Reviewing and Adding to Mets Prospect Sleepers

Image from Metsmerized

Annual guesses as to which prospects you haven’t heard of will be in a lot of prospect lists next year.

            With Spring Training in full swing, it is time for people to start making their baseball predictions for 2015. Sleeper prospects are my favorite offseason predictions, so below I compiled several Mets sleeper prospect lists I found online.

A Collection of Cory Mazzoni gifs from 2014

Image from MacksMets

Cory Mazzoni has had health problems and the label as a future relief pitcher for a few years now, but he’s also been a strong starting pitcher when able to get out to the mound. Check out the following 26 gifs of Mazzoni pitching (plus one of him at the plate) to get an idea of his stuff. Mazzoni features a consistently above average 93-95 MPH fastball and mid-80’s slider, and an inconsistent splitter that is filthy when Mazzoni has the touch for it. It was arguably his strongest pitch down the stretch with Las Vegas, when he managed 7+ strikeouts in 4 of his last 5 starts, improving his K: BB rates to 27.1 K%: 1.5 BB%.

Although the Mets may still move him to the pen to use his talented arm in the majors, there were multiple Fangraphs authors who wrote they didn’t think it was necessary this winter. I think he can start so long as he has that splitter working like he did down the stretch, because the other pitches play up when it’s on. If the splitter is working early, he’s the pitching prospect with the best chance to have a deGrom-like, out-of-nowhere run of starting success in the majors – although, he’ll have to steal his chance like deGrom did, and I’m not trying to suggest he’ll make a run for ROY. If he doesn’t get a starting opportunity, don’t be surprised to see the Mets using him in their pen by the end of 2015, as that 3-pitch mix should be very good out there too.  

Astromets Top 83 Mets Prospect Series: 16-24

            For this top prospect list series I tried to include as many players as possible, as I watched a lot of talented Mets prospects in 2014, and was following the progression of those I couldn’t watch. I do not include any Dominican Summer League players here, as I know next to nothing about those guys and they are so far away. I started by separating players into different groups and then essentially ranked those groups. Still, a lot of these players become interchangeable beyond the top 25 or so prospects. Also, there are a number of ’50+ future value’ players (per Fangraphs Kiley McDaniel), so the very top of the list is pretty interchangeable too. I don’t think I missed any obvious stateside prospects, but I apologize in advance for when I did, and I'll address them at the end.

Other entries from this series: 1-9 | 10-15 | 16-24 | 25-33 | 34-45 | 46-55 | 56-62 | 63-74 | 75-83

*All stats listed are regular season only and from Fangraphs; age to start 2015 season listed; pitchers roles are based on what they did in 2014, not what they might do in the future

Mazzoni Reaches Double Digits in Strikeouts but Bullpen Blows Lead Late

Las Vegas 51s @ Albuquerque Isotopes

August 29, 2014

Cory Mazzoni @ Chris Reed

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Las Vegas	0	0	2	0	0	3	1	0	0		6	11	2
Albuquerque	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	5	X		9	10	1

Win: Martinez (1-0, 1.93 ERA); Loss: Germen (3-1, 2.53 ERA); Save: Garcia (5)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Cory Mazzoni (4.67 ERA) – 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 10 SO, HR, 79 Pitches (57 Strikes), 3 GO: 3 FO, (1-3, R, 2B (1))

Batters

Matt Reynolds – 2-5, RBI (39), SB (14)

Andrew Brown – 2-4, 2 R, 2 HR (21), 3 RBI (66), BB, SO

Taylor Teagarden – 2-4, 2B (7), BB, SO, GIDP

Cory Vaughn – 1-4, R, SB (7), SO

Cesar Puello – 2-3, R, HR (6), 2 RBI (35), BB

Recap:

            Cory Mazzoni was great over 6 very efficient innings Friday night, but the Albuquerque Isotopes came back against the 51s bullpen late to win 9-6. Mazzoni was fun to watch, as he worked ahead in the count and mixed up his pitches very effectively throughout the start. Both of his secondary offerings were very effective against Albuquerque, and he ended up with ten strikeouts on the night. Mazzoni didn’t really make a mistake until the 6^th inning, when a first-pitch fastball was deposited over the fences in RF with two outs. He was close to getting out of his most stressful inning of the night, but instead gave back two of the three runs the 51s had tacked on in the top of the frame. Still, Las Vegas got one run right back and held a 6-3 lead heading to the bottom of the 7^th. The Isotopes would scratch together a run off of Lannan in the 7^th and then five off of Gonzalez Germen in the 8^th, on two homeruns.

51s Offense (gifs)

Flores and M∂D Stay Hot but a Wild Mazzoni Left the 51s in too Big of a Hole

Las Vegas 51s @ Tacoma Rainiers

July 23, 2014

Cory Mazzoni @ Andrew Carraway

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

W: Carraway (5-5, 5.74 ERA); L: Mazzoni (1-1, 6.75 ERA); Save: Smith (7)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Erik Goeddel (5.29 ERA) – 2.1 IP, BB, 2 SO, 4 GO: 1 FO

John Church (3.30 ERA) – 2 IP, H, 2 SO, 3 GO: 1 FO

Batters

Matt ∂en Dekker – 2-3, R, 2B (23), 2 BB, HBP

Wilmer Flores – 2-4, R, HR (13), 3 RBI (57), BB, SO

Allan Dykstra – 1-4, R, HR (13), RBI (60), BB, SO

Daniel Muno – 1-4, 2B (11), 2 SO, HBP

Juan Centeno – 2-3, 2 BB, SO

Cesar Puello – 0-3, R, BB, HBP, SB (10)

