2015 Monday Morning Mets Minors Players of the Week

Image from this TimesNews post

June 29 – July 5, 2015

            Keeping track of the hottest minor leaguers in the Mets farm system. I will be rotating through the rookie ball coverage.

Hitter of the Week: Victor Cruzado had an excellent week for St. Lucie, and appears to be breaking out over the past few weeks after coming back healthy in early June. Check out some 2014 GIFs of Cruzado here.

Starting Pitcher of the Week: It’s hard not to pick the guy with a one-hitter, but Michael Fulmer was ridiculous for 2 starts, and his 19% swinging strike rate over those two starts suggest that he didn’t need as much help from his defense. There’s a reason I just labeled him the #1 Starting pitcher in the Mets system.

Relief Pitcher of the Week: Josh Smoker has been rolling lately, and he continued that in his AA debut with Binghamton Sunday night.

Team of the Week: The Sand Gnats are the only team featured here with a winning record last week, so they easily take the award.

Previous weeks: 4/9-19, 4/20-26, 4/27-5/3, 5/4-10, 5/11-17, 5/18-24, 5/25-31, 6/1-7, 6/8-14, 6/15-21, 6/22-28

Las Vegas 51s 47-37

2-5 record

Pitchers

Darin Gorski – 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, BB, 3 SO, 92 Pitches (57 Strikes), 7 GO: 4 FO; Makes two straight strong starts from Gorski, with 3 ER over 12.2 IP total Recap

Chase Huchingson – 3 G, 2.2 IP, H, 3 BB, SO, .543 OPS; He hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 16 appearances, with a 21 K: 8 BB over 18.1 IP during that span, and a .543 OPS allowed

Zack Thornton – 3 G, 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 SO, .500 OPS; Thornton has allowed just 1 R over his last 9 appearances

Batters

Brandon Allen – 27 PA, .286/.444/.619, 5 R, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 6 BB, 4 SO

Alex Castellanos – 28 PA, .440/.500/.840, 5 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB, HBP, SB, 7 SO

Dilson Herrera – 20 PA, .278/.350/.444, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, HBP, 4 SO

Anthony Recker – 18 R, .235/.278/.588, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB, 5 SO, 2 GIDP; His all or nothing approach has continued in Las Vegas, but he has 5 homeruns over his last 7 games

Matt Reynolds – 22 PA, .263/.364/.526, 4 R, 2 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 5 SO, GIDP; His BABIP is not inflated this year, and he’s improved his K% and BB% some with Las Vegas – he’s dealing with a sore wrist and hasn’t played the field since 6/25

T.J. Rivera – 14 PA, .538/.571/.923, 2 R, 3 2B, 3B, RBI, HBP, GIDP; He has a 1.094 OPS over his last 19 games (70 PA), but might have trouble finding a spot on the infield behind Herrera, Reynolds, and Muno, unless he’s playing 1B

Dan Rohlfing – 16 PA, .286/.313/.500, 2 R, 3 2B, 3 RBI, BB, SF, 5 SO; He caught Luis Cessa’s first AAA start, and Russ Langer mentioned that the Mets like him at Las Vegas working with the young pitchers

Binghamton Mets 41-40

3-4 record

Pitchers

Michael Fulmer – 2 GS, 0.69 ERA, 13 IP, 7 H, 3 R (1 ER), BB, 17 SO, .379 OPS, 48 BF, 19% Swinging strike rate; He’s been unreal over his last 5 starts, with a 29.8 K%: 4.4 BB% (thanks to a 16% swinging strike rate), and a .476 OPS allowed Recap 6/29, Recap 7/4

John Gant – 2 GS, 0.64 ERA, 14 IP, 9 H, 4 R (1 ER), BB, 15 SO, .437 OPS, 52 BF, 16% Swinging strike rate; He had a 1.79 ERA over 40.1 IP, with St. Lucie, including a 29.6 K%: 6.2 BB%, and a .521 OPS allowed, which made me really consider putting him above Gsellman in my top starting pitcher rankings Recap 7/5

Michael Gibbons – 6.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, BB, 3 SO, HR, 87 Pitches (60 Strikes), 12 GO: 4 FO; What a crazy start to the pro career of Michael Gibbons: 1 start with St. Lucie, 2 with Brooklyn, 1 with Binghamton, and then assigned back to Brooklyn. Had good control of his fastball and his secondary stuff was getting swinging strikes Recap

