Mets Minors MiLB.tv Series Preview: Las Vegas 51s @ Nashville Sounds

Dates: May 29-June 1, 2015

Current Record: 29-19, 1^st Place, 4.5 Games ahead of El Paso

Probables

All times are EST

Friday at 8:05 PM

Darin Gorski (3-4, 5.79 ERA, 6.34 FIP, 16.2 K%: 12.6 BB%, 1.71 HR/9)

@ Chris Bassitt (1-3, 4.45 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 22.6 K%: 7 BB%, 0.32 HR/9)

Saturday at 7:35 PM

Duane Below (4-2, 2.18 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 13.9 K%: 3.6 BB%, 0.87 HR/9)

@ Sean Nolin (0-0, 0.71 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 27.2 K%: 8.3 BB%, 0.71 HR/9)

Sunday at 3:05 PM

Steven Matz (6-2, 1.99 ERA, 3.14 FIP, 27.3 K%: 8.4 BB%, 0.43 HR/9)

@ Barry Zito (2-4, 4.72 ERA, 5.14 FIP, 15.6 K%: 10.9 BB%, 0.81 HR/9)

Monday at 8:05 PM

Tyler Pill (1-2, 7.04 ERA, 5.58 FIP, 15.1 K%: 5.5 BB%, 1.76 HR/9)

@ Zach Neal (3-0, 1.53 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 18.5 K%: 4.6 BB%, 0 HR/9)

Last series for the Las Vegas 51s

Split 4 with Colorado Springs: W 9-2, W 9-1, L 11-1, L  8-3

Top prospects for the Oakland Athletics with Nashville

Organizational rankings are from the 2015 Baseball America Prospect Handbook

Chris Bassitt, RH SP, 26

Ranked #6, BA Grade: 50, Medium risk

Friday night’s starter has made 3 starts after a cup of coffee with the big club, allowing 4 ER in two and 0 ER in the other, but totaling only 12.1 IP.

Joey Wendle, LHH 2B, 25

Ranked #17, BA Grade: 45, Medium risk

Wendle hasn’t been hitting much yet (.250 AVG/.297 OBP/37 K), but when he does make contact, he puts a good drive into the ball – 19 XBH (12 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR) in 180 AB.

Recent Injuries/Transactions

            Jayce Boyd will make his AAA debut this weekend, as he was promoted after Thursday’s game with Binghamton. His promotion comes on the heels of an injury to Kyle Johnson, who left after being hit by a pitch Wednesday night, and tweeted out that it was a hand injury. Dan Rohlfing was also placed on the 7-day DL.

Storylines

Jayce Boyd joins T.J. Rivera and Jon Velasquez as prospects who have played for both Binghamton and Las Vegas this year (John Church was originally on the B-Mets roster, but was promoted to Las Vegas before his first appearance).

The Mets will send three straight lefties against Nashville this weekend, and then Pill on Monday. Duane Below and Steven Matz have been two of the best starters in the PCL over the past few weeks (Matz all year), but the rest of the rotation has been struggling.

Matt Reynolds has been in a month long slump, struggling for the first time since the start of the 2014 season. Travis Taijeron has stayed hot all year, and is among the leaders in some key offensive statistics, as you can see below.

League Leaders

Top-20 PCL, qualified only

R: Matt Reynolds, t-2^nd (33); Alex Castellanos, t-7^th (31)

H: Reynolds, t-9^th (51)

2B: Reynolds, t-3^rd (16); Castellanos, t-5^th (14)

HR: Castellanos, t-5^th (10); Travis Taijeron, t-13^th (7)

RBI: Castellanos, 6^th (33); Reynolds, t-14^th (27)

SB: Wilfredo Tovar, 4^th (12); Reynolds, t-17^th (7); Kyle Johnson, t-17^th (7)

AVG: Taijeron, t-10^th (.323)

OBP: Taijeron, 1^st (.426);

ISO: Castellanos, 1^st (.358); Taijeron, 15^th (.218)

BB%: Taijeron, 11^th (12.8%); Brandon Allen, t-13^th (12.3%)

K%: Tovar, t-10^th (11.3%)

wRC+: Castellanos, 2^nd (164); Taijeron, t-3^rd (162)

IP: Steven Matz, 1^st (63.1)

W: Matz, 1^st (6); Duane Below, t- 9^th (4)

Saves: Chase Bradford, t-6^th (5)

ERA: Matz, 2^nd (1.99); Below, t-4^th (2.18)

FIP: Matz, 3^rd (3.14)

K%: Matz, 1^st (27.3%)

BB%: Below, 3^rd (3.6%); Tyler Pill, 12^th (5.5%)

AVG: Matz, 3^rd (.198); Below, t-14^th (.245)

Images from the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator #LDSD dress rehearsal @NASA_Technology https://t.co/AhBxHMFnv6 pic.twitter.com/p5rmrPFBYI

— NASA HQ PHOTO (@nasahqphoto) May 29, 2015