Las Vegas had their last game of the first half on Saturday when they extended their win streak to 6 games with a 5-4 win over Salt Lake. They finished the first half going 53-38 good for a 8-game lead in the Pacific Coast League Pacific Southern division.
Vic Black picked up the win of Saturday but it wasn’t all gold stars after getting a 1-2-3 3rd inning he was brought out for a 2nd inning. The 2nd inning did not go as well allowing three runs on four hits and walk without a strikeout. He was also left in to throw a combined 42 pitches which is more than he has ever thrown in a Major League game.
The Pacific Coast League has its 2015 All-Star game on Wednesday being hosted by the Omaha Storm Chases at Werner Park in Nebraska. Travis Taijeron and Matt Reynolds were the only two 51’s players to be selected but Reynolds is currently on the 7-day disabled list for Las Vegas.
Binghamton (46-42) 3, Portland 0
With scouts on hand from the Orioles, Rays, Pirates, and Giants Seth Lugo pitched a solid game going 5 shutout innings allowing four hits, two walks, HBP, and six strikeouts. Had trouble throwing strikes early in the game and had alot of foul balls hit against him which raised his pitch count to 93 pitches in only 5 innings. One of the scouts I talked to was intrigued by Lugo and liked his “pitchability”.
Lugo throws alot of different stuff at you including two fastballs, his two seamer at 87-88 and his four seamer that is at 91-94, topping out at 93.3 yesterday. He also throws a slider, curveball, and changeup with his slider being his best secondary pitch. The curveball has good depth and break on it but he struggled controlling it leaving it up the zone a couple of times yesterday including one that hit on 0-2 for a double. Lugo picked up his 4th win of the year and lowered his ERA to 3.68, WHIP to 1.22 while holding opponents to a .252 average.
Every time I see Aderlin Rodriguez he puts on show during batting practice peppering the outfield walls and scoreboards with lasers. Yesterday he hit a homerun to left center field off his own face on the scoreboard picture for his 10th of the year in just 212 at bats. He also has 12 doubles and a triple which boosts his slugging percentage to .458 but has a .286 OBP on the year.
Gavin Cecchini had his 2nd straight game without a hit but walked twice and scored a run giving him 5 walks in the series. His slash line is .295/.358/.426 for the year with 28 walks compared to just 34 strikeouts in 298 at bats. L.J. Mazzilli was 2-4 with a walk and a run scored. Eastern League All-Star Josh Rodriguez was 3-5 with his 17th double and knocked in his 55th run good for 2nd in the league.
Beck Wheeler gave up a leadoff double in the 6th inning for his first hit allowed in 7 innings, he recovered to strand the runner and strike out two. He has now given up only one run in his last 17.1 innings. His fastball was at 92/93 with a sharp curveball that generated some swing and misses. Dario Alvarez pitched a scoreless 7th with a walk still showing his plus slider and a fastball at 92/93. Akeel Morris pitched a 1-2-3 8th getting his only strikeout on a nasty changeup, he topped out at 94 on the radar gun. Jon Velasquez pitched a quick 1-2-3 9th inning for his 11th save of the year. Box Score
St. Lucie (45-43) 4, Lakeland 0
Logan Taylor went 6 shutout innings giving up four hits and three walks while striking eight batters to pick up his third win of the year and lower his ERA to 4.48 on the year. Jeff Walters made his third rehab appearance for the Mets striking out the side in the 8th inning, in 8 (9 app) rehab innings he has allowed four earned runs on seven hits while striking out ten. Robert Coles pitched two scoreless to close out the shutout victory.
Dominic Smith was 1-3 with a walk and a run scored, his slash line is now .304/.352/.435 for the year. Phillip Evans was 2-3 with a walk and three RBI, his third straight multi-hit game. Stefan Sabol was 2-4 with his 8th double (17th overall), 13th RBI (28th overall), and scored a run. Amed Rosario was 0-3 with a walk and a run scored, he is 4-12 with walk and two RBI since returning from injury. Box Score
Savannah had its game with Lexington postponed which probably didn’t upset anyone in either clubhouse after they played a total of 22 innings on Saturday thanks to a 15-inning classic that included 9 of the 15 runs being scored in extras. The Sand Gnats lost despite taking leads in the 9th, 12th, 13th, and 15th innings on a walk-off sacrifice fly. Jean Rodriguez, John Mora, and Michael Katz all had homeruns in the 9th inning or later.
Aberdeen 9, Brooklyn (15-7) 3
Vinny Siena was 1-3 with his 5th stolen base, walk, and a run scored and is now hitting .367/.432/.405 in his first 21 pro games. Brandon Brosher was 1-3 with his 2nd double, 10th RBI and a walk. Michael Bernal was 1-3 with a walk, run scored, and his 5th double. David Thompson was 0-3 with a sac fly knocking in his 7th run of the year.
Tyler Badamo had his first hiccup of the year lasting just 4.2 innings giving up six earned runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out six. He is now 1-2 on the year with a 2.87 ERA and a sparkling 0.93 WHIP. Box Score
Kingsport (9-7) 7, Bristol 1
Darwin Ramos a 19-year old right-handed pitcher picked up his 2nd win of the year going 6 innings allowing just one run on six hits with zero walks and four strikeouts. He has thrown 22 innings striking out 23 batters and allowing only 19 hits, his ERA is now 3.27 for the year.
Mets 2015 8th round pick Patrick Mazeika continued the great start to his career going 3-4 with his 7th double, scored a run, and drove in two . He is now hitting .328/.430/.567 with three homeruns, 15 RBI, and 8/8 BB/SO ratio in 67 pro at bats. Shortstop Luis Carpio was 2-3 with his 3rd stolen base, two runs scored, and his 10th RBI of the year. Dash Winningham was 1-4 with a walk and a run scored. Kevin Kaczmarski was 1-5 with two runs scored and his 9th RBI of the season. Box Score
Over The Weekend
Yesterday John Sickels at Minor League Ball listed his Midseason Top 75 prospects with the list including four Mets and with five New York players who graduated from being eligible for the list.
Michael Conforto was the highest ranked at #15 jumping up 63 spots from his #78 preseason ranking. Brandon Nimmo went from ranked #83 to start the year to #52 now and Sickels says “needs to show more power in 2nd half”. Amed Rosario was left of the preseason ranking but his “defense took a big step forward” to put him at #65. Gavin Cecchini was also unranked in the preseason rankings but his strong first half in AA was good enough to rank him 69th.
On Saturday Robert Gsellman picked up his 3rd win for Binghamton going 7 strong innings giving up just one earned run on six hits, talked to two scouts who were impressed at what he was doing at such a young age (22 this week). Josh Smoker threw his 2nd inning for Binghamton with a scoreless 9th including striking out the final batter on a 97 MPH fastball.
Joe Benson (27, former Top 100 prospect with Twins) was signed on Saturday to help out the outfield with Conforto and Nimmo gone, he started his Mets career off with a 440-foot three-run bang in his first at bat.
Conforto was 2-2 in the Futures Game with two singles (one of a lefty) with his most impressive feat throwing a runner out at home with what statcast says was a 92 MPH throw. Here is the link to the laser. Brandon Nimmo was 1-2 while playing center field and was robbed off a 2nd hit with the defensive play of the game by the World shortstop.
Dom Smith hit his 4th homerun of the season on Saturday and most importantly it was a long shot to right field. Smith leads the league in doubles (27), 2nd in RBI (53), 3rd in average (.304), 4th in OPS (.787), and 9th in runs scored with 45.
