Minors Weekly Report: Allan Returns, Brooklyn Sweeps Wilmington

Minor league baseball is back, with each of the Mets’ affiliates underway in their seasons.

The Brooklyn Cyclones are the early team to watch this year as they steamrolled their way through the first week. Meanwhile, Syracuse, Binghamton, and St. Lucie either tied or lost their respective series as they’ve mostly struggled out of the gate.

There have been great performances from Mets minor leaguers at each level, though, including from Matt Allan, so it’s time to check out the first Minors Weekly Report of the season.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Triple-A

The Syracuse Mets split a quick two-game series (with one postponement) with Worcester to start the year. This past week, the Mets played the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in their first full series of the season and won just two out of six games. The Mets were outscored 36-23, with all four of their losses by four or more runs.

Joey Meneses, formerly of the Nationals, has been a bright spot for Syracuse early in the season. In the team’s last series, he recorded six hits (all of which were doubles) in 22 at-bats. He drove in four runs and walked as many times as he struck out. His impressive performance equated to a .930 OPS for the series.

Gilberto Celestino, who spent last year in the Pirates and Cubs organizations, has also had an impressive start to the year. Against the RailRiders, the outfielder went 5-for-20 with a home run and two doubles. Celestino has spent some time in the majors in his career and will serve as decent outfield depth for the Mets this year.

Brandon Waddell, who last pitched in Korea, made two starts in the last series and looked great, totaling two runs allowed in 8 1/3 innings. He allowed 11 hits and two walks but also struck out nine. In addition to Waddell, Brandon Sproat and Dom Hamel each had impressive starts this week. Sproat allowed one run in four innings while Hamel didn’t allow a run in five innings.

Double-A

The Rumble Ponies have played just two games so far this season, with one game from their opening three-game set being postponed. It’s been a quiet start to the season, as the Rumble Ponies went 1-1 against the Hartford Yard Goats, outscoring them 3-2 in the two games.

As the lack of scoring would suggest, there was very little offense in each of the first two games. Alex Ramírez and Jett Williams both went 2-for-7 with a double, while Wyatt Young played in just one game and went 2-for-3. They are the only players on the team who totaled more than one hit over the first two games of the season.

The pitching, on the other hand, was fantastic. Jack Wenninger got the first start of the season and tossed five scoreless innings, striking out seven. Top prospect Nolan McLean also impressed in his start, throwing four shutout innings with eight strikeouts. This will be the first year McLean focuses solely on pitching, so his development will be fun to watch.

Nolan McLean. Photo by Bronson Harris of Binghamton Rumble Ponies

High-A

The Brooklyn Cyclones looked fantastic in their three-game series to start the year, sweeping the Wilmington Blue Rocks and outscoring them 27-5. A huge reason for the large score discrepancy came in Saturday’s game, where Brooklyn came out on top 15-1.

Several batters looked great in the first three games, including Chris Suero, who leads the team with two home runs. He also added two doubles as he went 6-for-13. Jacob Reimer, who also went 6-for-13, leads the team with eight RBIs.

Eli Serrano III, the Mets’ fourth-round draft pick from a year ago, has a home run to start the year in addition to walking five times and striking out just twice. Meanwhile, D’Andre Smith has yet to record a hit but has three stolen bases to his name.

Zach Thornton, the Mets’ fifth-round draft pick from 2023, had a fantastic start in which he struck out eight over five scoreless innings. Thornton pitched in just 20 games and struggled a year ago, so he could certainly be a breakout candidate this season.

Another pitcher who didn’t allow a run for the Cyclones was Joel Díaz, who tossed four innings out of the bullpen in just one game. Díaz just turned 21 and also struggled a season ago, mostly in St. Lucie.

Low-A

Coming off a forgettable season, the St. Lucie Mets had a mostly forgettable opening series as they dropped two of three to the Jupiter Hammerheads. Both losses by the Mets were shutouts, and their win was by just one run.

Trey Snyder, picked in the fifth round last year, recorded just one hit in five at-bats over two games to start the season, but the one hit was a home run. He leads the team in OPS in the early going.

A.J. Ewing and Trace Willhoite matched Snyder with two RBIs each, and the three are leading the team in that category. Ewing went 2-for-7 with a triple, four walks, and two stolen bases while Willhoite went 2-for-6 with two doubles and two walks. Willhoite was signed by the Mets just last month as an undrafted free agent.

The most notable performance perhaps of all of the Mets’ affiliates came when Matt Allan took the mound for the first time since 2019. A once highly touted prospect, Allan has battled injuries this whole time but made an emphatic statement in his return. Allan struck out five over 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk.

Cristofer Gomez and Irving Cota, both of whom pitched for St. Lucie a year ago, also tallied 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Both pitched out of the bullpen and made just one appearance. Gomez impressed by striking out five, like Allan did.

Organizational Leaders

Batting (min. 10 plate appearances)

AVG – Chris Suero (BRK)/Jacob Reimer (BRK) – .462 (6-for-13)

OPS – Chris Suero (BRK) – 1.577

HR – Chris Suero (BRK) – 2

SB – José Azócar (SYR)/D’Andre Smith (BRK) – 3

Pitching (min. 5 innings)

ERA – Dom Hamel (SYR)/Jack Wenninger (BNG)/Zach Thornton (BRK) – 0.00

SO – Blade Tidwell (SYR)/Brandon Waddell (SYR) – 9

WHIP – Zach Thornton (BRK) – 0.60

Players of the Week

Offense – Chris Suero, C/1B/LF Brooklyn

Chris Suero is off to a rollicking start after a decent offensive year last season. He looked great in St. Lucie but took a step back after being promoted to Brooklyn. It’s only been three games this year, but he already looks way more comfortable. He already has two home runs in three games whereas he had just seven in 87 games with Brooklyn last year.

Pitching – Matt Allan, RHP St. Lucie

He returned to the mound in a professional game for the first time in six years. And not only that, he pitched well! That deserves Player of the Week honors.