7:00PM - Jeurys Familia is Pitching

Buffalo Bisons (31-23, 2nd(-2.5), North) vs. Toledo Mud Hens (25-29, 3rd(-6.5), West)
Friday, June 1, 2012 (7:00 p.m.) - Fifth Third Field
RHP Jeurys Familia (4-1, 4.98) vs. RHP Thad Weber (3-3, 3.20)
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, WGR Sportsradio 550 AM, www.bisons.com


TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Buffalo Bisons square off with the Toledo Mud Hens in the first game of a four-game series at Fifth Third Field (7:00 p.m.). The Herd was shutout by the Clippers in the finale of their modern-era record 16-game homestand yesterday afternoon.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Bisons are on the road for the first time since May 14. During its last eight-game road swing, May 5-14, the Herd went 5-3 at Gwinnett and Charlotte. Buffalo went 9-7 during their modern-era record long 16-game homestand. The Bisons will return to Coca-Cola Field on June 9 against the Norfolk Tides and the Pawtucket Red Sox.

vs. HENS: The Bisons have yet to take on Toledo this season. In 2011, the Herd split the season series with the Mud Hens (4-4). Since their return to the International League in 1998, Buffalo has a .500 record at Fifth Third Field (28-28), but only 1-11 there since becoming the Mets affiliate in 2009.

WE ARE FAMILIA: RHPJEURYS FAMILIA takes the ball tonight for the 11th time this year. In his last outing, May 25 vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the righty allowed four runs in two innings of a no-decision (1K). On the road, this season, Familia is 3-0 with a 3.18ERA and 26 strikeouts in 22.2 innings of work. In all four of his starts away from Coca-Cola Field, Familia has allowed just one run in each outing.

from team press report

The Wright time at Shortstop for the Mets?

If you're at all a Met fan, and follow them to any degree, you should be well aware they're hurting at the SS position. Of course Jose Reyes was allowed to say Siō-nara by Sandy Alderson and the Wilpons, leaving all Met fans feeling at the very least, a little bit betrayed by both sides. Along with that feeling of betrayal came time to hold your breath and hope Ruben Tejada would be up to the job and not fall onto the interstate in batting average (or as we old-timers call it, the Mendoza line, based on the Atlanta Brave SS Mario Mendoza who had a lifetime .215 Avg, and hit .198 or below in 5 of his 9 Major League Seasons).

Well, Tejada had a pretty good start to the season before slumping a bit, but played solid if unspectacular defense, and at least until he was injured, he was actually hitting better than Jose Reyes was for the season. Unfortunately, Tejada did get injured, and did so while Ronny Cedeno, who was supposed to be his backup, was also still on the DL. The Mets turned to Jordany Valdespin who, in 21 at bats made the Mets long for the days when they had Buddy Harrelson or Rey Ordonez hitting, having put up a whopping .095/.136/.238, with an OPS of .374, and an xOPS of .510. Of course, that's not even considering Valdespin's personal problems.

After Valdespin failed, Justin Turner played some SS until Ronny Cedeno came back, but both Turner and Cedeno are now injured. With Valdespin's “valdue spinning” into a death spiral, the Mets were forced to turn to Omar Quintanilla, who at the young age of 31 has actually has produced in his 2 games as a Met, with 3 hits in 8 ABs, but given his past performance in his 530 major league ABs, putting up a very Mendoza-esque .215/.270/.289, with an OPS of .558 and an xOPS of .829, one can hardly expect him to do much more than be a Rey Ordonez clone minus the defensive prowess. To put those numbers in perspective, Mario Mendoza had a career OPS/xOPS of .507/.752, Honus Wagner .858/1.249, while Troy Tulowitzki thus far has career numbers of .868/1.232, and Jose Reyes .777/1.188.

So where does that leave the Mets in the meantime? Well, the Mets have Zach Lutz down at Buffalo, a third baseman who quite frankly is ready for the majors, or at least is ready, in my opinion, to be tested at the major league level. Thus far this year, Lutz is posting a line of .307/.413/.466, .879/1.292 down at Buffalo, and from 2009-2011, Lutz has hit 41 Hrs in just under 900 ABs.

