Here’s a recap of the Mets’ minor-league action on Monday. The full-season teams had their scheduled off day, so only the rookie-level teams were on the field.
Rookie: FCL Mets (22-13) 9, FCL Cardinals (13-23) 6 BOX SCORE
- 2B Marco Vargas, 3-for-5, 2 R, RBI, SB (20) .296/.909
- SS Jesus Baez, 3-for-5, 2B (9), 2 R, 3 RBI (14), .243/.738
- 1B Ronald Hernandez 1-for-1, 3 BB, HBP, SB, R, RBI, .305/.940
Marco Vargas and Ronald Hernandez. Photo from FCL MEts
Marco Vargas and Ronald Hernandez are showing the Mets minor league ranks some early returns on the David Robertson deal. Vargas strung a three-hit day together in his first game with the blue and orange. He was already putting up solid numbers this season with the FCL Marlins team, getting close to a .300 average, and, at just 18 years old, the Mexican native has a bright future ahead with his new organization. Hernandez boosted his OPS up to .940 for the season.
- RHP Jordan Geber (6.75 ERA) 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
- LHP Jeremy Peguero (8.44 ERA) 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Jordan Geber continues to work back on a rehab stint with the FCL team, going just 2.1 innings in his second outing at the complex. While he now has five strikeouts and no walks in his two outings back off of the 7-day IL, the Mets seem to be playing it safe by keeping his pitch count to just 36 pitches on Monday. Nonetheless, the actual pitches in the outing were good, as he could hold the Cardinals to just one hit on his 24th birthday. Happy Birthday Jordan, and Mets faithful hope to see you back in action in Brooklyn soon!
DSL Mets Orange (9-8) 15, DSL Arizona Diamondbacks (18-20) 6 BOX SCORE
- DH Anthony Baptist 2-for-4, 3B (2), 2B (4), 2 R, RBI (12) .263/.948
- RHP Irving Cota (3.68 ERA) 5 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
The Orange team took care of business on Monday, putting up runs and coming out of the gate hot on the mound to put out any fire that the Dbacks had in the contest. Eight of nine starting bats had hits on the day and seven of them added RBIs. While there were no long balls for the Mets Orange team, they strung together hits well and took advantage of the Dbacks four errors, putting up 11 runs in the first four innings. That was all that starter Cota needed as he held his opponent hitless for his five innings of work, the best outing of his young professional career. While the bullpen got tagged for six runs (6 BB: 2K), they kept the ball in the yard and showed their issues were more command-focused.
DSL Mets Blue (17-21) 10, DSL Colorado Rockies (24-15) 5 BOX SCORE
- CF Vladi Gomez 3-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI (7), BB, .195/.679
- RHP Jonathan Jimenez (1.00) 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
The Mets Blue team finished off the Rookie-level sweep on Monday by coming from behind and putting up a six-run bottom of the eighth inning to go from one down to five up on the Rockies. While starting pitcher Lucas Gordillo also had a hitless start of his own, Jimenez was the day’s performer for the Blue team as Gordillo allowed four free passes in his outing. Jimenez lowered his ERA to just 1.00 on the day, pitching the 4th-6th innings in the contest, keeping the game close. The bullpen would falter before the offense would explode back in the eighth frame, led by Gomez, who has had a rough season but put up a three-hit game. Rainier Reyes had the go-ahead RBI in the eighth inning on a groundout, and the Blue team (common theme here) took advantage of three Rockies errors to score four unearned runs.
