Tom Brennan - MINOR LEAGUE HITTING WOES

WOE IS ME.  TOO MUCH SLUMBERING LUMBER!

The Mets' minors, more often than not over the years, have had sub par hitting results.

I never used to follow the minors all that much prior to beginning to write for Macks Mets several years back.

It is safe for me to say I have never looked at the Mets' overall minors hitting production and thought, "Do the Mets have the best hitting in the minors?"  

Sometimes, perhaps frequently, however, I have thought the contrary.

I thought I would take a look at hitting through Mothers Day (about a quarter of the way thru the season) for each of the teams.

Any WOWs - or just a lot of BOW WOWs? - let's look:

SYRACUSE METS - AAA

I felt confident that this veteran-laden squad would smoke the International League offensively, but that has not been the case.

The "S Mets", in fact, are hitting .241, 10 points below the second to last team.  

Their 31 homers (8 by .202 hitting Travis Taijeron) are barely above the worst team (29 HRs) while the best squad (Gwinnett, outside of Atlanta) has hit 59 HRs and leads the league at .275.  

159 runs scored, 62 below the league leader and only 8 above the league's worst. 

In some fairness, Syracuse has experienced a lot of cold weather, which can inhibit hitting. 

Non-veterans on the team?  Not hititng a lick: 

David Thompson is hitting .192, Tim Tebow is hitting .151.

BINGHAMTON - AA

The Ponies are 4th out of 12 in both scoring and batting average, and are barely 2nd in OBP (.344, leading team sitting at .345) - GOOD!  

The Ponies, however, have the least HRs in the league (15) - NOT good.  

Again, playing in a freezer can help silence bats - but last year, Alonso and McNeil were tearing it up here.

Doing well:

CF Braxton Lee - .323/.388/.430, but just 1 homer in 27 games.

OF Barrett Barnes - .316/.435/.491, but just 16 games due to DL stint.

3B Will Toffey - just .216 after a very slow start, but .405 on base due to 26 walks in 28 games.

C/1B Pat Mazeika - I was all ready to put him in the "Not Doing Well" category - he was hitting .247, with just 1 homer, in 25 games.  

BUT HOLD ON!  In Tuesday's doubleheader, Mazeika had 6 RBIs, including a 2nd game winning grand slam. That gave him 8 ribbies and 2 homers in his past 3 games!!!  Exactly the kind of great day that could turbocharge his season. He is definitely in the "Doing Well" contingent, and maybe ready to get even HOTTER!

In his last 12 games, .314 with 12 RBIs - and he is hitting lefties better than righties.  He truly may be on the verge of a surge.

Not doing well:

C Ali Sanchez - .247, 3 doubles being his only XBHs in 19 games, 25 Ks.

OF Kevin Kaczmarski - .237 after hitting .300 in 60 games in Las Vegas (AAA) last year.

SS Andres Gimenez - .232/.293/.366, with 32 Ks in 28 games.   But now 4 for 8 in his last 2 games, to climb after Tuesday to .243.

IF Michael Paez - .197/.319/.276 in 23 games

Side note: 

Through May 14 last year, Jeff McNeil was hitting just .305/.402/.667 for Binghamton - then Jeff got hot.  Real hot.

ST LUCIE - HIGH A

Right in the middle in scoring and hitting (.242 - league high of .261, and low of .210).

But just 11 homers in 34 games!  Second worst team 15, best team with 26.

Doing well - but with little pop:

IF Luis Carpio - .325/.398/.416, only 11 Ks in 26 games, but just 4 XBH.

IF Blake Tiberi - .280/.366/.355, only 15 Ks in 29 games, but just 8 doubles, no homers.

1B Jeremy Vasquez - .276/.398/.371, but just 7 XBH in 32 games.

Doing OK, but not doing as well with the stick:

C Nick Meyer - the highly defensively touted Meyer has thrown out half of would-be base stealers, and while hitting .265, had just 2 XBH in 20 games.

CF Quinn Brodey - .264/.314/.392 - after a great start, 4 for 38 in last 10.

IF Carlos Cortes - one of the few with some power, with 3 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 homers in 31 games, but hitting just .232.

Really struggling:

OF Desmond Lindsay - 15 games, .196, 25 Ks, then off to the DL again, this time for the past several weeks.

IF Hansel Moreno - .124 in 27 games.

OF Matt Winaker - .119 in 19 games.

COLUMBIA FIREFLIES - A BALL

The Fireflies in 38 games are hitting .199, 22 points lower than the next worst team, with just 112 runs, 14 HRs. Maybe the Flies were force-fed - most skipped Brooklyn - maybe most should have started their season in Brooklyn.

Nine guys were hitting under .200 with 50 or more at bats thru Sunday. Combined, they were hitting .166 in 652 at bats with 201 strikeouts. Not good. 

Team league leaders: hitting (.255); runs (190); HRs (14).  By comparison, a catcher on another team in that league (Rangers) named Sam Huff has 15 HRs...more than the entire Flies team.

Only uber-prospect Ronny Mauricio is hitting above .260 (.269), but with 5 XBH and 8 RBI in 34 games, although it must be kept in mind that at 18 years, 1 month, he has to be the youngest, or one of the youngest, players in the league, 3 years younger than league average

Other Top 10 Mets prospects on the Flies?  

Through Tuesday, IF Mark Vientos (.235/.313/.339) and IF Sherveyn Newton (.098/.203/.115 in 19 games).  

Not top 10 performance so far from those two, by a long shot.

Hitting, of course, can be contagious - so can team-wide lack of hitting, especially with young guys.  This team overall would probably be hitting a whole lot better in Jarred Kelenic had been on it, lifting all boats.

Overall Conclusion:

To me, future impact major leaguers are the type that give you a "WOW" when you see how they put up hitting numbers - like Sam Huff and his 15 homers above, or the International League's Josh VanMeter (13 homers, .336, Cincinnati prospect) and Atlanta's Austin Riley (14 homers, .300).

WOW - like with McNeil and Alonso last year.  You may have heard of those two.

I sadly don't see any WOW's in the current Mets minors guys listed above, though.  I see some good - no WOW.  Maybe in the next few months, WOW hitters will emerge.

What do you conclude from the above?