Mets Minors MiLB.tv Series Preview: Trenton Thunder @ Binghamton Mets

Dates: June 2-4, 2015

Current Record: 26-24, 5.5 Games behind New Britain

Probables

All times are EST

Tuesday at 6:35 PM

Eric Wooten (0-1, 7.43 ERA, 4.23 FIP, 17.2 K%: 10.9 BB%, 0.68 HR/9)

@ Rainy Lara (3-2, 3.57 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 18.2 K%: 6.5 BB%, 0.67 HR/9)

Wednesday at 6:35 PM

Miguel Sulbaran (3-3, 4.05 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 14.8 K%: 7.4 BB%, 0.39 HR/9)

@ Gabriel Ynoa (2-3, 4.72 ERA, 4.86 FIP, 12.3 K%: 8.1 BB%, 0.94 HR/9)

Thursday at 6:35 PM

Caleb Smith (2-3, 5.03 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 13.8 K%: 11.3 BB%)

@ Luis Cessa (4-3, 3.09 ERA, 2.76 FIP, 18.3 K%: 5.4 BB%, 0.21 HR/9)

Last series for B-Mets

Lost 2 out of 3 in Altoona: L 2-1, L 13-4, W 5-3

Top prospects for opposing teams

Organizational rankings are from the 2015 Baseball America Prospect Handbook

Dom Smith Discusses His Resurgence at the Plate

Mets 1B prospect Dominic Smith has been one of the hottest hitters in the farm system over the past three weeks, improving his slash line from .143/.194/.159 at its worst (on May 8^th) to .267/.308/.393 before Tuesday’s game. He discussed his improvements in a pre-game interview with St. Lucie broadcaster Adam Mac before Monday’s game.

            Dominic Smith has had a wild pro career since being taken out of High School with the 11^th overall pick in the 2013 draft. Still just 19 until June 15^th, Smith really impressed in Rookie ball during the 2013 season, which led to his inclusion on Baseball America’s pre-2014 top-100 prospect list, and a promotion to Savannah to start the 2014 season. Unfortunately, he hit more homeruns in his 51 games of rookie ball (3) than he has in 165 games between the SAL and the FSL since (2). You can make some excuses for his poor HR production so far – the advanced competition he’s faced since the start of the 2014 season (he hasn’t faced a pitcher younger than him in either season) or the home parks he plays in (homeruns are tough to hit out to RF at both Grayson Stadium and Tradition Field) – but ultimately, he has yet to show the in-game power that a 1B prospect needs. Before we get to the quotes, let’s take a quick peek at his recent surge.

Mets Minor League Daily – June 2, 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, the Mets minors May stat report, which includes May stats for all active minor leaguers, and the hottest minor leaguers from the final week of May here.

            Baseball America writer Josh Norris discussed the Mets Matz situation, with quotes from Frank Viola.

            Dominic Smith discussed his resurgence before Monday’s game, and I transcribed it here.

            

Minor Games

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

51s Offense Offensive in Nashville, Sounds Complete the Sweep

Las Vegas 51s @ Nashville Sounds

June 1, 2015

Tyler Pill @ Zach Neal

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

W: Neal (4-0, 1.40 ERA); L: Pill (1-3, 6.96 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Tyler Pill – 7 IP, 9 H, 5 R, BB, 3 SO, 2 HR, 94 Pitches (60 Strikes), 3 GO: 11 FO

Cody Satterwhite (6.38 ERA) – 1 IP, SO, 1 GO

Batters

Matt Reynolds – 1-4, 2B (17), RBI (29)

Jayce Boyd – 1-4, SO

Cory Vaughn – 1-2, R, BB, SO

Wilfredo Tovar – 2-3

Recap

            The 51s futility on offense continued Monday night, as their scoreless streak reached 22 innings before a double down the RF line gave them their only run of the game in the 8^th. Over the first 5 innings, Tyler Pill was throwing a strong game, with only one bad pitch responsible for putting him behind 2-0 – he grooved one to lefty Joey Wendle in the 3^rd. He’d allow 3 runs over the next two frames, one of which came on a solo blast from Matt Carson leading off the 7^th, putting the 51s in a 5-0 hole. With the way the 51s offense has been struggling lately, it 5 runs seemed as insurmountable as 25. Cody Satterwhite came in for a perfect 8^th, making his short appearance Saturday night look more like a blip than a return to his struggling ways – he had thrown 8 scoreless innings over his 5 previous appearances, with 12 K: 1 BB and 4 singles allowed during that time.

