 2018 until a red hot final month.

Dustin Houle, too - Houle is an acquired 25 year old righty hitting catcher who has been mostly "light bat" (.234/.307/.310) in his career, but has thrown out 35% of his career would-be base stealers.  In the past two seasons, that has upped a bit to 37%.  He should be a solid addition for the Ponies in 2019. 

ON THE INJURED LIST:

Jordan Humphreys - another of the platoon of pitchers who can add the words "returned from Tommy John surgery" to his resume.  Sadly, he has emulated Jake deGrom, who had TJS and also ulnar nerve movement surgery; he is slated to return in June, and like Jake, hopefully to the dominant form Jordan displayed pre-Tommy John, when he clearly was looking a lot like a future major league starter.

Last year's team 12 under .500.  It would not surprise me if this team comes up 12 over .500. 

LOVELY WEATHER FOR A NIGHT GAME:

One would think that Manchester NH in early April would be C..O..L..D in the evening.  Maybe so, but the Ponies start their season up there - with 3 night games!

BRING YOUR KIDDIES, BRING YOUR EXTREME WEATHER GEAR, GUARANTEED TO HAVE A HECK OF A YEAR.