Best of MLB Draft Database - 2022 - Q and A - Cam Collier - 3B

 

Today, I am very excited to be interviewing one of the top prospects in the 2022 draft… Mount Paran Christian High School’s Cam Collier. 

Cam sent the prospect world upside down on August 3rd when he reclassified from the 2023 draft to this year’s version. He was originally ranked in the top ten 2023 projected picks and was immediately placed high on all the team’s draft boards for this year. 

Those of you that read this site are familiar with his talent. 

Now we get the chance to hear from the man himself. 

And, with that… 

 

Mack -   Morning Cam. First, thanks for granting me this interview. We will get to the reclassification later, but first, tell us about how you got to where you are now and when did you realize that you might have what it takes to go far in this game? 

Cam - I got to where I am but countless days in the gym, on the field and just listening. I realized I might but good at this game last summer when I had finally start to hit velo. 

 

Mack -  I am sure there are many that have helped you along the road. Tell us about them and how they have helped you? 

 Cam - My dad for sure he has turned been guiding me along this journey and teaching me all he knows. 

 

Mack -  Now, to your current game. The reclassification. I was told that baseball wasn’t the primary reason to choose to do this and it was mostly due to the fact that you were so far ahead in your studies that you could skip a year to accomplish your diploma. Is that true, and, if not, what is the truth? 

 Cam -   No, that isn’t true. The reclassification was based of how ready me and my family and our support system felt. Also depended on how my baseball abilities would turn out after playing a year up in summer ball. 

 

Mack -  If I was a scout and was sitting in your living room with you and your parents, what would you tell me that you would “bring to the table” if my team drafted you come draft day? 

Cam -   I would say that your getting a hard worker who loves the game of baseball and will never take the opportunity for granted.

  

Mack -  It’s no secret that the 2023 draft will produce more talented players than are projected in 2024. This will make it harder for you to maintain that top projection in this draft. Tell us what you are doing in this off season to improve on your game even more? 

Cam -  I have just been working not to much focus on that stuff just trying to get a lot better than I was a day before. 

 

Mack -  Lastly, the same question I ask everyone. Let’s say I draft you and hand you a seven figure signing bonus check. What is the first thing you will buy with that cash money? 

Cam -     I’m going to be honest I haven’t even thought about those kinds of things because there a lot more work to be done so I haven’t really put thought into it.

Visit https://mlbdraftdatabase.blogspot.com/ daily for all your 2022/2023/2024 Scouting Reports

 

A serious man with a serious year ahead of him. 

Thanks to Cam for this. Right now, by the way, I have him as a solid middle to back end first round pick. A great 2022 can easily improve on this.

Last Night in Arizona and Winter Ball: Baty 0 for 3, Mauricio Ks as Pinch Hitter - 10/30/2021

Glendale Desert Dogs 5 Salt River Rafters 4 (Box Score)

Brett Baty 0 for 3, 1 RBI (Sac Fly), 2 Ks - now hitting .234 with .744 OPS. 

Carlos Cortes ​1 for 4, double - now hitting .250 with .750 OPS.

Hayden Senger 2 for 4, 1 run scored - now hitting .238 with .670 OPS.

Wilmer Reyes 1 for 4, 1 run scored, 1 K - now hitting .216 with .680 OPS.

For all the Salt River Rafter Stats, click here.  

You can follow the action everyday on Mack Mets' Gameday.

The Mets’ Arizona Fall League contingent went all-out for Halloween.

Personally, I have to give the title to Brian Metoyer as Barnacle Boy. pic.twitter.com/jnA4XM62Yw

— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) October 30, 2021

In the Dominican:

Toros del Este 10 Tigres del Licey 6 (Box Score)

Ronny Mauricio, PH, 0 for 1, 1 K - now hitting .333 with .917 OPS.

Syracuse Mets Catcher Martin Cervenka, 2 for 3, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, 2 walks - now hitting .500 with 1.215 OPS.

