Tom Brennan - How Are Mets Minors Teams Doing? And Baty vs. Tilien: You Decide.

Minor league guppies are scuffling in 2022

THRU SUNDAY:

Syracuse (18-34) - batting average 19th out of 20 teams at .224, 18th in runs with 224, and 10th in HRs with 58.  This team scores by the long ball or dies without it.

Pitching-wise, the ERA sits at 5.17 (league best/worst = 3.61/6.08). "WE NEED DEDNIEL!"

Not a surprise they are 18-34.

Binghamton (19-31) - 10th out of 12 teams in HRs (44), 9th in batting average (.229), and 11th in runs scored (208).

Pitching-wise the ERA sits at 5.11 (league best/worst = 3.35/.5.12), so they are as close to the bottom in ERA as possible without being last.

A 19th rounder in that league, Detroit's Kerry Carpenter, has 19 HRs, 9 more than our mighty Francisco.

Those 19 HRs are (if my math is correct?) 16 more HRs than Brett Baty, who has just 10 RBIs. But in some level of fairmness, 110 of Baty's 144 at bats so far have not been with runners in scoring position. Still...TEN RBI'S? Pete and Lindor between them have 100.

Compared to Baty, a newcomer to St Lucie, 19 year old Junior Tilien, has 6 HRs and 18 RBIs in his first 18 games and 63 at bats for St Lucie, just as a point of sharp contrast.  Two weeks ago, before his 3 HR game, to the baseball world, he was Junior WHO?  Yet he has an RBI every 3.5 at bats, while Baty has one RBI every 14.4 ABs.  Who exactly is the number 2 prospect?  I'm putting my money on (CURRENTLY UNRANKED) JUNIOR TILIEN. (All along, I have been writing Tillen, but on a bugger screen, I see it is Tilien).

Junior T hit just .165 in 32 Florida Complex League games in 2021 as an 18 year old.  But what catches my eye with him, aside from his HRs and RBIs this year, is his low K rate, both this year and last.  Just 38 Ks in 50 pro games - quite unusual these days. In his 18 games this year, .281/.343/.625.  And that includes a 2 for 15 start with just 1 RBI in his first 4 games this year.  Since then, he has simply been ON FIRE.

At the same age, in his debut year, Baty was in lower rookie ball and hit .234 with 65 Ks in 51 games.

Who is the real # 2?  The decision is yours.

Brooklyn (22-26) - its recent scoring surge has barely removed the team from being last in the SAL in scoring, but progress has been significant.  Still, the team's 186 runs, .224 average, and 25 HRs compares unfavorably to league leading totals of 310 runs scored, .270 average, and 75 HRs.  

Pitching-wise, the 22-26 Cyclones are 6th with a 4.13 ERA (league's best/worst = 3.61/6.51). To be only a half run behind the leaders is decent. (Then a 3-1 loss last night).

The 3 top teams have been hitting better of late, but still sit with probably the worst collective 3 team offense of any organization in baseball.  The three team's pitching is probably collectively close to the worst, performance-wise.

 

St Lucie (34-16) - 2nd in runs (233), and first in average (.249) and HRs (54).  Nice.  They are just 49 of 76 in steals, despite Omar de los Santos' 23 of 26 so far, as part of his very nice YTD.  

Carlos Dominguez is 2nd in the league in HRs with 11, but has 6 less games played than the league leader.  Of course, he also has fanned 71 times in 41 games, while remarkably still hitting .258. 

Alex Ramirez has slipped to .307 but still leads the league, with just one other hitter over .300 at .301.  On another team, a guy Mack tracked a lot last year pre-draft, Khalil Watson (16th overall), has fanned 76 times in 41 games.  So, you never really know.

Pitching-wise, 3rd in ERA at 3.38. League best/worst is 2.63/4.45) in this low scoring league. Calvin Ziegler has fanned 51 in 31 innings, and is 0-1.  I love the 51 in 31, though.

(Last night, 9 runs, 12 hits, 13Ks.  Also, Mack's guy Daniel Juarez (133 Ks in 87 IP as a pro) fanned the side in the 8th, and Colon (Jeffrey) threw 2 hitless innings for the save).

That's the overview, with a few dips into specific guys.

METS: lose 7-0, Pete gets hit by a running FB on his right hand, X-rays negative, MRI to come.  Marte has a tight quad on a steal attempt.  How much time will they miss?  Stay posted.  

Remember: With the Mets, @#$% always happens.  Always.