John Bernhardt, one of our esteemed writers at MetsMinors.Net, co-hosts a radio show called “Tip Off” every Friday morning at 8:00 AM.

John comments on the site under the moniker “B-Mets Fan” and always provides great insight – and you might also know him for his excellent work charting some of our pitching prospects in AA this season.

His guest this week is none other than myself… That’s right, I’m jumping on the show to talk about the world of blogging, my own life, and most importantly – Mets Minors…

You can tune in through many avenues to check out what looks to be a fun exchange between John, his co-host Dawg, and myself. I’ll be on from 8:15 – 9:00 AM for you early birds out there who want to give it a listen.

• You can stream the show live by going here or here. John recommends the second link.
• For those of you who want to catch it later on in the day, you can use a free service on this website to have it recorded and sent to your email for your listening convenience.
• And for those of you in the Binghamton area, you can tune in to 91.3 FM WIOX Radio.

Hope you tune in…

Notes, Quotes, Tweets, and other assorted Mets Minors news from scouring the web…

Las Vegas 51s

Officially installed as the team’s closer, Jeurys Familia picked up his first professional save in Las Vegas’ 4-3 win at Fresno on Monday night.

The big news today is that Zack Wheeler makes his second start for Las Vegas tonight at 10:05 ET as he looks to bounce back from a rough season debut. He will be opposing former Met prospect Yusmeiro Petit.

Travis d’Arnaud continues to rake, but so is John Buck for the Mets. This is going to be interesting to watch.

Binghamton Mets

After a slow offensive start, the B-Mets rallied to score seven unanswered runs to defeat Erie, 7-2, in the series opener. RHP Rafael Montero will make his second start of the season tonight after a brilliant performance on Opening Day against Akron. Montero struck out eight batters without walking any in 5.2 innings.

RHP Erik Goeddel logged the second quality start of the season by a B-Met starting pitcher as he threw 6.0 innings and gave up two runs in last night’s win. RHP Logan Verrett also went 6.0 innings in his first start of the season. So far, every Binghamton starting pitcher has gone at least 5.0 innings on the mound.

St. Lucie Mets

The Lucie rotation has been as good as advertised and keep throwing up goose eggs.

Savannah Sand Gnats

Logan Taylor tossed five scoreless innings in his Savannah debut last night, but the Gnats lost to Augusta, 6-5. Savannah’s 2-3-4 hitters Brandon Nimmo , Kevin Plawecki, and Jayce Boyd are a combined 26-56 (.464) with 4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 12 RBI, and 12 bases on balls.

The Gnats send RHP Luis Cessa (NR) to the mound against RHP Jose Reyes in game two of the three-game series Tuesday at 7:05 pm.

Mike Newman says: After scouting Nimmo, he understood the comparison in terms of size and projection. However, Nimmo’s baseball movements are more fluid and easy. When he barrels the baseball, it’s one of the prettier prospect swings scouted in person. His contact skills and present power have me thinking there’s more in the tank as he fills out too.

Newman also took some footage of Plawecki yesterday:

Brooklyn Cyclones

Monday night’s Cyclones Alum of the went to Josh Satin who went 3-for-4 for Las Vegas as the 51s beat Fresno.

The 600 box seats they put on sale for $1.50 in a promotion to honor the birthday of Ebbets Field sold out in less than three minutes. Happy Birthday Ebbets Field!

Tweet Nothings…

Just another day in paradise!

— Gavin Cecchini (@GavinCecchini2) April 9, 2013

@_robbieshields flashes more mitt than Romney. Follow him!

— Matt den Dekker (@UpperDekker) April 9, 2013

Doc just looks lost out on the mound. Hate to see it happen to such a great pitcher, but #LGM!

— John Mincone (@Jmincone) April 9, 2013

Love those blue uniforms.#LGM

— Hamilton Bennett (@Ham_Bone28) April 8, 2013

This causes concern for two reasons. The first reason being the length of his stride. When a hitter has a long stride, it changes their eye level significantly, which could cause issues at higher levels in the organization. The second reason being out on his front foot. If I were a pitcher, and saw his aggressiveness at the plate (being out on the front foot) I would never throw him a fastball. He would get a steady diet of off-speed stuff to take advantage of his aggressiveness.

An easy fix for his stride length would be to have Rosario start with a wider stance. With regards to being overly agressive at the plate, there are some drills that the hitting coach can have Rosario do which can help him keep his weight back. He will have to learn how to become a complete hitter, and accept the principles that are taught to him, then execute them. His pitch recognition will develop in time.

So while Rosario is a very exciting prospect, he is still quite raw, and has a few things he will have to work on in order to become a more complete hitter.

Other News and Notes:

• The Triple-A affiliate of the Mets, the Las Vegas 51s, recently announced they were joining a new marketing strategy called Project Brand. They will be teaming up with 159 other minor league ball clubs in an attempt to sell the overall brand of Minor League Baseball to national advertisers.  Minor League Baseball has more than 40 million fans, and this would be a big step in gaining national recognition for teams that are usually just locally marketed.
• The Mets’ minor league pitching prospects continue to put up solid efforts, and the latest one came yesterday from Logan Verrett. The right-hander was selected in the third round of the 2011 MLB draft, and spilt time between Savannah and St. Lucie in 2012. Verrett allowed two runs during the first inning of yesterday’s contest, but then finished strong and didn’t allow any runs over the next four innings of work. In 2012, he had a solid season going 5-2 with a 2.70 ERA.
• Happy Birthday to Brandon Nimmo who turns twenty years old today!