In Venezuela:

Tiburones de La Guaira 1 Bravos de Margarita 0 (Box Score)

David Rodriguez, DH, 1 for 3, 1 walks - now hitting .348 with .966 OPS.

Caribes de Anzoategui 8 Leones del Caracas 1 (Box Score)

Wilfredo Tovar, SS, 2 for 3, HR, 1 RBI, 1 run scored, 1 K - now hitting .458 with 1.302 OPS.

In Mexico:

Charros de Jalisco 9 Caneros de los Mochis 7 (11 innings) (Box Score)

Juan Uriarte did not play.

Tom Brennan - "Darn! NO!!!, They Let d'Arnaud Go! The Mets Are Boneheads!"

Stupid is as stupid does in Queens.

Flash back to early 2019.

The oft-injured Travis d'Arnaud was just getting over his Tommy John Surgery.

He reportedly was throwing better than pre-surgery.

But he'd missed an awful lot of playing time due to that surgery.

He was due to make a "whopping" $1.3 million in 2019 as opposed to Tomas Nido minimum wage, back in the Coupon era.   I guess the thought was cut your little losses quickly.  Small-minded.  Cheap.

In his last mostly healthy season pre-TJS, he had a very healthy 57 RBIs in 348 at bats.  A clearly better rate than McCann, Conforto, and Smith this season, just as a perspective.

He started out slowly in 2019 with the Mets after a rushed rehab in AAA (how about 7 at bats as being rushed?  SEVEN!), going 2 for 23 with the Mets despite only fanning 5 times in those 21 outs.  Bad luck?  Rust just about off?

DUMPED.  JUST...LIKE...THAT.  BUH BYE.

I wrote at the time:  

WHAT?  Why not give him a little more time to shake off the rust?

The DUMP probably had a lot to do with carrying that big, huge $1.3 million salary even another week or two.

With the Athletics, the rest of 2019, though, TDA had SIXTY SEVEN RBI'S in 327 at bats.  I would describe that as a killer RBI pace, I don't know how you would describe it.  Over 600 at bats at that pace, it would be 128 RBIs.  A Pete Alonso-in-2019 pace.

The A's made the playoffs.  

The Mets of 2019 break out Alonso, McNeil and Jake did not.  

Nido hit .191 as the back up catcher.  Willie Ramos hit well as their 2019 catcher, but he really could neither catch nor throw.  And one of the grounders he hit in 2019?  He's still running it out.  MAN, that dude was slow.  Willie Mays could get to first base on one leg faster than Willie Ramos on two.  And I'm talking the current 90 years old Mays.  Anyway...

The Mets of 2019 probably would have made the playoffs with TDA.

Then d'Arnaud signs with arch-rival Atlanta, and so far has 60 RBIs in 374 at bats with the Braves.  While the Mets have had lousy RBI production in 2020 and 2021 at catcher.

d'Arnaud made the playoffs in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

And had a huge game Friday night.  He loves the Braves, the city loves him, and Jethro Tull singer and Braves starter Ian Anderson referred to TDA as his secret weapon when he pitches.

Imagine that....a city that loves, and doesn't berate, its players.

HUH.  How about that.

I posted a positive short piece on d'Arnaud on Facebook.  Mentioned the 127 RBIs in 704 post-Mets at bats, a stunning total.

As always, vitriol ensued.  I corrected each and every one of them.   With facts.  Someone has to try to de-fang short-sighted, Mets' sports "fans".  It might as well be me.  Because they make Mets players press and play worse.  Real smart, huh?

The Mets did not make the playoffs in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

The Mets are major league leaders....in the "Bonehead" category.

Mets fans see Sewald and Flexen go 23-9, see Zack Wheeler lead the majors in innings and miss the MLB K title by a single strikeout, and must be thinking something.  I'm thinking "Bonehead franchise."  

Hey, Dannie Boy Murphy, the super-hero of the Mets' 2015 playoff run, was discarded, essentially, and kept the Mets out of the playoffs in 2017 and 2018.  All they had to do was trade Duda and put Murphy at first (and eventually third) base.

Boneheads.

