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12/31/20

Scouting Report - RHP - Brandon Neely


 

Brandon Neely

 

RHP 6-2 190 Spruce Creek HS (FL)

 

 

11-11-20 - Prospects Live Top 300 Prospect List - ​

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160. Brandon Neely - RHP

 

Bio:

Height: 6-2

Weight: 190 lbs

Hits/Throws: R-R

Hometown: Seville, FL

School: Spruce Creek

 

A Florida commit and former high school teammate of 2020 first rounder Zac Veen. An athletic arm with butter-like mechanics, Neely repeats well and runs his fastball up to 94 mph with little effort. He mixes four pitches in his low-90s fastball, two breaking balls, a mid-70s curveball, and a low-80s slider, as well as changeup in the same velocity band as his slider. An arm that can shoot up the rankings with strong performances throughout the summer.

 

 

6-3-20 - Baseball Factory -

 

Brandon is an athletic RHP who shows as a top prospect on the diamond. On the mound, Brandon gathers over the rubber and separates his hands on time. He works with a loose arm and extends through his release, staying inline toward the plate. Brandon shows an electric four pitch mix with his fastball topping out at 94mph with good arm side run and sinking action. Slider sits from 79-84mph with sudden 10-4 break. Curveball sits from 74-76mph with sharp 11-5 break. Changeup sits from 83-84mph as he throws with deceptive arm speed. Brandon performed well during his outing, striking out four batters in two innings of work. Overall, Brandon is a talented prospect who will be among the top pitchers in his class. 

 

PG -

 

Brandon Neely is a 2021 RHP/IF/OF with a 6-2 190 lb. frame from Seville, FL who attends Spruce Creek. Medium athletic build with some present strength and lots of room for more. Whippy arm stroke from an extended 3/4's arm slot, good athlete who repeats his mechanics well. Five-pitch mix he knows how to use. Goes 2-seam/4-seam with his fastball, sinking 2-seamer might be his best present pitch, works his fastball to both sides of the plate with an idea. Throws both a slider and curveball, slider is the tighter and sharper pitch at present but lands both for strikes well. Firm change up still developing. Mature pitcher in his approach but still has growing to do. Showed his arm strength well in infield drills with third base actions.

 

 

Prospect Worldwide -

 

Brandon Neely – RHP: Very young, advanced for his age. Some projection left, flashes swing/miss stuff with secondaries. Plus arm speed. Fastball sits 90-93 T94 with sub 2,000 RPM giving him natural sink, command needs improvement at times but when he’s working his 2 seamer down, its nasty and tough to elevate. Slider shows tight spin, looks just like his FB, great tunneling when working outer half, very tough on RHH, and is his go to breaking ball. Flashes plus potential at its best but is an Above-Average (55). Curveball shows nice depth and big breaking action. The Changeup rounds out the 4 pitch mix, a (45) Grade Below-Average pitch, but the feel for spin, and arm speed to go with him projection give me reason to think it will be a future 50-55 offering.

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Scouting Report - RHP - Brandon Birdsell



 Brandon Birdsell

 

RHP 6-2 210 Texas A&M

 


 

11-11-20 - Prospects Live Top 300 Prospect List - ​

 

84. Brandon Birdsell - RHP

 

Bio:

Height: 6-2

Weight: 210 lbs

Hits/Throws: R-R

Hometown: Willis, TX

School: Texas A&M

 

One of the best players in the entire country as a HS sophomore... has slowly pumped his stuff back up since 2016. Transfer from San Jac, Birdsell now sits 93-98/99 with serious ride on the heater. Threw 21 innings punching out 45 guys in 2020. Can get hit around a little bit, but the stuff is really good. Cutter/Slider at 88, mixes in a curveball that's fringy in the low 80s. Needs to work on developing a distinct shape for the pitch. Changeup is a work in progress and not part of the arsenal currently.

 

 

 6-20-20 - Last Word On Sports -

 

A native of Willis, Texas, Birdsell is a right-handed pitcher that recently graduated from San Jacinto College-North in Pasadena, TX. He is listed at 6’2″ and weighs 210 pounds.

