2015 Draft Profile - LHP - Nathan Kirby - University of Virginia - UPDATED 6-30-14

6-30-14 - 

6-30-14 – Through The Fence – Early College Prospects - 1. Michael Matuella, RHP, Duke            - Matuella burst onto the scene earlier this year, thanks in part to Frankie Piliere at Perfect Game, who tweeted out that Matuella was a potential 1.1 for next year. The 6’-6”, 225 pound right-hander proceeded to make Piliere look like a genius as he showed everything you want in a first-overall pick. Obviously, he has the ideal size you want in an ace. He also showed the stuff, headlined by fastball that can touch 97 mph and sits 93-96. He adds two potential plus off-speed pitches in a 79-82 mph, 12-6 curveball with great depth and an 83-86 mph slider with tight spin. His change-up sits 87-89 and is a decent offering already. He has great command of his pitches and finished the season with a 2.78 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 69 K/15 BB over 58.1 innings. Opponents hit just .190 against him, he allowed just one home run and only hit two batters — pretty good for a power arm like his. All eyes will be on him next year and the upside is silly. http://throughthefencebaseball.com/2015-mlb-draft-early-30-college-prospects/43327  

6-23-14 - 

        


6-6-14 -  There have been two versions of Nathan Kirby in the past two seasons — the one who labored through his freshman year, and the one who has embarrassed opposing hitters all season as a sophomore.

Last June, the idea that Kirby could be starting Game One of a best-of-three NCAA tournament super regional for Virginia (47-13) might've seemed far-fetched. There was no question he had the talent last year, but the confidence wasn't there... http://articles.dailypress.com/2014-06-06/sports/dp-spt-advance-maryland-uva-ncaa-baseball-0607-20140606_1_u-va-nathan-kirby-maryland 

6-3-14 - Mack:  We're now talking about the probable first left handed pitcher that will be drafted and possibly the first player overall in the entire draft. Virginia's 6-3, 190 pound Nathan Kirby comes with all the accolades one is given when you are known as a 'power pitcher'. 

His college career actually got off to a slow start (6.06-ERA as a freshman) but he quickly followed that in the NECBL with an 81-K/54-IP, 2.32 summer season.

He features a 91-94 fastball that is well know for its late movement. His curve ball sets up the heat. He's well known for his command which was especially demonstrated on April 8th when he struck out 18 Pitt Panthers (one shy of the NCAA record), on the way to a no-hitter.

Binghamton Mets 2014 Game Notes

Binghamton Mets (49-33) at

New Britain Rock Cats (41-39)

(Double-A Affiliate of the Minnesota Twins)

RHP Hansel Robles (5-5, 4.62) vs. LHP Jason Wheeler (1-1, 2.92)

Tuesday, July 1, 2014 • Game #83 • Road Game #42

New Britain Stadium •  New Britain, CT • 7:05 PM

LAST GAME: Dustin Lawley launched his 11th home run of the season to highlight a four-RBI night and push the Binghamton Mets to an 8-3 win over the New Britain Rock Cats on Monday night at New Britain Stadium. Rylan Sandoval collected a season-high three RBI in a two-hit game. Rainy Lara struck out five while allowing one run over six innings to pick his first win since May 17. Taylor Rogers was tagged for four runs on six hits over 6.2 innings in the defeat. It was Binghamton’s 17th win in the last 20 games.

BINGHAMTON STARTER: RHP Hansel Robles makes his 15^th start of the season and his second against New Britain. The native of Bonao, Dominican Republic took the loss in his last outing. He went 4.2 innings and gave up three runs in a 3-1 loss to Altoona on Thursday, June 26. Robles didn’t factor into the decision in his only other start against the Rock Cats. He gave up six runs in 5.2 innings in an 8-6 B-Mets win on May 24 at NYSEG Stadium. The righty was signed by the Mets as a non-drafted free agent on August 21, 2008

NEW BRITAIN STARTER: LHP Jason Wheeler takes the hill for just the third time with New Britain. The southpaw is coming off a loss in his most recent start. He gave up two runs in six innings in a 2-1 New Britain loss to New Hampshire on Thursday, June 26. Wheeler started the season with Fort Myers (High-A) and went 6-5 with 2.51 ERA in 13 starts. He pitched a shutout in three of those outings. The Torrance, California native was taken by Minnesota out of Loyola Marymount in the eighth round of the 2011 draft.

