Minor Mets 101: - Guzman, Torres, Kai, Kurt, Stinny, Cohoon... and Carson

AA-Binghamton OF Carlos Guzman goes under the knife next week for a slight torn ACL and a torn meniscus. Any surgery that uses the word “torn” twice in one sentence usually means you are gone for the season. Guzman is a non-drafted signee with little pedigree who came out of the second best high school in Richmond Hill, NY (I came out of the 1st best…). He earned his stay each year by playing excellent outfield, and hitting above the .250 needed to keep your uniform in the locker. It’s frankly amazing that he played this well this season while lugging around two tears, but that’s the kind of game Carlos is. I’m sure he’ll be back 1000% next season, probably back in Binghamton.

St. Lucie has a catcher you need to keep an eye on. Juan Torres is a 21-year old product of the old VSL-Mets team. He hit .279 for the 2006 team, came back in 2007 and hit .298, went to the GCL Mets in 2008 where he was a backup, hitting .293 in 58-AB, and split time between the GCL Mets and Kingsport last year, hitting .333 in 87-AB. You may see a pattern here. He can hit. You may also see another pattern. He’s been a backup since leaving Venezuela. He did have three hits last night for Lucy and it will be interesting to see if he gets a shot while he’s there. My guess is that Kai Gronauer will be promoted from Savannah as soon as the Sand Gnats finish the first half of their season. This would reunite him with his 2009 platoon buddy, Jean Luc Blaquiere (.195), who is stuck in a year long “effondrement”…

The Brooklyn Cyclones released their initial roster yesterday. Eight recent draft picks made the squad, highlighted by OF Cory Vaughn. P Chris Hilliard, who impressed earlier this season in Savannah heads 15 pitchers, that includes Angel Cuan, Guillaume Leduc, and prospect Yohan Almonte. Also on the Cyclones are 1B Jeff Flagg, who disappointed this year in Savannah… OF Kurt Steinhauer, who I personally was bummed out he didn’t go full season this year… and IF Rylan Sandoval, who has already served as a backup role in St. Lucie. Frankly, I don’t see much prospect material here, and I am disappointed that none of our Latin prospects (Gonzalez German, Orlando Tovar, Ernesto Yanez, Marcos Camerena, Jhonathan Torres, or Juan Urbina) made this team.

I've got to give props to AA-SP Josh Stinson. The ex-relief pitcher who had a hard time trying to figure out what his role would be with this team, has now strung a series of great starts together for Binghamton. He's now 4-1, with a 2.66 ERA and, frankly, the ace of the staff. Way to go Stinny!

And, just when you thought A-SP Mark Cohoon has showed us all his bag of tricks...  all he did last night was go out and throw his third complete game shutout... in a row!  Start getting used to this name because it looks like you're going to read a lot about Mark from now on. Trust me, he's be in St. Lucie next week.

Lastly... A+ SP Robert Carson had another great outing, throwing 6..0 scoreless innings, giving up only two hits and striking out seven. His ERA is now below five, and he's given up only 2-ER in his last three starts (19.0-IP). This is real good news folks and there actually is  a chance you may see him move on to Binghamton at some point this season.