Dross turns to pure, valuable gold when it leaves the Mets.

The As and Braves?  They got 14 karat TDA.  

Seattle got gold.  

Philly got gold.  

Washington got gold.

The Mets got dross.

"Wait 'til next year" is a mantra for idiots.  

It's how the Mets got to the playoffs a mere 3 times in 20 years.

Mr. Cohen, may I politely say:

WINNING NOW is what is relevant.  

To do so, it helps for an organization to not repeatedly be Boneheads.

So please...

Find a good surgeon for the Mets.  

One who can skillfully find the Bonehead.

Then remove the Bonehead.

Once removed, a full and speedy recovery is guaranteed.

Reese Kaplan -- Remember When We All Enjoyed Baseball?

It's a fine Saturday morning and nothing is new in Mets land, so let's take some time to ponder why we find baseball so fascinating and the reason the off-season captivates us sometimes more than the games themselves. Think back to what drew you into the game and refresh your enthusiasm without concentrating on the local idiosyncrasies of Steve Cohen's Mets.

Political columnist George Will may not always purport values and concepts I can always embrace, but as a baseball fan he is a first rate example and deep thinker.  He pretty much summed up the sport with a very simple analogy: 

Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.  -- George Will

Of course, the meaning here is far beyond the rudimentary words said by Will.  I remember comedian George Carlin also praising the difference between football and baseball with his own creative use of the English language:

One of the things I always appreciated about the game of baseball is contained within Carlin's humorous description.  It is a game without clocks, it is a game where violence is not a planned part of the contest, and it is a game where anyone can stand out as either the hero or the goat (and not in the Greatest of All Time meaning) when you least expect it.  

What's particularly enervating for the soul and best relieves day-to-day stress is the first snap of a pitcher's ball echoing off his catcher's glove, the crack of a bat making an unmistakable sound when the ball is ripped from the plate into the diamond, and the bark of the umpire calling strikes and judging safe vs. out.  Or remember how it feels when your team is having its narrow lead threatened with runners in scoring position to see a slickly handled double play.  Even better is the triple play, but we often go full seasons without seeing a single one executed. 
 

Also think back to how it feels when you have a Mookie Wilson, a Vince Coleman, a Roger Cedeno or a Jose Reyes unnerving the opposing pitcher and forcing infielders to cheat closer to the bags whenever they were on base.  Speed is almost forgotten in today's game but it adds an element of surprise and triumph whenever free bags are successfully pilfered.  

On the other side of the game, reminisce about what it's like when your team's pitcher is totally dominating the opposition.  Yes, watching a Jacob deGrom plow down hitters with aplomb is wonderful, but even better are the guys who rack up the awesome strikeout totals per game who make hitters look positive ineffectual when they flail helplessly at a delivery they weren't prepared to handle.  There are many memories in my mind of guys like Doc Gooden and even Edwin Diaz leaving hitters walking back to the dugout shaking their heads in disbelief.  

Think also about the celebrations that take place when a winning run scores in the bottom of the 9th (or extra innings), when a championship series is won or especially when the World Series flag will be flying over your stadium forevermore.  Whether it's the old pie-in-the-face antics, the glove sailing skyward in a victorious heave or simply a seemingly never ending sea of team uniforms surrounding and cheering and hugging to commemorate the moment.  

Someday the Mets will find their new front office personnel, find a manager, sign free agents, make trades and prepare for the upcoming season.  For now, just sit back and remember the good things that drew you to the game in the first place.  And oh yeah...there's a World Series going on.  

Last Night in Winter Ball (10/29/21): Mauricio 1 for 4

In the Dominican:

Tigres del Licey 5 Estrellas de Oriente 3 (Box Score)

Ronny Mauricio 1 for 4, 1 run scored, 1 K;

The two teams play again tonight.

Aguilas Cibaenas 9 Toros del Este 3 (Box Score)

Syracuse Mets Catcher Martin Cervenka, DH, 1 for 3, 2 Ks.

