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8/12/23

Tom Brennan - AA Non-Hitters….and Much More

The AA Eastern League is pretty hitter neutral.

About 4.7 runs per game is the norm.

The Rumble Ponies’ pitching of late (excluding Thursday’s 14-0 drubbing) has been best-in-league. 

The Rumblers’ hitting has huge holes, though.

.223 as a team, through Thursday, the Eastern league’s worst. 

Ditto on the .361 slug %, despite a boost from an earlier torrid Luke Ritter HR stretch before he was promoted to AAA.

Not a home park issue: .229 home, .219 away.

No, the problem has been the bottom 6 plus the newbies.

BOTTOM 6:

Agustin Ruiz, Matt O’Neill, Hayden Senger, Jayden Palmer, Mateo Gil, and Tanner Murphy all under .200, totaling .184 in 955 at bats with 374 Ks (39%).  29% of at bats from sub-.200 dudes up 70 to nearly 300 times.

What is that?

A low-talent problem.

My new rule of thumb is when you get promoted from AAA to the majors, your average will drop 100 points. For AA, that would probably be 150 points.  So, these 6, if moved to the big leagues from AA today for the rest of the season, would hit .034 (.184 minus 150 points).

NEWBIES:

Thru Thursday, the hyped Luisangel Acuna, Gilbert, and Jackson are a combined 14 for 80, but the talent is there, time to adjust is the key.

So, there you go. Chew on that, you polo ponies out there who gallop to read these articles.

Let me add that on top of the 14-0 Thursday loss, the Yanks took a little more mercy by only beating them 9-0 last night. 23-0 in two games, from an UPGRADED team? Hmmm…

METS TRAGEDY CONTINUES TO UNFOLD:

The Mets lost to the Braves by a touchdown, 7-0, despite compiling 7 hits and 9 walks, the kind of stuff that bad teams do, 16 on base, no runs. That requires a certain skill set. 

Of course, one hitter in the lineup had none of those 16 trips on base, your very own Daniel V, who went a big, fat 0 for 5. Sit, Daniel, sit.

Nicely, though, Mark Vientos went 2 for 4 to break back into the hit column.

Tie Lore Megill was fine for 3 shutout innings, but downright lousy for his next 2.1 innings. The story of many of his starts. (Hint: Move to Bullpen).

The Braves have scored 154 more runs than the Mets, with an OPS 124 points higher than the Mets.  Had Megill and the opposing pitchers switched teams for the game, Megill would have won 9-2. 

Roger Craig, of course, knew it was easy for very good teams to beat very bad teams who were using a decent caliber starter….such as Roger Craig, who was 15-46 as a Met despite a solid ERA.  Koosman once went 11-35 over 2 consecutive very bad Mets team years despite a solid ERA. It was possible that if Koosman had pitched for baseball’s best scoring team those two seasons, he might have gone 35-11 instead.  

MUCH nicer to pitch for the best hitting team, which these days is the Braves.

 Lindor’s consecutive game streak ended due to a sore side, which will need an MRI, it appears. An occasional day off is a balm to the body, and prevents injury due to wear and tear.  Mr. Arauz played SS in his stead and walked twice while going 0 for 2.

In Syracuse, Ronny reawakened and smacked 2 out, and Baty (.386 in AAA) hit another. Syracuse lost to the Yanks’ team, which rallied for 3 bottom 9 to win 8-7.

As a reminder of the wide chasm between AAA hitting and MLB hitting, due to the wide chasm in pitching, Scranton’s Franchy Cordero is tearing it up at .331 with power, but with the NYY Bronx team, he was a mere 13 for 69 this year (.188).

Lastly, in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Cyclops strangled the opposition, behind a brilliant 3 hit, 6 inning, 11 K outing by Joander Suarez. Beware the mighty Cyclops.

Sayonara. I hope you took great offense with this article, because man, do I love offense.