Robert Gsellman – 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 4 SO, HR, 92 Pitches (56 Strikes), 6 GO: 3 FO; He has a 3.19 ERA over his last 5 Binghamton starts thanks to a .649 OPS allowed, but only a 15.5 K%: 10.1 BB% during that span, and he ended up 4^th in my updated starting pitcher rankings Recap

Seth Lugo – 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 8 SO, HR, 99 Pitches (69 Strikes), 5 GO: 3 FO; He had a 6.42 ERA over the 6 starts prior to this one, so hopefully he can build on this to get back to where he was out of Spring Training Recap

Gabriel Ynoa – 9 IP, H, 6 SO, 103 Pitches (76 Strikes), 12 GO: 7 FO; He has a 1.17 ERA over his last 4 starts (30.2 IP) thanks to a .426 OPS allowed and a 1.8 BB%, although he only has a 11.5 K% during that span, and I put him 6^th in my rankings Recap

Dario Alvarez – 2 G, 2 IP, 2 SO, .000 OPS allowed; He has 10 straight scoreless appearances since June started, and a 2.74 ERA in 23 IP since April 21^st, with a .519 OPS allowed and 33 K%: 9.6 BB% during that span

Adam Kolarek – 2 G, 2 IP, H, 4 SO, .286 OPS allowed; He has 7 straight scoreless appearances, and a 3.55 ERA in 33 IP since April 29^th, with a .507 OPS allowed and 22.8 K%: 8.1 BB% during that span

Josh Smoker – 3 G, 4 IP, H, BB, 6 SO, .297 OPS; Made an excellent debut for Binghamton, and has 11 strikeouts over his last 5 appearances, with 23 batters faced during that span

Batters

Michael Conforto – 29 PA, .333/.379/.481, 3 R, 2B, HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 4 SO, GIDP; He’s had multiple hits in 10 of 33 games with Binghamton, and he has a .952 OPS vs. L in 42 AB/.908 OPS vs. R in 81 AB

L.J. Mazzilli – 31 PA, .300/.323/.433, 5 R, 2 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, SB, 3 SO, GIDP; He’s riding a 6-game hitting streak, and he’s been looking good in the field at 2B (although he made a pair of errors Friday night)

Eudy Pina – 16 PA, .500/.500/.688, 2 R, 3 2B, 3 RBI, SO; Eudy has a hit in 14 of 17 games, but his OPS is only .791 during that span thanks to 0 walks drawn

Aderlin Rodriguez – 14 PA, .214/.214/.643, 3 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SO; He has 6 doubles and 5 homeruns in his last 24 starts, but 0 walks limits his OPS to .789 during that span

St. Lucie Mets 40-41

3-4 record

Pitchers

Miller Diaz – 5.2 IP, 3 H, R, 4 BB, 7 SO, 6 GO: 3 FO; Diaz has allowed 4+ walks in 5 of his last 7 starts, yet still only a .629 OPS during that span

Mickey Jannis – 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 4 BB, 3 SO, HBP, 12 GO: 6 FO; The knuckleballing righty was originally a 44^th round pick of Tampa back in 2010, and the Mets signed him away from the Long Island Ducks last week. He was apparently hitting 86-90 with his fastball in his organizational debut with St. Lucie, so maybe he can be interesting?

Robert Whalen – 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 5 SO, HBP, 97 Pitches (56 Strikes), 9 GO: 3 FO; Whalen allowed 4 walks for the third straight start, and 3+ for the sixth time in his last 7 starts, and he was placed on the FSL 7-day DL on 7/2 – not good signs after I placed him 7^th on my updated rankings

Julian Hilario – 2 G, 2.2 IP, H, BB, 3 SO, .311 OPS; He’s mostly been a mess since his initial promotion to AA, but this could be him turning the corner again

Kyle Regnault – 2 G, 2.1 IP, 2 SO, .000 OPS; Regnault’s been another nice Indy-league pickup, with a 1.04 ERA over his last 12 appearances (17.1 IP) thanks to a .564 OPS allowed, and a 23.9 K%: 6 BB%

Batters

Victor Cruzado – 30 PA, .385/.433/.731, 6 R, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, SF, 2 SO, CS; He’s riding a 7-game hitting streak and has a .912 OPS over his last 75 PA thanks to 3 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homeruns, and 11 K: 9 BB

Lednier Ricardo – 15 PA, .400/.400/.467, 3 R, 2B, RBI, 4 SO; 6 hits in his 15 AB last week after only a 1-15 in his first week in the minors

