Tom Brennan - SPOTLIGHT ON: METS MINORS STEVE VILLINES

SPOTLIGHT ON: METS MINORS RHRP STEVE VILLINES!


I always say: 

DRAFT POWER ARMS, DRAFT POWER BATS 

As the way to future team success.

Most baseball teams get that - the Mets don't always though.

Just to clarify my slogan a bit.  I am open to deviations at times from that POWER approach - if the Mets never deviated, Jeff McNeil would have been signed by someone else.  I just want POWER to be the primary emphasis.

Anyway, back to Steve Villines...guys who throw slow these days often get drafted late, if at all.

PC - Ed Delany

The righty Villines was drafted accordingly by the Mets, down in the 10th round in 2017, the same round Paul Sewald had been drafted in a few years earlier.  

Really, though, Villines was drafted not so very late, considering he fires 'em in only in the mid-to-upper 80s - he seems at first glance more of a non-fireballer to have been drafted in even later rounds.

But his fastball comes with a key ingredient: real movement.

He throws a low sidearmer, which makes him unusual in a Kent Tekulve sort of way.

He slings a nasty, slower slider, too, and has fantastic control, too.  

Coming into 2019, Villines had a short stint in AA, with the rest of his time in A ball, had an ERA overall of under .250 and an 8-6 record, with 137 Ks and 14 walks in 94 innings, with 11 of 14 saves.  Clearly he was outfoxing his opponents.

In 2019, he had, through Tuesday, 8 outings in AA and 6 in AAA, and in 20.2 IP had allowed just 13 hits, 7 walks, 4 unearned runs, and fanned 22, and sported a zero point zero zero (0.00 for you folks who prefer digits) ERA.

The Mets' pen, meanwhile, has had plenty of misfiring outings from their pen pals.

Add up Villine's non-stop high degree of competence in the minors with that shaky Mets bullpen, and one could expect to see Stevie Wonder pitching out of the Mets pen before too long.

Time will tell if he can get the big boys in the MLB out - some do, some don't.  

Paul Sewald was also stellar in most of his minor league relief career but is 0-13 as a Met.  (When asked about that, he was at a loss for words).

Of course, in the weird, wacky game of baseball, Drew Gagnon is 4-1 lifetime after Tuesday's win, while Jake deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Steve Matz are just 9-12 this year.  Nothing makes sense in Metsville.

Like with Sewald and Gagnon, we won't really know how Villines will do until he gets here, but if he keeps up his minors excellence, he should be in the big leagues sooner rather than later.