26 comments:

  1. I don't remember... did Mendoza hit above .200?

    THAT was a joke.

    This isn't a joke... most minor leaguers in all the chains are jokes

    This is why the pundits don't make top 100 lists. They would have to add guys like Mendoza

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  2. Think with all the new additions to the system, 2024 will be better across the board.

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    Replies
    1. It will be but the real talent isn't scheduled to arrive until 2025

      Unless you rush them like Baty and we see what that got them

      Delete
    2. Ray

      2024 will finally unite the Big 4 for the first time in the majors

      Alvarez is now a fixture at home.

      I expect Baty returns to third and Mauricio plays second

      Virntos a DH

      Others that should graduate are starters Vasil and Jarvss, relievers Parsons Lavrndar Reed Foley and Coonrod

      Delete
  3. The Mets right now have around 30 VERY GOOD prospects

    That's a huge number

    Average in league is around 25% make it all the way

    That's around 7 or 8

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  4. More will hit the 40 but not as stars in the game

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  5. Let’s hold on a second: what happened to the Tylor Megill that was a very good starting pitcher for a couple of years? Is this an injury result? I don’t get it… and how is he losing velocity?

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    Replies
    1. Arms peak Gus

      Some like Verlander not until over 40

      Most in their mid 20s in the minors

      Delete
  6. Interesting posts above.

    Tylor Megill first.

    NO injuries that I know of anyway. I said this a couple of times here already over the past two months. A starter either has what it takes to go deep into years starting, or they simply do not. It's not a difficult theory to grasp really. It's common sense based. The very best Megill and Peterson can hope (to me) is short relief. Ideally, they could be most productive in this role I believe and well worth the transition. Otherwise, up and down will continue for them starting. What yells out with this is the addition of one more true out pitch. Seen it before. Mack as well I would bet.

    Instead of either of these two pitchers starting anymore games in 2023, I might prefer replacing them (if humanly possible) with Syracuse lefty starter Nathan Lavender (Syracuse) and Tyler Stuart from Bing. Both have excellent 2023 MiLB stats, and both have the chutzpah to go along with this idea. Just explain to each that the Mets at current are desperate for two more decent starters and just try your best because both of you are already coming to Mets 2024 Spring Training no matter what. I am confident that these two are worth the look-see, just to get an idea of where each one is currently at in their development.

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  7. Mark Vientos appaers to be liking playing the infield again, this time at third base. I like he and Brett Baty a lot. Baty is doing very well hitting long balls again down in Syracuse with his friend Ronnie Mauricio there.

    Both will be in ST 2024, and I think they will excel at that time. IF betting, I bet on both to be really, really good NY Mets very soon. It's just a simple matter of personal adjustment time allowance to the bigs, because it is both playing experience there and a mental/confidence adjustment from AAA.

    Hang in there you two, is my advice, because you both have big league written all over you. Sometimes the earth moves slowly, but the oxon do not mind. Stay oxon, stay you.

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  8. Somewhere, the front office guys are trying to forecast a 2024 team…and I imagine they are very nervous. A LOT will have to right to make 2024 successful. If they have average injury rates in 2023, without analysis, this feels like an 85 win franchise, max, in 2024. 70-85 wins.

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  9. One last thing.

    I would like to see starter Jose Butto add another pitch to his repertoire. His strikeouts per game is too low, and his ERA too high. He is 25 years old and his "chance time" to bite into MLB is getting short. It's 2024 for Jose.

    However, I see something there with him that totally makes this suggestion a very viable one. What I am looking for here is...his FB velocity is too low at current, perhaps a tick-up with that without going deGrom aRm. He has gotten the fastball up to mid-90's in his history, but it lacks being a definite outpitch for him even there. He has had a bit of control issue with his FB as well.

    Is having Butto go from a 3/4 delivery to an more overhand one totally out of the question here with him? And then, that addition of one more swing and miss outpitch could be his ticket to success here with these NY Mets.

