Smiling Kevin Parada, probably pictured after his $5MM Signing Bonus
IS KEVIN PARADA TRYING TO BE ANOTHER JERRY GROTE?
I wrote in the past about how Jerry Grote transformed himself from a lousy hitter to a decent, low power, contact one with the Mets, after significantly altering his batting approach.
It appears Kevin Parada (Mr. 11th Overall) changed something significantly this year.
How so? Two things:
1) he fanned a high 113 times in 371 PAs last year (1 every 3.28 PAs)
- but an improved 60 in 240 PAs this year (1 every 4 PAs).
- 1:4 is not good, yet, but the improvement over 2025 is notable.
2) His power has evaporated. One HR in 240 PAs? He averaged 13 in 2023-25.
- THAT has to be something no one could envision on draft day.
- When they drafted a POWER HITTING CATCHER.
They also went first round with power hitter Brett Baty, who has just 4 HRs in 290 PAs this year. SMH.
I am not sure Parada’s changes (apparently surrendering power for lower Ks) are for the better.
Defense?
He has low passed balls and low errors this year, but allowed 45 of 55 (82%) in base stealers, so he is no Grote in that regard, either.
KP turns 25 soon. He seems to be a bust. But he has two months to refute that. He did hit nearly .260 in May and June.
Better? Perhaps. But he has to DO EVEN BETTER.
He is, however, just 6 for 38 with 6 walks in July.
He’s turned back into a pumpkin. Just call him Pumpkin Parada.
(BAD) TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Last year, the Mets had Pete. No one else at 1B needed.
1B Joey Meneses packed his AAA bags and headed to AAA Vegas this year, playing in the As system.
Here are his AAA stats - compare to Rye Toast Clifford:
Vegas Joey: .346/.396/.546 in 74 games, 80 RBIs. Just 39 Ks. Wow.
He did get a brief call up by the As this year: on base 7 of 25 times.
My guess is, had he stayed with the Mets this year, he gets a longer look.
BASEBALL IS A JOKE
On Sunday, July 12, Zach Thornton was a masterful Met. 7 shutout innings.
Did he pick up his first career win? No.
Christian Scott on that date had 12 starts this year, Thornton has 3.
In the old days, if you had 15 starts and an ERA of 3.00, you’d probably be 7-4.
These two guys had a combined record of 2-2.
What a joke.
Remember when you were excited that guys could win 300 career games?
Then 200 career games?
Nowadays, winning even 100 career games will be eye-popping.
Unless you are a relief pitcher, perhaps.
After all, some relievers won or lost those 11 starter no-decisions.
Mets relievers thru Friday were 21-19 (.550). The starters? 20-38 (.345).
Maybe, on the other hand, the relievers should get all 162 decisions.
The Mets after all would win 89 games with a .550 winning percentage.
NATE LAVENDER HAS TO BE AN IMMINENT MET; YAN, TOO
To become a MLB pitcher, you need:
1) for there to be openings, and
2) to be better than the other possible farmhand call-ups.
Enter Nate Lavender.
60 Ks in 36 IP in AAA. That’s 15 per 9.
And his ERA since May 1 is sub 4.00.
Control? Good enough. HRs? Low.
Best Mets prospect reliever in AAA, hands down.
And he is a lefty, and lefties Raley and Minter are likely be traded.
Perfect alignment, except for one thing:
If Raley and Minter both go, as expected, the Mets need TWO Lavenders.
Jefry Yan, 29, is another lefty with stock strikeout #s.
In AAA, 25 Ks in 10.1 IP, with 4 hits allowed.
In AAA, 26.2 IP, 45 Ks, 19 hits allowed.
His problem has always been walks, with 26 walks in 37 innings this year.
He played overseas in 2024, but in 2023 and 2025, had a crazy high 70 walks in 86 minor league innings, vs. 147 Ks.
He seems to be the left handed clone of Wild righties Lambert and Ross - except he is pitching much better than either (3.41 ERA).
Here is a video of him wildly celebrating fanning the side in AAA in late June:
Jefry Yan Ks the Side With Flair
About Yan, I say?
