Robert Gsellman Promoted to AA, John Gant to A+

            The Mets have promoted pitching prospect Robert Gsellman to AA Binghamton, and are sending John Gant from the Binghamton rotation to the St. Lucie rotation. They were both scheduled to pitch this weekend, so neither should have to skip a start. This comes after news earlier in the day that top pitching prospect Marcos Molina may need TJS.

            Robert Gsellman has been one of the top starters in the FSL this year, ranking 7^th in IP and 4^th in ERA. He made 8 starts with St. Lucie, and allowed 0 or 1 ER in 6 of them. BP scout Jeff Moore saw him multiple times this year, posting a scouting report after the first look, and talking him up on twitter during subsequent starts. Gsellman was ranked in most top-25 prospect lists this past offseason, and his stock has only risen since. I was able to catch 3 of his starts with Savannah last year, and the collection of 11 GIFs from those starts can be seen here (there are also 8 Gant GIFs from 2014).

            The Mets surprised everyone by skipping John Gant over A+ ball this year, but he was inconsistent in his first taste of AA: he had 3 wild starts with 4+ ER allowed, and 3 starts pitching into the 6^th with 2 or less ER allowed (including one start with 7 shutout innings and only 4 hits allowed). He showed more confidence throwing a slider that he added during the 2014 season, and flashed an average or better changeup and curve at times. His fastball sits in the upper 80’s, but hit 91-92 MPH at times per the announcers. Gant has walked 4 batters in 3 of his last 4 starts, a total he reached only 3 times in 21 starts during the 2014 season, so hopefully he can go down and work on his command. While it’s never good to be sent down a level, Gant should’ve started the season with St. Lucie anyway, and impressed during his stint despite less than stellar results. His best GIFs from 2015 are linked below.

4/14 – 3.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 79 Pitches (48 Strikes), 5 GO: 3 FO

2-1 count in the 1^st

1-1 count in the 2^nd

1-2 count in the 2^nd

2-2 count in the 3^rd

First pitch curve in the 3^rd

0-1 curve that followed

0-1 count in the 4^th

1-1 count in the 4th

5/16 – 6 IP, 4 H, R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 101 Pitches (62 Strikes), 8 GO: 5 FO

K1 – 0-1

K1

K2 – 0-0

K2 – 2-1

K2 – 91 MPH

K3 – 0-0

K3

K4 – 0-0

K4 – 1-1

K4

First pitch changeup to the lefty

First pitch changeup to the righty

Paints the inside corner with a curve

Throws smoke past the hitter
Picking a runner off of 2B

Hubble Video Shows Shock Collision Inside Black Hole Jet http://t.co/U5LHLaOOUT #astronomy #telescope pic.twitter.com/m2HeHgBIWr

— HubbleScience (@hubblescience) May 27, 2015