            Check out more from this game below. Las Vegas heads to Memphis Tuesday night, with Matt Bowman scheduled to start in the opener at 8:05 PM. The 51s are riding a 6-game losing streak into this series, and it’s not clear when help is going to trickle up from below.

Scoring Highlights

Mets Series in Review: vs. Marlins

Ruben was definitely for Scuba this past weekend

Last Series

Dates: May 29-31, 2015

Results: Lose 2 of 3

 L 4-3, L 9-5, W 4-3

Current Record: 28-23, ½ Games behind Washington

MVMet: RUBEN! Tejada has earned himself another shot at a starter's job in Terry's mind, and it's playing 3B while Daniel Murphy stays at 2B... seriously? Great series though.

LVMet: Kevin Plawecki has not adjusted to the majors yet, but he is getting some valuable experience at this level.

Statistics

Mets Minors May Stat Recap

Remember when everyone was upset with this pick?

Hitter of Month: Gavin Cecchini continued his breakout 2015 with the best month of the Mets top prospects. He is controlling the strike zone, and punishing only the pitches he wants to hit.

Starting Pitcher of the Month: Matz and Meisner make the headlines, but Brad Wieck was a strikeout machine starting for the Savannah in May, with 37 of 99 batters faced retired via the K.

Relief Pitcher of the Month: If it weren't for walks, FSL batters might never reach against St. Lucie closer Akeel Morris, who should be on his way to Binghamton soon.

Team of the Month: The Sand Gnats got a boost offensively from the addition of Eudor Garcia, but their starting pitching helped guide them to the best record in the system

*Players listed on the roster they finished the month with

Mets Minor League Daily – June 1, 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. Check out the Mets minors players of the week from last week. Full prospect stat sheet from May here.

            Will Musto was there for Steven Matz’s start in Nashville, and talked to both Matz and Frank Viola after the game.

            Joe DeMayo interviewed Jim Callis, discussing the state of the Mets farm and the upcoming MLB draft.

            Mets prospect Dominic Smith has won the FSL player of the week award.

Minor Games

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

2015 Monday Morning Mets Minors Players of the Week

What a soft and raw talent. Image from MiLB

May 25-31, 2015

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

Hitter of the Week: Aderlin Rodriguez had a huge week, as nearly every hit went for extra bases. The former top prospect has been working with the highly regarded B-Mets hitting coach Luis Natera, and they have been focusing on Aderlin zoning pitches (fastballs), per B-Mets announcer Tim Heiman.

Starting Pitcher of the Week: Several worthy options here, but how do I not go with the top stud Steven Matz, even if he was limited to less than 80 pitches in both of his starts. Matz had been pitching so well that the workload was piling up too quickly, and the Mets want to save his bullets for September (and hopefully October), so I totally approve of this strategy.

Relief Pitcher of the Week: Casey Delgado gets the award for a very good first appearance in minor league ball, and he gets it over the rehabbing Vic Black for actually being a minor leaguer.

Team of the Week: The Sand Gnats had a better overall record, but St. Lucie won their way back to .500, leaving Savannah the only Mets franchise currently below .500.

