Tom Brennan: Some Neat Mets Reading Nuggets

 

Mark Vientos (photo: Richard Nelson)

QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXTREMELY EDUCATED, ERUDITE READERS:

With all the repetition that the Mets shored up their minors, which current Mets minor-league hitters will be major league stars for the Mets in the future? 

Also, which other minor-league hitters will be decent major league, starters, and which will be at best major league fringe players or back-ups?

Will any of them, besides perhaps Ronny Mauricio, who only retains his rookie status due to his injury, have power?

No, you can’t include Baty and Vientos, who combined have 950+ MLB plate appearances. They are now early stage MLB veterans, not prospects.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHY LONG TERM DEALS GIVE ME WILLIES

Vlad Guerrero at age 22 smashed 48 HRs, drove in 110, and hit over .300. Back up TWO Brinks trucks, right?  Do a 15 year deal. Don’t wait.

Age 23, though, he dropped 37 points to .274. Hit 32 & 97, still good, but clearly down.

Age 24, last year, 26 & 94, and .264. Some additional slippage.

This year, age 25? In 223 at bats, his .291 is good, but just 5 HRs in 258 PAs, and just 26 RBIs in his first 58 games. What, did he turn from Ohtani into Jeff McNeil?

None of the last 3 Vlad years come close to his age 22 mega-season in 2021.

Fortunately for the Jays, there was no multi-decade extension for $1 billion after 2021. Vlad is still very good, but 2021's explosion is further and further in the rear view mirror. One had to wonder how good he’ll be when he is a portly 32 years of age.

JEFF SLOWING DOWN? WHAT’S THE DEAL, MCNEIL?

Speaking of age, and Jeff McNeil, the NY Post recently noted this about the now32 year old Jeff:

….the bigger problem has been a loss of mobility. At his fastest, in his rookie season of 2018, McNeil registered an average of 27.8 feet per second at full speed. Last season, he was in the same neighborhood at 27.4 feet per second. Through two months of this season, the 32-year-old has fallen to 25.6 feet per second.”

If that is fully accurate, it would mean that, as compared to when he raced full tilt to first base in 2018, he’d now have been 7 feet away from the first base bag in 2024, because he is now 7% to 8% slower. Which means a lot of what used to be beaten-out infield hits for the Squirrel are now no longer beaten out. That’s getting older for ya. 

That’s what Steve is getting for his top dollar. Less Jeff, more money?

MIKE SCHMIDT AND MARK VIENTOS

Schmidt, age 23 hit .196, with a .373 slug % in 443 PAs.  17 errors.

Schmidt, age 24 hit .282, 36 HRs, 116 RBIs, in 162 games. 26 errors.

Through Friday:

Vientos, age 23 hit .211, .367 slug % in 233 PAs.  4 errors.

Vientos, age 24, hit .333, .621 slug %, 5 HRs in 74 PAs.  0 errors.

(OK, he made an error Tuesday, but he knocked in the hapless Mets’ 2 runs). 

Well, Mark has been lucky in the field and must have made lots of errors in Syracuse? Nope, just 2 up there.  A regular human vacuum cleaner, and I know how badly some people want to cling to the outdated notion that Mark can't field.  They tell me he has filed to have his first name changed to Brooks.

Think what you want, folks. But those are the Schmidt/Vientos stats.

Vientos had a .980 OPS after Sunday, too.  Not shabby at all.

It would be an error to underestimate him.

MCLEAN CHALLENGES HITTERS

So far in AA, through Sunday, Nolan McLean in 16.2 IP had 23 Ks, just 2 BBs.  Future Mets closer? Or the next Bret Saberhagen?

WHY I THINK WE'LL SEE BRANDON SPROAT IN CITIFIELD SOON

Baseball has a huge problem.  Gigunda, actually.

I looked at MLB Trade Rumors and realized 4 pitchers already got Tommy John Surgery in June.  Who's next?  The conga line, with Tommy John sashaying in the front, seems endless.  Pitchers are dropping like flies.

So, Pittsburgh promotes Paul Skenes to the majors after 34 minor league innings.  As a major leaguer, through Monday, he had 27 innings, 38 Ks.

Now I read this in MLB Trade Rumors (Mark Polishuk):

"...another aggressive promotion from the Braves, as it was less than a year ago that Hurston Waldrep was selected with the 24th overall pick of the 2023 draft.  There was even some speculation that Waldrep was being considered for his MLB debut near the end of last season to give the Braves an extra high-powered bullpen arm for the playoffs, though the club opted against moving quite so quickly with the right-hander’s development.  

