MACK - MY Sunday Observations

Good morning

 

Food for thought this morning…

First… go locate the roses.

Next…

You root for a team that:

-         Has a former all-star and league batting champion second baseman on the IL all season

-         Has two former top third base prospects that are either producing very little (Vientos) or basically nothing at all (Baty).

-         Has their starting and potential future all-star catcher on the IL all season.

-         Has a bottom half lineup collectively producing negative WAR.

-         Has two of their projected opening day rotation on the IL all season.

-         And has a closer that currently can’t close a door.

What are the results of this?

-         As of this morning, the team you root for is:

-             The 3rd highest win percentage in the league 

-             Is in first place in their division.

-             Is already five games ahead of their chief rival.

Remember those roses?

You can smell them now.

 

New Mets hitting coordinator Daniel Nicolaisen has championship pedigree — in softball

Mets Prospect Notes

https://sny.tv/articles/mets-prospect-notes-jett-williams-drew-gilbert-4-12-25?s=03

Jett Williams has picked up right where he left off following his strong showing in big-league camp -- reaching base safely in all but one of Binghamton’s games thus far this season.

The 21-year-old played a huge role during the Rumble Ponies doubleheader split on Friday afternoon, as he lined a single in the second during Game 1 and then cracked a three-run homer a few innings later.

Then in Game 2, he led off the bottom of the first with a single and swiped his first stolen base of the season before coming around to score on a Nick Lorusso long ball.

Williams has struck out seven times over the first six games -- but he’s also drawn a pair of walks while putting together two doubles, a home run, and an impressive .348 on-base percentage.

He was plagued by the injuries last season, so a return to form would help continue his quick rise through the system.

 

The Mets played things safe with Drew Gilbert during spring training after he missed significant time last year due to a hamstring issue -- but he’s officially back on the field as the minor league season gets underway.

The youngster is beginning things on a rehab assignment with the St. Lucie Mets, and he’s gotten off to a surging start at the plate.

Gilbert has reached base safely two or more times in each of the past three games and he’s left the yard on back-to-back nights -- giving him an impressive .350 average and 1.135 OPS through 20 at-bats.

While those type of numbers are expected from a 24-year-old playing down two levels, it’s certainly encouraging to see him get off to this type of start after the sluggish and injury-plagued campaign he had.

Like Williams, a return to form would go a long way towards Gilbert making his big-league debut.

To this point he’s logged appearances in all three outfield positions, but two of them have come in center field -- a spot he could potentially provide a significant boost to in the majors later this season. 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6271005/2025/04/11/mets-daniel-nicolaisen-hitting-coordinator-softball/

It started with a YouTube video.

Dressed in a Seton Hall polo, Daniel Nicolaisen breaks down how, as hitting coach, he uses Blast motion technology — bat sensors, essentially — to improve the team’s hitters. Nicolaisen dissects the technology smoothly, in terms most beginners could understand, and distills it into actionable steps for his players.

We forgot to mention one thing. That video where Nicolaisen broke down swings at Seton Hall? It wasn’t for baseball. It was for softball.

 

A rule change is getting standout young players to MLB faster

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6271625/2025/04/11/prospect-promotion-initiative-mlb-rookies/

The heart of the issue is service time. Players reach free agency after six years of major league service, and they reach arbitration after three years. A typical major league season is 186 days, but 172 days on the roster is considered a full year of service. Thus, teams have always had incentives to keep elite talent in the minors for a couple of weeks to delay free agency and gain a year of control. (The season used to be 183 days, hence the 12 days Bryant spent in Triple A.)

Brett Baty’s latest chance

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6268364/2025/04/09/new-york-mets-brett-baty-hitting/

Baty is not in immediate jeopardy of being sent to Triple A, people familiar with the club’s thinking said. In the past, Mets officials have noted it is important to give their younger players opportunities. In Baty’s case — at least specific to this season — the sample is small. Too small to make a move, particularly with a player splitting time, a player who needs some confidence. But time is nonetheless a factor on some level. McNeil is scheduled to start a rehab assignment later this week in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

 

Quality control coach? Pitching strategist? In MLB, title inflation is the new norm

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6268317/2025/04/10/mlb-coach-title-inflation/

Across the big leagues, the six-person coaching staff (bench, hitting, pitching, first base, third base, bullpen) is practically extinct. Teams have amassed legions of instructors bearing LinkedIn-friendly titles like strategist of performance and data integration (Miami Marlins), game planning and run prevention coach (Boston Red Sox), and major league field coordinator/director of defense, baserunning and strategy (Guardians). You can find just about any title in the sport, outside of assistant to the regional manager.

