Welcome to the second edition of Who’s Hot, Who’s Not. This week was a very intriguing one for followers of the Mets minor league system. We saw the rise of two top pitching prospects, and the fall of one who had been absolutely dominant. We also saw Kevin Plawecki continue to show why the Mets made him a first-round pick last year. He leads off our Hot List… Who’s Hot   Kevin Plawecki, C (SAV): Plawecki [...]

St. Lucie 1, Daytona 0 If you like good pitching as much as I do, then you can understand why I have little reason to dislike Domingo Tapia. The young hurler was dominant again on Sunday, where he tossed six shutout frames while allowing just two hits. He walked three and struck out four in what can only be looked at as yet another step in the right direction for the young man. Of course, [...]

Las Vegas 6, Sacramento 2 Zack Wheeler took the hill yesterday afternoon against the River Cats and was firing on all cylinders as he made quick work of Sacramento, cruising to his second victory on the season. Wheeler took the mound looking to build off of his solid outing against the Reno Aces in which he struck out eight over 6 2/3 innings back on April 30th. This time, the Mets top prospect went six shutout frames allowing just [...]

Binghamton 6, Harrisburg 1 The Binghamton Mets launched a season-high three home runs and struck out a season-high fifteen Harrisburg Senators in a 6-1 victory at Metro Bank Park on Sunday afternoon. Binghamton used a ten-hit attack to secure their third series win of the season. B-Met third baseman Josh Rodriguez set the tone early. After Danny Muno worked out his team-leading 21st walk of the season in the first against Harrisburg starter Caleb Clay, [...]

“Lucas Duda is the preeminent example of the Mets’ organizational offensive philosophy of patience and power,” writes Jorge Castillo of the Star-Ledger. The left fielder’s .417 on-base percentage was 11th in the majors entering play Saturday and his .538 slugging percentage ranked in the top 30. But his remarkable selectivity could also be detrimental on a team that relies on the slugger to drive in runs from the middle of the order. In 24 plate [...]

This game had a definite carnival atmosphere feel to it as the Atlanta Braves beat the Mets by the score of 9-4 to split the rain-shortened two-game series at Turner Field. What a comedy of errors for the Mets even though the box score would suggest a clean game. I hate sad stories and bad endings so this will be short and sweet bitter. Jon Niese struggled from the word go and while it looks like he [...]

The concept of fault lines in the media is something we all witness on a daily basis, but rarely recognize. Fault lines are a tool that help shape the perception of ourselves, others and events around us. The ones most are familiar with are culture and gender, but they can also contain factors of age, socioeconomic status and geographical location of the subject. Some of these categories can help us in understanding the enigma that is Jordany [...]

Starting Lineup Ruben Tejada, SS Daniel Murphy, 2B David Wright, 3B Lucas Duda, LF John Buck, C Ike Davis, 1B Marlon Byrd, RF Jordany Valdespin, CF Jonathon Niese, LHP Game Notes The Mets earned their first win in Atlanta when trailing in the ninth inning since September 18, 1993. Friday night David Wright tied the game with a solo home run in the ninth before New York plated two runs in the 10th. In 1993, [...]

As the title says, the R.A. Dickey deal just keeps looking better and better for Sandy Alderson and the Mets – and that’s with the signature piece to the deal, Travis d’Arnaud, idling on the disabled list for nearly a month. A post by Josh Chapdelaine of Around Citi brought to my attention just how bad things are going for the reigning Cy Young this season. “The knuckleballer racked up his fifth loss of the [...]

Jordany Valdespin was initially slated not to start against LHP Chris Sale on Tuesday according to Terry Collins and as reported by Adam Rubin of ESPN New York. That’s irrelevant now that Sale was moved up to pitch on Monday and will not pitch against the Mets after all. Michael Baron of MetsBlog pointed out that against left-handed pitching, Valdespin is hitting just .182 with a .545 OPS. But what he failed to mention was that he only has [...]

Savannah 9, Hickory 2 Kevin Plawecki is an absolute monster and Rainy Lara pitched an excellent game. Should I go on? Lara started the game for the Sand Gnats with the organizational ERA lead – and spoiler alert, he kept that title by the end of the game. He allowed merely an unearned run over seven spectacular innings, where he allowed just four hits and struck out six. Eudy Pina botched a play to allow [...]