CURTAIN CALL: B-Mets INF/OF Dustin Lawley capped a fantastic June with a two-run home run in the ninth inning of Monday’s win over New Britain. It was his second of the road trip and seventh in June. He’s gone deep eleven times this season, two shy of the team lead. In the month of June, Lawley tallied 19 runs, 18 RBI and 15 extra-base hits.

SOME BREATHING ROOM: With Monday’s win, the B-Mets extended their hold on the last playoff spot in the Eastern Division to seven games over third-place New Britain. That advantage was just two games before the Rock Cats current six-game losing streak. Binghamton has held the second spot in the division since June 8.

STARTING THINGS RIGHT: Binghamton starter Rainy Lara went six innings on Monday to continue a streak of four straight outings that a B-Mets starter has gone at least that length. The unit has allowed  four runs in the last 25.2 innings and have 29 strikeouts. Even more, they’ve allowed just three walks in the that time. Binghamton has not trailed in any of those games.

RAISING THE BAR: Monday’s victory marked Binghamton’s 19th win in the month of June, a season-high for the club in any month this season. The B-Mets opened the month by going 2-6, but finished by winning 17 of their final 20 games.

ALL, BUT ONE: Monday’s win gave Binghamton a winning record over New Britain this season. The team has a record above .500 against nine of the ten teams they’ve played this season. Against teams not named Portland the B-Mets are 45-23 in 2014. The only opponent they haven’t faced yet is the Trenton Thunder.

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT: Since Kevin Plawecki’s promotion to Las Vegas (AAA), Xorge Carrillo and Kai Gronhauer have not missed a beat. In four games, the pair is 7-for-17 with three runs scored. Carrillo is hitting .409 (9-for-22) over the last ten games with five runs and four RBI.

Mets July 1st Rotation Pitcher Update

			G	IP	K	BB	ERA	WHIP
AAA
	Noah Syndergaard		14	69	71	23	5.35	1.49
	Logan Verrett		17	94	67	16	4.69	1.57
	Giancarlo Alvarado		14	55.2	32	36	5.82	1.72
	Joel Carreno		20	58.2	49	23	4.76	1.52
	Darin Gorski		7	34	33	14	3.97	1.59
	Greg Peavey		4	19.1	12	11	10.24	2.17
AA
	Tyler Pill		14	76.2	68	20	3.99	1.23
	Hansel Robles		14	74	66	29	4.62	1.39
	Matt Bowman		14	79.2	77	22	3.5	1.34
	Greg Peavey		10	63	52	13	2.86	1
	Rainy Lara		11	55.1	39	14	4.39	1.28
	Steven Matz		2	11.2	13	3	3.86	1.29
	Gabriel Ynoa		0	0	0	0	0	0
A+
	Matt Koch		12	67.2	28	14	3.33	1.24
	Domingo Tapia		12	58.2	23	31	4.76	1.48
	Kevin McGowan		2	10.2	4	4	2.53	1.31
	Michael Fulmer		13	63	52	20	4.43	1.54
	Luis Cessa		12	67	41	17	4.43	1.3
A
	John Gant		13	77	60	29	2.57	1.34
	Ricky Knapp		13	70	55	25	4.37	1.47
	Robert Gsellman		11	65	47	17	2.49	1.29
	Chris Flexen		13	69	46	37	4.83	1.62
	Miller Diaz		9	48.2	59	21	2.4	1.15
A-Low
	Marcos Molina		3	19	20	2	0.47	0.47
	Octavio Acosta		3	16.2	18	6	1.08	0.78
	Casey Meisner		3	15.1	15	6	2.93	1.17
	Corey Oswalt		3	15.2	16	3	2.3	0.89
	Carlos Valdez		3	9.2	6	9	7.45	2.07
	Alberto Baldonado		2	8.1	4	2	7.56	1.68
K-Port
	Gaby Almonte		2	12	8	3	4.5	1.17
	Yoan Gonzalez		2	12	5	5	3.75	1.25
	Andrew Massie		2	10	9	3	1.8	1.1
	Yoryl Nuez		2	7.2	6	5	5.87	1.43
	Christian Montgomery		2	5	6	8	14.4	3.6
	Andrew Church		1	4	1	1	9	2.75
GCL
	Audry German		1	4	2	1	0	0.75
	Jose Celas		2	4	7	6	4.5	2.5
	Eucebio Arias		1	3.2	3	3	2.45	1.09
	Adrian Almeida		2	6	10	5	0	1.33
	Blake Taylor		2	6.2	8	6	0	1.05

The Mets have been known over the past three years to have dominant minor league rotational pitching. They’ve either led or ranked high at every level in the lowest team ERA and WHIP

The first thing I notice on this list is that this doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

Sure, there are exceptions, and the Savannah rotation in particular is doing just fine, but the upper three levels (Las Vegas, Binghamton, St. Lucie) are not punching out the kind of numbers we grew to be used to in the past.

