Keep it up, kid. You’ll see AA soon…

Noah Syndergaard took the hill for the St. Lucie Mets tonight, and continued to dominate hitters at the Single-A level. He was bringing 96 mph heat, and mixing in his change-up and curve ball all night. The curve ball was the sharpest it’s looked all year, as he snapped off hook after hook that either left hitters frozen in their stance, or left them swinging wildly like they were trying to hit mosquitoes out of the sky.

This was the kind of performance I was waiting to see from Syndergaard, whose main flaw seemed to be that his off-speed pitches needed more development before the season started. Tonight, he used them confidently — they were sharp, and they were getting hitters out.

On the night, Syndergaard struck out ten hitters in 6.2 innings of work, and walked none. That looks like a Rafael Montero stat line plus four extra strikeouts. He gave up two runs on seven hits, a couple of which were infield hits, but the ten strike outs were the most this season for the young fire-baller.

St. Lucie would go on to lose this game, 3-2, after T.J. Chism allowed a two-out RBI double that scored a runner left on base by Randy Fontanez for a Brevard Country walk-off win. Rylan Sandoval was responsible for the two St. Lucie runs, with a sixth inning two-run single.

Syndergaard is getting closer and closer to Double-A, and is the clear cut favorite to be the Mets No. 1 prospect once Zack Wheeler is promoted. As of right now, I would slot Syndergaard behind Wheeler as the No. 2 prospect in the organization. I’m starting to believe that he was the key addition from the R.A. Dickey trade, and not Travis d’Arnaud.

If I had to rank my top five prospects in the Mets organization now, they would be Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud, Rafael Montero and Brandon Nimmo. It’s nice to imagine a future rotation that includes Matt Harvey, Wheeler, Syndergaard and Montero. Barring injuries, if these guys remain on track, good times are right around the corner for Mets fans.

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas had the night off.
• Binghamton dropped Akron, 9-4.
• St. Lucie shot themselves in the foot against Brevard County, 4-3.
• Savannah lost to Charleston, 6-3. 
  

Prospect Pipeline

• Zack Wheeler‘s MRI didn’t show any structural damage, but one has to wonder what could have cause so much inflammation in his throwing shoulder, that he would need a cortisone shot. Hopefully this isn’t a situation where the cortisone masks the pain and inflammation while the root cause of the inflammation does not get addressed. I don’t know if we should breathe a sigh of relief, or continue to hold our breath.
• Jacob deGrom pitched his best game since being called up to Binghamton. He pitched seven solid innings last night, striking out six and walking one.
• Cesar Puello has really exploded offensively the past ten games. Four out of his five home runs have come during that span, and almost half of his RBI (10 out of his 22). He now has his season average up to .288 and is showing why he is one of the Mets top twenty prospects.
• Jayce Boyd continues to impress. He had two doubles in yesterday’s and raised his average to .356 on the year. An even more impressive stat is his 23 walks on the year to his 15 strikeouts. The kid is a professional hitter and will be manning first base at Citi Field within the next couple of years. While there has been a lot of buzz about Kevin Plawecki in Savannah this season, Boyd has been just as good.
• Alex Panteliodis has been solid since coming off the disabled list, and his start was ruined by five St. Lucie errors last night. Since joining St. Lucie, he has pitched 16 innings, striking out 13 hitters and only walking two.
• Noah Syndergaard takes the hill for St. Lucie tonight at 6:35 PM. I will be tweeting and have a recap of his performance up on MMO immediately following the game. You can follow me on Twitter here.

Stat Line of the Day

Cesar Puello: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 R

Transactions

None.

Quote of the Day

Terry Collins after hearing the news about Zack Wheeler:

“I’m very happy and relieved. We’ve got to protect ourselves sometimes. When we get bad news, you can’t have an air of ‘woe-is-us’ kind of an attitude. I was certainly very worried. Anytime you have a kid with that kind of talent, when they talk about arm stuff, especially when they talk about the shoulder area, it scares you to death. So it’s great news.”

Tweet of the Day

Gnat Stat of the Day: Over 50% of Catcher @kplawecki26‘s 49 hits have gone for extra bases! That includes 5 HR & a league-leading 19 doubles

— Savannah Sand Gnats(@gnatsbaseball) May 15, 2013

Keep it up, kid….We’ll see you in Bingo very soon…

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas toppled Round Rock, 6-5. 
• Binghamton was no-hit by and dropped to Harrisburg, 6-1. 
• St. Lucie destroyed Palm Beach, 17-1. 
• Savannah topped Rome, 3-1. 

Prospect Pipeline

• Word on the street is that Zack Wheeler could be making his major league debut very soon…like in two more weeks. “Personally, I think if he has a couple of more starts like his last start he’ll be headed to the big leagues, and rightfully so,” Backman told Las Vegas’ ESPN radio affiliate. It starting to look like the Mets are looking for any excuse to promote Wheeler at this point. I recently stated that if Wheeler were called up, he would instantly be better than 80 percent of major league pitchers based on his stuff alone. The question was never about whether or not Wheeler’s pitches needed more development, but whether or not he can control the strike zone.
• Here’s my prediction for what is going to go down with player movement based on the recent talk of Wheeler’s promotion. This is all dependent on Wheeler being promoted by the end of May. Up to fill Wheeler’s spot in Triple-A will be Rafael Montero, who has looked absolutely phenomenal all season aside from one bad start. Filling in for Montero with Binghamton will be Noah Syndergaard, who continues to dominate lower level hitters.
• Speaking of Syndergaard, he keeps getting better with every start. This guy is clearly going to be the Mets’ No. 1 prospect sooner rather than later. When Wheeler gets promoted, Syndergaard will jump over Travis d’Arnaud as the team’s top prospect.
• Binghamton getting no-hit last night also snapped Cesar Puello‘s 15 game hitting streak. It had been the longest in the minor leagues this year.
• Matt Reynolds is quietly having a solid season. Another polished college hitter in the Mets organization, drafted out of the University of Arkansas, he skipped right past short-season A-ball and started his professional career with Savannah. The native of Tulsa, Okla. hit .259/.335/.367 in 42 games for the Sand Gnats after batting .323 with a .427 on-base percentage in his junior season with the Razorbacks. Reynolds was again rapidly advanced this off-season to the Florida State League, where after Thursday’s output, he now sports a .277/.356/.412 line in 31 games for St. Lucie. “I was recognizing pitches a lot better, my swing felt a lot shorter and quicker and more compact. Those are the things I’ve been working on,” he said. “I feel like that was one of my most complete games. I pulled a ball down the left-field line, hit a ball into left center, hit the triple to right center and lined out another time to right field, so I was using all the parts of the field. My swing felt great.”

