The Mack Attack - April 16, 2009

Mets:

I never get sick of anything in the first 50 games of a season, but I have to tell ya, I’m starting to get a little stomach pain about a big-market team trying to teach someone to play outfield, during the season.

Seems SP Mike Pelfrey has been pitching with tendonitis. There’s never a good time for this kind of injury, but if you have to have soreness, have it early in the year, take the rest needed, and come back strong… options for the Mets would be Noel Redding (sorry, couldn’t help myself), Nelson Figueroa, or Freddy Garcia. I assume both Redding and Garcia aren’t ready yet, so that would leave the duties to Figgy.


Buffalo may be scuffling as a team, but don’t count Fernando Martinez among the ranks of players who are off to sluggish starts. Where the Bisons have hit a collective .159 and have gotten off to a 1-4 start, Martinez has slugged an International League-leading five extra-base hits through his first five Triple-A games. The 20-year-old Martinez, in connecting for his first home run yesterday, crushed a no-doubter to right field that nearly left Buffalo’s Coca-Cola Field completely. (Martinez’s at-bat is about 1:20 into the clip, which is well worth viewing.) The fifth-inning blast came against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Kei Igawa, whom Martinez also victimized for an opposite-field double in the third. The Bisons fell short, losing the game 6-5. Buffalo batting coach Luis Natera said that the home run came courtesy of an Igawa fastball, while the double was struck off a slider. While the 29-year-old Igawa may only notionally be a big league pitcher, he verifiably is a lefthander. Martinez batted just .217/.298/.368 against southpaws last season for Double-A Binghamton. "Improving against lefthanders has been a matter of experience for Fernando," Natera said. "Playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic really helped him. [Note: Martinez batted .314/.376/542 in 153 at-bats for Escogido.]




http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=3436


Minors Thoughts:


As of last night, there are now 17 Met minor leaguers on the DL:
Pitchers: Tobi Stoner, Scott Moviel, Jake Ruckle, Sal Aguilar, Michael Olmstead (TJS), Michael Houck (TJS), Elvys Quezada, German Marte, Steve Cheney, Jose Bierd, Will Morgan, and Manuel Alvarez… Infielders: Andy Green, Ramon Martinez, Matt Smith, and Luis Rivera… catchers: Jordan Abruzzo… outfielders: none.


Bisons:


No one could possibly be off to a worse start than 1B/RF Nick Evans who, through Wednesday’s game, is hitting just .077 (2-27)… DH Fernando Martinez had two singles on Wednesday’s loss to the Yanks, which actually were the first singles he has hit all year…

Here’s some interesting tidbits from a Mike Harrington story in the Buffalo News on the conversion of RP Eddie Kunz (2009: 3 G, 1-0, 0.00, 0.79, 6.1 IP), from closer to middle-man:


Goodbye, closer role. Farewell, setup role too. That leaves Kunz, a 23-year-old right-hander, to learn middle relief in Buffalo one year after collecting 27 saves at Double-A Binghamton and rocketing all the way to the bigs. "I can tell they have a closer and they have a setup guy for the next couple of years and that's fine by me," Kunz said Tuesday after throwing three shutout innings in the Herd's 5-3, 11-inning loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Coca-Cola Field. "Now I'm changing my view a little bit and getting more into throwing the fifth-sixth-seventh… "I'm working on getting a little longer. Hopefully down the road if they were to give me a chance to close, I would be more than willing to take it."

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bi...ry/639769.html


B-Mets:


It’s good to see that C Josh Thole cracked .300 with an RBI double Wednesday night. Reports from the Mets, via Adam Rubin, are that defensive specialist Mike Nickeas is Josh’s tutor behind the plate. Thole is now hitting .300 at his third level, something Mets fans haven’t seen out of minor league catcher in a very long time.

An excellent outing by Mike Antonini Wednesday night… 2 outings so far this season… 2.79 ERA…

Is the return to the outfield also returning Emmanuel Garcia to prospect status… he was quite the heralded prospect when the Mets first signed him… hit a 3-run homer Wednesday night are raised his BA to. .375.

3 saves, out of 3 chances, for Roy Merritt… 0.00.


Lucy:


The brass at Lucy breathed a collective… err… breath… Wednesday night after SP prospect Bradley Holt left the mound… 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 K, 1 BB… season ERA down to a skimpy 8.38.

Holy schmoly… even Ike Davis had a double…

They’re were basically two reasons Greg Veloz (MMP# 16) didn’t bump up to the B-Mets opening day. One he really didn’t spend that much time at Lucy last year after a wonderful year in Savannah (.286/.339/.402/.741 in 455 Abs)… and two, dick-wad Kyle Suire visited the juice bar and screwed up the proper chain of command. Well, don’t expect Veloz to stay in Florida through the all-star break. As of the end of last night’s game, Greg is batting .346.


Gnats:

Here’s something we’re not used to in Savannah. 5 out of the 8 every day starters Tuesday night finished the game batting over .300. They were: Wilmer Flores (.318,) Josh Satin (.400), Sean Ratliff (.350), Kai Gronauer .(300) and Eric Campbell (.316)….

It also looks like Campbell will be the main man at first base.

Gronauer is an interesting kid. Signed as an International free agent out of Germany, he only got 45 at bats last year for the GCL Mets rookie team, but made the best of them, hitting .356/.408/.378. The only problem seems to be consistency from the plate. He hit .522 in July 2008, and .182 the rest of the season.

Wednesday night: Manuel Olivares blew a hold in the 5th inning… Josh Stinson gave up his first run of the season…


Mets Alumni:

The length of Lastings Milledge's sentence in the minors depends on his progress, Rizzo said. A first-round pick by the Mets in 2003, Milledge has not spent time in the minors -- discounting last year's rehab assignment -- since 2007. Rizzo described Milledge, upon hearing of his demotion, as "unhappy, which I expected. I don't want a player that is glad to go down to Class AAA. But he took it like a professional."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nat...class_aaa.html


Draft:

Top 10 batting averages in Division I, through April 16:

1 Ross Babineaux, Delaware St. Sr. OF .526
2 Brett Nommensen, Eastern Ill. Sr. OF .521
3 Ryan Honeycutt, New Mexico So. OF .470
4 Spenser Dennis, Texas St. Sr. OF .464
Earnest Rhone, Texas Southern Sr. OF .464
6 Tim Morris, St. John's (NY) Jr. 1B .461
7 Jeff Hanson, Sacred Heart Sr. P .458
8 Richie Derbak, Eastern Ill. Jr. C .456
9 Drew Lee, Morehead St. Jr. INF .453
10 Wes Cunningham, Murray St. Jr. .452


General:

A memorial service for Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart will be held Friday at Williamsport High School, where Adenhart played as a teen