Las Vegas is, frankly, a mess and I have no idea what the Mets are trying to accomplish here. The most successful pitcher there (Jacob deGrom – 7-ST, 2.58) has departed to Queens and the next best (Rafael Montero – 11-ST, 3.75) is on the disabled list. Two of the current members really are relief pitchers and your ‘prospect’ (Noah Syndergaard) just isn’t having a great season. The lowest ERA comes from the ‘new guy’ (Darin Gorski – 6-ST, 4.18). That’s a pretty miserable ‘best ERA’.

Frankly, there’s no reason to have relief pitchers (with no projected future) in this position, especially when you have three pitchers (Tyler Pill, Matt Bowman, Hansel Robles) at the AA level that have pitched enough starts there to earn a bump up. None of the tree are tearing up the Eastern League, but they’re going to have to take on the PCL someday and why not the second half of this season?

The only pitcher in the top three rotations that currently has an ERA under three is Greg Peavey; however, he’s already had a difficult time trying to make the transition to Vegas.

Something has to budge in Binghamton. They already are operating with a six-man rotation and Luis Mateo will be coming off rehab probably next week.

My hopes is we will see Giancarlo Alvarado and Joel Carreno removed from the Vegas rotation and replaced with Pill and Bowman. Mateo could then be added to recreate a five-man rotation.

Past that, you’re going to have to start moving some of these pitchers out of the system if you want members of the St. Lucie and Savannah roster to start moving up.

My suggestion… make Robles a relief pitcher. Then, replace Robles with a promotion of Gabriel Ynoa. I would then demote Domingo Tapia back to Savannah so he could work on his control and replace him with a promotion of either John Gant or Robert Gsellman.

Obviously, it’s too early for any movement below Savannah.

Morning Report – July 1st – Houston Astros, Marcos Molina, Michael Conforto, Ruben Tejada

                                                                                                                                          

Coming Later Today –    

            3 00 pm - 2015 Draft Profile  -  LHP  -  Justin Hooper  -  De La Salle (CA) HS - updated 6-22

The Houston Astros are doing a wonderful job of rebuilding their franchise through the draft, something Alderson and Company could take a lesson from. Here http://www.si.com/longform/astros/index.html is a wonderful story about it from Ben Reiter in Sports Illustrated.

An interesting segment:

“You look at how other organizations have done it, they’ve tried to maintain a .500 level as they prepare to be good in the future,” says Luhnow. “That path is probably necessary in some markets. But it takes 10 years. Our fans have already been on this decline, from 2006 to 2011. It’s not like we’re starting fresh.

“Would it be the right strategy for somebody else who had a great farm system and up-and-coming players already at the big league level? No. But for us, it was. When you’re in 2017, you don’t really care that much about whether you lost 98 or 107 in 2012. You care about how close we are to winning a championship in 2017.”

Another very good article is the one that Jeffrey Pasternostro http://www.amazinavenue.com/2014/6/28/5851718/new-york-mets-prospects-marcos-molina-scouting-report wrote about Brooklyn Cyclones prospect pitcher, 19-yr. old Marcos Molina.

A segment:

‘There aren't ten guys I'd take over him in the system. There might not be five’… ‘he struck out the first seven guys he faced, and then followed it with a parade of weak contact. There's three potential plus pitches here. He's nineteen’… ‘I have never seen a pitcher at this level with the same mix of raw arm strength and feel for secondaries, certainly not at nineteen’… ‘the optimistic projection: #2 starter’...  ‘what to look for during the rest of the 2014 season: whatever you want to look for, I recommend you take the train out to Coney and do it in person’.

Mack – Anybody that has seen this kid compares him to Jenrry Mejia at the same point in his career. This may be a very special pitcher.

In my opinion, the Mets now have four (4) A+ to A- starting pitchers in the system… Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, Steven Matz, and Molina.

I also have ranked 11 B+ to B- starters… Gabriel Ynoa, Robert Gsellman, John Gant, Casey Meisner, Cory Oswalt, Logan Taylor, Blake Taylor, Luis Mateo, Miller Diaz, Michael Fulmer, and Robert Whalen.