Leones del Escogido 10 Gigantes del Cibao 1 (Box Score)

Franklyn Kilome 1 inning, no runs, 1 hit, 1 K;

In Venezuela:

Bravos de Margarita 12 Tiburones de La Guaira 5 (Box Score)

David Rodriguez, C-1B, 1 for 3, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 2 walks;

Leones del Caracas 10 Caribes de Anzoategui 7 (Box Score)

Wilfredo Tovar, SS, 2 for 3, 1 double, 1 RBI, 1 run scored, 2 walks.

In Mexico:

Charros de Jalisco 11 Caneros de los Mochis 1 (Box Score)

Juan Uriarte, C, 2 for 3. 

For the results yesterday afternoon in Arizona, click here.

Today in Arizona: Javelinas 6 River Rafters 5 - 10/29/21

Box Score

Carlos Cortes ​1 for 3, double, 1 RBI, 2 walks.

Brett Baty 1 for 5, 3 Ks. 

Wilmer Reyes 1 for 4, double, 2 runs scored.

Hayden Senger did not play.

You can follow the action everyday on Mack Mets' Gameday.

Click here for the stats on all the Salt River Players.

Brett Baty @baty_brett just hits man, and everything he hits is hard. Liner past the SS.#ProspectOne pic.twitter.com/2ptakAjPJI

— The Welsh (@IsItTheWelsh) October 29, 2021

Jeremy Mand: The Mets need to end this weird era

The 2021 Mets started off promising. Their starting pitching was superb, their defense was the best they had in years, there were too many good hitters in that lineup not to expect them to turn it around eventually. 

But the season ended up being yet again another microcosm of a unique problem that has plagued the Mets for at least the last half dozen years. On paper you look at the roster and think and start to fantasize about what it could be if they all click—Jeff McNeil can compete for a batting title; Brandon Nimmo is an OBP machine; Dom Smith is a budding young superstar; Francisco Lindor is a top-10 MVP caliber player; Jacob deGrom is a HoF level starter; Michael Conforto is an All Star; and Pete Alonso is the next Mark McGwire. How could we all be so wrong? 

The truth is, we weren’t wrong to dream, but the reality is that all these collections of good players never seem to be good at the same time. And that is just weird to me…

Conforto has been extremely good and extremely bad at various times. Lindor was an MVP caliber player but he was unequivocally bad at the plate for most of the season. I don’t even know what to make of Dom, McNeil and J.D. Davis who each have shown tremendous bats for stretches of their career and had no indication of hitting at replacement level levels, but at the end of the season, there they were essentially replacement-level players, with a collective WAR of about 1. For comparison, Javy Baez got 2.5 WAR in 60 games with the team. 

So now, beyond that collection of players across the roster, there are tons of players with legitimate question marks beyond widely varying performance expectations—deGrom’s elbow; Noah Syndegaards recovery; Carlos Carrasco’s age; Taijuan Walker’s 1st half/2nd half splits; is James McCann really that bad? Is Edwin Diaz the one we saw in 2018 for the Mariners or 2020 in the shortened season, or is he Armando Benitez?

All this leads to is one conclusion, there are really only two players that you can reliably count on long-term and that’s Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor, who after a rough start showed who he probably will be. Beyond that, everything is a question mark—which leads to another sobering conclusion, the Mets may need to and probably should rebuild. 

The good news is, a Mets rebuild may not have to look like the tank jobs that have colored the game over the last decade. Cohen’s money gives the Mets the chance to compete while building from within by filling in with free agents on short-term deals to fill roster holes. The team also has a handful of very elite prospects about 1-2 years, perhaps less, from making their MLB debuts. Let me be very clear: Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Mark Vientos are all elite prospects and could all be + MLB starters by 2023. They also have two very good pitching prospects, when healthy, in Matt Allan and J.T. Ginn, who could also skyrocket up the system to join the team in 2023-2024. 