David Wright is certainly capable of playing SS. He won't be the Wizard of Oz or Omar Vizquel, but he played there earlier this year and did just fine. He's a good enough athlete, and smart enough to play SS for the short term, and most importantly, if he can play SS well enough, he would represent a huge upgrade offensively, and it's my own personal belief the Mets would have a greater positive run differential with Wright at SS and Lutz at 3b than they will with Wright at 3b and Quintanilla at SS. Wright didn't seem to mind playing SS and he didn't look at all uncomfortable there, at least to me. The way I look at it, if Don Kessigner could play SS

Such a move is also not without precedent. Hubie Brooks, who had his best years with the now defunct Montreal Expos, started out at 3b with the Mets, but was only really thought to be outstanding because of his ability to play SS. In fact, the only reason the Mets were able to land Gary Carter was the Expos' correct belief Hubie Brooks would play a passable SS, and he most certainly did. Howard Johnson is another Met 3 bagger to play SS on occasion, and seeing as a major league SS only has ~4.5 chances per game, with <1 of those being difficult chances, there's absolutely no reason Wright shouldn't be able to fill in there, at least until the Mets get back one of their better options in Tejada, Cedeno, or Turner.

The Mets are relatively loaded at 3b, with Wright, Murphy, Lutz, and a surprisingly well performing Eric Campbell down at AA Binghampton, not to mention Wilmer Flores who's performing well at High A in Port St. Lucie. Because of this, and because of the paucity of good hitting shortstops in the Mets system, I believe it would a great time for the Mets to experiment a little bit, and see how David Wright handles SS. His throwing problems have been fixed thanks to Tim Teufel and with Wright's work ethic, I believe he has the necessary skills to play shortstop, at least at an acceptable level. Considering Wright's offensive production, and the upgrade it would be over anyone the Mets have in their system capable of playing SS, Wright wouldn't have to play particularly well at SS to be acceptable. As long as he made the plays you expect a SS to make, and there's no reason to think he wouldn't, it seems to me it is indeed the “Wright” time for the New York Mets at SS.

* * *

On Tuesday night, Jeremy Heffner showed us precisely why the Designated Hitter rule is the worst thing to visit baseball before Free Agency. When a pitcher can hit a Homerun, or as the occasional Met pitcher like Walt Terrell can hit 2 homers in a game, a pitcher has a chance to make a major contribution to his team's scoring. Every other player has to both play the field and hit, so it has always seemed arbitrary to me to allow a team to have effectually a permanent pinch hitter. Tom Glavine had a career hitting line of .186/.244/.210, .454/.698. Those numbers are very close to Mario Mendoza's career numbers. Considering Glavine only won 305 games, I think it's fair to say, had he been an average hitter he either wouldn't have reached 300 wins, or would have had to pitch another season or two to do so. Heffner is only the 2^nd Met pitcher in their history to hit a HR in his first season in the majors. Paul Wilson is the other and did it in 1996.

FLASH - P Chris Schwinden Placed On Waivers

Adam Rubin‏@AdamRubinESPN

Source: #Mets placed Chris Schwinden on waivers Thursday to open 40-man roster spot for Elvin Ramirez. Details: http://es.pn/JyFf3A

also...  C Dock Doyle was released

Nach's Notes

A long, busy week finally has been led me to my notes of the week. Boy, what a week it has been. I showed up at Citi Tuesday night after a last minute call got me tickets on the first base line. Somehow, I managed to get behind home plate. It's really such a shame that the REAL baseball fan never gets to experience seats such close to the action. These people in these lavish suites who get to wine and dine clients while watching the team that we love is difficult to swallow. Hopefully, I can still wind up being lucky and hanging around Citi for little to nothing.

Frank Francisco throws absolute gas. Sitting behind the plate in the ninth inning reminded me why I flamed out after college.... He was throwing gas and his secondary pitch was gross... His fastball though, was straight as an arrow and got tagged when it was hit. He still reminds me of Armando... Oh the pain..

 Jeremy Hefner hit an absolute BOMB. It was a no doubter and I wish he had pimped the hell out of it.... It was a no doubter.. Mr. Bay needs to take some notes when he returns... With him and Lucas.. we could have a very formidable lineup.