Stat Lines of the Day

Noah Syndergaard: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 7 K

Matt Reynolds: 3-for-5, 2 2B, 1 3B, 5 RBI, 2 R

Transactions

Maikis De La Cruz assigned to Savannah Sand Gnats from Brooklyn Cyclones as a result of Brandon Nimmo hitting the DL, which happened on Tuesday May 7th as we reported and not Thursday May 9th as was misreported.

Quote of the Day

Kevin Plawecki regarding his hot start:

“I’ve felt great since reporting to Spring Training after working out all offseason at Purdue,” Plawecki said. “I think the consistency has helped me as much as anything, just doing things over and over. I’ve been focusing on hitting balls in the zone and being consistent at the plate with my approach while making sure my hands and my feet are all working together.”

“Sometimes my hands can get a little too quick and I end up using my shoulders more than I should,” Plawecki said. “I’ve worked hard to make sure everything is working in synch. I’ve definitely been hitting the ball a lot better than I did last year, and it all gets back to being consistent.”

Photo of the Day

Happy Birthday to my daughter and assistant Alina, who turns two today!

St. Lucie 17, Palm Beach 1

Do not be alarmed…you are not dreaming. This actually did happen. Noah Syndergaard was responsible for stifling the Palm Beach bats with some superb pitching while the St. Lucie offense combined for sixteen hits and a crooked seventeen runs.

So let’s give Syndergaard his time in the sun here. This young man seems to be pitching with a chip on his shoulder every time he takes the mound… I almost feel like he is angry at Toronto for trading him and he is setting out to be an ace-caliber pitcher – which is fine by me. He followed up a string of great starts with yet another dominating performance. He allowed just one run off four hits and a walk across seven innings, where he struck out seven and is quickly becoming one of my favorite prospects in our entire organization.

Syndergaard retired 15 consecutive batters after allowing a leadoff double in the first. He allowed just two runners on base through the first six innings. If you were to take away the seventh inning from this start, he would have allowed one hit and zero runs over six innings with six strikeouts to boot. If you’re not impressed by the Synder man’s recent stretch of pitching, you might need to try a new sport. This is his fourth consecutive start lasting at least six innings and allowing one run or less.

A pitcher always has an easier day with run support, though, so a lead that widened to 16-0 at one point must have helped his cause. Every starter except Aderlin Rodriguez (0-for-6, yeesh) had a hit, and all but two had an RBI. Matt Reynolds was a god of baseball war at the plate, where he had three hits and five RBIs. Cam Maron also had a nice day at the ballpark, calling a great game and driving home two runs. St. Lucie was 8-for-24 as a team with RISP.

Final tip of my hat here goes to T.J. Chism, who pitched the last two innings of the game for St. Lucie without allowing a run.

Key Stats

Robbie Shields: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R, 1 BB

Matt Reynolds: 3-for-5, 2 2B, 1 3B, 5 RBI, 2 R

Dustin Lawley: 1-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 BB

Travis Taijeron: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 1 BB

Cam Maron: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R

Gilbert Gomez: 3-for-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB

Noah Syndergaard: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 7 K

T.J. Chism: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K

The Mets used their first-round pick last year on shortstop Gavin Cecchini.

Last month, I had the chance to conduct an email interview with John Sickels of the well-known minor league blog, Minor League Ball. Sickels worked for ESPN many years ago, where he had his own column about minor league baseball. Here is some of what we talked about:

Q: Were the Mets too conservative with the Gavin Cecchini selection?

A: I thought Cecchini was a slight overdraft but I didn’t really think that about Nimmo. By slight, I think he was more of a late first round guy rather than 12 th overall, but that’s my opinion and obviously the Mets disagreed. Their thinking is that a premium defensive shortstop with excellent makeup and a chance to be at least a decent hitter is not easy to find. As with Nimmo, Cecchini is very young of course, just a college freshman age-wise, so it is way too soon to know who is right.

Q: What do you think of the prospects the Mets got for R.A. Dickey?

A: I thought they did well. D’Arnaud has the offensive and defensive ability to be an All-Star catcher, and at least a solid long-term regular. He just needs to stay healthy. I love Syndergaard, who has made a lot of progress with his secondary pitches. He could be a top of the rotation pitcher. They are both elite prospects.

Q: Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia — bullpen or rotation?

A: Bullpen in both cases. I used to think that Familia might make it as a starter, but at this point I think his command and mechanical problems make him a better fit in the pen.

Q: Vicente Lupo wowed in the Dominican Summer League with a .343/.500/.608 slash line and ten home runs over just 65 games. He is a bit of a mystery to many Mets fans. What do you know about him?

A: Well Lupo was a big-bonus guy out of Venezuela who was supposed to hit for power and average. He was terrible in 2011, but supposedly he was sick most of the summer and not at full strength. As you know, he was outstanding last year, more in keeping with the original reports. However, Dominican Summer League performance is not very predictive, so at this point I think we just have to wait and see.

Q: Will changing Triple-A affiliates from Buffalo to Las Vegas have any impact on player development?

A: Las Vegas is an extreme hitters park in a pro-offense league. In one sense, it can be a useful trial-by-fire thing for for pitchers: if you can survive in Vegas, you are better-prepared mentally and emotionally for the major leagues. On the other hand, it does introduce complications in player development for players on both sides of the ball. Breaking pitches don’t act the same. Hitters can get into bad habits that don’t harm them statistically in Vegas, but can come back to haunt them in the majors.

Read more of Sickels’ work at Minor League Ball.

Kevin Plawecki is leading the South Atlantic League in hitting.

