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8/31/23

Tom Brennan - DJ Stewart, Superstar; Mets Minors Hitters Losing Ground in 2023


Productive Competitors Will Crowd Out Weaker Performers

BEFORE MY REGULARLY SCHEDULED ARTICLE:

Lindor, Alonso, Nimmo, McNeil?

Pretty decent players.

DJ Stewart?, though?

SUPERSTAR.

2 HRs, a terrific, fence-banging catch, and a walk off HBP.

We’ve tried the rest….now, we’ve tried the best…DJ Stewart.

And Vogelbomb hit another.

Slow and Burly wins the race.

ARTICLE TIME!

July came, and with it brought trades - and the trades, and the draft, brought in several stud prospect hitters.

So, the pre-existing prospects suddenly find a more crowded field of competition.

Which has to be dispiriting.

But it is also a call for prospects to up their game.

Who are some of these? (Stats as of August 21).

ALEX RAMIREZ

A-Ram had a 6 for 6 game this year - but otherwise has hit .223 in Brooklyn this year. He hit .278 in 54 games there last year at age 19. Something is wrong, and perhaps it it learning to work more walks, as his OBP in Brooklyn in 2022, and in 2023, is .329 both years. He needs to up his game big time, given all the competition. Do whatever it takes. If it means adding 30 pounds of muscle this off season, do it. And 19 steals this year…nice. But…Why not double that?  Pick it up, Alex.

JOSE PEROZA: 

He missed time early this year, started out hot in AA, but .173 in July, .146 in August. He is listed at 6’1”, 249. Not knowing Jose, my guess is he needs to go all-out to lose 30 pounds by getting in Rocky Balboa vs. Clubber Lang shape. Or just hang it up, due to too many competitors. Zach Lutz had much better numbers in the David Wright era, but never succeeded. Jose will have to do MORE.

MATT RUDICK: 

He was the AA OBP leader by a wide margin, until injuries set in several weeks ago.  He was as lofty as .326/.468/.582 in late May. He began to fade in mid-June and went on the injured list June 21. Played very little since. Now, the competition is far more fierce. Not sure what Matt’s malady has been, but he needs to get back on the field and pick up where he left off pre-injury, since he is already 25.

ROWDEY JORDAN:

The prospect field pre-trade was downright Rowdey. Now it’s  downright Crowdy. In mid-July in AA, he was rising fast, up to .261/.375/.434.  But a cold August has him down to .236/.356/.412. With the increased competition, the drops have to be fewer, the rises have to be greater, especially since he will turn 25 this winter.

LUKE RITTER:

The Mets’ minor league HR leader in 2023 , with 26 in 362 at bats, and he has jumped his average to the low .240s vs. .204 last year, but his Ks (1.25 per game) are still way too high. How to fix that, I don’t know, but the competition has made a major league debut in his future less likely. The Ks must come down at least 25%. Still, .243/.372/.489 is good, but his output feels very Travis Taijeron-like. And that didn’t end well.

JUNIOR TILIEN AND WILLIAM LUGO:

Both showed impressive results at a young age last year. But the 21 year old Lugo is hitting just .225 in Brooklyn, without alacrity on the basepaths.Gotta do better. 

Junior is on the IL and, yes, he is just 20, but has hit .243/.325/.406 between Lucie and Brooklyn. Good for his age, but he lacks speed, so he will have to ramp up the bat in 2024 to stay legitimately in the competition, which has been recently crowded by newly added infielders Acuna and Colin Houck, Marco Vargas, and Jeremiah Jackson, as well as the ascending Wilfredo Lara. Not to mention Baty, Vientos, and Mauricio. 

Quite the infield crowd, one might say, especially when Pete Jeff, and Lindor are already there.

If infielder Jose Peroza does not keep pace, that will be one less obstacle for Junior, the lad who vaulted to a modicum of notoriety in 2022 with his 3 home run game in St Lucie at the tender age of 19.

There are more in the fading-in-2023 category, but I’ll leave it there for now. They all know the competition has gotten fierce.

The fiercer it gets, the harder you’ve got to work. Fierce requires fierce.

Carlos Cortes gets it. Rip roaring, fiercely hot lately in AAA.  For guys like him, I wish the roster expanded to 32 on September 1, not 28.

PETE CROW TIME?

Petey Boy has been doing good in AAA lately, Spanky and Alfalfa told me, and Crow might just be called up on September 1, if he hasn't already.  I will be wearing sackcloth and ashes that day, when it comes, since the call-up will be to the Cubs, not to the Shlubs who traded him so very stupidly. Crow Mania will begin in the Windy City.

For whom? Julian Javier Baez, who for 2 years after his brief but very costly drop-in with the Mets in late 2021 has played like a washed up has-been bum at ages 29 and 30 for Detroit. Has anyone on the Mets been fired for that bonehead trade?  No?  Why the heck not?

Last Nite In The Mets Minors:

Cortes on twice, and the hot McIlwain hit another HR. Lucchesi Loses.

AA?