So, actually rebuilding and winning could look a lot like winning. The one heartache is probably letting Conforto walk — not because we don’t want to keep him, but because it would help us recoup additional draft capital for what will be the most important draft of the next 10 years (with two first round picks and perhaps compensation for Conforto walking). I imagine going into 2023, the Mets will have a top 10 farm system depending on who we draft, who develops further this year, and assuming Alvarez, Baty, Mauricio, and Vientos don't make enough appearances at the MLB level. 

No matter who the Mets name as the eventual President of Baseball Operations and/or GM, I expect the Mets to come out swinging in free agency this year—I would be surprised if they did not re-sign Baez, Marcus Stroman, Aaron Loup, Jonathan Villar and Syndergaard. I also would be shocked if they didn’t sign 2 no QO players such as Starling Marte, Kris Bryant, Eduardo Escobar, Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer, Tommy Pham, and Chris Taylor.

I also expect a slew of trades as the Mets 40-man roster is at its max already, with players like J.D. Davis, Dom Smith, Jeff McNeil all likely to go for—what I think should be—low-level high upside prospects to help form the future bench and bullpen. 

Tom Brennan - Baseball Pay - How Fair (or Unfair) Is It?

The Baseball CBA is being negotiated.  Oh, joy.

Visions of work stoppages dancing in my head.

One issue that should be addressed, in my opinion, in the new CBA is player salary fairness, both for owners and players.

To me, the current system is grossly unfair to many players.  

There, I said it.

The bulk of the riches primarily accrue to the 

1) true superstars - and superstars get paid in every sport, and

2) decent-to-star level players who reach free agency at a relatively young age.

Francisco Lindor is a prime example of that.  

He certainly fits category # 2, and it is your judgment call whether he also fits category # 1, but he is making a boatload of category # 1 bucks.

On the other side of the coin, a guy like Jeff McNeil hits the big leagues late age-wise, due to close to 2 years in the minors missed due to injury, and hits over .300 in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and made less than $700,000 in 2021, a paltry sum in light of his performance.  Had he hit free agency at age 28 with those being his last 3 years, he'd probably have signed a 6 year, $120 million contract for 2021, an enormous difference.

Pete Alonso?  In a similar $$ boat to McNeil.

Both have been drastically underpaid for what production they've provided - so far.

Lindor will make $34 million next year - Pete and Jeff might make $4 million between them.

By the time Jeff McNeil is eligible to be a free agent, his best baseball may be behind him.  

Pitchers have an even more treacherous road to free agency.  Just consider Matt Harvey.  Way underpaid in his early years, then got hurt, so he never reached the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  There are many like him.

Guys who are good are way underpaid in their early years, hoping their production stays strong until they reach free agency and can finally reap the big bucks.  But if they are older by then, as McNeil will be, even if they are producing at high levels, it will squeeze what they get because clubs won't give them long contracts extending into their twilight years.  McNeil is a free agent in 2025.  He will be 33 in 2025.

The great Macks Mets writer Reese Kaplan recently included the following outfielder free agents info in his article - notice, if you will, how old, in baseball terms, all of these guys are - 3 are 29, the rest are 30-35, and baseball players who are 35 are not getting big $$ deals:

Left Fielders:

• Mark Canha (Age 33, 4.3 WAR)
• Kyle Schwarber (Age 29, 3.4 WAR) -- mutual option
• Eddie Rosario (Age 30, 1.9 WAR)
• Tommy Pham (Age 34, 1.4 WAR)
• Andrew McCutchen (Age 35, 1.0 WAR) -- club option
• Corey Dickerson (Age 33, 0.8 WAR)
• Jurickson Profar (Age 29, 0.6 WAR) -- can opt out
• Joc Pederson (Age 30, 0.5 WAR) -- mutual option

Center Fielders:

• Starling Marte (Age 33, 6.7 WAR)
• Chris Taylor (Age 31, 4.5 WAR)

Right Fielders:

• Nick Castellanos (Age 30 4.5 WAR) -- can opt out
• Avisaíl García (Age 31, 3.6 WAR) -- mutual option
• Michael Conforto (Age 29, 2.9 WAR)
• Adam Duvall (Age 33, 2.9 WAR) -- mutual option
• Charlie Blackmon (Age 35, 2.3 WAR) -- player option

My take?  If I were a guy in the Jeff McNeil category, and there are many of them in baseball, I would want the years to free agency reduced by at least one year.  I would speak up to players' negotiator Tony Clark.