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 continues to rake and prove that he is too advanced for the South Atlantic League. In a stadium  in which hits are hard to come by, Plawecki has hit the cover off the ball, and put up very good power numbers. This week, he hit .438 with a .500 On-Base Percentage and slugged .750. He is currently leading the league in average, On-Base Percentage, Slugging, doubles, and total bases.
• Noah Syndergaard, RHP (STL): After giving up seven runs against Fort Myers on April 18, Syndergaard has been lights out, tossing three straight terrific outings. In his two starts this week, he allowed just two runs (one earned) on 13 hits in 13 innings. Even more impressive, he struck out 12 and walked just three.
• Zack Wheeler, RHP (LAV): Wheeler, after some awful early-season struggles, has bounced back well. This week, he allowed one run on eight hits over 12.2 innings, while walking just two batters. He has also been throwing more strikes, which is the key to him reaching the majors. Wheeler has started using his breaking ball again, which may be the reason he has been able to put it back together on the mound.

Honorable Mention: Travis Taijeron, OF (STL): Taijeron was on fire this week, hitting six doubles an batting .500 and getting on base in well over 50% of his plate appearances. Taijeron struggled in the second half, so it’s great to see him be able to put it back together again.

Who’s Not

• Rafael Montero, RHP (BIN): Montero was on fire last week, making last week’s Hot List. This week, however, was a completely different story for Montero. In one start, he tossed 6.2 innings but allowed ten runs (seven of them earned) on ten hits against Erie. That came after five straight starts of alloweing two runs or less to start the season.
• Jacob deGrom, RHP (BIN): DeGrom had one so-so start and one bad start this week for Binghamton. In his first against Akron, he allowed five runs on seven hits (including two home runs) against Akron. In the second, he gave up three in six innings. However, for the entire week, he was only able to strike out three batters in 11.1 innings. It’s only two starts, but deGrom averaged almost eight strikeouts per nine innings last season.
• Brian Bixler, SS (LAV): Bixler, who signed as a minor league free agent this offseason, had a very tough week at the plate, batting .150/.190/.150 with no extra-base hits and five strikeouts in 20 at-bats.

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 year”, writes Chapdelaine. “Dickey allowed seven earned runs on six hits while allowing a staggering three home runs – including a leadoff home run to Michael Saunders and a Dustin Ackley grand slam – to balloon his ERA to 5.36 in 2013.”

That’s too bad for Dickey, but it just makes the decision to trade him one of the best moves this front office has made since taking over.

Making the deal even sweeter for the Mets has been the incredible production from catcher John Buck who hit his 10th homer of the season last night. That tied Buck with Carlos Delgado (2006) and Dave Kingman (1982) for the second-fastest (25 games) to double digits in franchise history to start a season. Kingman also holds the franchise record when he clouted 10 homers in his 23 games in 1976. Buck now leads the National League with 29 RBI.

“I can’t begin to tell you where we would be if Buck did not get off to the start he got off to,” manager Terry Collins said. “We could be five-and-whatever.”

What’s most remarkable about Buck, is that he was looked upon as the throw-in when the Mets initially acquired Travis D’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard and Wuilmer Becerra in exchange for Dickey, Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas. Buck only came the Mets way because the Jays wanted him and his $6 million dollar contract included in the deal. I bet they regret that decision now.

Meanwhile, while D’Arnaud is still out with a foot injury, Syndergaard is having a sensational season so far for Advanced-A St. Lucie. The young right-hander now has 2.90 ERA in six starts, but has really turned it on lately posting a 0.47 ERA and allowing just one earned run in his last three starts while striking out 16 and walking 5 in 19.0 innings pitched.

No word yet on when D’Arnaud will begin baseball activities, but there’s no need to rush as Buck has got things well under control and may just be on his way to an All Star Game berth later this season at Citi Field.

“You spend all spring thinking you’re only going to be here a little while until d’Arnaud is ready,” Collins said. “Maybe Buck is saying, I will show everybody that I’m going to be here a little longer than that!”

This is so incredibly wild…

Keep it up, kid. You’ll see AA soon…

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas was shut down by Sacramento, 3-0. 
• Binghamton got beat by Harrisburg, 3-1. 
• St. Lucie was also shut out in their loss to Fort Myers, 6-0. 
• Savannah had their game suspended till 5/30, and trailed 1-0 after three innings before the postponement. 

Prospect Pipeline

• Well, it was a relatively quiet night last night in Mets Minors as all three teams that managed to finish their games lost. Each team did receive good starts from their starters – Chris Schwinden, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, respectively. Syndergaard, as I’m sure you all know by now, was the Mets #3 prospect and our #4. His start last night, which spanned six innings and resulted in only one earned run, helped string together a little mini-streak for him. He has not gone less than six innings in his last three starts, while walking no more than two and allowing no more than one earned run. That is a pretty nice sign for a player who had a career high of six innings pitched coming into the season, as he looks to develop a little consistency and move his way to Binghamton.
• In Jacob deGrom‘s case, he had issues out of the gate last night, where he allowed four straight hits to begin the game. The latter hit was a two-run double, which capped off a three run inning against him in the first. The good news, however, was that he immediately settled in and did not allow any more runs for the rest of the game, allowing him the luxury of departing with a quality start. There is a lot to like about deGrom as he progresses through our system and most of it circles around his dominant fastball. I’m interested to see if he and Syndergaard can build on whatever momentum they have built up with a dominating start each in the near future.
• Cesar Puello has been tearing it up since returning from his injury, and he has a ten-game hitting streak to his name to prove it. His .333/.368/.583 slash over the streak has been accompanied with seven RBI and three steals. He went deep last night for Binghamton’s only run.
• Defensive wizard Wilfredo Tovar had his second multi-hit game in as many starts for Binghamton last night, and he has hit safely in eight of his last ten ball games with a .286 average. He still needs to show me more at the plate before I start jumping on that bandwagon.
• The Sand Gnats’ game may have been postponed, but Steven Matz did get the start for the three innings that were played. He allowed one earned run over that span, off two hits and one walk. He struck out four and was actually looking rather impressive. Rainy Lara will start tomorrow, and he leads the entire Mets organization in ERA for qualifying players with a sparkling 1.88 figure in that category.
• Kevin Plawecki failed to get a hit in his one at-bat, which broke his hitting streak, but his .402 average continues to be ridiculous in every possible way. Plawecki got a mention for his insanely hot week, .455 with five doubles, in Jim Shonerd’s BA chat for the week although he said that K-Plaw needed to do a little more to end up on the hot sheet from Low-A ball. Shonerd also mentioned Gabriel Ynoa, where he said “Slightly above-average fastball with control. Secondary stuff has further to go but he’s only 19 (turns 20 later this month) and has pitched well against older competition both last year in the New York-Penn League and so far this year in Savannah.”
• Hat tip to the Leather Rocket, Jack Leathersich, who struck out the side in his inning last night in dominating fashion.
• I’ve kept track of Jeurys Familia for many years, and I was very glad to see him pick up his first MLB save last night. His fastball was always electric, but if his breaking pitches fall into place…can you say closer quality stuff?

