Paul Articulates – How good is our AA Binghamton team?

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are off to a tough start in 2023, having dropped a series to the Portland Sea Dogs and then losing their home opener to the Sommerset Patriots. 

Portland is a Red Sox affiliate and they are loaded this year with four top-30 prospects.  You may recall that the MLB Red Sox have been emptying their salary obligations over the last few years, trading away several stars for prospects.   Well, this is where some of the prospects ended up, so they are good.  All the Eastern League teams should have their hands full with this club.

This year’s Rumble Ponies feature some players to watch.  They have a strong starting pitching staff featuring a couple of young prospects that are moving their way up through the organization and a couple of other power pitchers that should be interesting to watch.

Dominic Hamel is the #9 prospect in the Mets’ organization.  He is a 24 year old Arizona native who was selected by the Mets in the 3rd round of the 2021 draft.  Hamel saw action with both St. Lucie (low A) and Brooklyn (high A) last year, earning all-star honors with Brooklyn as well as the pitcher of the month in September.  Hamel was also honored by being selected to pitch with the Puerto Rico team in this year’s World Baseball Classic.  The experience playing with some major league talent gave Hamel the confidence that he belongs at that level so he started the season with a great mind set.  This was demonstrated in his game 2 start, where he struck out 7 and yielded no earned runs in 3-1/3 innings at Portland.

Mike Vasil is the #11 prospect in the Mets’ organization.  He is a 23 year old Boston native who was selected by the Mets in the 8th round of the 2021 draft.  Vasil is an interesting story.  He was very highly touted prospect coming out of high school, but chose to skip the draft and play collegiate ball at Virginia.  After an arm injury, he started slowly and was somewhat inconsistent at Virginia, so the Mets got him with a later round steal.  After pitching at three levels last year (Florida Coast League, low A, and high A), Vasil also spent time in the Arizona Fall League.  In his Game 3 start this year, Vasil struck out 8 in four innings, giving up 2 earned runs.

Two others to watch on the ponies are pitchers Junior Santos and Marcel Renteria.  Santos was a 2017 international signing who throws a mid-to-high 90’s fastball.  He has the size and power to endure as a starting pitcher, but has work to do on his control and his secondary pitches.  In 116 innings with Brooklyn last year, he recorded a 1.46 WHIP.  Renteria struggled with injuries last year, including a concussion resulting from a brawl in his first game with the Rumble Ponies (against Portland) last year.  A batter who was struck by a pitch charged the mound and got in a punch to the head of Renteria.   When healthy, Renteria has some pretty serious spin rate on his breaking ball which can be a terrific out pitch when he can throw it for strikes.

The Rumble Ponies’ lineup features some impressive bats.  There are a few noteworthy hitters at this level that are worth watching.

Wyatt Young is a 24 year old second baseman who has proven the ability to hit at all levels.  After 5 games at high A Brooklyn, Wyatt was called up to AAA Syracuse to fill a void created by COVID illnesses.  He did not disappoint.  In 19 games with the team, he batted .352, held a .446 OBP, and scored 14 runs for the Mets.  When Katoh returned, Wyatt was assigned to the AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies, where he hit .257 in 98 games.  Wyatt is the Ponies’ leadoff hitter this year and is expected to continue his assault on the baseball.

JT Schwartz was a fourth round draft pick in 2021 out of UCLA, where he lead the PAC-12 in hitting and was named an all-american.  Schwartz has the sweetest swing that I have seen on the Ponies’ roster this year and should prove to be a great hitter in the Mets organization.  He spent 109 games in Brooklyn last year, slashing .273/.350/.376.  When JT is not in the lineup, the imposing 6’4” 190 lb Dariel Gomez will be slugging.  To watch Dariel in batting practice is like being at Cape Canaveral watching rockets launching.  His power is to all fields and his path to higher levels just requires some better pitch recognition and quickness to the ball.  This is a guy to watch.

Another player on the Rumble Ponies that is fun to watch is Brandon McIlwain.  This 6’0” 205 lb speedster is a terror on the basepaths.  In his second year with the AA club, he is their starting left fielder and #3 hitter.  Along with his speed, he is an aggressive base runner with the ability to get home.  In 50 games with the Rumble Ponies last year, he scored 42 runs.  Project that to a full season and he is going to help this team win.

There are many other Mets at the AA level worthy of mention, and I will highlight them in future posts.  For now, let’s just say that there is some very good talent moving up through the system, and Binghamton is a great place to watch them right now.