Previous weeks: 4/9-19, 4/20-26, 4/27-5/3, 5/4-10, 5/11-17, 5/18-24

Conforto Provides the Big Hit, Black with a Scoreless 8th for the B-Mets

Binghamton Mets @ Altoona Curve

May 31, 2015

Seth Lugo @ Zach Dodson

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

W: Koch (3-2, 3.23 ERA); L: Barrios (0-1, 1.37 ERA); S: Sewald (9, 1.46 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Seth Lugo (2.82 ERA) – 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, HR, 85 Pitches (53 Strikes), 7 GO: 4 FO

Matt Koch – 1 IP, 2 GO

Vic Black (H, 1, 0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Paul Sewald – 1 IP, SO, 1 FO

Batters

Yeixon Ruiz – 1-5, R, 2 SO

Gavin Cecchini – 2-4

Michael Conforto – 1-3, R, 3B (1), RBI (1), BB, SO

Aderlin Rodriguez – 3-4, 2 R, 2 HR (6), 2 RBI (25)

Recap

            The B-Mets got another quality start from the surprise story of the Mets farm system, Seth Lugo, and a game-tying triple from the newly promoted Michael Conforto, as they salvaged a win in the finale against the Curve. Lugo started out great, retiring the first 10 Curve batters in a row before gifting Ngoepe a walk in the 4^th. He’d induce a groundout to Aderlin from Josh Bell to follow, but the B-Mets couldn’t complete the 3-6-1 double play, as Cecchini’s throw was a little low, and Lugo was late to cover. Dan Gamache followed with his third blast of the year, giving the Curve a 2-1 lead. They’d extend their lead when three straight reached against Lugo in the 6^th, but Seth limited the damage to just one more run. Aderlin Rodriguez had a huge day at the plate, providing the first two runs with balls he deposited over the wall, and nearly adding more RBI’s in the 8^th, but he’d be robbed by a full extension leap from SS Gift Ngoepe. Vic Black came in for the bottom of the 8^th looking to protect the newly earned lead, and he’d throw up a scoreless frame despite walking the leadoff man, who would end up on 3B. B-Mets closer Paul Sewald worked a perfect 9^th, sandwiching a strikeout with a pair of fly outs to Eudy Pina in RF.

            The B-Mets get Monday off to rest and prepare for their 3-game home series against the rival Trenton Thunder this week – aka, the Yankees AA organization. Rainy Lara is scheduled to go in the opener on Tuesday, which will be a 6:35 PM start (as all 3 games are).

Scoring Highlights

Matz Good, but Zito Better for Nashville

Las Vegas 51s @ Nashville Sounds

May 31, 2015

Steven Matz @ Barry Zito

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

W: Zito (3-4, 4.12 ERA); L: Matz (6-3, 1.98 ERA); Save: Alvarez (3, 5.40 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Steven Matz – 5 IP, 4 H, R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 79 Pitches (50 Strikes), 8 GO: 2 FO

John Church (3.54 ERA) – 2 IP, SO, 2 GO: 1 FO

Zack Thornton (3.52 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 GO: 1 FO

Batters

Jayce Boyd – 1-2, BB, CS

Cory Vaughn – 1-3, SO

Recap

            The 51s came out on the short end of a classic duel of lefties Sunday afternoon in Nashville, as former major league ace Barry Zito was just a little sharper than current PCL ace Steven Matz. It was a matchup of hard vs. soft, young vs. old, future vs. past… and it did not fail to deliver. Matz was definitely not at his sharpest throughout the start, as he was a little wild at times with his fastball, and got zero swinging strikes with his curveball (although he dropped in a few nice ones). The Sounds would jump on Matz for a run in the 1^st after he allowed a 2-out walk, as Nate Freiman lined an RBI double into RF to bring Ryan Roberts home from 1B. The 51s offense got absolutely nothing going, managing only two singles throughout the start. Matz settled in nicely after the 1^st, working around some poor defense behind him. He’d leave after only 5 IP and 77 strikes, but that’s more about innings/pitches conservation than any problem/pending promotion for Matz. John Church and Zack Thornton took over from the pen and deliver 3 perfect innings, but Las Vegas couldn’t scratch out a tying run.

            Check out more from this start below. The 51s wrap this series up Monday night at 8 PM, with Tyler Pill scheduled to pitch for Las Vegas.

Scoring Highlights