Mets Minors Recap: Vientos, Álvarez Homer in Syracuse Win

Francisco Alvarez, Photo by Richard Nelson

The big story from Tuesday night was Francisco Alvarez and Mark Vientos both homering in the Syracuse Mets win. Álvarez leads the Mets minor leagues with 24 home runs with Vientos right behind him with 23.

AAA: Syracuse (51-67) 9, Worcester (59-59) 8 Box Score

C Francisco Álvarez 2-for-3, HR (24), 2 BB, 3 RBI, 2 R, .180/.340/.378 (AAA)
3B Mark Vientos 1-for-2, HR (23), 2 BB, 2 RBI, 2 R, .291/.368/.554
DH Daniel Palka 1-for-3, HR (23), 3 RBI, BB, .279/.355/.536

Vientos homered in the first inning to tie Ronny Mauricio and Álvarez for the Mets minor league lead before Francisco hit a big blast in the third inning to take the lead back. Vientos is tied for third in the International League with 23 home runs and his .922 OPS is fourth. Might it be time for Vientos to get a call to the majors? We explored that question recently.

Travis Jankowski went o-for-3 with two walks and Dominic Smith was 1-for-4 with a walk.

RHP Josh Hejka 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, BB, 2 K
LHP Alex Claudio (4.57 ERA) 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

Syracuse’s pitching staff has been picked through by the big league club so they had to call up reliever Josh Hejka to start for them on Tuesday. He was through three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fourth.

Adonis Medina, R.J. Alvarez, and Michel Otanez all combined to give up six runs in the last three innings.

AA: Binghamton (44-70) 8, Reading (52-63) 6 Box Score

SS Ronny Mauricio 2-for-5, RBI, .252/.285/.474
CF Jake Mangum 2-for-5, HR (2), 3 RBI, .306/.375/.444
C Hayden Senger 2-for-4, 2 RBI, .245/.317/.369

Mangum made an impact right away after getting added to the Binghamton roster on Tuesday. He had missed a big chunk of time with a back injury. Senger has a .941 OPS in August as he’s been getting a little more consistent playing time recently.

RHP Tony Dibrell (7.11 ERA) 3.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
RHP Antonio Santos (3.80 ERA) 3 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 2 K
RHP Manuel Alvarez (Binghamton debut) IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, K

The 26-year-old Alvarez was making his Mets system debut after signing recently.

A+: Brooklyn (57-58) 7, Jersey Shore (44-71) 0 Box Score

CF Alex Ramirez 1-for-5, 2 RBI, R, 2B, .259/.310/.424 (A+ stats)
1B JT Schwartz 2-for-4, BB, RBI, 2B, 2 R, .259/.348/.380
2B Jose Peroza 3-f0r-4, BB, .256/.346/.383
SS Shervyen Newton 1-for-3, HR (5), BB, 2 RBI, .181/.284/.296

After posting a strong .850 OPS in July, Peroza has a big-time 1.069 OPS including a 15 walk to 9 strikeout ratio in August.

LHP Keyshawn Askew (3.79 ERA) 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K
RHP Jeffrey Colon (1.04 ERA) 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K, Save

The left-handed Askew now has 27 strikeouts compared to only six walks in 19 innings for Brooklyn.

Blade Tidwell, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

A-: Palm Beach (57-56) 7, St. Lucie (66-48) 5 Box Score

LF Omar De Los Santos 1-for-4, 2 RBI, BB, R, 2 SB (65), .266/.333/.451
CF Tanner Murphy 1-for-2, BB, R, HBP, .321/.465/.547 (A- stats)
2B D’Andre Smith (St. Lucie debut) 1-for-4, R, 2B

De Los Santos is third in the minor leagues with 65 stolen bases. Smith, the Mets 5th round pick this year, was making his St. Lucie Mets debut.

RHP Blade Tidwell (6.00 ERA) 1.1 IP, H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
RHP Joander Suarez (6.75 ERA) 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 3 K

Tidwell, Mets second rounder this year, struggled with his control after a 1-2-3 first inning. The 21-year-old was up to 98 mph with his fastball.

Suarez struggled a bit too, but a good sign was that he was up to 95 mph on his fastball and was getting good vertical break (up to 64 inches) on his curve.

Florida Complex League: FCL Marlins (31-24) 8, FCL Mets (33-22) 3 Box Score

C Vincent Perozo 1-for-2, BB, R, .263/.387/.475 (FCL stats)

Neither first round pick, Jett Williams or Kevin Parada, played in the game. Parada is expected to join the St. Lucie Mets soon.

RHP Dylan Tebrake IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
RHP Connor Brandon IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K
RHP Zebulon Vermillion IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

Zebulon Vermillion (clearly one of the best names in baseball) pitched a scoreless inning in his pro debut. He was the Mets 10th round pick this year.