Stat Line of the Day

Noah Syndergaard: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 5 K

Transactions/Injuries

• As you may have already heard, Collin Cowgill was demoted to Las Vegas yesterday, and Andrew Brown was called up in his place.
• Brandon Nimmo was not in the lineup for Savannah before their game was suspended. He is still nursing his left hand injury and is not even taking batting practice.
• Marcos Camarena is on the 7-day DL for St. Lucie.

Video of the Day

Check out Kirk Nieuwenhuis performing a catch that may actually be illegal in a few states, where he robs a home run by extending over the barricade…

Photo of the Day

Things weren’t so hot on the farm last night, but we can fix that…

Fort Myers 6, St. Lucie 0

St. Lucie’s starter Noah Syndergaard was locked in a pitchers’ duel with Fort Myers’ starter Matthew Summers for the majority of this game.  Syndergaard fired five scoreless innings to start the game before running into trouble in the sixth. Fort Myers’ third baseman Miguel Sano doubled off Syndergaard, but shortstop T.J. Rivera threw out Eddie Rosario at home plate. The next batter, Kennys Vargas, unfortunately came through for the Miracle with an RBI single for the first run of the game.

By looking at the stat line alone, Syndergaard allowed eight hits and two walks, which looks a little worrisome. However, he stranded nine of those ten and danced out of danger all evening. While six innings pitched was once a career high for Syndergaard, he has now strung together three straight outings of at least six innings and no more than one earned run allowed in each. He has also walked a maximum of two batters per start in the same span as well. He dropped his ERA down to 2.90 as he has looked to have settled down nicely in the FSL.

It all fell apart for St Lucie in the seventh inning, however, after Syndergaard’s departure. Pedro Feliciano yielded singles to the first two batters he faced and a fielding error on a sacrifice bunt loaded the bases. Feliciano then gave up consecutive sacrifice flies to make the score 3-0. Chasen Bradford came in relief of Feliciano and didn’t fare much better. Bradford gave up three hits and two runs in the inning, including one he inherited from Pedro Feliciano, which put St. Lucie behind 6-0. Third baseman Rylan Sandoval committed two errors in the inning.

St. Lucie’s offense was completely shut down by the Fort Myers pitching staff.  St. Lucie scored no runs and only had 6 hits. Their biggest opportunity of the night was in the fifth inning. Travis Taijeron led off the inning with a double, but St. Lucie failed to drive him in. The Mets will look to avoid the series sweep against Fort Myers on Sunday.  Tonight’s loss puts them seven games behind first place in the south division.

Key Stats

Noah Syndergaard: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 5 K

Pedro Feliciano: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER

Chasen Bradford: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 ER

Wanel Vasquez: 1.0 IP, 1 BB, 0 ER

Cam Maron: 1-for-4, 1 2B

Travis Taijeron: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 BB

Albert Cordero: 1-for-3, 1 BB

Noah Syndergaard accomplished two important things on Sunday. He picked up his first win of the season and he pitched seven innings for the first time in his professional career. That according to Jonathan Raymond who got a chance to get up close to the Mets pitching prospect in his last start.

Syndergaard is trying to put that one bad start when he allowed seven runs over three innings completely behind him and he seems to be doing a heck of a job of it too. Since that forgettable outing all he’s done was manage to toss two starts without allowing an earned run. Combined he thrown 13 innings and held the opposition to just eight hits and three walks while striking out 11 of them.

“He really located his fastball really well over both sides of the plate. Kept the ball down and was pretty much in command of all his pitches,” St. Lucie pitching coach Phil Regan said. “He also had two strikeouts on curveballs and two on changeups, and these are the things we have been working on.

“And he went seven innings. It was an interesting thing, someone mentioned to him it was the first time he went seven innings this year. And he says, “Yeah, it’s the first time in three years, since high school.’”

After Sunday’s performance, Syndergaard has lowered his ERA to a respectable 3.24 ERA while striking out 26 and walking ten in 25 innings pitched this season.

“He’s really coming along well. I think he’s making a lot of strides,” Regan said. “He’s understanding a lot about pitching and he’s just a tremendous kid, soaks up knowledge and wants to learn. I think he’s done exceptionally well for his age and where he’s coming from. He’s not afraid, he goes right after hitters, aggressive on the mound. I think he’s got confidence in himself, and that’s all part of it.”

As we said in our Prospect Spotlight back in February, “Syndergaard is a perfect physical specimen for a pitcher and really looks like he can become a perennial all-star. Although there are some things that come into question – his command at times, his stamina, and as always, furthering the development of his third pitch, there is a lot to love about Noah Syndergaard.”

The seven innings pitched certainly shows positive gains with regard to his stamina, and Regan says that his curveball and change have improved and are becoming effective weapons as his command. That’s exactly what we were hoping for.

“He is aggressive on the mound and stays relatively emotionless,” is what we about said about him in our MMO Top 25 Prospect rankings. We also said:

If Syndergaard makes the move to AA during the 2013 season, I have faith that he will breeze through it. It is important not to put too much pressure or to rush the young prospect, as he represents a new wave of pitching prospects…or a changing of the Gaard. See what I did there? Good.

So far, out of our Top 5 Prospects, Michael Fulmer and Travis d’Arnaud are still on the disabled list, Zack Wheeler and Wilmer Flores are both trying to figure out the PCL for entirely different reasons, and Syndergaard has looked and played the part so far in the early going.

I know it’s early, but if I were handing out Monthly Report Cards like they did in Catholic School:

Syndergaard Gets an A-

Flores gets a B

Wheeler gets a C+

Fulmer and d’Arnaud get Incompletes.

