Young Pitching Prospects Show Promise Early

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• SFloridaMetsFan April 18, 2011 at 4:49 pm

  Hey dont forget Brad Holt. It looks like hes gotten over whatever happened to him last year.
• Metstheory22 April 18, 2011 at 5:19 pm

  The good thing with Mejia is he has a taste of the big leagues. He should be ready when he does come back up.
  • chinorules65 April 19, 2011 at 12:13 am

    oh so now thats a good thing.
    • Metstheory22 April 19, 2011 at 11:01 am

      NO, it was not smart to have him here last year at all. At least he had a taste of what it takes to be up here, which is what I meant above post. A little experience might help when he comes back up.
      • Pete April 19, 2011 at 12:12 pm

        Not if the “experience” causes him to waste an entire season of development, which it did.
  • Pete April 19, 2011 at 9:42 am

    No matter what kind of spin you want to put on it man, bringing Mejia to the big leagues last year was one of the stupidest things ever done in the history of baseball. But then it was the idea of Jerry Manuel, so what do you expect?
• kevin April 18, 2011 at 6:14 pm

  Realistically, lets say you were to assign each of these pitchers a number between 1-5 that represents what type of ceiling they have as major league pitchers down the road. Are any of them a potential #1 pitcher?
  • SFloridaMetsFan April 19, 2011 at 1:20 am

    They all are potential # 1′s
    • kevin April 19, 2011 at 9:07 am

      Really? I figured Mejia probably was because his stuff is so good even though he’s unpolished. But to have three guys like this potentially on there way to the Mets rotation in a year or so is kind of exciting.
      • Dan Valis April 19, 2011 at 5:13 pm

        All 3 of these guys have the talent to be top-mid rotation starters. We do not know enough about Harvey to make a real educated call on that, but his 1st round draft status pegs him with top of the rotation expectations.

        Mejia has the stuff to be a top guy, but with his struggles to throw strikes at times, that puts him as more of a 2-3. If he harnesses his secondary pitches and can consistently throw them for strikes watch out. As for Familia he is still an unknown at this point considering his struggles in Single-A last year. He’s a tough call at this point, need to see more from him, we will get a better idea as this season goes along.
• NickDanger April 18, 2011 at 5:20 pm

  Was at Digital Domain Park yesterday, Matt Harvey and the whole Met staff looked great.
  Den Dekker tripled in 2 and scored on the throwing error. I’m curious what your thoughts are about Binghamton’s Mark Cohoon, is he a top lefty prospect?
  • Pete April 19, 2011 at 9:30 am

    Yes, the lefthanded Cohoon is absolutely a prospect now. He was the organization’s pitcher of the year last year, and has put up excellent numbers every step of the way. When he was promoted to Bingy last season, he was shakey in his first four starts, then made the necessary adjustments to get AA hitters out, and he was awesome the rest of the way. He has picked up right where he left off this year, and if he continues to do what he has always done, he should be promoted to AAA by mid season. I see Cohoon as the Mets fifth starter by the end of the 2012 season. Another pitcher to watch, although a righty, who has gotten practically no fanfare yet he continues to rise, is Chris Schwinden. Every year he starts out as his teams sixth starter out of ST. Every year he battles his way into a regular rotation spot. And every year he becomes one of his team’s best starters. Recently, he earned his first call-up to AAA, and in his first game start, he pitched five innings of two hit, one run ball, with 9 K’s. Command is Schwinden’s game, and I doubt he will be far from NY for very long now.
• t agee April 18, 2011 at 8:07 pm

  This is the best Met news since Zito turned us down. A staff including Mejia, Harvey, Familia, Gee, Cohoon, Holt, Matz, Urbina, Owens and whoever else would be awesome. Realistically not all of them will succeed or even get up here but the results down in the minors have been terrific on the mound so far and I’d bet that a few of them will do more than just make it here.
  • Des April 18, 2011 at 9:50 pm

    Barry Zito is earning $18.5 million this year in the fourth year of a seven-year contract that guarantees him $126 million. Since joining the Giants for the 2007 season, Zito is 40-58 with a 4.47 ERA. Going forward, one or two of these kids will likely have a better MLB record in 2012 than megabucks Zito.
• Hitman April 18, 2011 at 11:29 pm

  Keep your eye on a kid by the name of Yohan Almonte, who’s pitching in Savannah right now. Last year, he DOMINATED in Brooklyn and he’s getting off to a good start in Savannah.

  2 GS, 1-1, 2.25 ERA, 12.0 IP, 9 Ks, 3 ER, 8 H, 0.750 WHIP.

  I have a feeling Almonte will be here within the next year.
  • Pete April 19, 2011 at 9:38 am

    I saw him pitch for Brooklyn last year. You are right about him being a pitcher to watch, along with the Urbina kid. But no way will he be ready for the bigs within the next year. Absolutely no way. He is still very very young, and very raw. His frame is small and slight and he will benefit from adding some bulk, as he physically matures. In the game I saw, he was struggling with command, and he got visibly upset with himself. His body language made it clear that he is not poised at all when things are not going well. And obviously his command is not there yet if he was pitching in the NY Penn League last year. But give this kid three more years in the minors, and you are going to have a top of the rotation guy at Citi.
  • t agee April 19, 2011 at 1:14 pm

    Hitman. Savannah to the Majors in 1 year? That’s WAY too quick. Let him dominate Savannah, the FSL and AA first.

    Maybe a mid season promotion to St. Lucie and a full year in AA and another in AAA with a September 2013 call up.
• Metsie April 19, 2011 at 10:30 am

  We need to understand that while these guys are doing well you have to also take into account WHERE they are doing well.

  A Power pitcher like Mejia will always do well in the Minors because of his fastball but in the Majors he will need more than just his power to succeed.

  The other two are in the lower A tiers right now where they should be doing what they are doing. Once promoted those numbers will not hold up in say AAA or in the Majors.

  They need a bit more time and I expect once the GM decides to go for it on 4th and 50 or Punt they will be moved up the ladder.

  It’s encouraging to see them do well and we will probably see them make the rotation within the next 3 years. The question is will there be any dangerous hitters or good fielders behind them so they don’t fail once they get here.
  • Pete April 19, 2011 at 12:13 pm

    You know absolutely nothing.
    • Metsie April 19, 2011 at 12:42 pm

      Apparently more than you since I can elaborate on my opinions and all you can do is contradict and run!

      So school me smart guy!
  • Dan Valis April 19, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    very well said, but any positive news is good news with all of the negativity around this club. It’s been a while since this franchise has had so many promising young pitchers in the minors.