Mets Minor League Weekly Report: Cecchini Among PCL's Best

Week In Review

The Las Vegas 51s (9-15, t-third in the Pacific Coast League Pacific Southern division) took four of five from Albuquerque, including a series-opening 7-0 shutout. P.J. Conlon (6.2 IP), Matt Purke (0.2), and Drew Smith (1.2) combined on the effort.

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies (11-9, third in the Eastern League Eastern division) head to Akron having just swept Erie in their own park. On Friday, the Ponies posted a season-high 13 runs, thanks to three-RBI performances from Peter Alonso, Patrick Mazeika, and Jhoan Urena.

The St. Lucie Mets (10-13, sixth in the Florida State League South division) battled a power outage on Saturday, but their offense has continued to be lights-out; their 162 hits are dead last in the FSL.

The Columbia Fireflies (12-12, fourth in the South Atlantic League Southern division) have lost eight of their last 11 contests.

Mets Minors News & Buzz

Peter Alonso has continued his destruction of Eastern League pitching. He homered in four straight games from Wednesday through Sunday and is now slashing .403/.500/.778.

Vance Worley, signed as a minor league free agent on April 18, and Buddy Baumann, claimed off waiver from San Diego on Friday, made their organizational debuts on Sunday for Las Vegas. Worley took the loss after allowing five runs in three innings while Baumann tossed a scoreless frame with a strikeout.

Jeremy Vasquez has earned a reputation as an on-base machine. He’s reached safely in all 23 games this season, good for the longest streak in the minors and a .455 on-base percentage.

Walter Rasquin suffered a broken finger and was placed on Columbia’s disabled list. The 22-year-old enjoyed a solid start to the 2018 season, hitting .298 with five extra-base hits and nine RBI.

The Mets released Kelly Secrest on Sunday. The left-handed reliever was the team’s tenth-round draft choice in 2010.

Jamie Callahan is on Las Vegas’ disabled list with shoulder tendinitis.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Who’s hot:

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Gavin Cecchini is tearing the Pacific Coast League up. In his third Triple-A season, the 24-year-old has been red-hot, slashing .347/.402/.547.

Cecchini is currently on a nine-game hitting streak, during which he’s hit .425 (17-40). The most ironic number on the stat sheet is that he’s been hitting more fly balls than at any point in his career, but to this point, that’s only translated into one home run.

It’s not clear when Cecchini is going to get his next major league look, but it doesn’t appear that it will be coming anytime soon. You have to wonder whether he’ll ever be able to convert minor league success into meaningful major league production, or if a Quad-A player is simply what he is.

Down in Columbia, Chris Viall is beginning to look like the imposing fireballer he’s been touted as since the Mets drafted him from Stanford in 2016. Through four starts, the 6’9″ right-hander has struck out 34 batters, the best total throughout the organization.

While inconsistent mechanics have previously troubled him, Viall has looked sharp in April, spotting his mid-to-upper 90s fastball well, mixing in an average change and effective slider.

Who’s not:

Quinn Brodey, last year’s third-round draftee, has not been seeing the ball well, having struck out in 37% of his at-bats, including 13 in his last six games. Sidearmer Stephen Villines has struck out 19 batters against two walks for Columbia in 12.2 innings. As a professional, he has a 60/3 K/BB rate.

Organizational Leaders

AVG — Peter Alonso .403 (BNG), Gavin Cecchini .347 (LVG), Jeremy Vasquez .325 (COL), Ty Kelly .308 (LVG)

OPS — Alonso 1.278, Kelly 1.006, Vasquez 1.000, Jeff McNeil .961 (BNG), Zach Borenstein .955 (LVG)

HR — Alonso 7, Borenstein 6, Kelly 6, Bryce Brentz 5 (LVG), Matt den Dekker 4 (LVG), McNeil 4

RBI — Borenstein 20, Alonso 18, Kelly 18, Vasquez 17, Brentz 15, Quinn Brodey 15 (COL)

SB — Ian Strom 7 (STL), Andres Gimenez 5 (STL), Dale Burdick 4 (STL), Gene Cone 4 (STL), Champ Stuart 4 (STL)

STARTER ERA — Nabil Crismatt 1.21 (BNG), Justin Dunn 2.13 (STL), Joe Cavallaro 2.25 (COL), Chris Viall 2.33 (COL), Anthony Kay 2.70 (COL)

RELIEVER ERA — Joseph Zanghi 0.00 (COL), Carlos Hernandez 0.79 (STL/COL), Tyler Bashlor, 0.96 (BNG), Trey Cobb 1.13 (COL), Matt Pobereyko 1.74 (STL)

SO — Viall 34, Drew Gagnon 33 (LVG/BNG), Tony Dibrell 31 (COL), Dunn 28, Crismatt 27

SV — Bashlor 4, Cobb 3, Eric Hanhold 2 (BNG), Ryder Ryan 2 (STL), Drew Smith 2 (LVG/BNG), Stephen Villines 2 (COL)

WHIP — Hernandez 0.79, Stephen Nogosek 0.92 (STL), Ryan 0.92, Villines 0.94, Cavallaro 0.96

Transaction Report

4/23

Gerson Bautista added to Binghamton’s active roster….Briam Campusano transferred from St. Lucie to Extended Spring Training….Michael Gibbons transferred from Binghamton to St. Lucie.

4/25

Jay Jabs transferred from Columbia to Extended Spring Training….Marcel Renteria activated from Columbia’s disabled list.

4/27

Corey Oswalt optioned to Las Vegas….Jacob Rhame recalled from Las Vegas….Hansel Moreno transferred from Extended Spring Training to Columbia….Nicolas Debora transferred from Columbia to Extended Spring Training….Conner O’Neil activated from Columbia’s disabled list….Walter Rasquin placed on Columbia’s disabled list….Logan Taylor activated from Las Vegas’ disabled list….Buddy Baumann optioned to Las Vegas.

4/28

Scott Copeland transferred from Extended Spring Training to Binghamton….Johnny Magliozzi placed on Binghamton’s disabled list….Jacob Rhame optioned to Las Vegas.

4/29

Buddy Baumann added to Las Vegas’ active roster….Vance Worley transferred from Extended Spring Training to Las Vegas….Kelly Secrest released from Las Vegas….Marcos Molina transferred from Las Vegas to Binghamton.