Just saying…

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas dropped to Tacoma, 5-3.
• Binghamton dropped to Akron, 7-5.
• St. Lucie blew topped Tampa, 9-2.
• Savannah edged out West Virginia, 3-2.

Prospect Pipeline

• Noah Syndergaard got his first win of the 2013 season against the Tampa Bay Yankees after a dominating performance. Since his implosion on April 18, he has pitched in 13 innings allowing eight hits, three walks, and had 13 strikeouts. He allowed two runs in those 13 innings, but neither of them were earned. On Sunday he easily delivered his best start of the year.
• Hamilton Bennett is quietly having a solid season coming out of the bullpen for St. Lucie. In 12 innings pitched, he has allowed three runs, and has 15 strikeouts on the year. He also has two saves.
• Alonzo Harris was 0-for-4 last night, snapping a ten game hit streak.
• Cory Vaughn has been on absolute fire the past ten games. Over that span, Vaughn has clobbered three home runs and is hitting  healthy .342, with eight RBI. He smacked his fourth home run of the year yesterday, tying him for second best in the organization (Dustin Lawley has five). Vaughn is now hitting .299 on the year.
• Brandon Nimmo has cooled off. He has been hitless in four straight games, dropping his average on the year to .337. Over the past ten games, he is hitting .205.

Stat Line of the Night

Noah Syndergaard: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 7 K

Transactions/Injuries

• Big news for center fielder Matt den Dekker who tells us that his cast is being removed by team doctors today. He could be back by mid-May.
• Cesar Puello, who out with a sore left wrist was back in the lineup on Sunday and went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. He now has six swipes in 13 games and is sporting a .286/.375/.429 slash.
• Cory Mazzoni is still on the DL, but he could be throwing a bullpen session one day this week.
• Right-handed pitcher Luis Mateo, who made one start with the B-Mets in place of Mazzoni, is no longer with the team. He has returned to the Mets facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Hat tip to Lynn Worthy). Mateo should resume throwing again in the next week or so, based on his elbow strength.
• Michael Fulmer tossed twelve pitches over the course of an inning in an extended spring training game. No reported issues.

Quote Of The Day

St. Lucie pitching coach had this to say about after Syndergaard’s dominating performance yesterday:

“Today, he really located his fastball really well over both sides of the plate. Kept the ball down and was pretty much in command of all his pitches,” St. Lucie pitching coach Phil Regan said. “He also had two strikeouts on curveballs and two on changeups, and these are the things we have been working on.

“And he went seven innings. It was an interesting thing, someone mentioned to him it was the first time he went seven innings this year. And he says, “Yeah, it’s the first time in three years, since high school.’”

Photo of the Day

You’ve got five seconds to hand over that MMO Minor League Report.

St. Lucie 9, Tampa 2

Domination, thy name is Noah Syndergaard. When d’Arnaud went down with an injury, Syndergaard must have given himself a personal pep talk and told himself to step on – because he has been on his game through his last two starts. After tying his career high of six innings pitched in his previous start, the talented young hurler dominated the Tampa Yankees over seven innings and allowed a mere unearned run.

This is definitively his best start since joining the New York Mets organization and I really think we picked up a future stud in this kid. He scattered five hits and walked only one batter, while striking out seven batters. He looked most impressive in the second inning where he struck out the side. His only run crossed the plate after an error allowed a baserunner to advance to third base, and he allowed a sacrifice fly. The only other time he even looked like he was in a bit of trouble was in the seventh, where he walked and balked, but danced out of trouble.

He induced four fly outs and four ground balls – and of course, struck out seven batters. Hamilton Bennett finished up the game for him, allowing a run in the bottom of the ninth, but halting the rally at that.

St. Lucie had no problem backing him up offensively either, as Dustin Lawley continued his hot hitting in recent games by driving in three runs off two hits. Travis Taijeron added two RBI of his own. The Mets took a 3-1 lead after the top of the fourth and never once looked back, tacking on six more runs throughout the course of the game for the 9-2 final decision.

Key Stats

Robbie Shields: 4-for-5, 2 2B, 3 R

Aderlin Rodriguez: 1-for-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Dustin Lawley: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R

Travis Taijeron: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB

Joe Bonfe: 2-for-4, 1 2B

Noah Syndergaard: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 7 K

Hamilton Bennett: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 K

Zack Wheeler (Photographed by Michael G. Baron)

Kevin Kernan of the New York Post spoke to a Mets official during last night’s 7-2 loss to the Dodgers and the subject of Mets prospect Zack Wheeler came up after an injured Jon Niese came out of the game and potential options were discussed.

“If Zack Wheeler wants to be here, start throwing strikes,” a Mets official told The Post. “I don’t want to hear about anything else. Throw strikes.’’

This is still a production oriented game, added Kernan, and Wheeler simply does not deserve to be promoted at this point. “Yes, he has a golden right arm, but it’s time to transform that talent into forcing the Mets’ hand.”

Wheeler, who is still winless, has a 4.91 ERA in four starts for Triple-A Las Vegas and has allowed 12 walks and 20 hits in 18.1 innings pitched.

As I’ve been saying all season long, Wheeler needs to command his pitches like fellow prospects Collin McHugh and Rafael Montero have. Yesterday morning, I argued that both of them were more MLB-ready than Wheeler.

No need to tell you how I was pleasantly surprised to learn that both Howie Rose and Gary Cohen mentioned Montero as a possible replacement if Niese were to land on DL during last night’s game. “It’s hard to ignore what Montero is doing in Binghamton,” Howie said. At least three people on Twitter must have said, “Damn, that Joe D.” You know that GKR and Howie didn’t read that anywhere else, but MMO.

As I predicted back in February, you will see Montero make his MLB debut in 2013. That seemed like a stretch before Spring Training and having never pitched above A-Ball, but you should’ve heard Paul DePodesta rave about him. Now, it’s not a matter of if, but “when” Montero will make his debut and like I argued on Twitter, I’m betting we’ll see him before Wheeler.

Wheeler, who turns 23 next month, needs to grab the bull by the horns. Blaming the hitter-friendly PCL is not a good enough excuse, especially when 36 other pitchers in the same league have a better ERA than you. That said, I agree with what MMO Minor League analyst Mitch had to say on the matter and I’ll leave you with this his quote as a parting thought:

Had Wheeler shown this dominance at any level, then we would be having the same discussion about him. However, Wheeler is a “thrower” at this point, using his overpowering stuff to get hitters out, but he hasn’t mastered the art of pitching yet. When he does master it, watch out.

