Tom Brennan – DSL STATS AND HIGHLIGHTS

Tom Brennan – DSL STATS AND HIGHLIGHTS

The Dominican Summer League (DSL) is filled with international signees, mostly very young guys hoping to show enough chops to jump further to rookie ball leagues stateside and embark on their quest for a major league career.

It is sub-rookie league baseball in quality – lots of guys who do well enough in the DSL to go to stateside rookie leagues see a real fall off in performance once they get there.  Few are successful enough to make a real surge up the Mets’ organizational ladder.

Hitters who did well in the DSL last year and are still smacking it stateside too include Luis Santana (.359 – Kingsport), Sherveyn Newton (.286 - Kingsport), and Sebastian Espino (.300 – GCL Mets).  Guys struggling who hit well last year include last year’s best DSL hitter Yoel Romero (.364, down to .236 in Kingsport) and Chris Pujols, Jhoander Saez, Dave Lozano, and Jose Peroza.  Former DSL player Kenny Hernandez is hitting just .168/.302/.179 this season for Kingsport.

There are 44 teams in the DSL, of which the Mets have two teams: DSL1 Mets and DSL2Mets.

This year’s teams have not hit well: DSL 1 is hitting .233 in 44 games, while the DSL 2 Mets are hitting a 43^rd out of 44 teams .202.   The highest league average is .275, by comparison, and the Cardinals squad has scored 319 runs vs. the Mets 1 team’s 198 runs and the Mets 2 team scoring just 179 runs.

Last year’s successful Mets squads hit .251 (Mets 1) and .277 (Mets 2), so on average, the two 2018 teams are hitting 46 points lower than last year’s squads.

The 2018 teams combined are 47-42 (.528), while last year’s combined were a far better 94-48 (.662).

ERAs for DSL 1 and DSL 2 this year are 2.81 and 4.11, as compared to last year’s 2.42 and 2.74, so like with the hitting, the pitching is below the high standard set by the 2017 teams.

Hitters who are standing out this year on the DSL Mets 1 and 2 squads?

ANDRES REGNAULT – a catcher who hit .270 in the DSL last year, Regnault is smoking it at .326/.410/.600 this season with 11 doubles, 8 homers and 30 RBIs in 38 games, with 26 Ks.  He is a 19 year old big boy at 6’0”, 250, and has made 2 errors while gunning down 33% of runners.

And – hitting-wise – that’s basically it.

Pitching-wise?

I like to look at WHIP, ERA, and K rate.  Those who are making an impression are:

Cesar Loaiza – HAIL, CESAR!!  34.2 IP, 18 hits, 13 walks, 45 Ks, 4-0, 0.78 ERA, 0.89 WHIP.

Nixon (I am not a crook) Silva, also 4-0, 0.59, 0.86 WHIP, 23 hits and 3 walks in 30 IP, 25 

Ks. (I wonder if he ever heard of Richard Nixon?)

Benito Garcia, 18, is 1-3, 4.44, BUT 42 Ks in 26 IP.

Chris Dominguez is 5-1, 1.50, 48 IP, 43 K, 0.98 WHIP.

Jeff Escorcha – 2-3, 1.74 ERA, 0.65 WHIP and 40 Ks in 31 IP, including 10 in a recent perfect 4 inning stint.

There is all you need to know about our DSL Delights.

Mack’s Apples - Brennan Malone, Astrubel Cabrera, Portrait of Baseball, Most Dangerous Sport, Saebyeolbe Jong-ryeol

MLB Draft 2019  -

            Brennan Malone, RHP, Porter Ridge (N.C.) HS

Considered the best prep player in his home state of North Carolina, Malone has great size at 6-4 and 210 pounds, and the stuff to match it. His fastball sits in the low-90s, but has topped out in the mid-90s, and he compliments the offering with a solid curveball that he’ll occasionally throw with true 12-6 break. Though he has a changeup, it’s inconsistent and below average as it stands now. The thing that entices scouts about Malone is his upside. They believe with time, coaching and weight gain, his repertoire will develop into that a front-of-the-rotation big leaguer. He’s committed to the University of North Carolina and should draw dozens of scouts to each of his outings between now and next June, giving big-league clubs ample opportunity to make a decision on the rising

MLBtr.com’s top list of trade candidates at the All-Star break –

5. Asdrubal Cabrera, MLBTR INF, Mets (LR: NR): The switch-hitting Cabrera has been a consistently strong offensive producer since coming to the Mets. He’s showing more power than ever before at the moment, with 17 home runs and a .215 isolated slugging mark. Cabrera could be tasked with playing at second or third, though metrics have not smiled upon his glovework. With Jed Lowrie set to stay in Oakland, the Mets should receive some added interest in Cabrera.