    So upgrade the fastball with good movement. Keep the excellent change-up that he already has. Keep developing the curveball enough to make it a more used and reliable pitch for him. And develop one more fourth pitch that he can count on late in the count for the strikeout.

    There, Butto 2.0 complete. I look forward to seeing Jose Butto in ST.

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  10. Mack:

    You are here, and I absolutely have to ask you a question that I have never heard or seen addressed, and you sir are the perfect person to ask this of. So...

    We all loved Jacob deGrom. I think this is just so obvious. Jake was a sensational starter here for so many years. Maybe this franchise's second or third best starter ever. However, a few years back (maybe 5) Jake up-ticked his fastball from mid-90's mph to 100 mph.

    My question to you Mack is this..."Was this what happened to ruin Jacob deGrom's arm, the raising of his fastball's mph? I think so, and just wanted to see what you thought. He had (I believe) a Tommy John injury and surgical repair back in the minors. But because you really are an expert on this team, I just wanted to hear what you had to say regarding this.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good question

      Here is my spin

      Jake believed velo was the sucess.of his game and he did anything ( even against the advice of coaches).to throw harder as his body naturally aged

      Ignored all the warnings that continued to put him on the IR list.

      Was he wrong?

      I knew him as a nobody in Savannah with no projection at all

      Now he is rich and will always be spoken with the great pitchers in the game.

      Your call

      Mack

      Delete
  11. The 2024 NY Mets team

    It's so early to make any realistic predictions with the 2024 team and season. But man, the possibilities are certainly there. The MiLB depth is exceptional, like Mr. Mack has said earlier and above.

    To me, it all comes down to these things from this point on, beyond of course every player staying healthy throughout the off-season.

    1: The competition for positional players and pitching spots stays active and deep as it appears to be right now. Don't mess this up please.

    2: The NY Mets brass realizes that the 2024 NY Mets will need to make "two trades" for two more new and really good, young, and very promising starters for the top-end of their rotation. This blended in with pitchers like Senga and Quintana in the rotation. And then Ottavino, Raley, and perhaps Hartwig remaining here in relief.

    The remainder after these two trades (one possibility here being the signing of SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto) and inserting two of the very finest young Mets MiLB starters, should round out for a most impressive starting SIX-MAN rotation. Six-man to preserve Met starter arms for a whole season.

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  12. How about this idea to put a smile on the fans faces in this dismal season. I remember hearing that SC was going to have a Bobby Bonilla day to "celebrate" his once a year million dollar pay check so how about a "Tank" day where the military could be honored and have a few tanks drive around the warning track to celebrate TANK DAY because after all we might as well own it. Daniel Vogelbach being honored with a day and his number retired and put on the rafters would work too. Sorry I'm just really pissed with all of this and Porky's inclusion in the lineup is the icing on that ugly cake. I truly do believe their doing the right thing but it's painful right now and having Atlanta rub our faces in it just sucks more.

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  13. Vogey is getting close to finding his stroke. He will surely find it in November, which is getting pretty close.

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  14. Aren’t the Rumble Poniies the prized jewel of the farm system?

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  15. 18 year old Justin Ramirez had a single, double and triple in 3 ABs, with 3 RBIs.

    It is not a cycle. A tricycle, perhaps?

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  16. 30 VERY GOOD prospects? Where did you get that number?

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  17. The Ponies are the class of the system. Threre best player Rudick is back,they have 3 of th newbies and their starters are on the up swing. They’re over 500 . They will make the playoffs May be.

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  18. Albert, nice win by the red hot Chris Scott last night for Bingo.

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  19. Morabito s/b quite good. A live bat.

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  20. Brandon McIlwain on base 20 of his first 40 times up in AAA. Late bloomer, Mack?

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  21. Parada hit 2 HRs on July 15. Hasn’t played since. My brother would say: TYPICAL

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