He throws around 100, has a sharp slider, is 6’3” and looks much like Aroldis Chapman physically. And VERY animated.
When lefties Minter and Raley get traded, bring lefties Lavender and Yan up.
74 combined innings, 131 Ks. Fight fire - WITH WILD FIRE!
25 comments:
Jefry Yan retired two batters without runs in spring training, but walked one and hit another. A small, but probably accurate, sample.
Tyrone Taylor has 2 of 3 Mets hits, as the top of the line up went hitless. He is 10 for his last 29 with 4 HRs.
Syracuse 15 runs with its entirely veteran line up, except for Morabito and Clifford. Nick was on base 4 times.
Clifford walked twice but naturally was 0-3 with 2 Ks.
Morel hot and playing 1B in Syracuse. Does he get a Queens chance soon?
Robert jr 9 hits and 2 walks in last 5 rehab games. Seems ready
Holmes threw a 45 pitch BP session. Hopefully sharper than the horrible Lindor, who is 12 for 68 with 4 walks since returning from his injury. Do not rule out Mitch Voit replacing a traded Lindor by this time next year. Excellent 2B and SS defender, and in his last 30 Brooklyn games, 20 steals and a .400+ OBP, with just 19 Ks in 140 PAs in June and July. He is better than High A right now.
On my team, Parada is an afterthought
Re: Menezes
I never look back
Re: Thornton
Keeper
Let him finish with McLean and Scott
Re: Lavender
Can't get excited about someone this inconsistent
Re: Yan
Definitely deserves another MLB shot
Parada has made himself into one.
The Mets win the Bad Timing award. But his K rate is 1/3 of Clifford’s. And Joey is still mostly in AAA. I hope the Mets don’t think about calling up Clifford this year.
Quite the trio.
Tong fanned 2 in 5.2 innings of 2 run ball. They’ve neutered him. How soon we forget he had a 1.43 minors ERA, with 179 Ks in 113 IP, last year.
Last two months, he has been really strong. Lavender had a 6.75 ERA in April. Then, his fingers thawed out.
Yan is the real baseball version of a Savannah Bananas pitcher. He could add some fun to the dreariness.
Another fun and informative post! Tom, you are helping to make the contrarian point that I agree with, namely that the Mets have an unusually large haul of major league players generated from their higher minor league affiliates. Add Lavender and Yan (not home grown but developed) to the potential of Tong, Ross, Lambert, Morabito, Santucci and Voit to Mclean, Scott, Ewing, Benge, and Alvarez and that's a remarkably large number of players who have a very good chance of sticking at the major league level in some capacity.
None of the position players may prove to be regular All Stars and some may go in trades, but one could hardly ask for more from the minors.
The problem is that only Voit is an infielder by trade, and as I have argued before, we don't (with the possible exception of Reimer) either a power bat corner infielder or much in the way of other infielders close enough to be major league ready for the next couple of years.
That's how I would think about time alignment and setting the baseline of what I can count on were I the GM approaching the trade deadline and the offseason. And one last thing: do not take on any bad contracts.
IMO
Voit is for real
My future middle fielders:
Yonny Hernandez
Asigen
Voit
Ewing
Nice piece Tom
Jules, my brother (too) often makes the point that the Mets’ drafts have produced almost no superstar hitters. We’d all like to see a few of those
Thanks, Gus
My guess is the Mets will have one of the top six picks in the next draft and they will have the opportunity to draft a potential superstar hitter
Wouldn’t that be nice!
So they will draft a pitcher on the IL recovering from hoof in mouth disease that last ERA was 11.50
Tong may be sitting in AAA to work on things and not have the pressure of the majors on his shoulders. Let’s give him time.
I think it makes sense to draft a lot of pitchers. A roster of 26 players can have 13 pitchers. And that's just at the major league level. Every level needs a comparable number of pitchers. Add to that the expected injuries. You needs an outsized number of pitchers in your system.
I also think the Mets are drafting a lot (relatively speaking) of SS , typically the best athletes and most versatile. And catchers which is the most demanding position on the body.
Mack, if they can draft a potential superstar hitter, they have to sell off and weaken the team, or it will win too much to be bottom 6.
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