An Incomplete Portrait of Baseball and America –

        

   When my brother was 12, the traveling baseball team he played on competed at a tournament in Cooperstown, New York. This place, he and his teammates were told, was baseball mecca—not just the home of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, but also the site where the future Union general Abner Doubleday organized the sport’s first-ever game in 1839.

You won’t find any mention of Doubleday at the Library of Congress’s new exhibition, Baseball Americana, for a very simple reason: The story, despite its prominence over the decades, isn’t true. Still, surveying the rich trove of historical documents and artifacts on display, it’s easy to see why organized baseball embraced the myth. Baseball Americana illustrates how the game has benefited from the wealth of storytellers clamoring to burnish its all-American image over the years—even as the exhibit itself presents a polished view of the sport.

Baseball: The Most Dangerous Sport In America? –

         

   4) In the hundreds of thousands of years of evolution of the shoulder and elbow, nothing prepared the human arm for the ability to throw a ball 100 times a game at high rates of speed. 25% of major league pitchers have undergone Tommy John surgery. Even though starting pitchers pitch fewer innings than they did in the early days of baseball, they also throw at heightened speeds putting extreme pressure on the arm.

New York Excelsior's Saebyeolbe Jong-ryeol throws out first pitch at Mets game –

         

  To the right of the main entrance to the stadium was Overwatch League player Park "Saebyeolbe" Jong-ryeol, hanging out with his wife and friends and chatting in Korean. Saebyeolbe made his way from Los Angeles to throw out the first pitch for Wednesday's game between the Mets and San Diego Padres. If he had any pre-pitch jitters, he hid it well, despite saying so.

By George! Curve Roll Past Rumble Ponies

Press Release -

ALTOONA, PA – Altoona outfielder Jordan George collected four hits and drove in five runs to help the Curve down the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, 10-2, on Saturday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Ponies starter Justin Dunn allowed a career-high ten hits and had his four-start winning streak snapped.

The Curve wasted little time jumping on Dunn, scoring a run on three straight two-out hits in the first inning. After the Rumble Ponies tied the game with a run in the second, Altoona starter Eduardo Vera pushed the Curve ahead for good with an RBI hit in the bottom of the inning.

Altoona continued their attack against Dunn in the third, and George delivered. After the first two batters reached, the Curve left fielder pulled an RBI single into right. Altoona tacked on with a pair of sacrifice flies. In the fourth, George yanked a two-run single into right, kicking Altoona’s lead to a half-dozen runs. George added another two-run hit in the eighth against Joe Zanghi.

Offensively, the Ponies failed to break through with a big hit against Vera. Binghamton racked up seven hits and three walks versus the righty, but scratched out only two runs, stranding a runner on third base in three of Vera’s first five innings. Binghamton loaded the bases against him in the sixth, but reliever Geoff Hartlieb retired pinch-hitter Andrew Ely to end the threat.

Binghamton shortstop Andres Gimenez produced his first Double-A three-hit game. The Rumble Ponies shortstop singled in the first, doubled in the third and provided an RBI single in the fifth. Patrick Biondi reached base three times, including a run-producing single in the second.

Dunn (5-3) was touched for seven runs over five innings, matching his shortest outing as a Rumble Pony. He suffered his first loss since June 22.

POSTGAME NOTES: Levi Michael, Binghamton’s leader in several offensive categories, was promoted to Las Vegas (AAA) prior to the game...the Ponies are winless in the game after each of their last eight victories; Binghamton has not won back-to-back games since July 3 & 4…the Ponies went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position

Luc Rennie Torments Augusta Again, Guides Columbia to Victory

Press Release -

Box Score

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC – Not even a week had passed since Luc Rennie last tormented GreenJackets hitters. The right-hander did it again on Saturday at SRP Park. Just six days after punching out 14 Augusta batters (a Fireflies single-game franchise record), Rennie struck out nine more over six innings and guided Columbia to a 5-1 win.

Rennie – who was signed by the Mets out of the independent Frontier League on July 5 – did not allow an earned run on Saturday and watched as his scintillating ERA shrunk to 0.65. The 24-year-old has now logged 27.2 innings as a Firefly and has surrendered just two earned runs and posted 37 strikeouts. Before allowing an unearned run in the sixth frame against Augusta (15-21, 51-53), Rennie had posted 20.1 consecutive scoreless innings.

Rennie received all the run support he needed in the second frame, a five-run inning highlighted by Hansel Moreno’s three-run inside-the-park home run. It was the first inside-the-park homer in Fireflies team history.

Carlos Hernandez and Taylor Henry combined to log three scoreless innings out of the Columbia (15-20, 49-53) bullpen to secure the victory.

