Tom Brennan - SEASON RECAP: BINGHAMTON METS

Tom Brennan - SEASON RECAP: BINGHAMTON METS

The B Mets went 31 games over .500 at 85-54 and roared into the playoffs a mighty hot team.  Unfortunately, their draw was the 92-48 Trenton Thunder of the Yankee farm system. Our only playoff team out of seven minors squads sadly had a short lived playoff run.

The Mets won a brilliantly pitched first shutout game (Oswalt, Peterson, and Bashlor combining for 12 Ks), but then got swept the next 3 games as they got thoroughly outhit and outpitched.

So Binghamton did a lot right this year, but exactly where?

In team batting, they hit .260 (6th, but just 4 points out of 2nd), but were UTTERLY DEAD LAST in homers with 66 (Reading had 153, and the second to last place HR squad had 23 more at 89).  

The B Mets were a pretty poor 9th out of 12 teams with 582 runs (just 4.2 runs per game).  So let's be fair, the offense for this AA squad, as it was for St Lucie, Columbia, Brooklyn, and the GCL Mets, was (to be tactful) bad.  

Power in recent NY Mets years in Queens has been abundant, so to have the word  "powerless" stamped in big red block letters on your resume is not a great calling card for hitters, when looked at dispassionately.  

As Sandy said, after I badgered him on this website to move the Citifield fences in because I said fans dig homers, he in fact said, when announcing the last move-in, "fans dig homers," something the aspiring B Metsie hitters need to very carefully consider.

In team pitching, their 3.20 ERA was second only to Trenton's 2.83, but far better than the league's worst 4.62.  Tied with Trenton for best in WHIP at 1.23, 7th in Ks at 990, 170 fewer than Trenton.   

No doubt due in large part to glove wizard Luis Guillorme, the B Mets allowed the fewest unearned runs by far (just 43), and thus in total allowed only 20 runs more than Trenton, a huge reason why the B Mets were 31 games over with a +120 runs scored vs. allowed differential.  A run defensively saved is as good as a run scored, I always say (well, I say it at least once every few decades, but let me not get defensive here).

So, a typical Mets winning squad formula was employed by Binghamton - so-so offense, coupled with great pitching and defense.

On to the pitching....who were the great pitchers?

Pitcher of the year Corey Oswalt: 12-5, 2.28 in 25 starts, and only 13 earned runs in his last 75 IP in July-September.

Marcos Molina was a hard luck 3-7, 3.92 after a great short sprint for St Lucie, but encouragingly was much better his last 9 starts with just 18 earned runs in 53 IP.  He lost a fine playoff start due to, well, hard luck.

Knuckleballer Mickey Jannis was 8-7, 3.60 in 21 AA starts, his last season before turning 30. He had a bad playoff start.

Casey Delgado was 11-6, 4.59, getting all the offensive support that Molina did not.  The 27 year old Delgado allowed just 10 earned runs in his last 40 innings, before which his ERA was 5.71.  Seems more journeyman than prospect.

PJ Conlon came off a sensational A ball performance in 2016 and went a fine but not-as-stellar 8-9, 3.38 in 2017 in 22 starts and 6 late season relief appearances.His last 8 outings included 6 relief appearances and 2 very (deliberately) short starts that were stellar indeed: 11.1 IP, 7 hits, 0 earned runs, 3 walks, 12 Ks.  Seems to me he is a legit lefty contender for a 2018 Mets bullpen role.

Chris Flexen dazzled in AA before getting rushed to the Mets and roughed up. In AA, he went 6-1, 1.66 in seven starts.  Absent more Mets injuries in 2018, he seems slated for more high minors seasoning in 2018.

In the pen, several standouts, and one quality guy who arrived late - Drew Smith:

Tim Peterson was 5-3, 1.14 in 41 outings with the Bingos.  Yep, 1.14.  Yep, 1.14.  N..I..C..E.

Ben Griset? he was 4-1, 2.39 in 35 games, his second straight excellent year.  The lefty must be doing a lot right.

Tyler Bashor was unscored on in 14.2 post-promotion innings, fanning 23 while walking just 4.  I am high on this guy Ty, and I am sure you can see why.

Closer Corey Burns saved 19 of 21 despite being just 2-2, 4.02.  A 1 inning, 5 run debacle in June boosted the 29 year old's AA ERA for the whole year, but he also had a 6.75 ERA in 13 Vegas innings, so he is likely not a real major league hopeful despite some past MLB experience.

Corey Taylor was kind of disappointing at 5-5, 3.61, but he allowed just 4 earned runs in 17.1 IP over his last 10 games.

Lefties Kyle Regnault and Al Baldonado were great early on for the B Mets before heading to Vegas; Kyle stayed fine for Vegas while Al got knocked around a lot out west.  Lastly, aging Luis Mateo was so-so for both Bingo and Vegas, but he had the immense satisfaction of having pitched much better than the Luis Mateo who was pitching on the GCL Mets squad.

Hitting-wise, OK but not so good:

Guys who hit well but with little power included Luis Guillorme, Kevin Kaczmarski, Kevin Taylor, and Matt Oberste.  Fourteen homers in about 2000 plate appearances amongst the not-so-fearsome-foursome does not have me wanting to buy season tickets to see them, I am sorry.  I hope someone buys them weights for Christmas. Or don't be a dumbbell and wait - buy them some dumbbells today, OK?

Catcher Tomas Nido was low powered and low averaged (.232) , quite disappointing after his FSL batting title in 2016.

David Thompson had a decent year (.263, 29 doubles, 16 HRs, 68 RBIs in 133 games), but the stats do not indicate a surging minor leaguer ready to snatch the starting 3rd base job in Citifield any time soon.  A prior 3B insurgent, David Wright, was .341/.441/.605 in 2004 in 91 games prior to being called up; if his #s were closer to that, I would be more excited for Thompson.

Instead, his #s are somewhat lower than those of Zach Lutz, whose subsequent major league career was short-lived.

Champ Stuart remained a blurry enigma, hitting .222 while fanning 122 times in less than 400 plate appearances, but stealing 35 of 41.  He needs to steal first base far more often to ever reach the majors.

The rest of the offense frankly did not deserve any ink time.

Except, that is, for Pete Alonso who arrive late and stayed scorching hot, going 20 for 59 with 9 extra base hits in the remainder of the AA regular season and playoffs.  He and (to a lesser degree) another late arrival Pat Mazeika are Bingo guys I look forward to tracking in 2018.

However, if I could trade this entire AA offense for that if a few other teams, I would be inclined to do so.

Next up: 

My final overview of the Mets minors seasons - rather than analyzing one at a time, how did all seven teams collectively do, which is largely a reflection of how Sandy Anderson and his regime selects players?  My guess is pretty lousy, but I have to write the darned article first, so please be patient.