“HEY! CAN ANYONE IN MINORSVILLE PITCH THIS HERE HARDBALL?”
Who says the Mets system has no pitching? You? You? Speak up….
Well, you’re wrong.
I’ll give you 22 1/2 reasons why you’re wrong, based on early results.
SYRACUSE: 6 reasons
Christian Scott…19 Ks in 9 innings. Just one walk. But 3 HRs allowed. Still, 19 Ks in 9 IP is almost Jonah Tong-like. (Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes meanwhile has a similar 19 Ks in 9.1 IP, but a 0.00 ERA).
Joey Lucchesi: 2-0, 2.40 in 3 starts spanning 15 innings.
Josh Walker, a shaky first outing on frozen tundra, but 7.1 IP, 2 hits, 8 Ks, 1.23 ERA.
Danny Young, 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 Ks
Eric Orze has allowed 1 hit in 7.2 IP and 8ks…but those 10 walks? Not Star stuff, those walks, but let’s see how he does now that we are moving into the second half of April.
Dedniel Nunez had 5 IP, 1 H, no runs, 7 Ks…and got promoted, too, briefly.
BINGHAMTON: 4 reasons
Joander Suarez, 9.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 10 Ks. Stellar 1.98 ERA after June 2023.
Hunter Parsons, 3.1 IP, 1 H, 6 Ks, 1 R
Blade Tidwell, 5.1 IP, 0.00, 6 Ks.
Wilkin Ramos, 4 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks, 0.00
BROOKLYN: 7 reasons
Calvin Ziegler, 6 IP, 0 H, 0.00, 13 Ks. But came out after just 2 IP Sunday?
Jordany Ventura: What a difference a year makes. Last year, 83 walks and 14 hit batsmen in 103 innings. Ugly Wow. This season, though, 2 outings, 7.1 IP, 0.00 5 H, just 1 BB, 12 Ks. Some sweet turnaround so far.
Doug Orellana, 7 IP, 4 H, 8 K, 0.00
Felipe de la Cruz, 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0.00, 6 Ks
Justin Lawson, 4 IP, 1 H, 0.00, 6 Ks
Brandon Sproat, 2.2 IP, 5 K, 5 BB, 1 H, 0.00 (Nolan Ryan II?)
Nolan McLean, 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2K. Hitting too, 2 for 7, a double and a mammoth HR. Probably the longest by any Mets organization player this season. Look at how s MILB player card, watch the video, judge for yourself.
ST LUCIE: 5 reasons
Jonah Friggin’ Tong: 25 outs, a sick 21 by strikeout, 3 H, 5 BB, 1 R.
- Can he maintain his 5 Ks per 6 outs rate? We’ll see.
Jawilme Ramirez, 6.2 IP, 11 Ks, 2 H, 3 BB, 0.00. Dang.
Jack Wenninger, 3.86 ERA, but 11 Ks in 7 IP
AustinTroeser, 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 8 Ks. 1.29 ERA
Kade Morris, 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 Ks. A professional stat line, huh?
Twenty two guys who have pitched well, actually 21, but Orze’s lack of hits allowed forced me to squeeze him in.
(Some other guys have pitched almost as well).
If you said 22 1/2, Tom. Who is the “half?”
Dom Hamel was awful and wild in his first start but fanned 10 in 5 strong innings in his second start, so he is half star, half bum. I’m expecting ALL STAR from Hamel this year, just to be clear.
Biggest disappointments so far? (Yeah, it’s early)
Mike Vasil, 8.2 IP, 15 H, 12 R, 8 BB. WHIP 2.65. Jeepers.
- 82 career innings in AAA, 5.95 ERA. OUCH!
Shintaro Fujinama…4 IP, 4 R, 2 H, 2 HB, 7 BB. How do you say good grief in Japanese? He was horrible in his 3.2 IP in spring training, too.
Jon Duplantier, 4.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 1 HB, 7 BB. 29 yr old former major leaguer.
Syracuse pitchers meanwhile have walked a ghastly 91 in 115 IP.
Durham, also in the International League, but in a warmer climate, just 42 walks in 130 IP. For Syracuse, much of it has to do, no doubt, with the automated mini-strike zone and frigid weather.
But…Syracuse hitters have walked just 51 times. So, the pitchers need to control the strike zone much better. No more excuses.
On the other hand, St Lucie pitchers have 112 Ks in 79 IP, a rate of 12.7 Ks per 9 IP. SIT DOWN, SUCKER!
LINDOR QUE PASSA?