SCORING SUMMARY

TOP 2 – Carlos Sanchez sac fly drives in Gio Alfonzo … Edgardo Fermin plates Dionis Paulino with a single … Hansel Morenodrills inside-the-park home run. COL 5, AUG 0

BOTTOM 6 – Malique Ziegler scores Rob Calabrese with a base hit

Stone Crabs outlast Mets, 9-8

PC - Ed Delany

Press Release - 

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (July 28, 2018) – The Charlotte Stone Crabs won an offensive shootout 9-8 over the St. Lucie Mets on Saturday at First Data Field.

Mike Paez and Dan Rizzie each hit a two-run home run in the contest, but the Crabs were able to stave off a last inning rally by the Mets.

In the bottom of the ninth the Mets got a one-out double from Raphael Gladu and Blake Tiberi drew a walk. Crabs reliever Hunter Schryver recovered to strike out the next two batters to end the game.

Charlotte scored what proved to be the winning run in the sixth inning. The game was tied 6-6 with two outs, but Jesus Sanchez legged out an infield single that scored Tristan Gray to make it 7-6. Jake Fraley followed with a two-run triple to extend the Crabs lead to 9-6.

Rizzie’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth cut the deficit to 9-8.

Trevor Charpie, Zack Mozingo and Schryver combined to keep the Mets off the board over the final three innings.

Trey Cobb settled the Mets down on the mound by firing 2.2 hitless and scoreless innings.

Kenny Rosenberg got credit for the win despite allowing five runs in 3.2 innings. He improved to 9-1.

Matt Pobereyeko suffered the loss after giving up three runs in one inning.

Paez’s homer in the fifth inning tied the game and extended his hitting streak to a season-high nine games.

Jesus Sanchez went 3 for 5 with a homer, two RBI and three runs scored for Charlotte. He fell a triple shy of the cycle.

Fraley ended up a home run short of the cycle.

Las Vegas 51s 9, Memphis Redbirds 5

Press Release - 

The 51s defeated the Redbirds, 9-5, in game two of the four-game series (tied 1-1) and game five of the seven-game homestand (3-2 record) before a 51s Mets Style Jersey Night crowd of 4,941 at Cashman Field.

Las Vegas built a 5-1 lead after two innings and Memphis then rallied to tie the score at 5-5 after 5 ½ innings.

The 51s then took the lead with a solo run in the seventh inning on FC RBI by center fielder Patrick Kivlehan (2-for-4).  Right fielder Zach Borenstein was 2-for-3, two walks, two runs scored, two-run double in the eighth inning.

Las Vegas right-hander Cody Martin pitched 6 innings in the no decision. He allowed 10 hits, 5 runs, issued no walks and struck out 5 on 96 pitches (68 strikes).

OPEN THREAD - Astrubel Cabrera Trade

The Mets have traded infielder Astrubel Cabrera to the Philadelphia Phillies for RHP Franklyn Kilome.

Reese Kaplan -- Looking at 2019 -- RP Options

There's an old axiom that if you throw enough, ahem, mud against the wall, some of it is bound to stick.  Apparently that was the Mets' collective philosophy last year when they dumped all of their expiring contracts and only picked up relief pitchers.  Then then went out and made a splash of sorts in the free agent marketplace by adding one year wunderkind Anthony Swarzak to the mix as well.

Well, the Mets have right now one of the worst bullpens in organized baseball.  Some of it is due to injury (AJ Ramos, Rafael Montero), some due to ineffectiveness (Hansel Robles, Chris Beck, Paul Sewald, the aforementioned Anthony Swarzak, Gerson Bautista, Jacob Rhame, Buddy Baumann, Jerry Blevins and others), and some due to roster mismanagement (Tim Peterson and Drew Smith getting it done but demoted to keep people in Queens who weren't).

There were a few bright spots.  Until recently Robert Gsellman had been Mr. Automatic out there.  Seth Lugo has been fantastic and even with his Armando Benitez-like uncertainty, Jeurys Familia has been more good than bad.  Tim Peterson looks like the real deal and the brief glimpse we got of Drew Smith seems to show he has good stuff as well.

As the July trading deadline approaches it's a fait accompli that Jeurys Familia is going to have a new employer.  His contract is expiring at year's end, he's already earning nearly $8 million.  When you factor in the obligation to Anthony Swarzak for $8.5 million due to his imbalanced contract, you'd have to figure the Mets are going to lean heavily on the kiddie corps to help control costs.

The one wrinkle that caught pretty much everyone by surprise was the announcement that three-time loser Jenrry Mejia was being reinstated with the opportunity to pitch in the majors again in 2019.  Consequently that development, though fraught with risk of recidivism, makes it easier to swallow dealing away Familia.  After all, Familia became the closer by default because Mejia was unavailable.

