Tobi Stoner, Darin Gorski, Ruben Tejada, Matt Harvey, Maikel Cleto

- I first started covering the Savannah Sand Gnats for Morris Publishing in 2007, the year the Mets chose the team as their A-affiliate. The first player to “graduate” to St. Lucie that year was Tobi Stoner, who had posted a steady 3-5, 3.61, in 11-starts. He was extremely unlucky when it came to team support, and that particular team had very little potential pro talent on it. I particularly remember him telling me that he “never” gives up home runs, which was pretty close to the truth up to then (one in Brooklyn in 2006; one in Savannah). Today, four years, four teams, and one major surgery later, he continues to struggle, giving up eight runs yesterday for the B-Mets. His combined A+/AA ERA this year is 8.55, coming off a 2010 where he gave up 18-HRs.


John Sickles  has jumped on the Darin Gorski train: “New York Mets lefty Darin Gorski has had two excellent starts in a row for High-A St. Lucie, fanning 13 in seven innings and allowing three hits and a walk on May 26th, then throwing seven shutout innings with three strikeouts on June 1st. Overall, the southpaw has a 1.85 ERA with a 66/13 K/BB in 49 innings with 43 hits allowed. Gorski was a seventh round draft pick in 2009 from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Although he's a big guy at 6-4, 215, his velocity was mediocre until this year, usually in the 85-87 range. This year he's hitting 88-91 MPH, and the increase in fastball oomph combined with his already-solid secondary pitches has led to big success. Let's see if he can maintain it in Double-A.”

- This might be the last entry in ‘The Keepers” for Ruben Tejada. There seems to be a good chance that he’s going to stick with the Mets for the remainder of the 2011 season, regardless of whether or not Jose Reyes is traded. Tejada continues to, as Terry Collins says, “hit smart”, as he did on Thursday against Pittsburgh. It just wasn’t the 2-run single, but the sacrifice fly to break the tie. And obviously, we don’t have to question his defensive ability. For now, we’ll keep him on the list, but you may be looking at a long range solution to part of the infield.


- Thursday night was most probably the last A+ start for Matt Harvey. He only went 5.0 innings, giving up only one earned run while striking out nine. The season stats are impressive: 2.44 ERA - 1.20 WHIP - 59 IP - 51 H - 16 ER - 5 HR - 20 BB (3.05 BB/9) - 71 K (10.8 K/9)



- Maikel Cleto was a raw flamethrower for Savannah in 2008 that sat at 96 consistently. His stats were meh (5-11, 4.25, 25-G, 22-starts, 135.2-IP, only 81-Ks, basically because the fastball seldom stayed in the box. For every ten scouts I asked who they liked on the Mets, eight would mention his name. He was traded as part of the J.J. Putz deal and I wasn’t sure if we’d ever run into him again. Well, he broke the Bigs barrier last night, throwing two innings for the Cards, and giving up 5-ERs.