I salivate at the thought of a rotation of Harvey, Niese, Montero, Wheeler and possibly Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard. Then you have Jake deGrom who I think we’ll see on the Mets at some point this season too.

However I would not be shocked if at least one or two of those last few names are swapped for a stud outfield prospect.

Charlotte 3, St. Lucie 2

Noah Syndergaard hurled six effective innings on Tuesday night, but the St. Lucie bullpen gave up two runs over the final three innings as the Charlotte Stone Crabs topped St. Lucie, 3-2.

In the first, second, fourth, and sixth innings – Syndergaard set the side down in order. He allowed only three hits and the only run that crossed under his watch was due to a passed ball. This was probably the sharpest we have seen Noah Syndergaard look since he joined our organization. The six innings matched a career-high.

St. Lucie (12-7) got on the board in the fourth inning. Matt Reynolds led off with a double and later scored on a Travis Taijeron ground out.

Charlotte (8-11) tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning after Kyeong Kang led off with a single scored on a passed ball with no outs. They also added a run in the seventh and a run in the eighth to take a 3-1 lead.

St. Lucie pulled within one after Dustin Lawley launched a solo home run to left field. Alberto Cordero knocked a one-out double to give the Mets a chance. But with two outs and the tying run on third, T.J. Rivera flew out to right field.

Key Stats

Noah Syndergaard: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

Estarlin Morel: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 HR, 1 ER

Hamilton Bennett: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 1 K

Dustin Lawley: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R

Matt Reynolds: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 R

Albert Cordero: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 2 Passed Balls

Rafael Montero is fast approaching a promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas Tops Colorado Springs 10-6
• Binghamton Shuts Out New Hampshire 3-0
• St. Lucie Edges Fort Myers 6-5
• Savannah Tops Lakewood 6-4

Prospect Pipeline

• Brandon Nimmo had another triple last night and reached base three times (two walks). Let’s face it, if Nimmo isn’t getting on base as much as he is (.520 OBP), then Jayce Boyd and Kevin Plawecki wouldn’t be having as good of years as they currently are. I didn’t research it, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that 50% or more of Plawecki’s and Boyd’s RBI came from driving in Nimmo this season. Nimmo is the prime example of how having a solid lead off and No. 2 hitter in the lineup are the keys to the success of a team’s offense as a whole.
• Catcher Juan Centeno, who was called up from Double-A Binghamton to replace the injured Travis d’Arnaud, had an impressive Triple-A debut. Centeno went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a run scored, and also did a nice job behind the plate blocking a couple of pitches in the dirt. (Joe D.)
• Shortstop Phillip Evans was pulled from the game after not running out an infield popup. Gnats’ manager Luis Rojas explained that he had no tolerance for a lack of hustle and gave Evans an earful after the game. (Joe D.)
• Savannah first baseman Jayce Boyd had three hits and drove in four runs as the Sand Gnats defeated Lakewood 6-4 on Saturday. The hot-hitting Boyd is batting .367/.473/.532 in 16 games with 16 RBI this season. (Joe D.)
• Newly signed ex-Yankee Sean Henn made his Mets debut at Triple-A Las Vegas in relief on Saturday night. The left-hander allowed three hits and an earned run in two-thirds of an inning. (Joe D.)
• Sports Media Watchdog caught up with Brandon Nimmo who talked about his hot start. “We’re just going to keep going with this and keep having fun,” said Nimmo. He also praised the organization’s coaching staff for always having something helpful to say when he needed to hear it. “I’m not a major-leaguer yet, but even then, I’ll work on being more consistent, both physically and mentally.” By the way, Sports Media Watchdog is owned by Mike Silva, formerly of New York Baseball Digest. A sharp guy who knows what he’s talking about. (Joe D.)
• How many more games does Rafael Montero have to dominate before he gets the call to Las Vegas? Then how many games will he have to dominate before reaching Citi Field? Because as we learned yesterday, “all he does is dominate.” I’m trademarking that phrase, and going to make a fortune on t-shirts. Seriously though, the kid has a solid fastball, a sharp slider, he’s working on a change up (which is usually the last pitch to develop for young pitchers), and he has complete control over the strike zone — he’s going to be a good one.
• Juan Lagares is slowly proving that he is ready for big league action. He’s been hitting lead off for Las Vegas and he is batting .356, with two home runs and a .390 OBP. The last time I checked the Mets could still use some outfield help and a leadoff man…what’s the hold up?
• Domingo Tapia seems like he has completely bounced back from his start on April 11, where he didn’t make it out of the first inning. Even with that anomaly, his stats are still ridiculous this year — in 19.2 innings of work, he has an ERA of 2.29, and 18 strike outs to seven walks. Now take into account that four of those walks came in the game where he only pitched .2 of an inning. So in his other 19 innings of work he’s only allowed two earned runs, three walks and struck out 17 batters…wow.
• I’ve been preaching it for months — T.J. Rivera is for real. All he does is hit wherever he goes. The native New Yorker from the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx seems determined to make the long journey from undrafted free-agent to Citi Field. We are all rooting for you T.J.!

Stat Line of the Day

Rafael Montero: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 6 K

Transactions/Injuries

• According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, left-hand reliever Robert Carson is due to join the Mets, a baseball source told him. MMO’s Joe D. is projects that Josh Edgin could be heading to Triple-A Vegas to make room for Carson on the Mets roster.
• Rehabbing Frank Francisco threw an inning of scoreless relief in the eighth inning, in his second outing with St. Lucie. That’s two scoreless innings for Francisco since getting back into real game action..

Quote of the Day

Rudy Terrasas on Matt Harvey: “My first impression was that this was a big, strong kid who was built for innings. And then when you saw what came out of his hand, you put it all together and thought, boy this is a pretty good-looking pitcher. He had a plus fastball and plus secondary pitches. The good ones are going to be more polished, and that was the case with Matt. The other thing that impressed me was Matt’s demeanor on the mound. He didn’t let anything bother him; he had a game plan, and he stuck with it.”

