Mets Prospect Highlight: Travis Taijeron

Taijeron a breakout 2011 for the CPP Broncos

The Mets 18^th round pick from the 2011 draft is off to a scorching start for the Las Vegas 51s, should we expect to see him in Queens anytime soon?

            If it seems like Travis Taijeron has smoked everything that he has hit so far, it’s only because he has, and it’s put him at the top of a lot of PCL leaderboards (rankings include qualified batters only, from fangraphs): 9^th in AVG (.352), 7^th in OBP (.419), 11^th in ISO (.315), 5^th in wRC+ (188), t-6^th in HR (5), t-4^th in K% (33.9), and 3^rd in BABIP (.483). As you can see with those last two stats, a high percentage of his plate appearances have ended without Taijeron making contact (45.2% have ended in a K, BB, or HBP), but when he has, it’s been hard contact, which is the driving force behind his high BABIP. Let’s take a quick look at how he got here, and then compare it to his hot start in 2015.

Mets Series in Review: @Marlins

Don't let a couple of losses get you down, the Mets still have a comfortable 1st place lead!

Last Series

Dates: April 27-29

Results: L 2/3

 W 3-1, L 4-3, L 7-3

Current Record: 15-7, 4.5 Game lead over Atlanta (6 over Washington)

MVMet: Daniel Murphy has had a slow start to the season. Dilson Herrera and Matt Reynolds have been red hot. The questions about his job security were beginning, and Murph answered with his best series at the plate yet.

LVMet: Wilmer Flores has been better at the plate lately, but a 1-9 still hurts, especially from a player in the game for his bat.

Statistics

Mets Minor League Daily – April 30, 2015

All your Mets minors needs in one place

Updated throughout the day and night

Minor News

If you have any link tips, suggest them to @Astromets31 on twitter and I’ll add them in.

            Check out yesterday’s results here.

            I took a closer look at Travis Taijeron, who could help the Mets off the bench over the next few years.

            Baseball prospectus has a glowing report on Mets RH SP Robert Gsellman from Jeff Moore, who was raving about him on twitter during the start he attented. He gives him an OFP/Risk of 60/Low, and a realistic future value of 50/Number 4 starter. I posted 11 GIFs from Gsellman’s starts during 2014, and collected them all here.

            The Mets have 2 players (of the top 3!) on the top 10 list of prospects most likely to help your Fantasy team this year.

            Jeffrey Paternostro posted his first View From Behind the Backstop of 2015, as he was in New Hampshire to watch Binghamton this past weekend, and got a good look at Gabriel Ynoa.

Minor Games

Scheduled starters and start times (EST), game notes, and results as they come in

B-Mets Belt 3 Bombs to Finish the Sweep in Portland

Binghamton Mets @ Portland Sea Dogs

April 29, 2015

Rainy Lara @ Mike McCarthy

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Binghamton	1	0	3	2	0	0	2	0	0		8	12	2
Portland	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0		3	9	0

W: Kolarek (1-0, 9.90 ERA); L: McCarthy (2-2, 6.63 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Rainy Lara (2.91 ERA) – 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 85 Pitches (55 Strikes), 6 GO: 3 FO

Adam Kolarek (W, 1-0, 9.90 ERA) – 3 IP, H, 2 SO, 6 GO: 1 FO

Dario Alvarez (4.70 ERA) – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Jon Velasquez (3.68 ERA) – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO

Batters

Jared King – 2-4, R, BB, CS

Brandon Nimmo – 2-4, R, 2B (4), 3B (1), BB

Josh Rodriguez – 2-4, 2 R, 2B (3), HR (3), 4 RBI (10), BB, 2 SO

Aderlin Rodriguez – 1-5, R, HR (3), 2 RBI (10)

Xorge Carrillo – 1-4, 2B (2), 2 SO

Gavin Cecchini – 1-4, R, SO

Jairo Perez – 2-4, R, HR (1), 2 RBI (4)