I hope they keep Mejia in the rotation. I understand that the bullpen is struggling but if he can solidify himself as a solid starter, let him be. Solid starting pitching is a much more pressing need then the bullpen in my opinion. Bullpens vary from year to year regardless, being able to have 5 solid starting pitchers and then go find bullpen pieces is a nice problem to have.


We should have a Macks Mets party on the Party City deck. Who is in?!?! This would be a great time to get the writers and readers all together....


Till next time...


Prediction: D Wright will go oppo for a jack in the bullpen and RA Dickey will win yet another game.

Wheeler Deals, Offense Rips Past R-Phils ,8-1

READING,PA – Zack Wheeler allowed just one run and struck out eight over seven inningsto lead the Binghamton Mets past the Reading Phillies by an 8-1 score Thursdaynight at FirstEnergy Stadium. Wheeler faced just three over the minimum to earnhis fifth win in as many starts.

Forthe fifth straight start, Wheeler got serious offensive support. After goingdown in order in the first against starter Jonathan Pettibone, the B-Metsoffense came alive in the second. Eric Campbell singled and Juan Lagaresdoubled to start the rally and Juan Centeno chased both home with a double downthe left field line. Pedro Zapata added an RBI single and scored later in theinning on a fielding error by first baseman Steven Lerud.

TheB-Mets tacked on a run with a sac fly by Juan Lagares in the third and postedanother crooked number in the fourth. Zapata ripped a triple to center andWheeler walked to set the table for Josh Rodriguez. The shortstop launched a1-2 pitch from Pettibone into the left field seats for his fourth homer of theseason, giving the B-Mets an 8-0 lead.

Therun support was plenty for Wheeler. The righty retired the first nine R-Philshe faced before allowing a single to Miguel Abreu in the fourth. Wheeler shookoff the hit and sat down ten consecutive as he breezed into the seventh. Hisonly blemish came in his final inning when he allowed back-to-back doubles toDarin Ruf and Brandon Tripp. It was the only run the R-Phils scored in thegame.

Wheeler(5-2) allowed just one run on three hits and struck out eight over seveninnings of work in the victory. He did not issue a walk for the second timethis season and finished one shy of his season-high in strikeouts. Over hislast five starts, the B-Mets offense has supplied nearly nine runs per game.Robert Carson took the game to the finish line with two scoreless innings ofrelief.

Pettibone(4-5) battled his way through six innings in the losing effort. Michael Ciscoadded two scoreless innings of relief and Juan Morillo closed the R-Phils’pitching tab with a blank ninth.

TheB-Mets (25-26) return to the Southern Tier and start a four-game series againstthe Akron Aeros Friday night at 7:05 PM. RHP Gonzalez German takes the moundfor Binghamton against RHP Steven Wright. The Horizons Federal Credit Union pre-gameshow begins at 6:50 PM on Newsradio 1290 WNBF.

from team press release

Fernandez outdues Fulmer in Savannah

Savannah, GA - In a battle of first round pitchers from the 2011 draft class, Jose Fernandez led his Greensboro Grasshoppers to a 2-0 victory over Michael Fulmer and his Savannah Sand Gnats Thursday night at Historic Grayson Stadium. The Marlins selected Fernandez 14th overall, while the Mets drafted Fulmer 44th in the supplemental first round.

The Grasshoppers (39-15) scored the game’s first run in the top of the fourth inning. CF Brent Keys, who was leading the SAL in batting average and on-base percentage entering the night, dragged a bunt for a leadoff single. After stealing second and advancing to third on a single, Keys scored on sacrifice fly by Greensboro RF James Wooster.

After a single and a throwing error loaded the bases, Fulmer limited the damage in the inning by inducing a groundball double play to end the threat.

Fulmer finished five innings for the fourth time this season, yielding just one run on four hits and two walks while striking out five.

Fernandez shut out the Gnats (31-22) through six innings on two hits. He walked two and struck out eight. Savannah did not get a runner past first base against Fernandez until TJ Rivera’s one-out double in the bottom of the sixth. Savannah stranded runners on base in the fourth through eighth innings.