 

Prior to San Jacinto, Birdsell began his collegiate career as a freshman at Texas A&M University. He went 1-0 with a 6.43 ERA and eight strikeouts with the Aggies before transferring to San Jacinto.

 

Birdsell finished his sophomore campaign with the Gators going 5-0 with a 2.48 ERA and 45 strikeouts in six appearances (all starts). He helped the Gators to a 21-6 overall record with a 12-0 record in conference.

 

According to MLB.com, Birdsell is currently ranked at 97 of the MLB Top 200 Prospects.

 

 

5-7-20 - Baseball Prospect Journal 

 

Brandon Birdsell spent his freshman season of college baseball at Texas A&M in 2019. He transferred after one season and knew San Jacinto College in Texas was the best fit for his development.

 

Birdsell, a right-handed pitcher, was drawn to San Jacinto pitching coach Woody Williams, who pitched 15 years in the major leagues. He believed Williams would help him grow in all aspects of pitching due to his history in the game.

 

Williams assisted Birdsell with his mechanics, pitches and mentality on the mound, while the two also connected off the field due to their mutual interest in spiritual faith, Birdsell said.

 

Under the guidance of Williams, Birdsell has enhanced his abilities on the mound and developed into a top prospect for June’s MLB draft.

 

 

Prospect Worldwide -

 

3. RHP Brandon Birdsell, Texas Tech

 

Bat: R. Throw: R. 6’2″, 210 lbs. Born 3/23/2000. Hometown: Willis, TX

 

2019-2020 (@ TX A&M/San Jac. CC): 6-0, 3.09 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 51/13 K/BB in 35 IP.

 

Brandon Birdsell was part of the best rotation in junior college baseball in 2019, with his San Jacinto rotation-mates Luke Little (Cubs, 4th round) and Mitchell Parker (Nationals, 5th round) both getting drafted. Birdsell was talented enough to warrant a draft selection as well and some saw him as the best prospect in that rotation, but he instead set his sights on building his stock across the state at Texas Tech. Having lost Clayton Beeter (Dodgers, comp round), Bryce Bonnin (Reds, third round), and John McMillon (Royals, undrafted), the Red Raiders rotation is wide open, and Birdsell is one of the frontrunners to stand out on yet another talented pitching staff in Lubbock.

 

If anything, the 6’2″ right hander has a power arm. His fastball sits in the low 90’s and has been trending upwards, hitting 97 in his final start of the abbreviated 2020 season. He backs that up with a rapidly improving slider that has tightened into an above average pitch, and it was a true weapon for him at San Jac. He’s also steadily refining his changeup, and with a durable frame, smooth delivery, and solid strike throwing ability, he is looking more and more like a mid-rotation starter. Having thrown just 35 innings in his college career so far, there isn’t much of a track record here, but what he has shown in a small sample is as good as any arm in the Big 12. Going out and maintaining his positive trajectory in Lubbock in 2021 could send him flying up draft boards. Like Madden, he’s also from the Houston area, albeit a bit farther out.

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Mets360 - Mets COTW: 1978 Hostess Lenny Randle

 


By Brian Joura December 31, 2020

In the second half of the 1970s, there was another major baseball card set distributed nationally available to collectors. These were the Hostess Baseball Cards, which were issued in both individual size and in three-panel formats if you bought a box of Ding Dongs or Twinkies. These were officially licensed, too, so you had the full logos and no airbrushed caps. There were good selections of players in these sets, produced from 1975-1979.

By the time these came out, it was well known that the Post cereal cards from the 1960s were more valuable if you had the entire panel, rather than cutting them out along the dotted lines. Still, the panels came with those same cut lines if you just simply had to have them at a normal card size.

My collection includes a bunch of panels from the initial set, yet fewer as the decade grew on. Not sure why this is. Maybe they were traded for other cards. Or maybe Hostess products got more expensive and mom started buying No Frills stuff, instead. And that was ultimately the issue with collecting these Hostess cards – if you were a child of the 70s, you had to depend on mom to buy these for you. Kids would go to the store and buy packs of cards. But generally we didn’t go to Shop Rite, Pathmark or the A & P and buy a whole box of Suzy Qs to get three baseball cards.