JT Schwartz had 2 more hits (.298) and 2 more RBIs.

Paul Gervase faced 4 AA hitters and fanned all 4.

Red hot Rylan Thomas (yeah, him again) had a hit and 3 walks. On base 8 times in his first 3 AA games. .328/.413/.434 this year.




25 comments:

  1. Im also worried about Alex Ramirez who is super young but at this point it's also about minor league service time. They may have to start him in AA out of camp next year no matter what. Has to progress. Jett has already passed him while younger and can perhaps play CF going forward as an option.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Second, re Ramirez, remember F-Mart

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    2. FMart had bad knees, but the bottom line is he failed.

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  2. Everyone on draft day is a superstar in the making. Then reality hits. Sometimes you just don't know...no one expected Jeff McNeil nor Jacob deGrom to be what they are yet others thought the aforementioned DJ Stewart was worthy of a first draft pick. Late bloomers do happen as he has had injuries.

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    Replies
    1. The Mets keep signing ex 1st rd.picks that have failed in organized ball

      Guess they think they can bring back the magic

      Maybe they should sprinkle that magic dust on the Baby Mets

      Delete
  3. Ernest, true on Alex, and meanwhile an unknown like Rhylan Thomas just keeps getting on base. Getting on base is the name of the game.

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  4. LOTTERY PICK UPDATE

    AS OF THIS MORNING:

    1.6

    DETROIT ----

    METS 1 1/2

    PITTSBURGH 1 1/2

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is Tom. Time for Javy Baez to get hot and Mets to resume losing. DJS ding this on the 2022 Mets, rather than Ruf and the other deadline bum? We win runnng away.

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  6. TRANSACTIONS

    2B RONNY MAURICIO to Mets when rosters expand

    RHP NOLAN CLENNEY transferred fron AA to AAA-Syracuse

    IF JOSE PEROZA reinstated to Binghamto active roster from TIL list

    RHP DENYL REYES promoted to Mets for last night's game

    C NICK MEYER activated off Syracuse 7-day IL list

    RHP TYLER THOMAS promoted from Binghamto to AAA Syracuse

    C JOSE MENA transferred from Syracuse to A+ Brooklyn

    IF DARIEL GOMEZ released

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  7. I expect Alex to ramp it up next year. Think the others will fade away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You expect Luisangel Acùna, Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford to "fade away"?

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    2. Only meant those named by Tom in his analysis

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  8. On the road today to points unknown

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  9. More and more fans taking note of JT Schwartz!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let JT play AAA next year and work on his power trajectory

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  10. Toxic clubhouse,it wasn’t Max,it wasn’t Verlander,it was Pete! Who knew?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lou

      I don't think it's Pete

      And I don't see the clubhouse as toxic

      I think it a bad season with good players playing badly

      They simply can't wait to dress and go home

      Delete
  11. If it is true that Mauricio will arrive once the rosters expand, my wish is Baty comes with.him and the Mets.play the strong out with a Monday-Saturday lineup that included 2B Mauricio, 3B Baty, DH Vientos.snd C Alvarez

    Let's see if they show development playing together regularly

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  12. Agree. I'd like to see Cortes get a shot.

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  13. Ditto

    On the Shlubs bad move: Would be nice to be able to go back in time and redo that poor idea for certain. Every fan disliked seeing Crow Go.

    Only one poster here had NY Met DJ Stewart as the season opener DH at the conclusion of ST '23. ME! Look it up. I saw something in him that I found exciting for the DH role.

    But now, I see a true outfielder capability in DJ as well. 2024 could be his banner season. Would be nice to have DJ, Nimmo, and Ohtani starting every game in the outfield. Maybe add in Drew Gilbert as the fourth and getting games to rest the starters. Then could use Pete, Jeff, and Lindor in trades for other teams really good younger starters (2) and maybe one more superlative setup man for the pen to lead into Diaz. One of the two excellent young starters could be Yoshinobu Yamamoto. In this way, by trading these three Mets players mentioned above, they might be better able to afford acquiring free agent Shohei Ohtani. Shohei recently got a leg injury in addition to his elbow injury earlier on. This might be a nice time to get him here for a lot less. Not sure though.

    2024 Idea: 1B JT Schwartz 2B Ronnie Mauricio SS Angel Acuna 3B Brett Baty RF DJ Stewart CF Brandon Nimmo LF Shohei Ohtani C Francisco Alvarez DH Vientos

    It's an idea for a potentially really good and young lineup. A sort of "festivus for the restofus" for enduring the 2023 season asleep on the couch each Mets game by the fifth inning.

    The Mets won last night because they finally all hit like they did in 2022. 11 or 12 hits a a game. That simple really. But to bet on these same players for 2024 might be a mistake. Not sure. That's why I suggested (above) changing things up.

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  14. Big shakeup in player development team today

    Kevin Howard and Jeff Lebow were fired by the Mets

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mack,
    Can you elaborate on what Howard's and Lebow's specific job descriptions were?

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  16. Whatever happened to that Rubrik kid?

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