The ‘Hoppers added an insurance run in the top of the ninth against reliever TJ Chism to finish the game’s scoring.

The Gnats send RHP Rafael Montero (4-2, 2.81) to the mound against RHP Josh Hodges (4-1, 3.62) in game two of the series on Friday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm. Gates open at 6 pm. The radio broadcast, presented by Subway begins on News/Talk 630 and online at sandgnats.com at 6:45 pm.

from team press release

The "Wright" Man for the "Job"...

I can still remember getting my first Tom Seaver Mets' shirt; I can also remember my first Mets' cap. The shirt was purchased at a clothing store in Woodhaven, Queens, from a store on Jamaica Avenue, near where I grew up, and it was simply a three-quarter sleeve t-shirt with a team logo on the front and the word "Seaver" and the number "41" on the back, not exactly of the quality of similar items today, but it was a true prize for me! My first hat was an orange, felt hat with Mr. Met and the team's "NY" logo on the back (similar to the hat on the right, but in felt), and was given to me by my god-sister, who was a HUGE Mets fan and a few years older than me (and she also gave me a number of yearbooks, scorecards, even a Mr. Met plush doll!) Those were 2 of my favorite possessions growing up, because of who gave them to me, but also because George Thomas "Tom" Seaver was my first "hero" (before I knew that it was really my dad).

I cut out any photo of Seaver from the newspapers and put them into scrapbooks. I watched nearly every game he pitched, hoping he'd appear on that days' "Kiner's Korner" post-game show. I begged my dad for tickets any time he pitched, and was often rewarded with them (especially after we saw that my younger brother was becoming a huge Mets fan, too). Tom Seaver was, truly, my first baseball hero, and it made it a lot easier to root for the Mets with Seaver on-board.  

 

Even today, my collection of Seaver memorabilia is prevalent in my home office, a room filled to the brim with all kinds of great mementos of my favorite sports. From a blown up, signed copy of Andy Warhol's Seaver painting to a signed (by all entrants) Hall-of-Fame Program, Seaver remains a part of my life, some 35 years after he was traded for the first time, the worst day of my young life (besides the deaths of 3 of my grand-parents). I can still remember that day, and I'll write more about it on the actual 35th anniversary; suffice it to say that I felt like someone from my family was stolen and I'd never see him again. In your early teens, you don't think about whether or not it was a good move for the player OR the team- you only think about yourself, and for this 13 year old fanatic, it was the WORST thing that could happen!!

After Seaver's trade, I tried hard to find another hero on the team, and my loyalty bounced around quite a lot- from Lee Mazzilli to Steve Henderson to Doug Flynn to John Stearns to George Foster...each had their moments, but none could come close to taking Seaver's place, least of all the one-time slugging all-star, Foster, who cost the team a pretty penny and provided little pop for the buck, sadly. He was soft-spoken and his voice high-pitched, and this gentleman seemed grossly miscast as a New York-slugger. His best days were sadly behind him, and Foster was a symbol of frustration for THIS high schooler, who's friends were happy to show off their Yankee hats and cards and, essentially, their success. These were the days of empty stadiums and fan frustration, and Foster became a pin cushion for our misplaced hatred. After all, George Steinbrenner was the first baseball owner to garner tons of newspaper print since the days of Walter O'Malley, and fans were just starting to transfer their hatred not towards the players themselves but to the owners who wrote their checks. This was a turning point in fandom, as free agency began to take home-grown players out of town, leaving fans, for the first time, to seek other stars to replace them. More often than not, fans were left holding the bag and waited years (sometimes decades) for an able replacement to be found, if not on the field then at least in their hearts.

The 80's began a turning point for the team, as the days of Foster leading the way were mercifully short. Under new ownership and leadership, there was a return to greatness for the team, built around home-grown stars such as Mookie and Gooden and Strawberry, supplemented by shrewd acquisitions like Darling, Hernandez and Carter. The home-grown talent never lived up to long-term expectations (drugs, alcohol and attitude helped curtail many of their careers), and the home-grown stars like "Mex" and "Kid" weren't on the team long enough for any of our liking. The team itself only won one World Series, much to the surprise of fans specifically and baseball in general. I loved Carter and Gooden the most, and was disappointed by Carter's short tenure with the team and Gooden's choice of recreational drugs. It was easy to pick "short-term heroes" from this team, but none of them would be either on the team or relevant by the time the early 90's came around...