Perhaps there could then be some annual salary or length-of-contract limitations on the Lindor types so that it is not a case where the many like McNeil (under saner rules) reach free agency sooner, make more in what would have otherwise been his last pre-free agency year, and owners make less. It should be a zero sum game...players in total make $ X and owners pay out $ X in 2021, and the same amounts (adjusted for inflation) in 2022, 2023, etc.

The mechanics of how that could be done I'd leave to the powers that be.  All I know is that the better performers in early seasons of their career who are faltering by the time they reach free agency (e.g., Harvey) make a lot less than guys who falter early on, but kick it into gear as free agency arrives (e.g., Wheeler).  And that ain't right.

Also, I would start arbitration in year 2.  Why should an Alonso hit 53 HRs as a rookie and make under $700,000 the next?  Absurd.  Again, I am not asking owners to pay more overall but to reduce the salary slope.  There's no reason Pete should not have made $2 million in 2020 and $5 million this year - he is an everyday starting player and star.  

in the business world, if you are a superstar in your first year, more than likely, you will be compensated (relatively speaking) far better than Pete Alonso was for his second season.

Baseball's salary formulas are simply inequitable.

That is it, folks.  Thoughts?

Reese Kaplan -- A Glimpse to the Future With a Look at the Past

On Wednesday Mack commented after reading my article that he is sick and tired of the waiting for the front office stuff to happen and that they should simply select a non-Braves and non-Astros person right now to move forward as quickly as possible.

At the same time you have writers and fans advocating that the Mets sign Javy Baez so he can team up with Francisco Lindor to provide the club with perhaps the finest DP combo in baseball.  With the addition of Pete Alonso at 1st base and TBD at third base it could be an infield that could challenge that old one in Mets history from 1999 as their top offering ever.  

For those of you with short memories, the contender in 2022 must exceed John Olerud at 1st, Edgardo Alfonzo at 2nd, Rey Ordonez at SS and Robin Ventura at 3rd.  Now most folks judge players by their offensive output, but a lot of what the 1999 folks brought to the table was in terms of the fancy glove work.  

Rey Ordonez immediately jumps to mind as a clear example of the latter skill set.  He did win one his third straight Gold Glove that year as the best shortstop in the National League.  He hit his career high of 60 RBIs to go along with a single home run and a .258 batting average.  Considering he racked up just a 1.2 WAR total for his 9-year major league career, offense really wasn't a big part of his game.  

Edgardo Alfonzo was always a fan favorite and he shuffled around the infield to accommodate various on-the-field lineup variations during his primarily Mets career.  While he was rock solid with his defensive prowess, he didn't earn a league-wide statue for it.  However, he compensated with a .304 average, 27 HRs and 108 RBIs to go along with 9 stolen bases.  He walked 85 times while striking out an identical (and impressive) 85 times.

Third baseman Robin Ventura was a highlight reel for his defense, his offense and his rain-delay antics.  In 1999 he again won one of his six Gold Glove awards, but his contribution was just as impressive with the bat in his hand.  He hit .301 while besting 2nd baseman Alfonzo with 32 HRs and 120 RBIs.  It's been quite awhile since the Mets saw anything like that.  David Wright bested him in 2008 when he hit .302 with 33 HRs and 124 RBIs while also gaining another Gold Glove for his mantle. 
 

At first base is the man I think of as the forgotten and underrated man, John Olerud.  He was only with the Mets for three valuable years but averaged .315 with 21 HRs and 97 RBIs per season over that stretch.  By comparison, everyone's all-time first baseman, Keith Hernandez, hit .296 with 14 HRs and 83 RBIs per season over his Mets career.  Olerud won some Gold Gloves during his career but not 11 like Hernandez did.  Still, in the debate over the most valuable first baseman to play for the Mets, Olerud certainly deserves strong consideration.  