Hansel Robles, RHP

Bats: R  Throws: R
Height: 5’11″  Weight: 185 lb.
Position: Pitcher
Age: 22
MMO Top Prospect Ranking: 20 
ETA: 2014

Background:

Here is an excerpt from the recent MMO Top 25 Prospect list, where Robles was ranked No. 20:

Signed as an international free agent in August of 2008, Robles did everything in his power last season to dispel the idea that he projects to be a reliever. Arguably, Robles had the best season of any arm in the Mets system with an ERA of 1.11 over 72.2 innings, which led the New York Penn League. If you include his final start in the post season, he finished the year with 45 straight shutout innings, a WHIP of .784 (47 H/10 BB) and 0 home runs allowed. His 66 strikeouts were nothing to sneeze at, resulting in an 8.2 K/9 compared to an exceptional 1.2 BB/9 ratio. He can throw a fastball, slider, change-up, and an occasional curve ball.

Analysis:

Hansel Robles set the NY-Penn League on fire last year. He dominated hitters with a low-90s fastball, an average slider, and a below average change-up. Many project Robles to be a bullpen guy at the big league level, but he was used as a starter for the Brooklyn Cyclones last season. He was nothing short of spectacular, and blew everyone away with some impressive numbers. However, after breaking down his pitching mechanics, you will see that there is some cause for concern with regards to Robles ever being a pitcher that can withstand the rigors of being in a starting rotation. Check out the video below, where I break down his mechanics, and you will see what I mean.

As you see in the video, his mechanics lead me to believe that he will ultimately be utilized in the bullpen if, and when, he makes it to the big league level. The kid has a ton of potential, and if he can straighten out his mechanics, he will continue to dominate hitters as he moves up through the system. Right now, the velocity on his fastball varies from 90-95mph. The major reason for the huge discrepancy in speed is because of his mechanics. There also has to be concern that the strain he puts on his arm could potentially lead to future arm injuries, so it will be prudent to try and work out the kinks before that happens.

As I pointed out in the video, he uses his arm and upper body to generate his velocity. By using his lower half more, and driving towards the plate, he could generate more consistent velocity and save his arm a lot of stress. His incomplete follow through is also generating additional strain on his arm.

Aside from the mechanical deficiencies, Robles future seems bright. If you throw 94mph, you always have a bright future. He generates great velocity, and after improvements in his mechanics, he will not only improve the consistency of that velocity, but also have better command of his secondary pitches. With an arm as live as his, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if he ended up in the bullpen, which is where I think he will eventually end up and flourish.

For more Mets minor league and prospect coverage, you can follow me on Twitter @FirstPitchMitch.

After the trade sending R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays, I started thinking that the Mets really have never developed a top-notch catcher out of their minor league system.

Todd Hundley is closest thing to being a productive home-grown catcher, which isn’t exactly saying much.

Of course, the most productive catchers in team history, Gary Carter and Mike Piazza, were acquired via trade.

Now that the Mets’ catching future in the hands of Travis d’Arnaud, hopefully he can change that trend. Though the Mets didn’t draft him, he will at some point make his Major League debut with the Amzain’s.

Then I also got to thinking: Not only have the Mets really never developed a strong catcher, but they also really have struggled in developing any sort of hitters from their system.

Scouts will say that pitching and defense win championships, but you have to score some runs as well.

The Mets have actually been known in their history to have all sorts of good pitching prospects but not much hitting.

Really the bulk of the Mets’ strong hitters have been acquired via trade or free agency: Piazza, Carter, Keith Hernandez, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Howard Johnson, Cliff Floyd, etc.

I looked back in Mets’ MLB Draft history to see if any of their offensive-minded draft picks ever made it big, and I came up with just two: Darryl Strawberry and David Wright.

That’s right, in all the years of drafting players, they’ve only developed two draft picks into superstar Major Leaguers.

Sure, they drafted role players like Lee Mazzilli, Mookie Wilson, Wally Backman and Lenny Dykstra, but I’m talking about face-of-the-franchise type players.

Now along the way, there have been players that have signed as minor league free agents that became good Major Leaguers, including Cleon Jones, Edgardo Alfonzo and Jose Reyes.

But even so, five players in the history of the franchise? That’s weak.

But on the pitching side, the Mets have been more successful. They drafted Nolan Ryan, Jim McAndrew, Jon Matlack, Dwight Gooden, Bobby J. Jones and Scott Kazmir.

Though not all these pitchers had their success with the Mets (especially Ryan), at least the Mets saw the talent in these arms.

And of course, the Mets signed and developed amateur free agents named Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman.

Currently, guys like Jon Niese and Matt Harvey can continue the trend of strong pitching prospects panning out, and Zack Wheeler (though acquired by the Giants) isn’t too far behind.

Maybe the problem with the Mets organization is that the team has focused so much on developing young pitching that the hitters have suffered. Or maybe the scouts are not taking the proper time to assess young hitters while breaking down pitchers.

Keep in mind, this is an organization that used first round draft picks on Lastings Milledge, Jason Tyner and Terrence Long. Not exactly offensive-minded players.

Maybe this trend will be put to rest if Ike Davis and d’Arnaud develop into the hitters that they are projected to be. But even so, it’s something to be considered.

As it stands, even if Mets’ pitching only allows one run per game, the Mets’ offense will struggle matching that.

You need hitters, especially a few power hitters, in this league, and that’s just something the Mets do not develop well in their minor league system.