Hopefully, the DSL season for the Mets’ teams comes out a perfect 10.
The Dominican Summer League (DSL) kicked off on Tuesday.
The Mets again have 2 of the 50 teams down there.
Success in the DSL is one thing, but later stateside minor league success is different.
In 2023, for instance, Jeffry Rosa led the entire DSL in homers, with 15 in 148 at bats, hitting .277. The Mets in 2024 skipped him over the FCL and have him playing for low A St Lucie, where he is hitting just .185 with 4 HRs and 12 RBIs through Sunday, with 33 Ks. Stateside ball is tough!
On the Blue team, we have a prior year’s bonus big boy, 18 year old catcher Daiverson Gutierrez, doing a repeat. He hit .186 in 172 at bats as a 17 year old.
The DSL website lists him as the #7 notable prospect in the DSL, without explanation.
The team also has a Vladi Guerrero (son of Vlad senior, and half brother of the Jays’ Vlad Jr.);in the outfield, and also one kid who doesn’t turn 17 until the end of the month.
There is no Wandy Peralta, but the team’s SS is Waldi Peralta.
- Close enough for you? Works for me.
P.S. To make you feel ancient, only one player on the Blue roster was born before 2004.
On the Orange team, Grandpa, I am pleased to note there are two players born in July 2007, which feels like last week. Injured minor league sensation Drew Gilbert is just short of 7 full years older than those two, as a comparison.
Yovanny Rodriguez is the main name on the roster, last winter’s big catcher bonus baby. Highly touted. Good. I want to see Josh Gibson numbers. Don’t you?
He turns 18 two days after the 2024 elections.
A 6’7” righty, Leandro Mejia, sticks out like a sore thumb because he turned 23 in April.He threw 11.2 innings in 10 relief outings in 2021. Tommy John caused him to miss 2022 and 2023? Or maybe he just took 2 years off. I don’t know. Is he any good? I don’t know. We’ll soon find out. Hopefully, he hits 102 with his off speed stuff.
I see a few repeating names on the two rosters, but did not try to verify how many are DSL repeaters.
Expect lots of crazy stats, especially in boatloads of errors, in DSL ball. Last year, the two Mets squads made 165 errors in 108 combined games, and allowed a staggering 209 unearned runs, but several other teams fielded worse.
It will be interesting to see how the Dodgers’ two teams do, as they were a ridiculous 78-28 last year. The Mets’ two squads were a far distant 50-58. Are you surprised by the disparity?
So far, through the play of Wednesday, the Blue are 0-1, the Orange are 2-0. The latter beat the Yanks 2-0 in the season opener, and also won their 2nd season game 8-5. May the Orange stay undefeated.
Daiverson Gutierrez (2nd to last big bonus baby) is playing, with a double in 3 ABs and a RBI. And the latest bonus baby, Yovanny Rodriguez, is 0 for 6, and a sac fly. Patience, please, they’re only teenagers.
The DSL Angels meanwhile have scored 33 runs in their first 2 games. All will naturally be promoted to the major league team after today’s game.
VIENTOS’ VICTORIOUS VINDICATION
I was disappointed last year with Mark’s Mets struggles.
But knew he had huge power with a fluid swing, including launches to the opposite field, and was a true slugger in AAA.
THEN he hit 6 HRs last year for the Mets after August.
- First glimpse of a breakthrough.
THEN 5 HRs in 56 spring training at bats.
THEN “just” 6 HRs but 30 RBIs in 31 AAA games.
THEN 5 HRs in 59 ABs with the Mets through Tuesday. Hitting .339.
Over that span of 318 at bats, .271 with 22 HRs and 66 RBIs.
“Me likes.”
STILL, his detractors singled out his poor defense, except for one thing:
Only TWO minors and majors errors this year.
- A regular Brooks Robinson, I tell ya. A Vientos Vacuum Cleaner.
NY Post after Tuesday’s win: “Vientos lunged to the foul line to stop Nick Senzel’s grounder in the sixth and threw from his knees to nail Senzel at first base.”
Sounds good to me. How about you?
I felt he’d get there. Many others did not.
“Baty, Baty, he’s our man, he can’t do it …. Iggy can!?”
No, Mark can do it, and as I have said before, I want him to be our Kyle Schwarber (with more hits, fewer walks, same power.)
Mark my words. Vientos is our guy. And…I wonder how much JD Martinez has helped him?
A WOMAN?? REPLACED HANK AARON?
When Hank Aaron left Negro League ball, apparently Toni Stone, a woman, replaced him. I read this on a MLB web page:
• Stone began her professional career with the San Francisco Sea Lions of the West Coast Negro Baseball League in 1946. By 1949, she had moved east and began playing for the New Orleans Black Pelicans and the New Orleans Creoles of the Negro Southern League.
• In 1953, Stone joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League. The club had recently lost its second baseman, Aaron, to the Milwaukee Braves. Stone became his successor there as he went on to a Hall of Fame career featuring 755 home runs, second on the career home run list. That year, Stone also reportedly got a hit off the greatest pitcher in Negro League history, Satchel Paige.
• Stone retired from pro ball after the 1954 season, one she spent with the Kansas City Monarchs after having her contract sold by Indianapolis following the ’53 campaign. She hit .243 over her two seasons in the Negro American League.
CAN YOU WIN IF YOU GIVE UP TONS OF HOME RUNS?
Bert Blyleven won 32 games in 1986 and 1987.
