7/21/22

Tom Brennan - K Culture in Mets' Minors

Mark Vientos is one of the High-Fanning 19

One clear cut factor in the major leagues is this:

MLB pitchers are very adept at striking hitters out.

Max Fried, for example, deftly worked the strike zone with an assortment of non-straight pitches, and on one at bat, busted Pete Alonso up and in with heat for a strikeout in a game in their most recent series, and on another AB, nailed him with a nasty screwball that broke off the outside corner.  You don't see pitches like that in the minors.

So, I took a look thru the Mets minors for guys who fan significantly more than once per game, and I found 19 such players on the 4 squads - here are the guys who have to go on a K diet, including some prospects and pseudo-prospects (stats thru Monday, July 11):

 

Ks

Games

Avg

Notes

AAA:

 

 

 

 

Khalil Lee

73

50

.194

Regression from 2021

Cody Bohanek

82

64

.164

AA and AAA

Nick Plummer

41

34

.202

.262 OBP; regression

Quinn Brodey

65

54

.193

AA and AAA

Luke Ritter

100

75

.221

AA and AAA

Mark Vientos

83

63

.251

Huge power, too many Ks

AA:

 

 

 

 

Hayden Senger

67

55

.223

Low pop catcher 

Manny Rodriguez

60

42

.179

AA, AAA and FCL

Brett Baty

84

69

.273

Baseball’s # 31 prospect

HIGH A:

 

 

 

 

Jaylen Palmer

106

70

.179

Self-explanatory 

Sherveyn Newton

105

74

.217

Low A and High A

Joe Suozzi

58

47

.207

Dad lost his primary 

LOW A:

 

 

 

 

Carlos Dominguez

111

65

.240

But he has power, Mack!

Omar De Los Santos

95

69

.272

Leads off a lot, so more PAs

Justin Guerrera

85

63

.184

Maybe "Guerrer" = K?

Greg Guerrero

16

11

.194

Maybe "Guerrer" = K? 

Stan Consuegra

85

72

.237

Promo to Hi A; he's hitting

William Lugo

75

66

.257

Bad first K month (April)

Brady Smith

26

17

.194

Even catchers must hit


That's a total of 1,417 Ks in 1,060 cumulative games, an average of 12 per game.  High, high, high.

Eight of the 19 listed dudes are hitting below .200, and 5 more are below .225.  

The 4 who exceed .250 were hitting just .251 to .273.  

Ks suppress batting averages, one might conclude. Sometimes "negative" is factual.

Other Mets minor leaguers (not listed above), perhaps a dozen, are at, or slightly above, 1 K per game.

Fellas, cut the Ks. It's good for your career health.

It is always good to see an infusion of talent through the draft.  

May the new hitters make more contact, so this time next year, this "Mighty High K List" is much smaller than 19 players.

6 comments:

Mack Ade said...

This speaks volumes that both Baty and Vientos need more time working on this.

Very sobering. And I should know. I've been sober since July 3r, 1984

Paul Articulates said...

C'mon Mets minor league hitting coaches - you're better than that.

I'm sure some of the kids on this list are just overmatched. It is hard to hit a baseball moving very fast on a non-linear trajectory. Not everyone gets to play in the majors so I hope they got a good education on the way up.

However, to see names like Baty, Vientos, Plummer, Lee on this list is worrisome. They have demonstrated the ability to hit at the AA/AAA level over time, so I would suspect that this has more to do with their approach at the plate. That can and should be fixed by the hitting coach.

Mack Ade said...

Paul

Most minor league pitchers as marginal as the hitters.

Premier hitters should never be over-powered by marginal arms.

Tom Brennan said...

True, fellas

Woodrow said...

It’s all about power,HRs. Minor. Leaguers know this. They’re swinging for the fences. Posters reactions to the J, T Williams selection show fans agree.

Gary Seagren said...

Congrats Mack thats a big deal. I would think that this draft would at least start to address the more contact less K's issue because we're seeing the results at the big league level and it's impressive.