Eudy Pina – 1-4, R, SB (2), GIDP

Recap

            The Mets got a scare at the end of the B-Mets series sweep in Portland, as Brandon Nimmo left the field limping, but fortunately, it would appear that it’s nothing serious. Nimmo was having a great day before he had to leave in the top of the 9^th, picking up a triple in the 4^th and a double in the 9^th before leaving when he stepped on the bag awkwardly. He also ran down a deep fly ball at the warning track like it was nothing, which really impressed the Portland press box. B-Mets starter Rainy Lara had his shortest outing of the season, allowing a base runner in every inning, and generally being hit pretty hard. After being handed a 1-0 lead in the top half of the 1^st, he allowed back-to-back doubles to the first two batters in the bottom half, with both runners eventually coming home to score. Portland would get the leadoff man on in every inning, but Lara worked through it in the 2^nd and 3^rd. Keury De La Cruz led off the 4^th with a single off the mini-monster in LF, and then came home to score two batters later on a double to RF. Adam Kolarek replaced Lara for the 5^th and pitched as well as he has since 2012, holding Portland to a double over 3 IP. The bats took the lead back with a 3-run rally in the 3^rd, and then added two 2R-HR’s to pad their lead for the bullpen. Dario Alvarez and Jon Velasquez finished the game out for the B-Mets, with each pitching around a single for a scoreless inning.

            Binghamton has Thursday off as they head home and prepare to host New Hampshire on Friday. Gabriel Ynoa is scheduled to go for Binghamton Friday at 7:05 PM, and hopefully the new CF cameras at NYSEG will be ready for him.

Scoring Highlights

Brandon Nimmo Leaves BMets Game After Slide Into 2B

UPDATE

I'm hearing Brandon Nimmo stepped awkwardly on second base during tonight's @bmets game, but is fine. #Mets

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) April 30, 2015

            The Mets top outfield prospect Brandon Nimmo left Wednesday night’s game with an apparent leg injury after an awkward slide into 2B. He had to be helped off the field, and he was visibly limping, as you can see in the GIF below. He was 2-4 on the night with a double, a triple, and a very nice catch in CF. After an 0-14 to start the season, Nimmo has been hitting .350/.439/.466, with 4 doubles a triple and two homeruns.
            I will update with more news as it comes in, but it did not look good to those that were there. It looks like he's grabbing at the back of his right knee area in the gif below. That's not good, as he tore the ACL in his right knee during high school.

@AVSNY @Astromets31 No video but I'm at he game, awkward slide and looked like a ankle injury. Was in visible pain

— Michael Mayer (@themainemets) April 30, 2015

The double was Nimmo's second extra base hit of the game

He looked in a lot of pain initially

Noooot good

UPDATE

Hearing Brandon Nimmo will get his right knee looked at tomorrow. A cause for concern as he did tear this knee in HS. #Mets

— Joe DeMayo (@PSLToFlushing) April 30, 2015

Mets Minor League Daily – April 29, 2015

All your Mets minors needs in one place

Updated throughout the day and night

Minor News

If you have any link tips, suggest them to @Astromets31 on twitter and I’ll add them in.

            Check out yesterday’s results here.

            ICYMI, check out this Mets Prospect Highlight on Jeff McNeil.

            Adam Rubin posted his weekly Farm Report, with comments from stud OF prospect Michael Conforto. ICYMI, Conforto could end up promoted to AA at some point during May.

            Quinn Barry looked at how good Dilson Herrera is.

            I will be updating this post with any news on the injury to Brandon Nimmo suffered during tonight’s B-Mets game.
 

Minor Games

Scheduled starters and start times (EST), game notes, and results as they come in

B-Mets Take an Early Lead and then Ride a Great Spot Start from Kuebler in the Nightcap

Binghamton Mets @ Portland Sea Dogs

April 28, 2015

Jake Kuebler @ Mike Augliera

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Binghamton	4	3	0	0	0	0	0		7	11	2
Portland	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		1	2	1

W: Wheeler (1-0, 4.82 ERA); Augliera (0-4, 8.00 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Jake Kuebler (7.94 ERA) – 4 IP, H, BB, SO, 9 GO: 1 FO

Beck Wheeler – 1.2 IP, H, R (0 ER), BB, 3 SO, 2 FO

Chase Huchingson (4.91 ERA) – 1.1 IP, BB, 2 SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Batters

Gavin Cecchini – 2-4, 2 R, 2B (3), SO

Jared King – 1-4, R, RBI (11), 2 SO

Brandon Nimmo – 1-4

Aderlin Rodriguez – 2-4, R, 2B (2), 2 RBI (8), GIDP

Dustin Lawley – 2-3, R, 2B (6), HR (3), 3 RBI (10)

Eudy Pina – 1-4, R, 2 SO

Jairo Perez – 2-4, 2B (1), RBI (2), SO

Recap

            The B-Mets jumped out early and never looked back in a game were all of their pitching came from relief pitchers in the 7-inning nightcap of a weird day of B-Mets baseball. The Mets were hoping for some length from RP Jake Kuebler when they sent him out to start, but I doubt they ever hoped to get 4 innings of one-hit baseball, which is what Kuebler gave them in the nightcap. He was a groundball machine, and retired 10 straight after allowing a leadoff single in the 1^st. Gavin Cecchini kept #CecchiniRaking in his return to the lineup, leading off the game with a double, and making another nice play in the field – check out both of those highlights and more below.

