Pat Mazeika playing Siberian baseball earlier this year
I love robust hitting.
As such, I find myself complaining about Andres Gimenez's hitting regression from 2018.
In 2018, after his promo to AA, he hit .277. This year, through Sunday, just .239.
Maybe I am being too hard on him? I can be like that.
Let's look at the league's pitching to see.
New Hampshire has a 3.89 ERA - which, believe it or not, is the worst team ERA in the Eastern League. The best team ERA is 3.26.
The average team ERA is a miniscule 3.56.
A 3.56 ERA is a tad worse than the 2nd best major league team's ERA of 3.51.
So...Gimenez is hitting in an extreme pitchers' league.
Which must explain in good part of his .239 average, which is just about what the entire league is hitting.
Looking further:
The league's best hitter is hitting just .297...# 2 is hitting .287.
The 10th best hitter? Just .275.
It feels like MLB non-hitting circa 1968, doesn't it?
Gimenez (.329) has the 46th highest qualifying average in the 12 team DH league.
Not to make a case that he is having a GOOD hitting year - he's not.
But it is clearly a darned tough league to hit in.
And, as Mack mentioned, he still is well under the league age average at age 20.
The tough hitting league also affects how one looks at other Mets players in AA.
A prime example is Pat Mazeika:
He is 8th in the league with HRs (14) and 3rd in RBIs (62), and would be second in RBIs except for the fact that the 2nd guy, with 4 more RBIs, has played in 19 more games.
He is also 17th in doubles despite the fact that most of those above him have played in more games.
Not to overlook his defense, he has also played half his games at 1B and half as catcher, and has thrown out 17 of 44 as a catcher this year (a fine 38.6%).
All things considered, he looks a whole lot better.
But...let's take him one step further:
He hit .194 in totally glacial April weather, with just 4 doubles and 6 RBIs. Believe me, I watched some of those games on MILB TV...the few fans there were dressed in heavy winter garb (see picture above). Hard to hit in that frigid crap.
Since the May thaw rolled around, he is hitting a very solid .270 with a .493 slugging percentage, 14 HRs and 56 RBIs in 76 games in a distinctly pitchers' league.
Making him, apparently, one of the league's best hitters.
Seems to be a whole lot to like from the lefty hitting Mazeika.
Why is he not in AAA? Rene Rivera and Ali Sanchez.
Otherwise, he'd be there, and likely doing well.
One thing is clear to me - stick him in Las Vegas and he'd be smacking the snot out of the ball.
I'd say he has a real shot at catching (and backing up Prodigious Pete Alonso at 1B) next year in Queens.
P.S. Perhaps 2017 3rd rounder Quinn Brodey (.227 in 57 Binghamton games) is also a victim of AA stellar pitching - although .227 is .227, which = not good.
ORIOLES HOMER PITCHERS
How bad is it with Orioles' pitchers?
Guys allowing a homer in less than every 5 innings?
23 guys!
They've totaled 191 homers in just 613 innings pitched. One in slightly over every 3 innings. Astonishing.
Their entire team in 2018 allowed 234 homers last year, a pretty terrible total, but in 1,431 innings.
P.S. Perhaps 2017 3rd rounder Quinn Brodey (.227 in 57 Binghamton games) is also a victim of AA stellar pitching - although .227 is .227, which = not good.
ORIOLES HOMER PITCHERS
How bad is it with Orioles' pitchers?
Guys allowing a homer in less than every 5 innings?
23 guys!
They've totaled 191 homers in just 613 innings pitched. One in slightly over every 3 innings. Astonishing.
Their entire team in 2018 allowed 234 homers last year, a pretty terrible total, but in 1,431 innings.
8 comments:
I expect John From Albany to chime in here.
He's in love with Patrick.
That picture I took in April is worth a thousand words - pretty much all of the games I peeked in on in April on MILB TV looked like they were being played in an icebox. How you hit in that sort of weather is beyond me.
I remember Harvey pitching a game in Buffalo in April and it was snowing not good for baseball. How many less homers would the Yanks have if you removed the ones they hit against the O's?
For awhile the scheduling was done so that warm weather cities got the April nod, but then clubs complained about the gate receipts for their own opening days in the cold weather cities.
Reese, NO ONE shows up in "winter weather" as the picture shows.
Mazieka would be perfect for the Mets as a backup catcher and backup first baseman. This would allow the Mets to carry 3 catchers and use Ramos for a pinch hitter for Nido without having to put Ramos back in the game.
And Tom is correct. It was wicked rainy and cold Upstate NY this Spring. Everytime I was planning to make the trip to Binghamton, it would rain. Hope to get there labor day weekend when the team store has great end of year discounts.
I exaggerate not - this is the stud, flamethrower Nate Pearson, whom the Ponies played last night, Toronto's top prospect after just-called-up Bo Bichette - this guy looked like a beast - in AA:
Pearson had some late helium ahead of the 2017 Draft after he hit 102 mph during a heavily scouted bullpen session in late May. The Blue Jays ended up selecting the JC of Central Florida product with the second of their two first-round picks the following month, signed him for slightly above slot value at $2,452,900 and then watched him light up radar guns during a dominant pro debut. Pearson's first full season lasted just 1 2/3 innings as he suffered a fractured right forearm after being struck by a line drive in early May, but he returned to the mound and impressed in the Arizona Fall League, finishing with a series of strong outings after a rusty start.
Pearson features front-of-the-rotation stuff when he's healthy, including the best fastball and slider in Toronto's system. His fastball sits in the upper 90s and routinely touches triple digits, and he showed he could run his heater up to 103-104 during an all-out first inning in the Fall Stars Game. His slider is a similarly powerful offering, thrown in the upper 80s with late, glove-side bite that leads to both whiffs and weak contact, especially against righties. He showed feel for landing a top-to-bottom curveball in the zone during the AFL, giving him a solid change-of-pace breaking ball, and his changeup should be at least average once developed.
Pearson uses his height to his advantage, creating a downhill angle to the plate so as to pound his fastball and slider down in the zone, and he's athletic enough to believe that both his control and command will improve as he gains experience. Few pitching prospects in the Minors can match Pearson's high ceiling, and he can move closer to reaching it with a healthy campaign in 2019.
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