The 90's featured one player, closer John Franco, Brooklyn-bred, who became a defacto hero until the next "superstar" arrived, in the form of catcher Mike Piazza. Mikey P was a Dodger first and foremost, having won the Rookie-of-The-Year award with the former team from Brooklyn. The trade for Piazza was one of the best deals the club has ever made, and it set the team on a course for relevancy once more. Sure enough, Piazza took an offensively-challenged club and basically threw it on his back and pulled the team to the World Series versus the Yankees in 2000 (hey- the starting outfield consisted of Payton, Agbayani and Perez!) Piazza was the best-hitting catcher anyone in the game had ever seen, and his poor throwing skills were mitigated not only by his bat but by his game-calling and marquee value. Sadly, again, Piazza didn't retire as a Met, spending his final seasons in Oakland and San Diego, but when the hall calls, most likely he'll be the second Met, after Seaver, to enter the hallowed halls in the blue and orange.


After Piazza's departure, two home-grown players took the reins - shortstop Jose Reyes, since departed to the Marlins, and third baseman David Wright. Wright, of course, remains with the team, with a club-option for 2013, and is considered to be the captain of the team without holding the title officially. Wright is at or near the top of every relevant offensive statistic in team history, and with a few more years' on the team, he'll hold every meaningful record, especially most games played at third base. That's no minor feat, considering that the "hot corner" was the hardest position the team has ever had to fill, so the thought of not having Wright out there, day-in, day-out is almost too much to bear for any Met fan over the age of 40, let alone his multitude of young fans!! Wright is the kid that every father wishes his daughter brings home over the holidays; he's the friend who buys you the first round at the bar, every time; and he's the one player on this team most deserving of being given a long-term contract (think 6-7 years plus a team option) at fair market value, a la rival/friend Ryan Zimmerman. Put the injuries aside- Wright is a reliable performer, a potential hall-of-famer (still) and one of the most decent people to ever wear the uniform. As much as I love the job Sandy Alderson is doing, he won't get the same "pass" for letting Reyes leave if he allows Wright to depart and play for any other team (let alone another rival). After all, any GM who allows Ed Kranepool to remain at the top of ANY statistical column doesn't deserve to remain in the position!! (NO knock against Eddie- he'll always be a personal favorite but he should NEVER be at the top of any important offensive stat- period!) Besides- I don't want to add 4 more uniforms/t-shirts to my ever-growing pile of "ex-players never to be worn again" clothes - it's already taken over the top shelf of one of my closets...


Finally, in order to develop young fans, there must be a player (or players) that they can look to and root for, at least for a number of years, so that team loyalty is developed and they experience what it's like to have someone great in the line-up to look forward to seeing each and every time they arrive at the ballpark. David Wright IS that guy, just like Seaver WAS that guy, and can remain so for 6-7 years; wouldn't it be wonderful to not have to worry about third base for the remainder of this decade??? Wouldn't it also be wonderful to finally have a hall-worthy (or close to it) remain solely with the Mets for a change??

5-31-12 - Daily Mets Minors Report

Date: 5-31-12

 In 1830, the average American was consuming 1.7 bottles of hard liquor per week.

Mets:

It’s great to see Josh Thole return to the Mets and you all know how thrilled I am for Elvin Ramirez. In my opinion, the Ramirez move is overdue, but I’m not in Buffalo standing in the pen live with him and his pitching coach. It’s obvious that the rag-tag team we call the 2012 Mets must have better production from the pen if they want to stay in the race.

Keith Law was asked during one of his Klaw-Blog events if the Marlins could possibly win the division. His answer was any team in the division could win, except the Mets. I can hear the ‘hits’ building.          

AAA-Buffalo:

SP Chris Young was tough today. Six shutout innings and only two singles. I’m not sure how sharp he was because the Columbus batters didn’t play the count. They swung early and swung often and Young’s junk is perfect for ground outs and pop ups. Frankly, the few batters that waited him out tended to walk. My guess there is at least one more Buffalo start. Chris commented after the game: "I feel like I'm pretty close to being ready."