I can remember going to Mary’s department store, the only place in town that sold rack packs. And even though it was a cramped little store, and even though those rack packs were right by the register, I would look through them all to see the cards that were on the top and the bottom, looking for Mets cards or cards that were needed to complete my set.

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PRESS RELEASE - METS NAME TONY TARASCO TO COACHING STAFF

 


 

 

METS NAME TONY TARASCO TO COACHING STAFF

 

 

FLUSHING, N.Y., December 30, 2020 – The New York Mets today announced that they have named Tony Tarasco the club’s major league first base coach for 2021. Tarasco will also oversee New York’s outfielders and baserunning.

 

Tarasco, 50, spent the last five years as the San Diego Padres’ Minor League High Performance and Outfield/Baserunning Coordinator. In addition to that role, in 2019, he managed the Class-A Lake Elsinore Storm, leading them to the California League finals. He also managed the Charros de Jalisco in the Mexican Pacific League in 2017.

 

Prior to joining the Padres, Tarasco worked 10 years in the Washington Nationals organization, including the final three seasons (2013-2015) as the major league first base coach. He was Washington’s minor league outfielder/baserunning coordinator from 2011-2012 and also served stints as the hitting coach for the Class-A South Atlantic League Hagerstown Suns (2008-2010) and the short-season Single-A New York-Penn League Vermont Lake Monsters (2006-2007).

 

Tarasco played parts of eight seasons in the majors with the Atlanta Braves (1993-1994), Montreal Expos (1995), Baltimore Orioles (1996-1997), Cincinnati Reds (1998), New York Yankees (1999) and the Mets in 2002, where he hit .250 (24-96) with six homers and 15 RBI in 60 games. He combined to hit .240 with 46 doubles, 34 homers, 39 stolen bases and 118 RBI over 457 major league games.

 

Tarasco was born at the old St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village and lived in Washington Heights until he was six. He is one of 139 players who have played for both the Mets and Yankees.

 

Tony DeFrancesco, who was the Mets first base coach in 2020, will move to the role of Senior Advisor, Player Development and Scouting.

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Mike's Mets - It's Still Early


By Mike Steffanos December 30, 2020 

A few more thoughts on the big moves by the Padres discussed yesterday. If I was a Cubs fan, I would not be a happy camper right now. After a pair of fifth place finishes in 2010 and 2011, Theo Epstein was hired to run the Cubs, and immediately tanked the next couple of seasons to rebuild the farm. After suffering through a 101 loss season in 2012 and a 96 loss season the following year, Cub fans endured one final fifth place finish in 2014 before making the playoffs with a 97-win club in 2015. That team, of course, lost in the NLCS to the Mets, but the Cubs peaked the following season with 103 wins and a World Series championship.

The success the Cubs had contributed to more teams emulating the tanking route they took. Indeed, Chicago looked like a potential dynasty after winning the 2016 title, but the ensuing years didn't work out quite that way. They won the NL Central the following season, but with 11 fewer wins, and got drubbed by the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS. They were a wild card team in 2018, but didn't advance, fell to third place in 2019 and got manager Joe Maddon fired, and won a pretty weak division this year but were toppled by the upstart Marlins in the playoffs.

I'm not a big fan personally of the Ricketts family that owns the team. Tom Ricketts was one of the billionaire club owners who went on local sports talk radio this spring to whine about how unfair the players were being in negotiations. The handwriting seemed to be on the wall when the Cubs announced massive layoffs within the organization — over 100 total, with half the layoffs coming from baseball operations. Theo Epstein stepping down not the long afterwards did not seem like a coincidence. Sure enough, the Cubs non-tendered World Series hero Kyle Schwarber and some other players early this month, and traded Yu Darvish for very young prospects who are far, far away from the majors. GM Jed Hoyer insists that the trade wasn't about a salary dump. Yeah, whatever.

The NL Central might be the weakest division in baseball. The Cubs might still be good enough to win that thing, but they're much weaker today than they were at the beginning of the month. Management can say what they want, but the Cubs look like a team that is retrenching rather than going for it in a year when many key players are in their last season before free agency. If I was a fan of that team, I would have expected them to go for it one last time before possibly taking a step back, and angry about what they seem to be doing. Again, that division is so weak. Make the playoffs, get hot at the right time and a bit lucky, and next thing you know you have a second championship for the fans. There would still be 2 years left on Darvish's contract after next season, so he could have still been traded after the Cubs went for it one last time.