He also gave up NINETY SIX HRs those 2 seasons!
And 430 dingers in his career.
But he also somehow threw 60 shutouts. He was one prolific dude.
And 287 wins? That answers the above question.
METS ROLLING…
Torrens TWO HRs. Severino excellence. 3 straight wins. Off the London.
Excellent 4 hitless innings from former top 10 prospect Joel Diaz. Maybe he’ll be a top 10 prospect again. Otherwise, a quiet day down on the farm.
LOVE BASEBALL? LIVE AT THE PARK….
Follow the link… https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/04/unlocked-indiana-abandoned-baseball-stadium-apartment-building.html
Most definitely follow Tom's link to see a stellar and creative construction project converting an abandoned ballpark into luxury apartments!
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool, right, Reese?
ReplyDeleteMaybe NYC, starved-for-housing, can convert Cyclones Park, which seems to be the worst hitting stadium in all of the major and minor leagues for lefties due to the beach breezes and heavy ocean air, to condos. And move the team to, say, un-windy Islip.
Or, just move the Cyclone Park's right field fences in 10 feet. Much easier.
Is Mark Vientos ready? Consider this:
ReplyDeletePete Alonso, 62 games, .238/.315/.477
Mark Vientos 20 games, .333/.392/.621
Looks more like the right question is: Is Mark Vientos an emerging star?
Late AAA game in St Paul...Scott pitched great for 6 innings. Call him up after the Mets' London trip and put him in the rotation.
ReplyDeleteI am much more of a "show me" guy these days when it comes to prospects. Tidwell relieved for Scott, and in 2/3 of an inning, surrendered 4 runs. Not downgrading Tidwell on 1 game, but I want to see AAA dominance like we have with Scott before getting excited.
One more topic, TRAYCE THOMPSON. He hit his 14th HR for the S-Mets' only run. He had a terrible spring training month of March, and was just 2 for 34 to start the cold AAA season. I openly wondered why he wasn't cut at age 33. He answered....he has hit .287 in his last 41 games, with 10 doubles and 14 HRs. Just 35 Ks in those 41 games, which is decent. Good defense. A great 41 game stretch.
He deserves a MLB roster spot based on that, and right now is yet another victim of teams having only 13 offensive players as compared to the 15 hitters teams carried in the 1960s thru 1980s. Baseball should expand rosters to 28 (to 15 hitters, 13 pitchers) with the caveat that the extra 2 offensive spots are limited to $2 million in additional salary.
Alvy should be back soon, so who will be his backup? A lot.of talk at other sites says Torrens, but I still Nido is doing just fine.
ReplyDeleteThe big question is optons status. Nido has none left, and will have to be DFA'd if he doesn't win the job. Does anyone here know if Luis can be optioned?
Great post today Tom
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that the Mets promoted someone again jumping a level
It's been the death of many young prospects, some even on the Mets
Mack, i guess so, but Tidwell also is not a reliever and was asked to relieve, so hopefully he learns and grows from it.
ReplyDeleteMy brother just got off the phone with me and said Cashman is best GM in baseball, for 2 reasons: 1) got Soto, regardless of cost, and without him, they'd be a .500 team, not the second best record in baseball. 2) He saw something in Luis Gill as a 21 year old in 2018 and traded Jake Cave (who?) to get the 8-1, 1.85 ERA Gil.
I'll add a 3ed point my brother often brings up...the Yankees' pen year after year is above average, far better than the Mets. If the two teams switched pens, I would bet the Mets would have a better record than the Yankees. PEN QUALITY MATTERS SO MUCH.
One more note - the Mets so far are outscoring last year's baseball offensive juggernaut the Braves. And the Mets offense is its best all season right now, and should continue to roll. If the Mets can fix the pen, the Braves can still be caught. I would, today, send DJ Stewart (whose RBIs have simply dried up and is 1 for his last 18) down, bring Baty back up, give him an outfielder's mitt, and tell him to man up and earn his stay in the majors. Cut your losses on DJ - now. Make a strengthened offense even better. If Baty can't prove he is better than Stewart, at bat and in the field, then it's on him.
One guy who would probably be a solid reliever for the Mets right now but who has never relieved in his career? Brandon Sproat. Probably the best arm in the system. Won't happen, because this is no longer the 1930s in baseball, when they wouldn't have thought twice about it and just did it.
ReplyDeleteProjecting my 2024 pen on Sunday
Delete'24 or '25?
DeleteLet's make Hamil Vasil relievers now.
ReplyDeleteRay, 3 former sucky starters turned fine relievers were Familia, Hand and Miller. That could be a path forward for Vasil (24) and Hamel (25).
ReplyDeleteHamel's 34 walks in 42 innings this year are totally unacceptable. What is going on there, I do not know. Vasil has been pitching somewhat better of late, but far from strong. The pen is worth a try. Both otherwise are far from the big leagues.
Is this another indictment of player development? Way too early to conclude, but the Mets’ 2 DSL teams combined are hitting about .185 in the 5 games, with 14 runs. Padres meanwhile have a team that in 2 games has 36 runs (.390). Angels team in 3 games, 38 runs (.402). Yankees two teams have played a total of 5 games, 34 runs, vs. Mets’ 14. Is it too early to judge?
ReplyDeleteOnly Bohan Adderley is hitting. 17 y/o OF, so far is 5 for 10, HR, 4 RBIs, 4 walks, 1 K. Very nice.