MACK - Sunday Morning Observations

 

Mack’s Observations –

 

            Jeff McNeil is a professional hitter. We have watched him direct balls over the third baseman all the way to the batting crown and hit for power basically when he wants to. My frustration with him comes with his constant changing of his swing and what he wants to do with a bat in his hands. 

We are now witnessing him dropping the “plop in left field” approach and replacing it with full swings designed to barrel up on the pitch. The immediate new approach seems to be paying off, but how long will he keep this adjustment going?

             My question to you…  which Jeff would you like to see going forward? We know one approach could get him on the base more. We also know he has the power to far past the first row in the seats.

             Which one I ask?

 I got to know now retired Kevin Kernan, then the Mets reporter for The New York Post. We still follow each other and he used to write on the site here. Anyway, Kevin now lives in St. Augustine and posts on X regarding Mets and Yankee games and baseball. In general.

 He posted something on Tuesday that is so simple and makes so much sense:

 Let me repeat: The best pitch in baseball right now is the 2 strike fastball right down the middle. Hitters are frozen because their minds are littered with pitch probabilities by the Nerds and their iPads. 

The average fan doesn’t understand the pitching process. You have a pitcher that has X amount of different pitches, a pitching coach that sometimes sends signs on pitch suggestions, the catcher that basically is the reaper operator that controls what pitch should be thrown, and the hitter with a cheat sheet on the pitcher. I know the point that Kevin is making, but you can’t throw a fastball down the middle every time someone has a two-strike count. 

The art of hitting has become an educated guessing game between the hitter and what is thrown to them. Anybody out there that has played organized baseball knows how little time you have to make a decision if you are going to swing or not. The game is much more dominated now with pitches that start in the zone until they don’t couple with fastballs in the paint. To me, no nerds with I-Pads can control where a pitcher’s curves and sliders only drop off near the end or fastballs that can hit the corners. Only the pitcher controls that.

 Now…

 This is where this portion of this post went into targeting a certain Mets starter that might be overthinking his approach on the mound as he continues to punch out results far lower than his prospect projections… Christian Scott. I went and did what every old guy does… take a nap… and then returned a phone call from Gary Seagram. Gary’s first words were “so, what do you think about the Scott injury”? The son of a sailor made me get up early to rewrite this. Thanks Gar.

 Every pitcher I ever knew in organized baseball has told me that they could tell you just what their arm was producing while warming up in the pen. One pitcher told me “one third of the time I was spot on, one third half and half and one third for shit”.

 I’m steadfast that all these arm problems started with high school managers who pitched their best far past a proper pitch could just to win that particular game. Their arm was heading in the wrong direction before they either went to college or signed out of high school. You add to that the current desire to have more pitches than rooms in your house, plus the need for speed mentality in today’s game, and you wonder why any pitcher doesn’t lose time to a major arm or shoulder injury.

 Lastly… pitching chess…

 Just when the Mets pen seemed to be coming around, along comes Friday’s announcement that RHP Dedneil Nunez was going on the 7-day IL and RHP Adrian Houser being designated for assignment. To replace these two, the Mets activated SP Kodai Senger and RHRP Eric Orze.

 Let’s assume the Senga move is to replace the injured Nunez… that means Orze trumps Houser?

 Orze has pitched in one Mets game, giving up three earned runs without getting a single batter out… better known as an infinity ERA. Tom loves this guy and what he has done in Syracuse this season: 3-0, 3.40, 1.21, 28-apps, 42.1-IP, 59-K, and 22-BB, but we’ve seen much better stat lines at the AAA level only to miss their mark at the next level. Is this worth losing a guy like Houser who did so may good things during this run? First indication of the Orze move was the home run given up Friday night.

 Then comes some good news… the Mets traded Rylan Thomas for Ryne Stanek. Stanek is a 100+ mph wild man that perfectly slots into the set-up role before Edwin Diaz. Thomas is the kind of prospect level player you want to only have to give up for a seasoned rental. Great move.

 Then the Senga injury… now, both Scott and Senga are lost to the rotation for a while. Tylor Megill will fill one of the slots, but the Mets need to sign a starter before the trade deadline next Tuesday.

 Thank God this team can hit.

  

Mets Transactions –

             Mets –

                         SP Kodai Senga - 15-day IL with a left calf strain5 

                         RP Adrian Houser designated for assignment.

                         RP Dedniel Núñez placed on the 15-day IL 

RP Shintaro Fujinami reinstated from the IL, DFA'ed

                         RHP Christian Scott - 15-day IL, right UCL sprain.

                            Optioned Eric Orze to Syracuse

                 LHP Alex Young has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.

                         Signed C/1B             Logan Porter

                                     5-11               200                 29/yrs old

                                     Lifetime MLB – 0-0 WAR, 31-AB, .194

                                     2024:             188-AB         .293

                         Designated P Cole Sulser for assignment

 

             Syracuse –

                         LHP Josh Walker has been designated for assignment.

                         RP Cole Sulser to the Rays for cash

                         RHP Bryce Montes de Oca  - 7-day Injured List

                         Activated OF Jackie Bradley Jr.

                        OF Drew Gilbert activated off Syracuse's Injured List

                         Signed OF Jackie Bradley Jr.

                         Acquired RHP TJ Shook for reliever Tyler Jay.

                                     Shook –         26/yrs. Old              6-4                  220

                                     UDFA – University of South Carolina

                                     2024 –           AA:               

                                               5-7      4.90-ERA     64.1-IP    77-K      25-BB

 

Binghamton –

                         IF Nick Lorusso - Placed on 7-day IL

 

            Brooklyn – 

                        RHP Jeffrey Colon - Transferred from AA to A+ Brooklyn

  

            St. Lucie: 

                        SS Yonaton Henriquez promoted from the Complex 

                        LHP Brayhans Barreto has been transferred to St. Lucie 

                        Promote SS Jose Subero from FCL Mets 

 

Mets draft picks – 

            Signed 1^st round pick Carson Benge $3,997,500

 (slot 19 = $4,219,200) 

            Signed 4^th round pick Eli Serrano - $697,500 ($656,400 slot) 

            Signed 5^th round pick Trey Snyder - $1,322,500

(slot value = $476,200). 

            Signed 14th rounder Tanner Witt: $222,500 

            Signed 15^th round Owen Woodward - $150,000 

            Signed 16th rounder Josh Blum: $150,000 

            Signed 18^th round Jace Hampson - $150,000