In a way, the Cubs are an example of how fragile dynasties built upon tanking are. Having so many players come up together leads to many of them also hitting free agency at the same time. Now I don't know what the plan would have been if the pandemic didn't hit, the organization didn't lay off so many key people and Epstein didn't leave, but I would tend to doubt they'd be taking a step back this season. Whether it's a brief step backwards or a longer-term retrenchment remains to be seen.

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John from Albany - Seaver Links




This past September 3rd we lost The Franchise.  Tom Seaver passed away at the age of 75.  

We look back now at the tweets and tributes to Tom Terrific over the past months.











The Changeup: Dwight Gooden Remembers Tom Seaver.











NY Post: Tom Seaver, greatest Met ever, dead at 75.


Greg Prince Faith and Fear in Flushing “No. 41 in Our Hearts”: “Terrific only began to say it. Tom Seaver was everything to the New York Mets. Everything. He was everything to me. Everything. And I know I’m not alone in that assessment.”

Metstradamus: The Mound Is His Home.

Dave Rubin Mack's Mets: On This Day, 43 Years Later, My Heart Still Breaks.

Tom Brennan Mack's Mets: My Memories Of The Great Tom Seaver.

Reese Kaplan Mack's Mets: A Man Greater Than his Baseball Card. 



Steve Serby NY Post: Tom Seaver was everything to Howie Rose.

NY Post: Photos: Remembering Mets legend Tom Seaver.




Mets You Tube Channel: Icon Lost: Tom Seaver.


NY Post: Mets and the baseball world mourn the death of Tom Seaver.


John Harper SNY.TV: Remembering Tom Seaver, the Mets' first true icon.

Bill Madden’s Book about Tom Seaver ‘A Terrific Life” is now available.  You can read an excerpt here.

Talkin Mets with Mike Silva: Mike is joined by Bill Madden, author of the new book "Tom Seaver: A Terrific Life", to give a new look at the man affectionately known as "The Franchise".

Amazing Avenue: This Week in Mets Quotes: Tom Seaver 1944 – 2020. We take a break from the usual quotes about the Mets to remember Tom Seaver.

Greg Prince Faith and Fear in Flushing looks back at Tom Seaver’s Passing in “A Rainy Goodbye”.

Centerfield Maz: Mets Hall of Fame Pitcher: Tom Seaver (Part One)- the Sixties.

Centerfield Maz: Tom Seaver (Part Two)- the Early Seventies (1970-1972).

Centerfield Maz: Tom Seaver (Part Three): 1973 Cy Young Award & Mets Pennant Season.

Centerfield Maz: Tom Seaver (Part Four): After The Pennant & The Mid Seventies (1974-1977).

Centerfield Maz: Remembering "The Midnight Massacre" - The Tom Seaver Trade 1977.




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Tom Brennan - METS' DEFENSIVE WOES IN 2020

Gets By Buckner!

There are three main elements to a successful team:


1) Effectiveness of Pitching


2) Effectiveness of Offense


3) Effectiveness of Defense


As Reese Kaplan noted in his recent article, FOR THE GLOVE OF BASEBALL, defense is an important component for a winning team.


I therefore decided to look at what Baseball Reference listed for teams defense-wise, and for the Mets in particular, in 2020.


What I saw wasn't pretty, and if you watched the games, you didn't need the fancy stats to tell you that, but here is what I took out of BR's team defense breakout:


Rtot (Total Fielding Runs Above Average): the Dodgers had the best result at +37 Runs, while the Mets were 29th at a -33.



Errors - the Mets caught what they got to as the team average errors were 35 and they made just 31 (the Yanks made a baseball-worst 48).  Houston and Minny each, however, made just 20 miscues, so the Mets were far from best.


DPs - Colorado with Arenado and Story CRUSHED IT in terms of DPs turned with 78. League average was 48, but the Mets made just 37 DPs, 27th in baseball and, remarkably, less than half the Rockies' total.


