Morning.
I'm going to bring back a feature I did when I first created this site as an exclusive Mets minor league blog.
I'm going to break down each position and take a dive into where this franchise stands right now regarding that position.
First up is a position we thought we never had to worry about until the next decade... then came the hand injury to Pete Alonso.
Stats through Friday’s games.
Yup. First up. First base.
Recent Syracuse grad Mark Vientos may play first better than he plays third and we all know the kid can hit if he plays every day. There's a good chance that the Mets don't have to look past Vientos, but let's see who else is in the pipeline.
There’s also Mark Cahna, so the current Mets are not in bad shape here. Yes, loss of the 50 home run hitter, but not Lucas Duda. Pete will be back soon, stronger and, my guess, angrier.
On Syracuse, Vientos was their go to guy here (.333, 13-HR) until he got the call to go to Flushing. They had to find someone to fill in here since there was no one at the AA level ready to step up. Their choice was veteran Tyler White, who also plays seven other positions. White can hit and his stats here so far are 43-AB, 0-HR, 3-RBI, .256/.360/.279/.639
Now to confused things. On Monday, the Mets sent signs that the Alonso injury may be more serious than first thought. They signed ex-Yankee Luke Voit. The 32-year RHH Voit, comes to the Mets after hitting for 68-AB, .221, -0.2-WAR for the Brewers. It’s a 2-mil contrsct, with a team option for 2024. So far for Syracuse: 10-AB, 2-HR, 5-RBI, .300/.588/1.100/1.688
They are backed up here by the light hitting/strong defender C/1B Nick Meyer (104-AB, 0-HR, 14-RBI, .202/.300/.279/.579
On the B-Mets, the growth of the Mets 4th round draft pick in 2021, JT Schwartz, was going on just fine until he went down with an undisclosed injury.
The Mets replaced JT with “Blue” prospect Joe Suozzi, who was recently promoted to the Cyclones. The former free agent out of Chaminade HS hit .283 for Brooklyn and is currently hitting 56-AB, 2-HR, 6-RBI, .339 (team leader)/.415/.518/.933
He also plays a decent corner outfield.
Backing up Suozzi is Warren Saunders (17-AB, 0-HR, 3-RBI, .118/.150/.177/.327) and Jose Mena (14-AB, 0-HR, 0-RBI, .143/.200/.143/.343).
In Brooklyn, first base is Mateo Gil, backed up by Eduardo Salazar. Neither are fully developed so far, so it is impossible to predict their future. As of now, Gil is hitting 112-AB, 6-HR, 12-RBI, .205/.276/.455/.732 while Salazar has hit 43-AB, 0-HR, 1-RBI, .163/.265/.209/.475.
On St. Lucie, the primary job of holding down has gone to Yeral Martinez. His backups are Eduardo Salazar, Jose Hernandez, and primary third baseman Jacob Reimer.
So far,
Martinez is hitting 121-AB, 5-HR, 21-RBI, .198/.279/.364/.643
Hernandex is batting 15-AB, 1-HR, 5-RBI, .267/.500/.467/.967
Salazar is stroking 81-AB, 1-HR, 9-RBI, .247/ .307/.358/.665
Reimer is hitting 182-AB, 3-HR, 22-RBI, .275/.402/.368/.770
Past this would be looking too far out.
In summary, this was a position we all thought the Mets were not going to have to worry about. Pete was invincible, right?
Well, I think he still is, but having Voit around short term is a good idea right now. He could never replace Alonso, but he probably could step in and produce more offense than anyone else that could play that position at that level.
Darkhorse down the road is Suozzi.
Overall rating: A
Voit has been on base 14 of 22 times in Syracuse, where they’re walking him like Barry Bonds. Better than Vogelbach.
ReplyDeleteVientos needs to start hitting, or he’ll keep sitting.
Suozzi is a shocker.
Reimer is a real, long-term possibility. He is hitting well at age 19.
You forget that after getting a hit and a walk in a game he rarely started, Buck "Collins" Showalter immediately benched him again. You can't hit if you don't play.
ReplyDeleteWow the pipeline need help we really do need minor league overhaul
ReplyDeleteProblem is that it’s year 3 and now coming up on 3 drafts
We haven’t seem to made much headway
Maybe parada should be part of the 1b pipelines
Eddie
Tom
ReplyDeleteI really really really likw Suozzi
Reese
ReplyDeleteI just wish they would give us some explanation why they called up Vientos
It's obvious they weren't going to play him and he could have used the daily defensive reps at AAA
Eddie
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how Parada progresses.
His bat is waking up and it will play much better out of that dreadful stadium once they promote him.
Word is his defensive game is far away.
Imagine getting a hit against a tough righty like Cole and being put back on the bench. If he's not going to play, send him down.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter
DeleteYou could hit 4 home runs one night and you will sitbthe next game if the needs didn't fill in that lineup card a few games back
*nerds
ReplyDeleteAlso they didn't start Alvy fri. night at C or DH inexcusable.
ReplyDeleteGary
ReplyDeleteNot the game we love anymore