Tom Brennan - Mets Minors Performance: Post-Trades…Tong Terrific…Baez Blues…Rojas Rocks

Emilien Pitre and several other incoming hitters have infused winning talent.

The Mets drafted a bunch of guys, as they always do. 

Every year, it gets drafty.

As usual, newly drafted hitters got some same-year game runway, while drafted pitchers got very little. Protect those fragile arms. 

And this year, the minors received a massive upgrade at the trade deadline.

Also, some guys got promoted to full season leagues after the FCL season ended on July 23.

Lastly, long-injured hitters like Trey Snyder & D’Andre Smith returned HOT!

So lots of upgrades starting in August, essentially.

Let’s use July 31 as a rough end date to the “PRE” era…and…

August 1 onwards for the “POST” era for the 4 full season teams, then.

Prior to August 1, the 4 full season teams were highly dreadful.

The top 3 teams were 128-174. Even worse.

But after July? 

Thr top 3 teams in their first 88 combined games were 57-31. 

ASTOUNDING IMPROVEMENT.

BTW - I wrote this a few weeks ago, and did not see the need to update it.

The top 3 teams, to where most of the newly traded players went, have indeed since excelled (8/1 thru September 3, as I write this in advance).

St Lucie had their relatively few good pitchers promoted to Brooklyn, with very few innings from draftees, so they’ve hemorrhaged runs since the start of August. (Their pitchers allowed 783 runs in 1,113 innings (6.3 runs per 9), 119 of which runs (nearly one per game) were unearned, to be fair). Get those fielders some gloves!

So, anyway, let’s split the analysis into the top 3 teams in one bucket…

St Lucie in the other bucket.

Syracuse:

Thru 7/31: 51-54, 512 runs scored, 530 runs against. Mediocre. 

8/1 - 9/3:  19-9, 155 runs scored, 116 runs against. Excellent.

Binghamton:

Thru 7/31: 36-63, 407 runs scored, 515 runs against. Awful.

8/1 - 9/3:  22-8, 204 runs scored, 128 runs against. Firing on all cylinders.

Brooklyn:

Thru 7/31: 41-57, 432 runs scored, 460 runs against.  Weak.

8/1 - 9/3:  16-14, 167 runs scored, 127 runs against. Significantly better.

St Lucie:

Thru 7/31: 45-54, 516 runs scored, 573 runs against.  Porous pitching.

8/1 - 9/3:  11-18, 133 runs scored, 194 runs against. Pitching collapse.

The top 3 teams starting on Aug 1 scored 526 runs in 88 games (6 RPG).

Prior to August, those 3 squads scored just 4.47 runs per game.

Amazingly, the top 3 teams’ renaissance was triggered by four things:

1) Lopped off several very weak hitters. Thank you for trying.

2) Replaced those discarded non-hitters with insanely productive hitters.

3) Struggling pitchers who suddenly got right,

4) Pitchers performed better in part due to great hitting behind them.

Nowhere was it more pronounced than Binghamton. What a turnaround!

It gives me real hope that the pipeline is really fixed.

My only concern is the St Lucie pitching pipeline is sputtering, at best. 

As in, 7 runs per game surrendered by Lucite pitchers after July.

There you have it. Talent wins games. 

Except, it seemed (at least until after the trade deadline), in Queens.

READ THIS - I AGREE WITH THESE CHOICES…

The Mets’ 2026 Player Development Awards recognized infielder Mitch Voit as the Player of the Year and LHP Jonathan Santucci as the Pitcher of the Year.

Also, outfielder Cleiner Ramirez was named the Mets' DR Academy Player of the Year while RHP Abner Meza was named DR Academy Pitcher of the Year.

D J JUST RUINED MY DAY ON MONDAY

One of out favorite commenters, D J, ruined my day on Monday. I had seen what Jesus Baez was doing earlier this year and was concerned we’d made a bad trade.

But D J reminded me of Jesus Baez and how he was…well…doing even better.

Let’s recap:

Last year, the Mets traded for closer Ryan Helsley. A total bust. To get Helsley, the Mets gave up 3 prospects. Two were pitchers Frank Elissalt and Nate Dohm. They are irrelevant to this conversation.

The other one of those is 21 years old Jesus Baez. 

In A and AA this year, he hit a stunning 39 HRs, drove in 1079, in just 113 games. 

Since his promotion to AA, in 59 games, he has upped his game:

Baez hit an astonishing 25 HRs, drove in 68, batted .316, and only fanned 41 times.

DON’T TELL ME NOT TO CRY OVER SPILT MILK.

OMG

TONG DETRACTORS…

…ought to share their Debbie Downer thoughts after his 6 innings with no earned runs and 6 Ks against Pete’s Orioles.

I’m waiting.

POUNDING PETE CRUSHED # 300!

Pete hit a game-tying 9th inning HR off a hanging pitch by Kodai the Relief Guy Senga, tying the game at 3-3. No better place to rip # 300 than in Citi, right, David Stearns?

The Mets lost 7-5 in extras. TANKATHON and I were happy for their loss.

When Pete debuted in 2019, Lindor already had 98 career HRs. He now, with his remarkable SS total of 299, trails Pete by one HR.

JEFFERSON ROJAS ROCKS

A single, a HR, and 3 Ks in the Mets’ top prospect’s AAA debut last night. 

The HR was a ballistic 105.6 MPH.