Going into 2022 it's too difficult to extrapolate and quantify what the numbers will be when we don't even know for sure who will be playing where.  Still, if you assume it is Pete Alonso at 1st, Javy Baez at 2nd, Francisco Lindor at SS and someone unidentified at 3rd base, it's entirely possible that the group in aggregate could certainly pose a challenge to that heralded 1999 infield.  

Last Night in Winter Ball: Mauricio 2 for 4 with RBI

In the Dominican:

Tigres del Licey 9 Leones del Escogido 1 (Box Score)

Ronny Mauricio 2 for 4, 1 RBI, 1 run scored;

The Tigres play the Estrellas de Oriente tonight.

Aguilas Cibaenas 5 Toros del Este 2 (Box Score)

Syracuse Mets Catcher Martin Cervenka 2 for 4, 1 double, 1 RBI.

In Venezuela:

Bravos de Margarita 7 Caribes de Anzoategui 2 (Box Score)

David Rodriguez, DH, 1 for 4, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 1 K;

Cardenales de Lara 3 Leones del Caracas 1 (Box Score)

Wilfredo Tovar, SS, 1 for 3, 1 run scored.

In Mexico, Juan Uriarte did not play. 

For the results yesterday afternoon in Arizona, click here.

Today in Arizona: Surprise Saguaros 8 Salt River Rafters 7 - 10/28/2021

Box Score

Brett Baty 1 for 5, HR, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored, 3 Ks. 

Hayden Senger 0 for 4, 1 walk, 2 Ks.

Wilmer Reyes 0 for 4, 1 run scored, 1 K.

Conner Grey 3 innings, 4 run - 3 earned, 3 hits, 1 HR, 2 walks, 3 Ks.

Garrison Bryant, 2 innings, no runs, 1 walk, 2 Ks.

Brian Metoyer 1 inning, no runs, 1 hit, 1 K.

Colin Holderman (L, 0-1) (BS, 1) 2/3 inning, 4 runs - all earned, 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 K;

Carlos Cortes ​did not play.

Errors: Reyes (3, fielding); Baty (1, throw)

You can follow the action everyday on Mack Mets' Gameday.

Brett Baty gives the Rafters the lead here in the ninth!!! His first blast of the fall was a no-doubter! 🚀🚀@Mets @MetsFarmReport @MLBPipeline pic.twitter.com/JIwrDFVqyR

— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) October 28, 2021

OPEN TREAD - Sandy

 

In your opinion...

Is Sandy Alderson a detriment for this team going forward?

Tom Brennan - Breaking Down Some Interesting 2021 Mets Stats

All Broken Down for Ya.

In a season where the Mets spent 103 days in first place, but thereafter collapsed and finished 11.5 games out, which is peculiar enough in and off itself, some other peculiar stuff happened:

Jake deGrom, a pitcher, was 12 for 33 (.364) at the dish. Tony Gwynn II.

Meanwhile, "hitters" Almora, Maybin, Lee, Sisco, and Hager combined to go 10 for 116.  That's Point Zero Eight Six, or .086, if you prefer digits.

Funny how that works, huh?  

Then it hit me...they can't hit.

Meanwhile, hitters Pillar, Almora, Guillorme and Drury combined to throw 3 innings and allow 7 runs.  Bad, sure, but... 

Not much worse than Szapucki’s 6 runs in 3.2 IP and Hartlieb’s 7 runs in 4.1 innings.  But who's keeping score?

Marcus Stroman led the team with 179 innings, 179 more than he threw in 2020.  An infinite year-year increase.  Good for him.

Reliever Miguel Castro had the 5th most innings of any Mets pitcher, with 70.1 IP.  Fans may not like him much, but I do, and facts are facts.  Good ERA, he's a keeper.  He could even close in a pinch and convert some saves, which would make him a Castro Convertible, as I see it.

Jake deGrom threw 92 innings with a 1.08 ERA before the All Star break. 

After the break, he threw batting practice a few times.  And even gassed up at BP a few times.