Savannah Sand Gnats 43-37

4-3 record

Pitchers

Casey Delgado – 8.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R (2 ER), 95 Pitches (75 Strikes), 14 GO: 6 FO; Not often you see someone pitching into the 9^th inning with 0 strikeouts, but 2 runs would be charged to him in that frame after Alberto Baldonado took over

Corey Oswalt – 2 GS, 0.68 ERA, 13.1 IP, 12 H, R, 3 BB, 11 SO, .565 OPS, 8% Swinging strike rate; Over his last 5 starts (31.1 IP), Oswalt has a 2.01 ERA thanks to a .651 OPS allowed and 15 K%: 5.5 BB% Recap 7/4

Scarlyn Reyes – 7 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 12 SO, 103 Pitches (64 Strikes), 4 GO: 3 FO; He’s reached a double-digit K total in 2 of his last 3 starts, with 29 SO (37.2 K%) total over his last 19.2 IP

Edioglis Villasmil – 4 IP, 2 H, R, 5 SO, HR; He’s allowed a run in 4 of 5 appearances between St. Lucie and Savannah this season

Batters

Michael Katz – 24 PA, .222/.375/.389, 3 R, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 5 BB, SF, 8 SO, GIDP; Hit his 3 doubles against Greenville over his first weekend in the SAL

Vicente Lupo – 19 PA, .267/.389/.867, 5 R, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, SH, 9 SO; All four hits went for extra bases, and he went 2-4 on balls in play

John Mora – 26 PA, .333/.499/.333, 2 R, 4 RBI, 3 BB, SH, SF, 3 SO, GIDP, 3 CS; Mora has a .899 OPS over his last 100 PA thanks to 6 doubles and 5 triples, with 17 K: 7 BB during that span

Kingsport Mets 6-7

Season to date

Pitchers

Harol Gonzalez – 3 GS, 3.48 ERA, 20.2 IP, 16 H, 9 R (8 ER), 2 BB, 15 SO, 2 HBP, .533 OPS allowed; Took a perfect game into the 9^th during his second start of the season, check out Jeff Paternostro's report here

Darwin Ramos – 2 GS, 3.27 ERA, 11 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 10 SO, HBP, .478 OPS; 19-year old who is still a little rough, but off to a nice start

Nabil Crismatt – 3 G, 8.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R (2 ER), 13 SO, HR, .583 OPS; Has a slurvy pitch that’s too good for this league

Seth Davis – 2 G, 2.1 IP, H, BB, SO; They’re going to go slowly with the new draft picks, but a nice start for a few of these guys

Thomas McIlraith – 2 G, 3 IP, H, 2 BB, 2 SO; Another 2015 draft pick

Yoryi Nuez – 2 G, 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R (0 ER), 6 BB, 8 SO, .623 OPS allowed; Repeating the level he started at last year, and showing the same control problems so far

Joe Shaw – 3 G, 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 SO; Another 2015 draft pick

Batters

Kevin Kaczmarski – 50 PA, .279/.380/.442, 6 R, 4 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 6 BB, HBP, 2 SB, 6 SO, 3 CS; Strong start for the 9^th round pick from 2015, he’s split time between LF and CF

Patrick Mazeika – 51 PA, .318/.412/.568, 9 R, 5 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 2 HBP, 7 SO; I was a little surprised with this conservative assignment, but Brooklyn is already stuffed, and somebody needs to catch here

Raphael Ramirez – 41 PA, .324/.366/.541, 7 R, 2 2B, 3 3B, 5 RBI, 2 BB, HBP, SF, 3 SB, 12 SO, GIDP; Hit a walk-off triple, but then left 2 straight games early, and now hasn’t played 2 in straight games

Milton Ramos – 46 PA, .341/.370/.455, 8 R, 3 2B, 3B, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB, 5 SO, 2 GIDP; Already has 5-multi hit games in his 11 starts, splitting time between 2B and SS with Luis Carpio

Dash Winningham – 49 PA, .311/.327/.600, 9 R, 4 2B, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SF, 11 SO; Off to a slugging start, Dash has an RBI in 7 of 12 games played

Gravitational Lensing Analysis of the Kilo Degree Survey [CEA] https://t.co/hP0eFtMyqy pic.twitter.com/pM2mxcxA3k

— arXiver (@arXiver) July 6, 2015