Photo by James Farrance Photography
Syracuse Mets – Ruben Tejada
Season Stats: .368/.443/.547, 16 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 34 RBI, SB, 2 CS
Week Stats: .400/.455/.550, 3 2B, 7 RBI, CS
Tejada has continue to hit well in his return to the Mets organization. His seven game hitting streak was recently snapped, and he responded by hitting a double with an RBI in his next game. What was really impressive during the seven game hitting streak was his having four straight three hit games and five straight multi-hit games.
With the way Tejada is hitting, the extremely limited playing time Luis Guillorme is receiving, and how Adeiny Hechavarria is hitting just .231/.262.410, you really wonder just how long it will be before the Mets call up Tejada.
Binghamton Rumble Ponies – Jason Krizan
Season Stats: .260/.341/.441, 17 2B, 3B, 9 HR, 45 RBI
Week Stats: .500/.542/1.000, 5 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI
Krizan continues a big July which has seen him hit .400/.456/.683. He currently has a streak of reaching safely in 13 straight games, and he has had a three plus hit game in three out of his last five games. He also has had an extra base hit in four out of his last five games. Seeing the month he has put together with his having consecutive weeks with an OPS of 1.000+, it is surprising to see him not win an Eastern League Player of the Week award this month.
St. Lucie Mets – Hansel Moreno
Season Stats: .242/.307/.373, 7 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 12 SB, 8 CS
Week Stats: .333/.412/.600, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, SB, CS
Moreno has continued his resurgent July with another big week. Since being recalled to St. Lucie, Moreno has reached base safely in 18 straight games while hitting .364/.426/.618. His most impressive game of the season came this past week in the July 18 game against the Charlotte Stone Crabs. In that game, he was 2-for-4 with two runs, a double, homer, and three RBI.
Columbia Fireflies – Mark Vientos
Season Stats: .266/.312/.424, 20 2B, 10 HR, 49 RBI, SB, CS
Week Stats: .313/.294/.563, 2B, HR, 4 RBI
One theme we have seen in Vientos’ brief professional career is he’s needed time to adjust to a higher level. Once he has adjusted he goes on a power hitting tear and begins making his way up the leaderboards. That pattern has continued into this season with Vientos hitting .339/.391/.581 so far in July with three doubles, four homers, and 15 RBI. Vientos is now second among South Atlantic League third baseman in doubles and homers, and he is tied for tenth in the league in RBI.
His most impressive performance this month came in the July 17 game against the West Virginia Power. In that game, Vientos was 3-for-4 with a run, double, homer, and an RBI. The homer was an eighth inning homer which had then tied the game at 2-2. Unfortunately for Columbia, he would not get another at-bat in that game.
Brooklyn Cyclones – Garrison Bryant
Season Stats: 2-1, 4.42 ERA, 1.145 WHIP, 2.9 BB/9, 9.6 K/9
Week Stats: 2 GS, W, 12.0 IP, 8 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 11 K
Bryant would have two very strong performances this week. The first came against the West Virginia Black Bears. In that game, he would pick up his second win of the season after allowing no runs on just two hits while walking two and striking out seven over 5.0 innings.
While he got the win in that performance, he was arguably better in his next start. In his start against the Connecticut Tigers, Bryant allowed just one run on six hits while walking none and striking out four over 7.0 innings pitched.
These two starts are part of an impressive string of starts Bryant has had of late. Over his past four starts, he has pitched at least five innings, and he has not allowed more than two runs in any of those starts. During that stretch, he has limited opposing batters to a .179/.273/.308 batting line.
Kingsport Mets – Michel Otanez
Season Stats: 2-2, 3.31 ERA, 1.133 WHIP, 3.0 BB/9, 12.1 K/9
Week Stats: 2 GS, L, 11.0 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 14 K
When the Mets signed Otanez as an international free agent in 2016, they were getting a big arm who had a lot of upside. In this July 20 start against the Bristol Pirates, we got a glimpse of just how good Otanez can be.
In that start, Otanez would set a career high with 7.0 innings pitched. Previous to this start, he had not lasted more than 5.2 innings in any start. In the game, he pounded the strike zone walking none and striking out six. This is part of an impressive stretch over his past four starts.
In those last four starts, Otanez has thrown 65 percent of his pitches for strikes. He has not walked more than two in any game, and he has struck out 27 batters over 21.2 innings pitched. During this stretch of starts, he has an impressive 5.4 K/BB. As he continues trusting his stuff and pounding the strike zone, we will continue to see more and more impressive results from him.
GCL Mets – Jose Peroza
Season Stats: .328/.389/.766, 6 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 20 RBI, SB
Week Stats: .471/.526/1.000, 4 2B, 3B, HR, 7 RBI, SB
Peroza has slugged all season long with this past week being his best week of the season. He is currently in the midst of a five game hitting streak where he has at least one extra base hit in four of his last five games. In fact, Peroza has had multiple extra base hits in three out of his last five games. Impressively, in his game on July 21, he was 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, a homer, an RBI, and a HBP.
DSL Mets – Jan Cabrera
Season Stats: .286/.390/.500, 2 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 2 SB, CS
Week Stats: .417/.500/.667, HR, 2 RBI, SB
Cabrera has a three game hitting streak where he is 5-for-12 with a homer, two walks, and an RBI. Over the past month, he has considerably cut down on his strikeouts, and he has a much better 8:5 strikeout to walk ratio at the plate.