Lastly, again IMO, there are seven (7) C+ to C- starting pitchers in the system… Darin Gorski, Greg Peavey, Tyler Pill, Rainy Lara, Matt Bowman, Matthew Koch, and Chris Flexen

Robert Smiley asked –

                        Mack, Conforto has been signed over a week. Why isn’t he somewhere getting at bats?

                                    Mack – Morning, Robert.

                        Technically, I’m not sure it the actual contract has been signed. I know both partied agreed to slot, but then Conforto told the Mets that he was ‘tired’ and needed to go home and spend some time chilling out with his family before reporting to camp. I’m sure the Mets had no idea about this before the agreement and they can’t be happy now.

My guess, when he reports, he will remain in the Pt. St. Lucie complex for the remainder of this year. There’s no reason to make him pack up and go to either dilapidated Kingsport or hitter-unfriendly Savannah. Get his kinks out for the GCL team and then promote him to St. Lucie. It’s been done many times before.

Don’t worry… he’ll finish 2015 at Binghamton, open 2016 with Las Vegas and, who knows by that all-start break.

                       

Christopher Soto on Ruben Tejada –

          "Despite the outrage about Flores being demoted to AAA, One has to look at this realistically.

A) Flores needs to get consistent playing time at his age....NOT sit on the bench.

B) Tejada is NOT hurting this team. He's performing adequately right now. Past 30 days he's hit .268, past 2 weeks .306, and last 7 days .348.  In comparison to the rest of the MLB, Tejada has been 6% better than league average in the past 30 days, 10% better in the past 14 days, and 34% better in the past 7 days.

C) Lastly, here is Stephen Drew's stats so far in 2014. .133 AVG, 27% K rate, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB. Certainly not worth $14.1M and our 3rd round pick Milton Ramos

                       Mack - the more I try to get into the head of Sandy Alderson    (forget TC), the more I believe his target is 2016-2017. I thjink you better get used to Tejada playing SS for a couple of seasons. Flores future with this team may be determined on a trade for Daniel Murphy. Either way, these are your two potential internal shortstops until 2016-2017 with, right now, Flores badly trailing Tejada for glove time.

And lastly…

I’ve seen enough Mets hitting fly balls to the warning track of their own stadium. I look up and down the Mets system and I just don’t see enough power hitters that will someday make this a non-issue. The last thing this team needs to be doing offensive is beating itself.

The fences need to be brought in further and the walls need to be lowers. I’m not talking Yankee Stadium, but more adjustment is needed in this area.

It also seems to be a one team problem, probably because the teams that play the Mets have hitters that can hit far past this problem. The Mets don’t. They need all the help they can get.

This is going to be a pitcher-dominated team throughout this decade. I hope the Mets management and ownership will re-address this annoying problem again in the off-season.

Minor Notes –

The promotion of SP Greg Peavey to Las Vegas should return either Giancarlo Alvarado or Joel Carreno to the reliever role they are more comfortable pitching at. It also could result in the release of Alvarado who just isn't having a good season in Vegas... SS Phillip Evans has come off his rehab assignment and has returned to St. Lucie, only to see that Gavin Cecchini has been promoted to share time (or replace him) at short. The Mets have money invested in both these guys, but Cecchini is the much maligned first round pick. Right now, both are getting in the lineup, one as a DH and the other at short. Expect one of these guys to end this season in Binghamton… the earlier promotion of SP Gabriel Ynoa from St. Lucie to Binghamton has resulted in an open slot (Luis Cessa, Kevin McGowan, Domingo Tapia, Matt Koch) in the Lucy rotation. Right now, Cory Mazzoni is filling the slot in a rehab role... 

Savannah Sand Gnats 8 Rome Braves 1

The final game of the four game series between the Savannah Sand Gnats and the Rome Braves was played in front of 2,737 fans Monday at Grayson Stadium.
Savannah won 8-1 to complete the four game sweep.
Starting pitcher for Savannah, Dario Alvarez, pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 8. With the win Alvarez is 5-0 and he lowered his ERA to 0.96.
In the first inning, Savannah scored a run. Yeixon Ruiz,ss singled and went to second when Champ Stuart,cf walked. A ground out double play advanced Ruiz to third and he scored on a balk.
Sand Gnats scored 2 runs in the 4th inning and 2 runs in the 5th inning.
The lone run for Rome was scored in the 7th inning when Connor Oliver,rf doubled and scored on a double by Keith Curcio,cf.
Savannah answered with 2 runs in their 7th inning. Dominic Smith,1b doubled followed by a home run over the left field fence by Matt Oberste, his second home run in his last 2 games.
The final run was scored by Savannah in the 8th inning.
Savannah pitching:         IP.    Runs.     Hits.     K.  BB
Dario Alvarez(W,5-0).    5.0.     0.           2.       8.    1
Hunter Carnevale.           1.0.     0.           1.       1.    2       
Bret Mitchell.                  2.0.     1.           2.       3.    0
Akeel Morris.                  1.0.     0.           0.       1.    1
Game one of the three game series with the Charleston RiverDogs starts at 7:05 pm Tuesday at Grayson Stadium.