            These two teams wrap up this series Wednesday night at 6 PM, and the B-Mets will send Rainy Lara to the mound for a chance at the sweep.

Scoring Highlights

Tovar Provides the Big Hit with a Walk-Off Bloop for Las Vegas

Albuquerque Isotopes @ Las Vegas 51s

April 28, 2015

Chad Bettis @ Tyler Pill

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Albuquerque	0	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		5	8	1
Las Vegas	0	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	2		6	14	1

W: Satterwhite (1-0, 10.13 ERA); L: Diaz (1-1, 6.23 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Tyler Pill (9.00 ERA) – 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR, 87 Pitches (58 Strikes), 7 GO

John Church (5.40 ERA) – 2 IP, 3 GO: 2 FO

Scott Rice (1.29 ERA) – 0.1 IP, SO

Cody Satterwhite (W, 1-0, 10.13 ERA) – 0.2 IP, H, SO

Batters

Dilson Herrera – 2-5, R, 2B (8), RBI (11)

Darrell Ceciliani – 2-5, R, 2B (4), 2 SO

Alex Castellanos – 1-4, R, HR (7), 2 RBI (19), BB

Johnny Monell – 2-5, R, 2B (2)

Brooks Conrad – 2-5, RBI (1), SO

Travis Taijeron – 3-4

Wilfredo Tovar – 2-4, 2B (4), 2 RBI (4), BB

Recap

            The 51s rallied for two runs in the 9^th to walk off with a win Tuesday afternoon and complete the series sweep of Albuqerque. Aside from a string of 6 batters in the 2^nd, starter Tyler Pill was at his AAA best, piling up a high number of groundouts and strikeouts with a good fastball/breaking ball combo. The 51s lineup was almost back to full strength, and that was more than enough to over come the big hole Pill left them in early, as they slowly chipped away throughout the game. The Las Vegas bullpen took over for Pill in the 7^th and continued it’s early dominance with 3 nearly perfect innings. The strong effort from the pen left the 51s just close enough for Wilfredo Tovar to be the surprise hero, as he’d drive home both 9^th inning runs with a dunker that landed in front of a diving LFer and bounced around just long enough for the speedy Kyle Johnson to score from 1B.

It Took Two Days, but the B-Mets Won a Wild One in Portland

Binghamton Mets @ Portland Sea Dogs

April 27, 2015 (finished on the 28^th)

Seth Lugo @ Luis Diaz

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Binghamton	0	2	5	2	0	2	0	0	0		11	10	1
Portland	1	3	0	1	0	2	0	0	0		7	10	2

W: Koch (1-1, 5.57 ERA); L: Aro (2-1, 3.07 ERA); Save: Sewald (2, 0.00 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Seth Lugo (1.38 ERA) – 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (0 ER), BB, 4 GO: 1 FO – rain-shortened start

Matt Koch – 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 2 SO, HBP, 6 GO: 3 FO, 1 IR – 1 S

Paul Sewald – 3 IP, H, BB, 3 SO, 4 GO: 2 FO

Batters

Jared King – 2-5, RBI (10)

Jayce Boyd – 2-4, 2 R, 2B (6), BB

Aderlin Rodriguez – 1-5, 2 R, SB (1), SO

Dustin Lawley – 1-2, 3 R, 2B (5), RBI (7), 2 BB, 2 SB (4), HBP, SO

Xorge Carrillo – 2-4, 2 RBI (4), SO

Gavin Cecchini – 1-4, 2 R, 3 RBI (10), BB

Eudy Pina – 1-5, 2B (1), 2 RBI (5), SO

Recap

            The B-Mets won a wet and wild affair that took two days to complete in the opener of their series in Portland. Original starter Seth Lugo got knocked out in the middle of a rough 2^nd inning, and Matthew Koch could not bail him out, but settled in some the rest of the way. The Binghamton bats would take the lead right back in the top of the 3^rd, in what was a very sloppy inning for the Portland infield. They’d add a pair of runs in the 4^th and 6^th to pad their lead, and then Paul Sewald shut the Sea Dogs down over the final three innings to pick up a long-save.