Photo of the Day

Brandon Nimmo?! Brandon Nimmo?! Wait until they get a load of me…

Rafael Montero took s the hill for Binghamton today and dominated.

When it comes to pitching prospects in the Mets organization, Zack Wheeler is the guy that the majority of fans will stop to see how he performed the night before. However, it seems that with every start Wheeler makes, he is getting further and further away from making his Citi Field debut. On the other hand, Rafael Montero seems to be getting closer and closer with every start he makes.

Is there a more impressive pitcher in the Mets organization right now than Montero? He started today’s game for Binghamton and dominated again. He pitched six innings, allowing no runs, struck out six batters and walked none. He now has 27 strikeouts this season, and has only given up one walk. I think I have to say that again for effect – He now has 27 strikeouts this season, and has only given up one walk. That is about as phenomenal a ratio as you will see. He is holding opposing hitters to a .182 average against him. In other words, the batters that are reaching base against Montero didn’t have a bowl of Wheaties for breakfast, they had Lucky Charms.

I never thought I would be pondering this question, but if Montero keeps up this pace, is there a chance that we will see him in Citi Field before Wheeler?

The answer is yes, it is a definite possibility — especially with the way Wheeler has been pitching lately. Montero is showing complete mastery of the strike zone, something that we have yet to see from Wheeler. Wheeler may have better stuff than Montero, but at this point, Montero is a better pitcher. By the All-Star break, expect Montero to be with Las Vegas. And if he continues this level of dominance at Triple-A, expect him to be a September call up.

As of right now, I would place Montero as the No. 3 pitcher in the Mets organization, but he is hot on the heels of the pitchers ahead of him. Wheeler still hangs on to the top spot, and Noah Syndergaard hangs on to the No. 2 spot, but that is simply due to their high ceilings. The better pitcher of the three of them right now is Montero, and there is a chance that Montero makes it to the show before both Wheeler and Syndergaard if he continues pitching like he is from another planet.

Rafael Montero takes the hill for Binghamton today.

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Las Vegas Tops Sacramento 10-5
• New Hampshire Tops Binghamton 5-2
• Fort Myers Routed St. Lucie 14-2
• Savannah Tops Lakewood 7-2

Prospect Pipeline

• This is now fourth straight starts in which Zack Wheeler failed to deliver six innings. It was another start where his pitch count was remarkably bad. 108 pitches and only 61 strikes in 4.1 innings is not going to get anyone promoted to the majors no matter how high you rank on Baseball America’s Top Prospect. You still have to execute. So far this season, Wheeler has pitched a total of 18.1 innings, averaging only 4.5 innings per start. That’s not going to cut it. He’s walked 12 and allowed 17 hits and his ERA now stands at an unsightly 4.91 his WHIP is now north of 2.00. The thing of it is that you can’t blame all those walks on the PCL or park factors. This has been a chronic problem for Wheeler throughout his career. (Joe D.)
• Baseball America had Wilmer Flores “In the Team Photo” in this week’s Hot Sheet. They writes: “The 21-year-old went 12-for-30 (.400) with a homer and four doubles this week, but more remarkably he has just three strikeouts in 15 games this season.” Actually it’s now four strikeouts in 68 plate appearances while drawing seven walks. (Joe D.)
• Andrew Brown continued his hot streak to open the season with a two-run double, giving him 14 RBI in 16 games. He’s now batting .344/.425/.565 and more than half his hits are for extra bases. He may ne in Flushing sooner rather than later. (Joe D.)
• Here’s someone that often gets overlooked. Triple-A outfielder Juan Lagares went 2-for-4 last night and was on base three times. Lagares, 24, has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and is batting .368/.403/.544 this season. (Joe D.)
• One night after Noah Syndergaard was torched for seven earned runs for St. Lucie, Angel Cuan outdid him and was charged with nine runs in 3 1/3 innings. He surrendered four homers. I thought the St. Lucie rotations was supposed to be the Dream Team? (Joe D.) 

Stat Line of the Night

* * * Kevin Plawecki went 3-for-4, homered, doubled, walked and had four RBIs. * * *

Tweet of the Day

Transactions/Injuries

• Travis d’Arnaud will not require surgery and the Mets expect him to be out for eight weeks, but say he could be back sooner. The Mets catcher fractured his big toe or as Jerry Seinfeld would say, the captain of the toes.
• RHP Luis Mateo will miss about three weeks with a strained elbow, but the MRI revealed no structural damage. Mateo will take anti-inflammatory medication after being examined by team doctors in New York.
• Sandy Alderson had relatively good news on pitching prospect Cory Mazzoni who will rest three days after being diagnosed with elbow irritation by team doctors.
• Josh Satin came out of last night’s game with what appeared to be an ankle injury.

Prospect Audio/Video

Here’s a look at shortstop Phil Evans, shot last week by Mike Newman of ROTOscouting.com.

That’s What She Said

You have three seconds… Where’s my MMO Mets Minors Report?

Matt Bowman is off to a solid start for Savannah.

Last Night’s Quick Scores

• Savannah (7-7) dropped to Lakewood, 3-2
• St. Lucie (9-5) droppedto Fort Myers, 11-8
• Binghamton (8-6) topped New Hampshire, 4-3
• Las Vegas (8-6) topped Sacramento, 10-6