Rdrs (Defensive Runs Saved): St Louis led with a positive 33, with LAD at +29.   The Mets?  26th at -22 (remarkably, the Nats were awfully worst with a -43.


"Rgood" (positive for great plays, negative for obvious misplays) - I don't quite get the results here, except for the Mets' placement in the list.  The top of the list had 4 teams at +3.   The Mets were 29th at -4.



Unearned Runs - which doesn't reflect runs coughed up due to substandard plays that weren't the result of errors of passed balls, such as DPs not turned). The Blue Jays shed an astonishing 44 unearned runs, while the Cubs and Detroit gave up just 10. The Mets allowed 24 unearned, which isn't very good.


And, did you know that in 1964, the Mets' Jesse Gonder had 21 passed balls in just 97 games?  That hadda (not) help!


Wild pitches don't help either.  The great John Smoltz wasn't all good - he led the NL in wild pitches over 3 straight seasons (1990-92).


All in all, the concern about the Mets' 2020 defense was oh-so real, as the defense clearly was oh-so bad, and should not be overlooked in this off season's rebuild.


A goal of MLB-average team defense in 2021 should be the target for the Mets, IMO.  Above average pitching, above average hitting, AND AT LEAST MLB-AVERAGE DEFENSE.


I love Mets' offense, as I have often said in the past, after having suffered with so many below average Mets' offensive squads since 1962, but this 2020 defense had the scent of limburger cheese, so hopefully, in 2021, I can have my cake (offense) and eat it too (defense). 


Before I go:  Have a happy, and safe, New Years.


I did note that in the summer we bottomed in terms of Suffolk County COVID hospitalizations at 13, and there were days where the positive test rate was 0.5%.  Yesterday, there were 54 times as many in the hospital (700) and a positive rate 25 times higher than that summer low point, with the positive rate incredibly jumping 5 points in 2 days from 7.8% to 12.8%.  


So, it is a whole different ballgame.  Be careful.  


And thanks for putting up with me this year!

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John From Albany – Mets News and Breakfast Links 12/31/2020

 



Good Morning. Happy Birthday Rick Aguilera, Kevin Kaczmarski and Will Toffey. Mets get a new first base coach, reports say it’s Mets vs. Blue Jays for George Springer who wants $150M plus and David Rodriquez now hitting .408 in Winter Ball.

Section Links: Mets Links, MLB Links, Winter Baseball, and This Day in Mets History.

Mets Links:

Deesha Thosar NY Daily News: Race for George Springer tightens to two teams, including Mets. Steve Cohen’s Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays are the final clubs competing to land the high-priced outfielder, a source told the Daily News. Springer, 31, is expected to sign with either team in January. He figures to pick up a long-term contract worth well over $100 million.

Andy Martino SNY.TV: Here’s the actual situation with the Mets and George Springer. ”The rumored deal between Springer and the Mets that popped up in several places over the holiday was five years, $125 million. In reality, Springer is expected to sign for much more than that. Two league sources said that he was still asking for well over $150 million. The Mets might be willing to approach $150 million for Springer, but the sides haven’t found sufficient common ground to even get near a deal.”




Mike’s Mets says “It’s Still Early”: “Despite the flurry of activity over the last few days, particularly from San Diego, it's still really early in the hot stove season. Hardly any player of consequence has signed.”

MLB.com: Mets name Tony Tarasco to coaching staff. Tony Tarasco will be the first base coach for 2021. Tarasco will also oversee New York’s outfielders and baserunning. Tony DeFrancesco, who was the Mets first base coach in 2020, will move to the role of Senior Advisor, Player Development and Scouting.


Greg Prince Faith and Fear in Flushing looked back at the players and people we lost this year in Through the Years (Especially This One).

Mets Junkies: Trevor Bauer: Average Pitcher, Major Headache.

amny.com: With money Trevor Bauer apparently wants, Mets could check off multiple boxes instead.




Empire Sports Media: Miguel Castro has the tools to become an impact reliever. “2020 brought an interesting development for the Mets’ hard-throwing righty. Yes, the sample size is small, but in 24.2 innings, he upped his K/9 to 13.86, enough to rank in the 90th percentile in K%.”

