Francisco Alvarez, Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

With May in the books, the Minor League Baseball season has been officially underway for a month now. The four New York Mets minor league organizations have had talented individuals show out for them throughout May. Some even earned promotions to the following affiliate and even the big leagues. This is the first installment of the Mets Minors Players of the Month.

Triple-A Syracuse Mets

During his time with the Syracuse Mets, center fielder Mason Williams has been nothing short of fantastic. This year, the 29-year-old journeyman played nineteen games at the Triple-A level, posting a stat line of .373/.458/.569 with an OPS of 1.026. Williams drove in eight runs over his 19 hits, with eight of them going for extra bases.

With the squad in Queens having numerous injuries, Williams earned his first shot with the Mets. He’s gone 2-for-8 with two walks and made a couple of fine defensive plays in center field.

Jerad Eickhoff has been the rock of the Syracuse Mets pitching staff through the first month of the season. The big righty from Evansville, Indiana, is a perfect 4-0 with an ERA of 3.82 on the season. Eickhoff is credited with four of the nine wins this season for the Mets, keeping them in every ball game he takes the bump. He’s used his four-pitch mix to keep hitters off-balanced and accumulate thirty-two strikeouts over thirty-three innings pitched.

Eickhoff is another individual on this Syracuse team who has spent time in the big leagues, starting over 75 games for the NL East rival Philadelphia Phillies. Throughout five seasons, Eickhoff’s record was 21-and-30 with an ERA of 4.15. With his stellar start to 2021 and his former big-league experience, Eickhoff is doing his part to be a part of the “next man up” campaign in Queens.

Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Binghamton’s utility man, Yoel Romero, has been the most solid hitter in this Rumble Ponies lineup after month one. The numbers aren’t eye-popping for the 23-year-old from Venezuela, but he’s gotten the job done around his struggling team. Romero is the only eligible player for the squad hitting over the .300 mark; newcomers Jake Mangum and Hayden Senger have not played enough games at the Double-A level yet to register officially.

In 18 games played, he’s gone 20-for-62 with four doubles and eight RBIs, suitable for a .323/.417/.387 slash line. Romero has played second,

Tylor Megill‘s record, while solid, doesn’t show how good he’s been in the first month of the season for the Rumble Ponies. Over the course of five starts for Binghamton, Megill totaled twenty-six innings pitched, striking out forty-two and holding opponents batting averages to .221. Just flat-out dominant stuff from the 6’7″ righty. On the season, he is 2-1 with an ERA of 3.12 and a WHIP of 1.08. While he may need to limit the walk just a bit, Megill has done an incredible job with the Rumble Ponies in May. Due to his dominant stuff, he was promoted to the Triple-A Syracuse Mets.

High-A Brooklyn Cyclones

It’s not often the top three hitting prospects in the organization get to hit together on the same team, but that’s the case in Brooklyn. Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, and the newly promoted Francisco Alvarez hit back-to-back-to-back in this Cyclones lineup.

While the team has struggled a bit out of the gate, Brett Baty has been a catalyst for the Brooklyn offense. The lefty hitter drafted out of high school has been as advertised, hitting .317/.429/.397 with seventeen RBIs in May. Since the lay-off due to Covid-19, Brett has done an incredible job of learning the strike zone better, being patient, and hitting the pitch he wants. His strikeout percentage has dropped dramatically as his walk and on-base percentage improved by a significant margin.

Baty is a big lefty hitter who produces a lot of power with his quick hands; he looks to drive the ball middle away with his approach and can hit off-speed well. As the calendar turns to June, Baty seems to be heating up again. Brooklyn fans should get out to see this electric talent before it’s too late.

While the Brooklyn pitching staff could use him right now, Josh Walker‘s promotion to Double-A was well deserved after a great month of May with Brooklyn. The 6’6″ lefty from the University of New Haven pitched twenty-seven innings for the Brooklyn squad and struck out 29 batters. During that time, his record was a perfect 3-0 throughout four starts, accumulating an ERA of 2.67. Walker averaged a 9.7 strikeout per nine ratio in May while managing a low WHIP of .926 over the time. He fills up the strike zone and dominates hitters with his overpowering fastball and solid offspeed arsenal. He’s a great addition to the Binghamton staff, where he will continue to be challenged.

Low-A St. Lucie Mets

Francisco Alvarez had one of the best starts to the season at the Low-A level throughout the league. The 19-year-old is in Brooklyn after his promotion but spent most of May in St. Lucie. After 15 games at the Low-A level and four at High-A, Alvarez slashed an incredible .367/.500/.550 over the month. He went 22-for-60, working fifteen walks, driving in thirteen, and crushing two home runs out of the ballpark.

His 1.050 OPS is incredible for someone his age, showing a proven ability to hit for both power and average. Watching Alvarez play, you can tell he’s an exceptional hitter; every ball he puts in play seems to have an exit velocity of 100 MPH plus. There’s no telling what the future may hold for Francisco, but Mets fans should be excited to see him develop over time.

Justin Lasko is another player who’s changed uniforms for the St. Lucie Mets due to his promotion. Lasko started in two games for the Mets, working a perfect record of 2-0 and accumulating an ERA of 1.96. In twenty-three innings of work, Lasko struck out twenty-five batters and managed to work a WHIP of .826. After throwing eight innings of one-run ball back on May 26, he opened his eyes, leading to his promotion in Brooklyn. Lasko didn’t fare too well in his first start at the High-A level, giving up four runs over five innings pitched and slapped with the loss.