Tom Brennan: Tom's Tidbits - The "Omar Enigma"; Randy Guzman; Mets Sitting Pretty

 

MORE TOM'S TIDBITS.  

COMPLETELY HEALTHY AND ORGANIC.

The Omar Enigma (sounds like a great title for a movie)

Omar De Los Santos continues to flounder in his efforts to do the apparent hardest thing in sports: hit a baseball. 

Which is a crying shame as far as I am concerned.

On Friday, when Jett came out of the game after being beaned, Omar stepped in and went 1 for 4 with 3 Ks. 

And somehow still stole 3 bases.

He is an absolute terror on the basepaths. Just 7 for 56 (including spring training) and just one walk this year. 

But 34 Ks.  

So he is 7 for 22 when he makes contact this year.

And somehow 6 for 6 in steals. How? Super-fast. But you can't steal 1st.

Last year, despite hitting .192, he stole 45 bases in 92 games in 2024.

269 Ks in his 827 plate minor league appearances in 2023-25.

Per the #s, whatever Omar's doing at the plate simply isn’t working.

I'd strongly suggest his researching the games of two great speedsters:

Brett Butler and Matty Alou. 

Two stars who fanned little, bunted for hits A LOT, and caused mayhem.

I read that Matty Alou successfully bunted for base hits 90 times in 123 attempts.  The great Rod Carew?  Let's throw him into the mix. He had 91 bunt hits in 126 attempts.  

So those two greats were 181 for 249 in bunt attempts.  

What does that average out to?  

A stunning .727.

Brett Butler? Successful 245 times, with a success rate of around 50%. That's a .500 average.

Man, those bunting success rates will boost your average and OBP, huh?

And they could steal a lot, too, in part because their K rates were LOW!

26,315 combined PAs, a K only once every 11.5 times up, and 1,057 steals.  Those two guys bunted a lot, but also slapped the ball a lot and used their speed to beat out base hits.

Bunting also draws the infield way in, increasing the chances of more slapped hits sneaking through holes.

One former ballplayer who went against the grain and radically upgraded his career was Mets Cy Young award winner RA Dickey who, before he added the knuckleball, was a washed up hurler on his way out of baseball.  The knuckleball was as despised as the bunt, but look what defying conformity did for RA Dickey.

Do that sort of radical transformation to your game, Omar, and perhaps your movie title will turn into:

THE OMAR OVATION.

SPOTLIGHT ON RANDY....KOOSMAN?

No, not Jerry Koosman....RANDY GUZMAN.

Randy Enmanuel Guzman is his name: 

a 20 year old FCL Mets outfielder.

A name to know?  Perhaps.

He has played 18 games this season, knocked in 17 runs, and has a .321/.406/.607 slash line.  

Excellent output so far, if you ask me.

He played DSL ball in 2023 and 2024, and combined to only hit about .185 there in 210 at bats.

Which seems to show that at those low levels, you can never tell if a guy could dramatically improve.  Or if a guy tearing up the DSL one year flops the next year in the tougher stateside FCL.  

(No relationship to Jerry Koosman) Randy Guzman? 

So far, he has improved greatly in 2025.  May it just be the beginning. 

METS SWEEP ROCKIES

3 games, outscoring their woeful opponent 25-8.

Many batting averages healed this weekend.

Mets are scorching, Philly is crashing and Brett Harper is on the IL, and Atlanta has lost 7 straight and trail the Mets by 14 games. Sitting pretty.

JETT MAKES A STATEMENT

Comes back huge after the beaning. 2 doubles and a walk. Great stuff.

SOME OF BASEBALL’S BEST PITCHERS

Adrian Houser 1.48 ERA.

Mike Vasil 2.18 ERA.

Eric Orze 0.73 ERA.

I think I’ve heard of those 3.

Still in the ex-Mets minors?  

Wild man Paul Gervase, now in Rays AAA.

He is Wild no longer. 

Since April 15:

22.1 IP, 2 walks, 36 strikeouts.  Come on now.

For him, we got Tyler Zuber. 

There are many Zubers, of course, but he’s the one with a 7.45 ERA in AAA.

WHOOPS on that trade.