Tom Brennan - Minors Guys Who Fan, Fan, Fan. And Pete and Jeff 2019 vs. 2023

When you WHIFF too much, that whiff you smell STINKS!

 One thing that bothers me more than anything else in minor-league players is their  capacity to strike out at alarming rates.

Why? Because if you cannot attain a low strikeout level in the minors, you’re essentially wasting your time, since major-league pitchers are so incredibly much more adept at striking out hitters than minor league pitchers are.

I just saw the following about one such Mets minors player, Jaylen Palmer, who has only one problem as a talented athlete when hitting: huge strikeout rates.

I guess with Matt Rudick hurt, and hopfully back soon, the Mets decided to promote Jaylen Palmer and not the struggling Alex Ramirez to AA. He had fanned a very high 92 times in 59 games in A ball, 3 levels down from the majors. 

Is it a surprise he started out in AA going 4 for 25 with 15 Ks (60%)?  If he was in the majors, would it be 80%?

Luke Ritter does much that I see to be good as a hitter. Walks a good amount, and 20 HRs in 306 PAs this year. Except for strikeouts - he has fanned 255 times in 839 PAs this year and last.

In college, just 161 Ks in 937 plate appearances, a 17% rate. But in the pros, 399 Ks in 1,394 plate appearances (30%), and his career numbers seem to indicate he is sort of a poor man’s Travis Taijeron.

Ritter seems close in hitting performance to former Mets 4th rounder Cory Vaughn, who flunked out at AAA, but Vaughn’s minors K rate was a much better 23%.

Palmer is worse in K rate than even Tim Tebow was, with Ritter slightly edging Tebow. Just saying.

This organization makes zero sense, when it drafts hitters who cannot achieve LOW college K rates, that will be very likely to translate into very high and ultimately unsuccessful pro K rates.

Omar De Los Santos is super fast but has fanned 260 times in 773 PAs the past two seasons in A ball, nearly 34%. In the majors, would that be 80%?

Fix or switch - professions, that is.

In the 1960s, when teams had 15 position players, a guy like Omar might make the bigs essentially due to his base stealing excellence. But there is no such opportunity in the 2023 MLB world of a few fewer position players per team.

Quinn Brodey? He switched professions.

He fanned too much asastick man, so he switched…to pitching…this year. 

He is 1-1, 5.70, in 24 innings, but that higher ERA is because of his rushed intro to AA, in his first season of pro pitching, was disastrous (2.1 IP, 8 runs). 

In his 21 innings in High A, however, 2.95 ERA, with 29 Ks. The experiment may or may not succeed, but his very high K rate as a hitter in 2021 and 2022 was a dead end for him as a hitter.  Kudos again for trying something else. Lots of minors pitchers earn a cup o’ Joe in the bigs…he could be one.

THEN AND NOW:

“THEN” is 2019, when Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil were twin nuclear explosions in the NY sports scene - as of July 13, 2019, they had done the following, season-to-date:

Pete: .277/.371/.623, 30 HR, 68 RBI.

Jeff: .350/.410/.508, 7 HR, 36 RBI.

HUGE.

NOW” is 2023, when Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil struggle. A lot.

In contrast to 2019, as of July 13, 2023, they had done the following season-to-date:

Pete: .211/.310/.497, 26 HR, 61 RBI.

Jeff:.253/.331/.328, 3 HR, 26 RBI.

Glaring differentials between 2019 and 2023. DRASTIC DROPS.

I posit that the drastically reduced overall production here is due mostly to accumulated negativity and failure. Leading to self-induced pressure. SO…

Don’t just say you’re gonna do it, gents: 

FORGET THE PAST OF YTD 2023, REMEMBER WHAT YOU WERE CAPABLE OF DOING, AND WHAT YOU DID, IN 2019. YOU CAN STILL BE THOSE 2019 CAREFREE, LIVING-THE-DREAM, THIS IS SUCH A BLAST DUDES.

Just believe in yourselves, do it again, shake off the seeping pandemic of Mets Malaise, and great things can happen. Still. This season.

It is only over if you allow yourselves to fail. 

You can take the Conqueror’s Path instead.  Believe it. Do it.