Binghamton 8 - New Britain 3

Dustin Lawley launched his 11^th home run of the season to highlight a four-RBI game and lead the Binghamton Mets to an 8-3 victory over the New Britain Rock Cats on Monday night at New Britain Stadium. Binghamton pounded out eleven hits to earn their fourth straight win and 17^th in the last 20 games.

For the fourth consecutive game, the B-Mets cracked the scoreboard first. Binghamton loaded the bases in the second against Rock Cats starter Taylor Rogers and cashed in with two outs. Rylan Sandoval stroked a 3-1 pitch back up the middle, plating Brandon Nimmo and Travis Taijeron to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

New Britain responded with one swing in the bottom of the inning. Reynaldo Rodriguez blasted the first pitch he saw from Rainy Lara over the left-center field wall for a solo shot. His 13^th homer of the season cut Binghamton’s lead in half.

Lara limited the damage to one run in the second inning and returned to post a scoreless third, working around a double and a walk. The righty struck out the side in order in the fourth, side-stepped a one-out single to post a blank fifth and avoided harm after surrendering two hits in the sixth.

Binghamton stretched their lead with more two-out production in the seventh. After Kyle Johnson was plunked with two outs and Dilson Herrera walked on four pitches, New Britain dipped into their bullpen. Jayce Boyd greeted Adrian Salcedo with an RBI single to left-center and Dustin Lawley capped the inning by ripping a two-run double into the left-field gap.

Lawley capped the B-Mets night emphatically in the ninth. Following a four-pitch walk to Boyd, the cleanup hitter crushed an 0-1 pitch from Jim Fuller over the left-field wall, for his second long ball on the road trip.

Lara (5-2) surrendered one run on five hits over six innings to earn his first victory since May 17. Rogers (7-5) allowed four runs on six hits over 6-2/3 innings in the defeat. Three B-Mets relievers combined to allow two runs over the final three innings.

POST-GAME NOTES: Dustin Lawley’s four-RBI effort capped a month in which he launched 7 home runs and collected 18 RBI in June…Binghamton moves within five games of first place with the victory…Rylan Sandoval racked up a season-high three RBI - team press release 

St. Lucie Sweeps Bradenton

The St. Lucie Mets busted out the brooms and swept the Bradenton Marauders with a 5-2 victoryon Monday night at Tradition Field.

Eudy Pina, who hit a walk off homer in the first game of the series on Saturday, delivered the go-ahead hit in the finale. Pina’s two-run triple in the fourth erased a 2-1 deficit and put the Mets up 3-2. He scored on L.J. Mazzilli’s base hit with two outs to bump the lead to 4-2.

Pina provided an insurance run with a single in the sixth that plated Maikis De La Cruz.

Pina went 3 for 4 with three RBIs. He ended up batting .375 in June.

On the mound, Kevin McGowan took over for John Lannan with two outs in the fourth. McGowan did not allow a run and finished out the last 5 2/3 innings of the game. He only gave up three hits.

It was McGowan’s first relief appearance of the season. He started 10 games in Class A with Savannah and won his first start with the Mets last week.

Lannan cruised through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth. He allowed three straight one out hits, the last a two-run triple by Eric Wood that put the Marauders up 2-1.

McGowan came in and struck out Walker Gourley and got a ground out from Taylor Lewis to keep Wood from scoring.

Pirates top pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow had trouble with his command in his start. The fireballer needed 70 pitches to get through 2 2/3. He walked four and struck out five. 

The Mets had their chances to pounce on Glasnow early, but the only run they managed against him was a Gilbert Gomez solo home run in the third.

Thomas Harlan took the loss for Bradenton. He gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings.

The Marauders only managed to score five runs in the three game series.

De La Cruz went 1 for 3 and scored twice. Gomez went 2 for 5. - team press release