Thomas Hall Metsmerized Online: Mets Should Turn Focus to Marwin Gonzalez.

Tim Ryder Metsmerized Online: J.D. Davis Has Plenty to Prove in 2021. “Over 56 games in a COVID-shortened 2020 (229 PA), J.D. Davis hit .247/.371/.389 with six homers, 117 wRC+, and a 24.5% strikeout rate (up from 21.4 percent in 2019).”



ICYMI Yesterday at Mack’s Mets:

Mack’s Reese Kaplan -- The Waiting Game Is Mighty Stressful for Mets Fans.

Mack’s Scouting Report - OF - Donta Williams.

Mack’s Scouting Report: Scouting Report - OF - Jay Allen.

MLB Links:

MLB.com: Incredible 2020 stats -- 1 for each team. For the Mets - Mets: Amed Rosario did something on Aug. 28 at Yankee Stadium that we hadn’t seen since the 1800s. He hit a walk-off home run for the Mets -- a road team.

MLB.com: Ranking the Top 25 rookies of 2020. At #20 - Andres Gimenez, SS, Mets. .263/.333/.398, 49 G, 3 HR, 22 R, 12 RBIs. Kyle Lewis, OF, Mariners had the #1 rank, .262/.364/.437, 58 G, 11 HR, 37 R, 28 RBIs.

MLB.com: Here's why each of Padres' 3 aces is elite. The article contains this: “Top starting pitching trios entering 2021 - 1) Nationals -- Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin: 11.7 projected WAR; 2) Padres -- Yu Darvish, Dinelson Lamet, Blake Snell: 11.3 projected WAR; 3) Mets -- Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, Noah Syndergaard: 10.8 projected WAR.”


MLB.com: The amazing do-it-all career of Bill Pecota. Baseball's Forrest Gump. “After being traded to the Mets the next season, Pecota became the very first Mets position player to pitch. It would take seven years before Matt Franco became the next.”

AP Sports: The name game: A few athletes primed for breakouts in '21. In Baseball it is  Ke’Bryan Hayes, third baseman, Pittsburgh Pirates…son of longtime major leaguer Charlie Hayes. In the AL, there’s Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena.

AP Sports: Hoyer insists Cubs plan to compete after dealing Darvish.

MLB.com: Hoyer: Contreras trade rumor is 'fictional'.

MLB Trade Rumors: Hoyer: Finances “Not The Focus” Of Darvish Trade.

MLB Trade Rumors: Eric Thames To Sign With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants.

Forbes.com: How Can Baseball Players Be Better Compensated? Fay Vincent Has An Idea “What has to happen is the union has to be willing to talk to owners about allowing players to own part of the team,” said Vincent. “No players own any piece of any team. The union has achieved all its objectives, but it hasn’t converted ordinary income into capital gains.”




Winter Baseball:

No Games Wednesday in the Dominican Republic.  They resume play on Saturday.

Prospects Live: Best and Worst of LIDOM Week 6: Worst - Utility infielder Robel Garcia reached base just two times in eleven plate appearances, and also struck out 11 times. He hasn’t produced as much as he’d hoped for — he’s fighting for a roster spot with the Mets.

In Puerto Rico yesterday:

Indios de Mayaguez 6 Criollos de Caguas 3 (Box Score). Both Johneshwy Fargas for Los Criollos and T.J. Rivera for Los Indios had the day off.   

In Venezuela:

Bravos de Margarita 8 Tiburones de La Guaira 0  (Box Score). David Rodriguez DH 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored, .408 average.

Here is the full scoreboard from Venezuela.

In the Mexican Pacific League:

Venados de Mazatlan 3 Caneros de los Mochis 2 (Box Score). Juan Uriarte C 0 for 2, .230 batting average.

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com:

Born on this date:

Died on this date:

Transactions:

Los Angeles Dodgers signed Claudio Vargas of the New York Mets as a free agent on December 31, 2008.

Centerfield Maz: Rick Aguilera: 1986 World Champion Mets Pitcher (1985-1989).

Breakfast Links One year ago today - 12/31/2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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