When the season opens up you would assume that Gsellman, Lugo, Peterson, Smith, Mejia and Swarzak have spots readily available.  AA All-Star David Roseboom is a lefty and although he's not on the 40-man roster, you'd have to think they'd take a long look at him given his 2018 record thus far of a 2.06 ERA, 40 Ks in 35 IP, and a .198 BAA.  Someone has to replace Jerry Blevins if they trade him or let him walk away as a free agent.

What about outside options?

As always, there are closers to be had as well as a myriad of quality setup guys.  Heading the list is Boston's Craig Kimbrel who is likely going to command a 4-5 year deal in the $18 million or more per season range.  He has a 1.81 ERA for his CAREER and a 14.7 strikeouts per 9 IP average.  Moving right along...

Adam Warren of the Yankees is a good bargain bet.  He's delivered well over his career and still earns a modest $3.3 million.  In the past three years his ERA went from 3.26 to 2.35 to 1.93.  That's a trend in the right direction and he'll still only be 31.

The Orioles Brad Bach is having a down year which could depress his price, but he's got a 3.13 ERA for his career and could be a nice setup arm.  He'll probably be getting something in the range of $4 to $4.5 million.

One of the 2015 Mets heroes, Tyler Clippard, is inexplicably on just a $1.5 million contract this year with the Blue Jays.  He's pitching as he always does, with a 3.09 ERA which is right in line with his 3.11 career mark.  He's proven he can pitch in New York with both the Mets and the Yankees.

Seunghwan Oh is chugging along and will be a bit older but he's a 2.89 ERA pitcher for his career and delivering 2.95 this season for Toronto.  He's only earning $2.5 million but his 2019 option at the same salary is likely to be exercised (and will automatically execute when he hits 70 games pitched).  He's at 43 at the halfway mark so he's likely off the table.

Joakim Soria and David Robertson are probably too rich for the Mets' blood, earning closer money despite not being closers for their respective clubs.  Adam Ottavino is likely in that category as well earning $7 million for Colorado in a setup role and delivering a sub 2.00 ERA.

The normally very astute St. Louis Cardinals took a one-year flyer on career 2.89 ERA reliever Greg Holand to the tune of $14 million.  He's giving them a Vargas-like performance with an ERA of 7.89.  Methinks he'll be in the pillow contract situation next year with a huge drop in pay to prove to the world he can still pitch.  Bottom feeders that the Mets are, don't be surprised to see them kick the tires on Holland, particularly with a connection to Dave Eiland from their KC days.

Two time All Star Kelvin Herrera is off to a mediocre NL start with the Nationals but his career numbers are pretty eye popping.  He's earning Familia money but given the down year and the fact he's being used in setup rather than to close, his price could be a bit more modest.

Personally, I think the Mets will likely hand the ball to one of the in-house options as the closer with Lugo perhaps moving to the rotation if they indeed wind up dealing way one of the two aces.  I don't see them spending big for the pen.

Yeizo Campos Strikes Out Career-High Nine in Extra-Inning Defeat

Press Release -

Box Score

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC – Fireflies righty Yeizo Campos turned in one of the best performances of his career on Friday night at SRP Park. The Venezuelan fanned a career-high nine over 4.2 innings in Columbia’s 2-1 loss to Augusta in 10 innings.

Campos (L, 1-3) was brilliant from the sixth inning on after relieving starter Marcel Renteria. Together, the duo shut out the GreenJackets in regulation. For the second time this season (May 7 vs. Lakewood), Columbia (14-20, 48-53) played a game into extra frames that featured no runs. Renteria and Campos scattered six hits over the 10 innings and neither were charged with an earned run.

Carlos Sanchez began the top of the 10^th inning at second base for Columbia (as per the new Minor League Baseball extra-inning rule). Giovanny Alfonzo’s single through the left side of the diamond plated Sanchez and the Fireflies took the game’s first lead.

Trevor Abrams led off the home half of the 10^th for Augusta (14-21, 51-52) with Logan Baldwin stationed at second. Abrams bunted, aiming to just move the runner to third, but his bunt was too good. Runners were at the corners for Ismael Munguia who blasted a fly ball deep to right field. The sacrifice fly allowed Baldwin to tag from third and tie the score. Moments later, after Abrams reached second base on a passed ball, Heliot Ramos singled in the game’s winning run.

Columbia fell to 6-8 in extra-inning games. Campos and Renteria shined brightest on Friday, but so did Edgardo Fermin. The centerfielder recorded his sixth three-hit game of the year (featuring a pair of doubles on Friday).