"Even still, Waldrep has only 84 2/3 pro innings under his belt, and just two starts at the Triple-A level.  Waldrep recorded 11 strikeouts over six innings with Triple-A Gwinnett last Sunday, allowing three earned runs on five hits and a walk in his first Triple-A outing of 2024."

Why leave them in the minors for 300 innings, I (Tom Brennan) say, when they seem ready after 100 innings, only to find out that in minors inning # 299, Mr. Joe So-and-So hurt his arm and it's July, Joe needs TJS, and will miss the rest of the season AND the next season too, when he could instead have been on inning # 199 in the majors?  And some guys are out a lot longer - just ask Missing Matt Allan.

So...why not promote Brandon Sproat, who has superior firepower, in his pitching arsenal, to the Mets,?  I don't mean in 2025 or 2026, but how about in July or August 2024?

He has a 1.24 ERA in 51 pro innings with 63 Ks, a 0.94 WHIP, just 4 HRs allowed, and already four has had dominant outings in AA Binghamton with a microscopic 0.76 WHIP?  WHAT???

He might be ready for the Mets TODAY, but let's not be THAT impatient and see.....if he throws another dominant start his next time out in AA, he's too good for AA - get him to AAA.  If he has 3-5 strong outings then in AAA, get him up to the Mets and straight into the rotation.   This year.

It may seem rushed for the 23 year old (24 in mid-September) to be a Met so soon - but Bob Feller was 6 years younger at age 17 when he reached the majors, and he threw a 1 run, 15 K game 3 months before his 18th birthday.  When they were ready back then, they pitched for the big club.

Brandon seems special, too, so let him pitch for the Mets in late July or August if all goes well in the minors through the ASB - I say call him up and turn him loose. 

After all...

Sproat...may turn out to be the G.O.A.T.  

Bob Feller: "That Sproat Feller, I reckon he sure can pitch".

Hey, and John McClane told me, that guy McLean can sure pitch, too.

The Mets may well need McLean's pitching, and pinch hitting, in the September stretch drive, after they sell off half the team - and play better. 

MY BROTHER STEVE NOTICED SOMETHING TUESDAY NIGHT…

“Sh..ty field did it again!!! JD Martinez hit a long drive to the base of the Right Center field Fence for an out and the Mets are losing 3 to 2 (eventually lost, 4-2).  His shot would have been 6 rows back in Yankee Stadium.  Steve Cohen has to change this… It is miserable.”

- This is Tom Brennan, and I agree with this message.

SIZZLING SENGER

I do not know what they’re doing in Syracuse. 39-24, but doing almost all of that is being done with a veteran-too-heavy team.

Tuesday night, the only non-major league veteran in the lineup was the suddenly red hot catcher Hayden Senger, who got on 3 times. 

Senger is now an amazing 20 for his last 63 with 11 XBH. Wow.

What he is doing different, as a hitter, no idea, but he can CATCH.  Hayden Senger hit under .200 in AA last season. He started this season 1 for 21. Same old, same old, another no-hit Mets catcher, right?

Wrong. Keep that up, and you will soon be a major league catcher.

Again, I do not know what they’re doing in Syracuse.  But…Tuesday night, Acuna sat, Rhylan Thomas sat. After a day off on Monday, too. 

Play the kids…every day. 

FIZZLING RAMIREZ

Everyone was kvelling over Alex Ramirez’s hot April in AA, after his stinky 2023 in Brooklyn.

But then May came.

Ramirez, who fanned all 4 times up on Tuesday, has hit .171 in 31 AA games in May and June, with 1 HR and just 5 other XBHs in nearly 130 plate appearances.

I raised this question in the off-season, when I excluded him from my top 30 prospects list after his stinky 2023.  Is he really a prospect at all?

It is of course not up to me to answer that question. It is up to Alex.

I wrote this last fall:

34. Alex Ramirez - CF - High A - bad season, so I'm dropping him.  

Until when? Until he produces, that’s when.  

Take out that 6 for 6 game and he hit .210 in all of his other games, and he played a lot.  With just 7 HRs in 521 PAs, or just one every 75 PAs!  Alex, prove you deserve to be highly ranked again, after a frankly bad year.