Prospect Pipeline

• Brandon Nimmo cooled off a little last night, and had his first game without a hit in almost a week. He still leads the Mets organization in hitting with a .411 average.
• Travis d’Arnaud will miss some time with a fracture in his foot. Hopefully he won’t need surgery, but the good news is that this kid is ready for the big leagues, so when he does return, don’t be surprised to see him play in a few tune up games and then join the Mets some time after the All-Star break.
• Wilmer Flores continues to have a solid season, and it seems like he has been playing in the shadows of d’Arnaud and Zack Wheeler for the first couple of weeks of the season. He hit his first home run of the season last night and added three RBI in Las Vegas’ victory.
• Being overshadowed by the exploits of his teammate Brandon Nimmo, catcher Kevin Plawecki is raking to the tune of a 375/.426/.667 slash this season. Said one scout about him, “He barrels everything.” Ten of his 18 base hits are of the extra-base variety showing the immense power that was projected of him when he was selected in the first round of the 2012 Draft out of Purdue University. It would be a shock if he doesn’t end the season in Double-A. This kid can hit and shouldn’t be overlooked. (Joe D.)
• Savannah’s Rainy Lara could be the starter to replace Jake deGrom in the St. Lucie rotation now that they have an open slot. Lara has been dominating and has a 0.70 ERA, 0.618 WHIP and 10.1 strikeout rate in 11.1 innings pitched. Matthew Bowman is also an option with a 2-0 record and a 1.62 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 3.50 K/BB in three starts this season. (Joe D.)
• Noah Syndergaard had one of those forgettable starts last night. He gave up seven earned runs in three innings of work. It’s the most runs he had ever given up in a start. Most young pitchers will go through starts like this throughout their careers, and it’s all part of the development process. Everyone will be watching to see how he responds during his next start.
• Though Flores got the nod with the Stat Line of the Day, St. Lucie shortstop and 2013 MMO Sleeper Matt Reynolds was 2-for-5 with a triple, a two-run homerun and three RBI. Reynolds, 22, is  batting .286/.355/.411 in 14 games this season. (Joe D.)
• Andrew Brown is crushing the ball. He had three hits last night – a single, double and triple. He was a home run short of the cycle. He is now batting .351 this season and has a .996 OPS.
• Aderlin Rodriguez looks like he’s in another one of his signature tears at the plate. He’s now homered in three straight games after a dreadful start to the season. I spoke to one coach about him on Wednesday and was told that he’s keeping his leg bag now and using both his upper and lower body when he drives the ball. Let’s see where this continues to go. (Joe D.)

Stat Line of the Night

Wilmer Flores: 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, BB, 2 R

Tweet of the Day

The life of a minor league player trying to live out their dreams in the big leagues.

5:30 AM still on the bus #Grinding

— Jack Leathersich (@LeatherRocket) April 18, 2013

Transactions

Juan Centeno was called up to Las Vegas to fill in for injured Travis d’Arnaud.

Now word yet on the MRI results for right-handers Luis Mateo and Logan Verrett. I’m sure we’ll get word this afternoon at the latest.

Prospect Audio/Video

B-Mets manager Pedro Lopez discusses the team with Tim Heiman and offers a two-week report card on his team.

After a long day on the farm I like to relax and read MMO’s Mets Minors Report .

Fort Myers 11, St. Lucie 8

It was not a good day for the R.A. Dickey trade all around, as on the heels of the news to the injury of Travis d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard had a rough time pitching for St. Lucie on Thursday evening. Syndergaard was in consideration for a promotion to Binghamton when Luis Mateo was placed on the DL – but was passed over in favor of Jacob deGrom, who shined in his debut on Wednesday night.

Syndergaard was left to make his scheduled start down in St. Lucie, but unfortunately for the young prospect, he ran into a bit of a wall. He lasted only three innings and was on the hook for seven earned runs off eight hits and two walks, while striking out two. He allowed one home run – a two-run jack in the first inning and never really looked comfortable after that. He allowed a lead-off double to begin the game to Adam Pettersen, who scored on the aforementioned two-run home run with two outs in the first. He gave up two hits in the second, but induced a double play to get out of it.

The third inning brought trouble for him again, however, where he struggled to get the third out once again. After allowing a lead-off single to Adam Pettersen again, he got the next two men out, although Pettersen stole second base. Syndergaard then allowed a walk, triple, single, walk, and double…ouch. The whole fiasco resulted in a five-run third inning and closing the door on Syndergaard’s evening.

St. Lucie overcame the 7-2 deficit by scoring five runs in the third inning, with the big blow coming on a two-run homer by Matt Reynolds, his first of the season. St. Lucie then took an 8-7 the lead in the fourth when Aderlin Rodriguez launched his third homer of the season – a solo job. However, the bullpen failed to get it done. After three hitless innings of solid relief from Jim Fuller, the next four relievers Wanel Mesa, Hamilton Bennett and Randy Fontanez combined to surrender four runs over the final three innings.

Key Stats

Aderlin Rodriguez: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R

Dustin Lawley: 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R

Matt Reynolds: 2-for-5, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI

Gilbert Gomez: 2-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 K

Charles Thurber: 1-for-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

Noah Syndergaard: 3.0 IP. 8 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 HR

Jim Fuller: 3.0 IP. 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Hamilton Bennett: 1.0 IP. 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Updated by Joe D. at 10:00 PM

Lynn Worthy just broke the news on Twitter, that Jake DeGrom will remain with the Binghamton Mets even when Cory Mazzoni comes off the disabled list next week.

Worthy adds that the B-Mets will go with a six-man rotation which is something they did last season as well.

Great news, and DeGrom is exactly where he should have been to start the season.

Good stuff…

Original Post by Satish at 9:30 PM

Wow…  Talk about an impressive splash into AA! Jacob DeGrom was recently promoted to Binghamton to replace Luis Mateo‘s spot in the rotation, and there was some talk about the fact that he got the call before Noah Syndergaard. So what did Mr. DeGrom do about it?

He went out and dominated. His first start ever in AA may have been a loss, but you have to look past that to see how impressive he really was.

DeGrom lasted eight innings and allowed an earned run off a mere three hits and one walk. His opposition, the Portland Sea Dogs, looked lost all night as he dazzled Mets minor league fans with eight strikeouts.

DeGrom was ranked at #17 during our offseason MMO Top Prospects, and here is what I had to say about him back then…

Another solid right handed pitcher in the Mets system? You are correct, sir… I believe Jake deGrom was destined for something special. DeGrom was drafted in the 9th round of the 2010 Draft and immediately had TJ surgery in the Fall of 2010. That sounds pretty bad for a young pitcher, especially when you consider that he missed the entire 2011 season because of said surgery. But like I said, deGrom just might be destined for something special, because he came back topping the radar gun at 97 MPH in 2012.

Mets Scouting Director Paul DePodesta raved about him according to Joe D.. He started 2012 in Savannah and was promoted to St.Lucie later in the year, where he actually improved on his numbers. He finished the year with a 2.43 ERA in 111.1 innings and a WHIP of .997. He struck out a solid 96 while walking only 20, and allowed only four home runs all year.

DeGrom is quite a story and very easy to root for – especially considering he is one of our own. You might be hearing his name a lot more before long and seems to be on the fast track to success.