More good news arrived earlier this week when Dominic Hamel was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Month for September. If you recall my article from September 28th, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (AA affiliate for the New York Mets) had taken home quite a few awards this year, including several in the area where the Mets most desperately need improvement – Pitching.
Hamel’s award was particularly important, because he had come to Binghamton on a high note having pitched in the World Baseball Classic for Puerto Rico. 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. However, adversity has a way of finding you in baseball, and he did not get off to a strong start, pitching to a 6.17 ERA in May and a 6.35 ERA in June. After that, Hamel made the right adjustments and by September he was on fire – throwing 14 scoreless innings with a 0.71 WHIP in the month that earned him the Eastern League accolade.
Hamel 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 2022. This year he spent the full season in Binghamton registering a 3.85 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 124 innings pitched.
For more on Dominic’s September award, see the press release here:
With Hamel’s award, the Binghamton Mets received seven pitching accolades for the 2023 season:
- Christian Scott was named an Eastern League All-star as a starting pitcher.
- Mike Vasil won Eastern League Pitcher of the Month for May.
- Tyler Stuart, Luis Moreno, and Joander Suarez (twice) received Eastern League Pitcher of the Week recognition.
- Rumble Ponies pitching coach AJ Sager was named Staff Member of the Year. Sager’s staff this season set a Binghamton franchise record with 14 shutouts and ranked first among the 30 AA clubs in strike rate and walks issued, and second in opponent on-base percentage.
9 comments:
Mets seriously have no other choice but to develop major leaguers from this current crop of upper minors arms.
I still have concern about all the pitchers coming out of AA
Impressive. Hamel had a really strong finish. Onward to AAA. Maybe a Mets gig in 2024?
Vasil will test the waters first come spring
I agree. Vasil needs to get away from AAA and the horrible ABS system. It squeezed AAA pitchers to throw more over the paint and no ability to paint corners. Look at the ERA’s and K to BB ratios for AAA pitchers. They all went up. I think Vasil has just as much talent as the Peterson’s and Megill’s and deserves his shot in the Spring for the 5th rotation slot.
Mack do you know if the ABS system is coming back to AAA and hopefully not expanding to AA?
There doesn't seem to be any definition on this yet for minor league ball in 2024
They did say it will not come to the majors next season
I expect it to remain at AAA and may increase than the current 50%
Winter meetings are held the week of December 4-7 this year. [See important dates sidebar] Expect word to come out of there about any rules changes.
My guess is that if ABS is not adopted for the majors, then it will be back in AAA again for more trials, and possibly other levels in the minors as well.
I would widen the ABS zone by an inch or two. Make it more realistic.
Tom that’s a great idea. The strike zone is way to small. Just not sure MLB is intelligent enough to do that.
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