On Opening Day this year, the ranks of the curiously labeled included three associate managers, three offensive coordinators, five quality control or quality assurance coaches, nine directors or assistant directors of various departments, and more than a dozen coaches with a reference to strategy or game planning in their designations.

The sheer volume and variety of nontraditional titles might feel a bit excessive. Yet, those on the inside say there are legitimate reasons for this proliferation.

 

7 Standout Performances From Wednesday

https://baseball-america-prospect-report.beehiiv.com/p/7-standout-performances-from-wednesday?t=GeAxXs83AdgB0bzr27Zf7w&s=03

Boston Baro, SS, Mets:

The Mets landed Baro for $700,000 in the eighth round of the 2023 draft and he earned rave reviews from scouts this spring. On Wednesday, Baro went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and two RBIs. The shortstop drove in both of Brooklyn’s runs in a 7-2 loss to Hudson Valley. Baro was solid during his full-season debut in 2024 and looks like he may have taken another step forward in 2025.

 

Baseball Prospectus         @baseballpro

Tylor Megill (4IP 6H 2R 0ER 3BB 7K) wasn't on the mound long but made quite the impact - striking out 7 over 4 innings for the @Mets. His sinker was our SP Pitch of the Day

https://x.com/baseballpro/status/1910365909912318318

Twelve Mets prospects to watch early in the minor-league season

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6253398/2025/04/04/mets-prospects-minor-league-season/

SP Raimon Gomez, St. Lucie

Most pitchers are doing whatever they can to dial their fastballs up to 99 mph. The Mets want Gomez to tone his down … to 99 mph.

Gomez, back from Tommy John surgery he underwent in early 2023, hit 102.8 mph this spring. Nevertheless, the Mets believe he can start and hold his velocity near triple digits multiple times through an order. Gomez had reached High-A Brooklyn before surgery. He’ll start this season in St. Lucie, with the Mets hopeful he can get off to a fast start there.

When asked who could be this year’s Jonah Tong — a pitcher who pops onto everyone’s radar early in the season — multiple team sources pointed to Gomez.

TJStats - MLB Top 50 Pitching Prospects: Spring 2025

tjstats@substack.com

34) Jonah Tong

Tong soared through 3 separate levels in his age 21 season, posting absurd whiff rates and showing improved command. His fastball is the crown jewel of his arsenal. His stuff has popped this spring, sitting at 94-96 MPH and topping out at 99, he consistently gets +20” of iVB on the offering from over-the-top delivery. Thanks to his smaller stature and above-average extension, he is able to get down to a 5.8’ vertical release point. The combination of massive ride from an unorthodox release aides in its effectiveness. The rest of his arsenal features an array of secondaries that have been effective this season but lack the polish of a starter’s repertoire. His slider/cutter is his best secondary, sitting at 85-87 MPH with 6” glove-side movement and 3” iVB. His curveball may be his most memorable pitch thanks to its massive vertical difference from his fastball. It sits at 75 MPH and can reach -20” iVB. That is over 3’ difference from his fastball! Tong’s changeup is the biggest work in progress. It sits at 85 MPH, but his release makes it increasingly difficult to produce and changeup with large separation from his fastball. His strike throwing improved in 2024, but he was inconsistent at hitting the zone with his secondaries. The improvement in velocity is a huge development and with more refined command of his secondaries his stock could launch into the stratosphere

 

SP Jack Wenninger, Binghamton

Wenninger was one of the others mentioned with the potential to follow Tong’s blueprint. A 2023 sixth-round pick out of the University of Illinois, the right-handed starter spent his offseason building strength that, theoretically, will allow him to hold his velocity better in 2025. Wenninger averaged about 92 mph on his fastball last season; the Mets think he could add two ticks or more this season.

 

RP Ryan Lambert, Brooklyn

Lambert looks and acts the part of a late-game fireballing reliever. Drafted as a college reliever in the eighth round last summer out of Oklahoma, Lambert can throw his fastball in the high 90s with a sharp slider off of it.

To make that mix work and move swiftly through the system, as everyone always wants a college reliever to do, Lambert will need to establish better strike-zone credibility. He walked more than 13 percent of opposing hitters with the Sooners last season. His stuff is good enough to play in the strike zone; he just needs to get it there.