Going into Monday, spring and regular season, 17 for 116 (.136) with 2 HRs and 3 doubles and a handful of RBIs. Is this due to his elbow clean up surgery off-season, bad luck, just an extended bad streak, cold weather blues, insults to his family? What’s your expert reader’s prognosis?
Hint: 2 for 4 and a walk, up to .152, up 120 points from his 1 for 34 start.
METS WIN THE DARNED THING
Imagine Nimmo, Pete, Alvarez and McNeil going 0 for 15, and the Mets win 6-3 anyway, winners of 8 of 11 after an 0-5 season opening stagger. (McNeil hit a bomb to the wall that was caught). Bader hitting .304, sweet! Key 2 run double.
The maligned DJ Stewart had a hit and walk in 2 PAs, and is hitting .200/.412/.520. Nothing wrong with that. On base 14 of 34 times. He and Tyrone Taylor have a fine 15 RBIs in 62 at bats. Nothing wrong with that.
PETE WINS AWARD
Pete Alonso earned NL Player of the Week honors. The Pounder hit .429/.556/1.603 last week, with 4 HRs and 7 RBIs. Kudos, Pete.
Strider Blues
Strider has thrown his last slider for 2024, and instead is a rider to the surgeon due to a needed modified TJS surgical procedure.
Are the Mets able to catch the Strider-less Braves in 2024? Why not?
Big Braves blow.
And the Mets DO have an #1 SP in Senga and a #1 DH in JD Martinez coming back in the first half of 2024.
9 comments:
Bader’s .304 is still twice Lindor’s .152.
Smiling Syracuse players. In Charlotte, temperature at game time this evening in low 80s. Not bad at all in Binghamton, 61 degrees at game time. Let’s see some HITTING.
Succeeding in the minors and succeeding in the majors are two different things. Some of those guys, Orze, Walker, Luchessi, have been in the majors before. Luchessi still sits in the 80’s for some reason. In itself, that is t a bad thing. But, why? Hamel and Scott are the two that intrigue so far. Can they be consistently effective starters? Everyone else, we just keep an eye on.
The Braves seem to have some holes in their rotation. That guy Lopez that pitched against the Mets sucks. He throws slop and junk and he won’t get away with that for long. Fried and Sale are solid. I shed no tears for them.
Lindor with two hits yesterday right handed. I’m not saying this is more than just sheer folly, after the guy has so many at bats lefty in his career, but has it become a mental thing?
Nimmo has been the MVP and most in disposable Met so far. His entire skill set cannot be duplicated and any absence will surely be felt.
Gus, good points. I told Tong to fan all 15 batters in his next start to change your mind. He said no problem at all.
Casey's Ghost Writer
The NY Mets have these three MiLB pitchers that I am currently noticing...
1. Joey Lucchesi - 6-0 over his last six starts, a lefty starter.
2. Jose Butto - Showed up big here in NY so far. Just a matter of establishing his pro consistency.
3. Christian Scott - Nice start at Syracuse. This kid is the real deal. Make no mistake about it.
4. Josh Walker - Nice relief job thus far. Can always use another good lefty from the pen.
It's early in the season, but the Mets will make changes as they go. If all goes well, they could see the playoffs in 2024. One kid that is off to a great start is CF Ramirez in Syracuse.
Casey’s Ghost, good picks there.
I'm just amazed at how wonderful a gig it is this MLB life considering we signed 36 year old JDM for a cool 12 mil. and what do you know he tells the FO he needs time to get his swing in shape and his body apparently and then he hurt's his back or side or something and we now have no idea when he will play while we turn things around to the tune of winning 8 of 11. What exactly was JD doing all Winter/Spring? Too bad baseball doesn't have the 'do over rule" like when we were kids and playing a game and you didn't like the outcome just yell "do over do over" but I guess MLB doesn't have that rule dam.
Gary, unfair and a tad mystifying. But…my brother is glad he’s here, and presumably will help. As long as he doesn’t turn into Jed Lowrie II.
You remember old Jed. Averaged 155 games in his 2 pre-Mets years, then a stunning 7 at bats in two Mets years, then 130 games the following year with Oakland, his prior team.
JD has 8 minor league at bats. He then missed a few games, got a cortisone shot for his back on April 9, hasn’t played since.
Who among us, when .he was signed 4 weeks ago, would have thought he’d still be nowhere in sight as the weekend series with his old Dodgers team approaches?
Mookie Betts 5 for 5 on Wednesday, .388.
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