Recap:

            The Las Vegas 51s were not able to overcome a wild Cory Mazzoni Wednesday night, losing to the Rainiers for the third time this series with one game left to play. Mazzoni was wild from the start, walking leadoff hitter Abraham Almonte to start the bottom of the 1^st. He’d walk the leadoff hitter in the 3^rd and 4^th innings as well, allowing all three leadoff walks to come around and score. He looked good working a 1-2-3 2^nd inning, but was missing his spots and the strike zone the rest of the game. Offensively, Matt ∂en Dekker and Wilmer Flores continued their hot hitting, and the 51s had plenty of opportunities throughout the game, they just weren’t getting timely hits. Erik Goeddel and John Church came out of the pen and were great, shutting down the Rainiers offense over the last 4.1 innings.

The Improving Outlook of the Las Vegas 51s Rotation

With some recent promotions, and more likely on the way, the Las Vegas 51s rotation is about to be crowded, and there are some interesting young arms in the mix. Taking a look at how these starters fared in the first half and if they can help the Mets some day.

            We’ve reached the All-Star break of the 2014 season and the Mets farm system has had a very exciting and successful first half, with all of their full-season teams at least 14 games over .500 on July 15. The Las Vegas 51s success has been driven by a combination of their league-best offense (6+ R/G) and middle of the pack pitching staff. The 51s pitching staff was one of the PCL’s best when the big three of Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero and Jacob ∂eGrom were pitching effectively for them early in the season, but ∂eGrom has since graduated to the majors and Montero had an injury flare up after returning from his ML debut. Since ∂eGrom and Montero left the rotation, Carlos Alvarado, Joel Carreno and Greg Peavey have combined for a 7+ ERA over 27 appearances (Carreno was bounced between the pen and starting before hitting the DL) in their place. And the rest of the rotation has not done much better, as Thor has had a 7.00 ERA since mid-May, while Darin Gorski and Logan Verrett have had 5+ ERA’s over that time.

Fortunately, changes have already begun to be made, as Matthew Bowman and Tyler Pill were promoted shortly before the break, a reward for their improving performances throughout the first half with Binghamton – Bowman looked pretty good over his first two appearances and Tyler Pill was cruising until he suddenly couldn’t get out of the 4^th in his AAA debut. Additionally, Cory Mazzoni has progressed fine in his rehab/spring training tour of the Mets minors, and Rafael Montero started his rehab tour on July 9^th. On the sidelines, the return of Frank Viola as pitching coach could be very important for the development of some of these young arms. That is not at all a knock on previous pitching coach Tom Signore, who went back to that role with the Cyclones and has a good reputation as a pitching coach himself, but an appreciation of what Viola can offer these guys. Signore has a stronger mechanical reputation, which is important at all levels, and it sounds good to have him working with young guys like Marcos Molina (reputation for poor mechanics already) and Casey Meisner (6’ 7”, not yet 200 pounds) early on in Brooklyn. Viola has a stronger reputation for working with pitchers on their approach, something I think will especially benefit Thor right now – for example, according to Russ Langer, Viola told Thor that he needed to throw his fastball inside more.

Looking ahead to the second half, there’s a good chance all 7 pitchers covered below will make starts for the Las Vegas 51s. As of now, only Thor and Montero are guaranteed spots if healthy (and not in the majors) – Mazzoni’s spot should be safe too, once promoted, unless the Mets front office decides to move him to the pen. The rest will have to fight for their spot in the rotation, or they will end up starting back in AA or relieving in the AAA bullpen.

2014 Monday Morning Mets Minors Players of the Week

July 7-13, 2014

            Keeping track of the hottest minor leaguers in the Mets farm system.

Hitter of the Week: Travis Taijeron continued his hot hitting last week and has hit safely in 9 of 11 games (7 straight) spanning 50 PA – .349/.440/.744 with 5 doubles, 4 homeruns, 14 RBI’s and 15 SO: 5 BB (+ 2 HBP). The strikeouts continue to be a problem, but he’s making very hard contact during this stretch.

Starting Pitcher of the Week: Cory Mazzoni’s rehab tour ended and he made his return to the BMets last week, picking off right where he left off last year. Astromets Mind covered his second start and came away impressed with his Fastball/Change-up combo. Honorable mention to Marcos Molina, who dominated with 6 SO and 7 GO in 5 IP.

Relief Pitcher of the Week: Giving the nod to Shane Bay, who recorded 5/6 outs via the strikeout.

Team of the Week: The B-Mets made a huge charge in the Eastern League’s Eastern division by sweeping the one team in front of them and keeping the race for first alive.

Mazzoni Masterful as Mets Roll Over SeaWolves (with gifs!)

Binghamton Mets @ Erie SeaWolves

July 12, 2014

Cory Mazzoni @ Ryan Robowski

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Binghamton	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	5		9	16	0
Erie	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0		3	6	2

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Cory Mazzoni (W, 2-0, 4.50 ERA) – 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 9 SO, 104 Pitches (68 Strikes), 5 GO: 5 FO

Jack Leathersich (H, 4, 2.56 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 GO: 2 FO

Cody Satterwhite (1.52 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 GO: 1 FO