Add on: - Young will throw again for Buffalo on Tuesday night.

Pedro Beato -  1.2IP, 0R, 1H, IP, K. 23 pitches/16 strikes. I watched him today and, frankly, he wasn’t as good as the stats show. Beato was brought in to clean up a mess on the field and didn’t. The runs weren’t charged to him so that stats look clean. You know how much I hate ERA and this is one of the reasons why.

So… you come into a game and it’s bases loaded, and you hang a curve and give up a triple. Your ERA is still 0.00? I’m sorry, that sucks.

That was about it for this game… one note… it was very sad watching Josh Satin still playing at this level. It seems Queens has called everyone there and here is Josh still plugging away in a town that starts with the letter ‘B’. He’s a hell of a bat, a decent second baseman, a nice guy, and a smart one with a proper education. Here’s hoping he gets on to the rest of his life someday soon.

Manny Acosta was outrighted to Buffalo.

CF Corey Wimberly left last night’s game with arm soreness and was scratched for the game today.

AA-Binghamton:  

RHP Zack Wheeler took the mound again tonight. I just got off the phone with a scout-friend of mine and we talked about Wheeler. The scout told me that he has never heard a bad word about this kid from other scouts. There was concern during his last year with San Francisco because the Giants were trying to change Zack’s mechanics which are less than perfect. It wasn’t working, which could have led to him being traded; however, the Mets told him it was okay to go back to the way he’s pitched all his life. The rest is, as they say, history.

Zack also took a little flak from his teammates before the game. This is going to the first time he has professionally hit… ever.

Wheeler went under the 2.00 ERA mark after the first batter (Miguel Abreu) struck out. He also started off at 97 and even hit 100 in the first inning. 84% of his pitches in the first two innings were strikes.

After three - 0H 0ER 0BB 4K (35 Pitches, 27 Strikes).

After five -  1H 0ER 0BB 6K (63 Pitches, 48 Strikes)

After six -  1 H 0 R 0 BB 7 K. 78 pitches 58 strikes(74%).

All this against the team that is leading the league in just about every offensive category
Wheeler proved human in the 7^th when Darin Ruf and Brandon Tripp had back-to-back doubles.

After 7 -  3 H 1 R 0 BB 8 K. 90 pitches 69 strikes. A scout at the game said Wheeler is more advanced than Hughes and Joba were when they were in Eastern League.

2B Reese Havens (.148) back in the five slot. It figures that 4-runs and 4-hits managed to be hit all around him in the 2^nd inning and he still popped the ball up (.146). He did single the next time up and actually stole a base! Yes, he’s healthy.

We don’t talk much about IF Josh Rodriguez, but maybe that should change. J-Rod hit a 3-run homer in the 4^th, raising the score to 8-0. His BA is up to .282, it is his 5^th home run of the season, and this is a defensive specialist. Hmm. Rodriguez was a heralded 2006 2^nd round pick out of Rice, who hit 20-HRs, 82-RBIs in 2007 at A-ball and Cleveland thought they had a live one. Turned out they didn’t and the Mets signed him in the off-season after being released. Yeah, we need to write about this guy soon, or, did we just do that?

Two quality innings from LHRP Robert Carson (1.45), still tempered by the fact that he’s pitching at least a level than once projected.

A+ - St. Lucie: -  

It was good to see LF Rafael Fernandez (.289) back in the lineup. Raffy has done little wrong in his 7-year Mets career; however, he has never been considered prospect material. And, he’s only 23-years old.

Lucy wasted little time, scoring two runs in the first on an CF Alonzo Harris (.258) single, a 3B Wilmer Flores (.321)walk and steal, and C Blake Forsythe’s (.278) 7^th double of the season. These are first time BA highs for Forsythe professionally and make us all dream about the numbers he put up in his sophomore season at the University of Tennessee. Blake came into tonight’s game hitting .400 in his last ten games. He continued his hotness, singling in another run (4-0) in the 5^th (.286).

