The Keepers - #92 - P - Tim Stronach

92. Tim Stronach – RP – AA – 24/yrs.


Stronach comes out of Haverhill, MA. and played college ball at Worcester State College. In his sophomore campaign, Tim was 6-0 with a 2.45 ERA and a .209 batting average against. That year, Tim helped lead the Lancers to their first win in an NCAA Regional Tournament game. 2006 was his junior year where he compiled a 3.72 ERA and struck out 71 batters in 65 innings. So much for the senior year.


Stronach was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2006 draft. He pitched for Worchester State College, where he only went 3-7 in his last year with a 3.72 ERA; however, he had 71 Ks in 55.3 innings. 2006 was Stronach’s first year in the Mets organization and he impressed at Kingsport, starting 13 games and posting a 4-2 W-L , 3.76 ERA profile. His opening game for Kingsport was nothing less than spectacular, against the Johnson City Cardinals, where he threw five shutout innings, facing the minimum 15 batters. He gave up only one hit and then he promptly picked the runner off first base.


OnDeck updated their end of the year 2006 ratings for the Appalachian Leauge and ranked Stronach as the 35th overall (132.46 rating) starting pitcher in the league. He has added a changeup to his fastball, curveball, and slider. The fastball has been consistently clocked between 87 and 92 MPH.


Stronach started the 2007 season at Savannah (2-7, 5.45, 1.44, in 14 starts), but was farmed off to Brooklyn around the All-Star break (4-2, 3.42, 1.74, in 11 appearances, 4 starts).


In September 2007, Baseball America ranked Stronach as the 20th top SAL pitcher in ‘groundout-to-flyout ratio”.


In 2008, Stronach continued to struggle, pitching a combined 5-7, 4.96 for Savannah, St. Lucie, and Brooklyn.


In 2009, Stronach pitched the entire season for St. Lucie. He started eight games, one of which he threw a no-hitter. He also relieved in seven more games. He established himself by the end of the year as a starter and went 3-3, 3.42 in his last ten games (which included seven straight starts to end the season).



2010 Forecast: The Mets still haven’t figured out whether Stronach is a starter or a relief pitcher, but you have to have some talent if you can throw a professional no hitter, right? Obviously, the 6-5 24-year old is ready for AA ball, but with Mejia, Holt, Shaw, Moviel, and Kaplan already projected there, how does he get in the rotation?