Everybody gushed over Jake’s numbers, but Aaron Loup’s 6-0, 0.95 ERA were even better.  At least I think so. 

LOUP LOUP LOUP!

Mets starters were an unsightly 32-57, despite a 3.89 ERA, and were a dreadful 25-55 (.313 W/L %) excluding Jake deGrom. 

Mets relievers, however, were 45-28, despite a virtually identical 3.90 ERA. Many, many fans trashed guys in the bullpen, but they had the 9th best ERA of any reliever team in the majors. Bottle up that vitriol, will ya?    I know, I know, 45-28, 9th best ERA sucks...but get over it already.

If the starters were 9th best and the run producers were 9th best, and then you add that to wg=hat was baseball's 9th best bullpen, and you've got yourselves a division champion.

The Mets were 25th in home runs, with 176 (no doubt, over 75% of the franchise's seasons, they've been in the bottom 5 in long balls,  Their strategy historically has been to eschew the long ball in favor of not scoring with the short ball, either). 

Yet, they were 14th in road homers, with 99. Not very fond of home cooking.  We can have some "deep" conversations about Citifield hitting conditions.  I say that the Mets should donate their current outfield fence down on the Mexican border and install a new, closer-in one in Queens.

Can somebody...please...say, "road trip"?

JD Davis had one of the best slash lines of any Mets player (.285/.384/.435) despite being hampered all season by a hand injury that will require post-season surgery.  

Most fans seem to want JDD to leave, seemingly without considering how well he might have hit this year with a healthy hand.  Probably drastically better than Michael Conforto, who many fans want to stay.  

Could a healthy-handed JDD hit .300/.400/.500 in 2022?  Why not? 

C Tomas Nido walked just 5 times, raising his career total to 18, or about how many times Barry Bonds might walk in a 4 game series.  

Nido's .261 OBP in 2021, though, helped raise his career OBP to .244.  Jake deGrom’s OBP lifetime is .238, just as a point of comparison.  And, after all, Nido was an 8th rounder and the lowly Jake was a mere 9th rounder.  

The same people who like Nido and his .244 OBP seem to not like Khalil Lee and his AAA .451 OBP.  The difference between a .451 and a .244 over 600 plate appearances?   About 125 more times on base is what.  

But, Nido can frame pitches well, so I get it.  No, really, I do.  No, really, I don't.

Team runs? 

23rd best on the road, with 333.  

Last in home scoring with 303, despite a late-season scoring pick-up.  

“Houston, we have a scoring problem.” 

Team Houston, though, did not have a scoring problem, with the Astros scoring 863 runs, or 227 more than the Mets. I wonder if that helped Houston win 18 more games than the Mets.  Somehow, I think there is a degree of correlation there.

The Mets and the 106 win Dodgers both had the following in common…neither won their divisions. 

Although, had LAD been in the NL East, their record was 17.5 games better than the Division-winning Braves.  Location, location, location.

For all the grief directed towards Dominic Smith and Michael Conforto, they were 3rd and 4th in Mets team RBIs, with 58 and 55, respectively. 

Of course, for perspective, 5 major leaguers had as many or more RBIs as the two of them combined.  Dom and Michael kind of hit like the likable Eddie Kranepool and Ron "Rocky" Swoboda, who I liked except for their low luster RBI hitting.

I have a Hispanic friend of mine with a heavy accent who says Conforto should get a "multi-jeer" contract.  I agree with the "jeer" part.

I did notice that the Mets love daytime.   

The Mets were a commendable 31-23 in day games, but a reprehensible 46-62 at night.    

I dunno, little power naps in the afternoon might help win those night tilts.  Want them to win a pennant?  On days with night games, around 3 PM, give them some milk and cookies and tuck them in for a little nappy.  

I know I was left snoring watching them lose night games, maybe they were snoring too.

Other than noting that I am batting 1.000 on deranged articles this year, I'm fresh out of Mets stat oddities and anomalies.  

Which weird stats did I miss?  You must have a few.