Blake’s 2009 stat line:  .347/.490/.663/1.153, 15-HR, 46-RBI, 52-K, 40-BB

“Zo” Harris continued his fight to keep his job, with a run scoring triple in the 3^rd inning. The always-serious Harris went into this game hitting only .220 in the past 10 games.

More Zo in the 6^th… Harris’ 12^th double make it 6-0 Lucy.

There’s not much more that 3B Wilmer Flores can do at this level. ’Flo’ had three hits in the same amount of at-bats, raising his average to .332.

Yohan Almonte was the starter tonight. He came in giving up 48-hits in 41.2-IP, and he gave up four more in the first three innings tonight. Sure, the score was still 3-0 St. Lucie at the time, but a pitcher isn’t going to make his way to the majors by giving up more hits than innings pitched at the A+ level. Everyone online was busy following either Michael Fulmer or Zack Wheeler tonight; however, Almonte held his own here. 5.0-IP, 5-H, 0-R, 5-K, 4.24

A – Savannah:

Two very good young studs faced off against each other tonight.

Cuba and Greensboro’s RHP Jose Fernandez is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. He came into tonight’s game at 5-0, 1.67, with 70-Ks in 54.0-IP. He left 6-0, with a 1.50-ERA.

The Gnats matched prospect with prospect. RHP Michael Fulmer continues his dream the season after high school.  You just know this game is going to be a short one. After three - 3 IP 1 H 0 R 1 BB 4 K.  Fuller was done after five – 4-H, 1-R, 5-K, 2-BB, 3.49.

LF Dustin Lawley (.288) broke up the no-hitter Fernandez was throwing, in the 4^th.

A – Brooklyn:

Season starts June 18

Rookie – Kingsport:

Season starts June 19th

DSL Mets:

Season starts June 2^nd.

Draft Notes 5-31-12 – Kevin Gausman, Corey Seager, Tom Murphy, Mark Appel

Kevin Gausman

Kevin Gausman has been through this before. But this time, he's much more prepared, both physically and mentally.  Gausman was a fairly highly regarded prospect as a Colorado high schooler in 2010. But he was a fastball pitcher with poor command, below-average secondary stuff and a rail-thin build. In addition, a commitment to Louisiana State and the fact he'd be eligible for the Draft again in two years made it almost certain that he'd go on to college.

Corey Seager

Corey Seager, 3B, Northwest Cabarrus HS (NC) - Class: HS Senior -  Hometown: Kannapolis, North Carolina   Height/Weight: 6-4/190   Born: April 27, 1994  Seager is the younger brother of Kyle Seager, who is in the midst of a breakout season with the Seattle Mariners. Like his older brother, Corey, has the perfect combination of polish and impressive raw talent.

Kevin Goldstein –

Q - What is the main factor between Carlos Correa and Devin Marrero in your opinion?

A - WAY better hit/power.

                         

Tom Murphy  

The bar for being a productive catcher in the major leagues is low. It's not low in that it's still very, very hard to play baseball at that high a level, but it's lower for catchers than for lots of other positions. Which is why you can re-calibrate expectations for catchers. A guy who profiles with average power at other positions becomes above-average for a catcher. The flip side of that is that a guy who has to move off the position can go from being a great prospect to an average one with one small switch in positions. Why is this relevant? Because Tom Murphy could be one of the best catchers in the draft, but he's not really one of the best hitters. He's got good power, but may not be able to make great contact consistently in the majors. He's good defensively, and has a good chance at sticking with catching in the future.

Mark Appel  

4. Mark Appel, RHP, Stanford - Who he is: There are three big college arms in this draft, and Appel is generally seen as the best. He certainly passes the sniff test, due to a 6-foot-5 power frame and a 93-95 mph fastball that can touch 98. His breaking ball is a bit of a hybrid, but is effective and misses plenty of bats, and his changeup is average. He's excellent, but for some, he lacks the wow factor of a potential 1-1 pick. One scout commented, “The parts are greater than the sum,” as he can be surprisingly hittable at times. Draft skinny: Currently the favorite to go No. 1 to Houston, but not yet a lock. He should get through the minors quickly, but he's also the top prospect being advised by Scott Boras, and teams are unsure as to what those negotiations will be like under the new rules.